It had to end sometime. There will be a big post coming soon about the Fringe, but until then just assume the greatest, most exciting month-long arts event ever. And then it ended and people scattered. Before we get into the standard Saturday post, here's a write-up of Tuesday:
Tuesday, 28 August 2012:
I went out last Tuesday, the first "normal" day for a couple hours. There were a few Fringe stragglers still out, Wojtek the Polish bass player and Thomas the Australian classical guitarist. The cathedral was statue central with both the levitating Yoda and levitating blue man and the Highlander. I was able to get my favorite pitch, and it was so nice to be playing there again. A few of the Fringe Street Events staff members went by in their normal clothes and waved. Nobody can stay away from the Mile! Unfortunately, though, I was asked to move by that one police officer who looks like Richard Dreyfuss. He is the only one who has moved me on, as he did once before. He remembered me and asked, "Haven't we discussed this before?" Oops. I said we had, but that time I had been closer to the Memorial, and now I was slightly farther down. He added that it was also because it was in front of the council offices. Yeah, yeah. I've been playing there for months without trouble. It's too bad, since if he catches me again I'll be in obvious violation. It'd be nice if I knew his work schedule. So I moved across the street outside the cathedral.
The blue levitater was taking a break, but left his whole setup intact so anyone could clearly see how it was done. I bet Yoda didn't like that, since he carefully dismounts so no-one can see the mechanism. I asked him about it when he got back, and he said that Yoda is his cousin. They're both from Romania. He said that people can look it up on the internet anyway, so what's the point of hiding it? Magic!!
Business was okay when he was up, but when he came back it was impossible to compete. People wanted to examine the setup from all angles, so they would come into my pitch and stand right in front of me, looking to the side at this guy. Excuse me?? I had a nice chat with an older man, whom I had seen several times during the Fringe, about travel and stuff. We also discussed the difficulty of playing next to a levitator, and I couldn't resist telling him "Some people have the nerve to come into my pitch to photograph him!" while clearly within earshot of people doing exactly that. He suggested I move across the street where there was a nice sunny patch next to the Angels and Bagpipes restaurant. That's not usually a pitch, since there are vendor stalls and it's too close to other musical acts at the cathedral, but I went for it that day. It was actually quite good, with a steady stream of people. One worker even came down from the council office behind me just to tip. Best of all, this old guy who hangs around a lot was soaking in the sun there as well, and he requested I play "Chariots of Fire." This song has gotten a tepid response, so I was glad it has a fan. Just a couple of things before moving on to Saturday:
1. Sometimes I'll be playing the wrong song for the age group walking by, but sometimes I'm surprised. Specifically, on Tuesday, I was playing "The Final Countdown" as some pensioners came by, but they totally tipped. Nice.
2. I talked to some Americans from Tennessee. I told them that I almost went to Tennessee last winter (their daughter lives in Chattanooga). It was crazy to think about how different my life in Edinburgh is from what my life in Chattanooga would have been like. What if I hadn't changed plans?? Crazy.
3. Ritchie the blues guitarist stopped to say hello. He was set up all of the Fringe at the corner of High St. and Cockburn, outside of the official busking realm. So he wasn't part of the Street Events, but always got that spot and stayed all day. He always had a decent crowd, and sounded pretty good. Now, it seems he has stayed into September. We talked a little bit (and it seems he asked me out, whatevs.)
Now, onto Saturday.
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I had abandoned the markets during the Festival. For the first two weeks I had to, since my venue show ran during those hours, but I definitely could have made it after that. I had planned to continue them, and even rehearsed a conversation I would have with buskers in my spot. In the end, I was so wrapped up in Festival life that I didn't even think about going. I was happy to be back there last Saturday, to feel like normal life and see my favorite kiddies.
I got there pretty late, however, and it was slow at my end. I think this week I'll be disloyal and set up at the other end. Didn't see my usual kids! I was playing really badly. It didn't make sense, since I hadn't played accordion for a few days; usually that rest makes me play well. I sucked for pretty much all of the market. Hmm. Few notes:
Saturday, 1 September, 2012, Part 1:
1. On the riveting topic of how I struggle at saying "thank you" while playing: I learned that it is quite easy to say "thank you" during "Werewolves of London" because of the rhythmic duos on the right hand. Listen to the intro; there are many opportunities to say "Thank you" in rhythm with the song!
2. A dad and his three daughters came to the market via bicycle. After they did their shopping they stopped to listen, so I passed them the percussion instruments. The older girls helped the little toddler figure out the shaker, which was cute. They had to go home to tidy their rooms, which we discussed. I told them about the Robot Game I played as a kid (and definitely do NOT still play now...) to make a chore more fun. Hopefully they tried it!
3. The guy who works at the Chocolate Tree stall came to have lunch on the bench directly across from me. It made me nervous having an audience who hears me all the time, but it made me try really hard to play well!
4. This is a good enough place to put this, since the aforementioned man is not a fan of kazoo: I seem to have lost my kazoo. I was planning to bring it back on some songs, but it's nowhere to be found! Oh well, it was really terrible.
5. A guy on a bike stopped during "Take On Me" and began to sing along, but bailed before the embarrassing high part! No fun for me, but probably a good choice.
