"Someone Being Cheerful"

Standard weekday in July!  I knew my luck of getting my preferred spot wouldn't last, so I got up and moving "early" today to beat the competition.  This meant arriving around 11:00, but of course it wasn't early enough.  The violin player I've previous complained about was by the cathedral with a guitar player.  In "my" spot was the sister act, but it turns out they're cousins.  Damn.  I set up in front of the cathedral, but it wasn't going to be good.  The girls are stiff competition, there was a truck right in front of me obscuring folks' view, and it was too early for a good crowd.  I decided it wasn't worth being out this early at a bad spot, so I waited.

The girls have a flawless act.  They're cute, they have matching outfits (today was little tartan skirts and "Scotland" sweatshirts), they're both good at their instruments, and they DANCE.  They do little simple Scottish dance movies while they play, and they get sizable crowds.  Wonderful tourist attraction.  However, the mother/aunt is really in charge, and she's terrible, really pushy and manipulative.  I really hope the girls are okay with it; they couldn't get a word in edgewise.  Is this how they want to spend their summer vacation?  I can't help but fear that they're going to grow up with weird ideas about attention and money and stuff.  We discussed options for sharing the space, and the mother offered me an hour.  I didn't want to deal with her today, so I accepted it, but in the future I'm going to have to enforce the city-mandated two-hour rule and face her wrath.  Ugh.

By the time I came to play there was a duo of teen boys amplified in front of the cathedral with guitar and microphone for rapping.  Additionally, another teenage boy sat on one of the concrete earplugs and played guitar, also amplified.  Two amplified acts made for a lot of noise.  Todd was out as well which added cheering and whip-snapping to the mayhem, and the street-cleaner was pushing his lawn-mower-volume machine around.  It was a wonder anyone could hear me at all.  Very frustrating.  And with the exception of Todd, I was the oldest of all the buskers by about ten years.  I know I'm beating a dead horse with this, but why do these kids think it's okay to take allll the buskers' spots??  These kids have grown up here, so clearly they know that adult, professional buskers work, and they know, admire, and respect them.  Then why make it impossible for them to do their thing?  It really takes some nerve to take a primo spot when you're inexperienced and untalented.  You have to work up to that!  The city should designate a "training" pitch.

The new guitar player was comically bad.  I do feel bad saying this, but he was bad enough that it's worth noting.  The place he set up is not a pitch.  It's too close to both the cathedral pitches and the arch pitch (what I'm calling my preferred one).  I feel like I've been here long enough to know the pitches and to inform others about them, so I didn't feel bad setting up at the arches.  He had set up there when the girls were playing, and they were simply handing the pitch off to me.  A few times he looked back and I expected him to come talk to me about the space, but he didn't.  When I packed up I went to talk to him, to explain the pitches, but we didn't exchange words.  Poor thing, he's just clueless!  He was sitting (no good), playing mediocrely (whatever), and singing incredibly quietly.  You couldn't even really hear that he was singing.  And looked terrified, no expression at all.  I'm only mentioning him as a perfect prototype of "before."  We all started like that!  Also bold that he kept playing while I was standing there to talk to him.  Even though I'm not a total beginner I still stop to talk when one of the pros comes to talk.  Well, good for him for getting out there.  So...

Tuesday, 3 July 2012, Part 1:
1. I played "Werewolves of London," followed by "Chim Chim Cheree," as I always do (they're set-list buddies).  A middle-aged American man said, "I preferred 'Werewolves of London.'"  Not a Mary Poppins fan, I guess.  But this was great because he recognized the former!  Only one person has since I learned it last winter!  I always want people to.

 2. I talked to a nice young woman named Jamima who liked my loan sign.  This was so nice, since women my age are the demographic that approaches me to talk the least.  Maybe we'll become best friends!

3. Gave a toddler shakers, and she did quite well!  But then she put them back and picked up money out of my box instead.

4. Two people wanted change for bills.  This happens every once in a while, but hadn't happened here.  Then it did twice!  Usually it's because someone wants to tip me but doesn't have change, so they give me their smallest bill.  But the first woman left two five-pound bills, so clearly she just wanted one-pound coins.  What am I, a bank?  The second one left a tenner, and scrambled together what she could of the remaining coins.  Neither of these parties left an exceptional tip, in the US when someone wanted change for a five they'd usually leave me two singles for the trouble.  Fine, but my favorite part of the job is going home and sitting on the floor and throwing my earnings into the air while laughing maniacally, and that's hard to do with just three bills and remaining pennies.