I packed up, stopping by the Chocolate Tree stall to try to score some goodies. The guy did in fact give me a small cut up dark hot chocolate, which is pretty much rich enough to count as lunch. Nice. Headed to the Mile for round two. I forget who was at the cathedral, but Tartan Heather was at my spot. I don't want to spoil this bit of the Big Fringe post, but I no longer fear her. In fact, we're BFFs. I still kept my distance passing her though, and passing the circle pitch to investigate pitches lower down. Ritchie the blues guitarist was at his corner, so I couldn't take the police box. Todd appeared at the perfect time. "What are you doing?" he asked. "I'm looking for a pitch!" "What do you mean?" What do I mean??? "How about right here?" he suggested. We were right in front of MacGregor's. He said that guitar players play at that bollard all the time. It was far enough from the circle pitch and far enough from Ritchie. It's common knowledge that Royal McGregor's Pub is kind to buskers, and next to it was Subway, which I don't particularly care about. So I went for it.
This turned out to be a great pitch. At this time of day people were sitting outside McGregor's only long enough for a drink, which was long enough to hear enough music to want to tip but not get annoyed. There were also people sitting outside the chip shop and Subway, and I could turn around and get people walking down the mile.
Saturday, Part 2:
5. A marching band set up between Ritchie and me. That's-a no good. I figured they must be passing through, but when they began a second song I asked some nice ladies outside McGregor's to watch my stuff when I went to talk to them. One woman said they'd just do the Finale then move on. Fair enough. They did, and moved to Hunter Square (luckily quiet enough), but my adrenaline had kicked in. So annoying that every kind of confrontation, even if nothing scary happens, gives me this massive adrenaline rush. It made it very hard to stay balanced on the stool, and of course to play well.
6. At one point I realized things were incredibly loud again. Not only had the marching band set up somewhere on Cockburn St., just out of view, but the circle show was really loud. Whoever it was had his music at full volume and was dancing. It turned out to be the elusive Silver, who made it into the blog once when he gave me some valuable busking advice. Todd says that he doesn't do shows anymore, just one a year. So that was it. I tried to play loudly, over both of these interruptions.
7. But then a man asked if I wouldn't mind stopping for a bit. It turns out he was director of a Presbyterian TV programme they were filming, and I was quite close to the actor's microphone. He said they were just going to wait for Silver to be quiet too, then film. Yeah, good luck with that. It did end up being quite a long pause, but it was cool lurking in the background of a TV scene. The programme seemed quite boring, all I really caught was the narrator saying "18th century England." They managed to get enough takes in before Super Scott started his subsequent show.
8. There was a fancy wedding at the cathedral. I saw them taking photos on my walk down, and they had their own private piper! The ceremony had obviously finished, since everyone walked down the hill by me: bridesmaids in royal blue, men in kilts, little kids in formalwear. I assumed the bride would be coming down, and I really hoped the TV crew would be done in time for me to play "Here Comes the Bride" to a real bride. But she never appeared! Probably had a fancy car. Or horse-drawn carriage.
9. Speaking of which, did play it for a couple hen parties. Still get that adrenaline rush too! So much adrenaline!
10. These two nice ladies (lesbians?) had been listening at the pub for a while, but they went nuts for "Ring of Fire." Loved it!
11. A guy said, "Love the name." (Sophie's Smokin' Squeezebox) Nice to hear, it's been a while.
12. Totoro fail! A guy walked by in a [My Neighbor] Totoro t-shirt. I've been waiting for this to happen for years. First I yelled "NICE SHIRT!" at him, then launched the Totoro theme song (the "Hey let's go, hey let's go, we're happy as can be" one). Nothing. Probably should have gone with "And you'll be with Totoro, Totoro." Hopefully it'll happen again.
13. I realized that my £1 note is missing. These are quite rare, and someone had given me one, which I use as my feed money. Several people have asked if they could trade me for it, but I haven't permitted it. This means somebody helped themself. Hopefully they left me a big tip. Too bad.
14. A little boy and his parents came by and stopped to listen. They walked by again later. Even later they came by a third time, and the kid was crying. I played extra cheerfully, and he stopped crying! Works like a charm. He was so cute, and after they left, the boy in his father's arms waved to me. I blew him a kiss, and he totally blew one back. Love it! We went back and forth a few times, blowing kisses, and the parents didn't seem to notice. Little secret alliance.
15. An older Scottish man asked if I could play "Flower of Scotland." Can I ever! I save it for requests, and was excited to bust it out again. But then, of course, he didn't want to hear much and interrupted it to talk, before I even got to the surprising Bb. Still fun!
16. I hinted at Heather's and my camaraderie, and today she left the pitch and walked by me to get food. She said something unintelligible that playfully indicated that she wasn't giving up the pitch, and I playfully yelled back that I kept my distance, that I hadn't even tried. We both hooted with laughter, and I hoped patio-sitters enjoyed that interaction.
17. A guy stopped to talk, and asked if I would record something with him. Seemed a little weird, and for the first time it was a good thing to be able to say "I'm leaving town in a few weeks." :(
18. Last note. Can't read it. Looks like "Adren." Or "Actren." No idea. Oh well!
I stopped because I was really hungry! My lunch had been hot chocolate, after all. Todd was doing a show and I decided that he would invite me to dinner, but then he didn't. I found Edgar playing at the castle in normal clothes. What was it, casual Saturday? Usually he looks fabulous in his top hat with playing cards, tie, and jacket. He and I went for a beer in the Grassmarket, where I was going to keep playing after. But then I went home. Had to save some for Sunday! On that note, here's that post...
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