5. Today I was reminded of one of the most annoying things people do: stop right in front of you and take out their wallets or reach into their pockets and jingle change, then keep walking without tipping.  They just do it absentmindedly, not maliciously, but it hurts a lil every time.

6. A man noticed the wordplay on my "Playing back student loans" sign!  This doesn't happen much, usually people read aloud as "Paying back student loans."  So that was nice.  But then he started suggesting new spots for me when the girls returned.  He did this while I was trying to count coins for my feed money.  Explaining to eager tourists why certain spots don't work is part of the job, I guess.

Then the girls and their mother came back from their lunch break, and the mother made sure I had noticed that they had come back late and given me extra time.  Yes, I had.  But that doesn't mean I owe them one.  I headed off, and the adorable little brother (who is being forced to spend his summer break sitting and watching the girls) waved and loudly said, "Bye, Sophie!"  Wow!  At least one of them has manners!

Part II:
I moved to that other spot I like.  I don't want to call it by name anymore because who knows if my competition is reading!  I was so mad when I was walking; it's stressful dealing with all the people we have to deal with, and anxiety-making to not have a regular pitch.  But then things went really well at my other favorite spot.  I just love it there, and I do fine.  So I'm inclined to just go there for a while, avoid the craziness of the RM if I can.

1. Since I love playing in minor, I think I must prioritize learning "Paint it Black" and "Eleanor Rigby."

2. Since I could see my reflection from where I was, I was aware of my appearance and thus remembered to smile a lot.  One passerby noticed and said something like, "It's nice to see someone being cheerful!"  I was so sure I'd remember the exact wording for the blog, but alas I haven't.  Also funny to hear that I'm cheerful since at that point I was still sort of angry.

3. An older woman stopped to tip me, and said, "Here are some sweeties, too!"  In went two bright foil-wrapped goodies!  Score!

4. A mother gave her stroller-bound toddler a coin to put in my box, but he was hesitant.  They thought he just didn't understand the instructions, and both parents demonstrated.  They told him, one more time, "Put it in the box!" and the kid loudly said, "NO."  Two-year-old, perhaps? 

5. I saw two people I sort of know.  The first was the tour guide I had had on my Sandeman's New Edinburgh tour when I was new in town.  He knew I was a busker and I was sure we'd see each other, but it took this long.  And I guess it had been too long, since we ignored each other.  The second was the guy who sold me my hiking boots.  We had actually spent quite some time together, over two days, discussing boots.  Big decision!  Learned a lot about each other!  So he walked by and we had the most awkward conversation in history.  I'll spare you the cringe-worthy transcript.

6. An Episode in Small Victories.  The first small victory that I've noticed is when someone walks by with headphones in and puts a hand in a pocket or whatever to pause the musical device.  They'd rather hear you!  I've noticed another recently, since this spot is near a bike rack.  Sometimes people will go to their bikes, roll up their trouser leg, strap on their pack, unlock the bike, etc., but then stay there to listen!  Small victory.

7.  Cute child and Flaca interaction.  This was an older kid, so she was actually good at puppetry.  Made Flaca's cymbals work!  She was also the only English-speaker of her family, which was cool.  I'm not used to conversing with only the kid.

8. I was packing up, and two kids skateboarded up.  The little boy asked, in a Scottish accent, "Is it over or are you doing it again?"  Aw, just that made me want to set up again! 

9. Also as I was packing up an older woman and young man stopped by.  They noticed the box and asked about it, and we talked about street music and Scotland and haggis and stuff.  I saw that the woman and I had the same shoes!  El Naturalista mary-janes.  Best shoes ever.  Mine are black, hers were tan.

I was sorry to be packing up because of these nice last-minute talks, and also because foot traffic was picking up!  But, strangely enough, I quit exclusively because my formerly-broken metal left wrist hurt.  Usually this is a secondary reason, and something else trumps it, but it was the thing keeping me from continuing today.  I was really pushing in on the RM to be heard over everything, so maybe I aggravated it.  I'll have to bring some ibuprofen next time just in case.  Come on, it's been three years, you'd think it would work by now!  (Also the weather doesn't help, it gets stiff and weird when pressure changes).

The end!  Tomorrow's the 4th of July and there are lots of Americans in town!  But it's probably going to rain.  I hope it does; I sort of can't be bothered to wear red, white, and blue and play sloppy improvised versions of patriotic American songs!  Ah, well.  Till next time!

P.S. I might abandon "Let's Stay Together."  One of my fave songs, but it just doesn't take to accordion.  Maybe I could come up with a better arrangement, or maybe not.