Today was a really fabulous day. I wasn't supposed to busk, because it was supposed to be super windy, and because I had the idea to do a day trip out of town. But then I ended up having coffee dates scheduled with two different people, so I stayed in Edinburgh and went into town with all my gear to busk after. But then both of them fell through but I was in town anyway, so I busked the whole day away. 1:30-8:30ish with one hour break! Phew! I don't usually do that on weekdays, but I'm glad I did. It was pretty windy, and threatened to rain at times (did rain later), so I was the only busker. Great for business, I must say. I started out on the stairs of the cathedral, so I could stay dry if it rained. Without further ado, here are two handwritten pages of notes:
Thursday, 7 September, 2012:
i. Before I start, actually, I'll share my embarrassing moment at the bank. I ran out of coin bags (rather than rolling coins, we bag them), so I stopped at a bank on the way out to get some. As I was about to turn away, I thought of a good joke: asking the man if he could fill them for me too! As in, with bank money! LOL! I guess it wasn't clear though that I meant bank money, because his response was, "No, you'll have to fill them yourself, but there's a counter right there you can use." Oh, not really worth explaining. I was the only customer, so all the tellers watched this; watched my grin fade and the red take over. Come on, they should have LOVED it! Anyway...
1. In the Door post, I mentioned Martin, the busker who told me about the door long ago. Well, he came to say hello while I was playing today. He clearly didn't remember me, which made that interaction much easier. Subdividing this one:
a. I had just played "Fly Me To the Moon" when he came by, and he complimented it. I told him it's one of my oldest songs, and he said he could tell. "My 'Hotel California,'" he added. Ha, that's my newest song!
b. We discussed the festival, and the feelings that come after it. We agreed that we feel special wearing our Street Events passes on lanyards, and he recommended that I keep wearing it. He confessed to having worn his until November one year, because it made him look official so people didn't dare move him on. Good plan! I told him I also ended up with a Street Events staff sweatshirt. "Ended up in it, on it, or with it?" he asked. What? He elaborated (I [mis]quote): "Maybe you ended up 'in it' when it still belonged to a staff member who you...got to know [wink]. 'On it' means you vomited on it, and 'with it' means you got a nice souvenir." "Definitely 'with it!'" "That's good, you wouldn't want to have done something with it you'd regret!" Ha!
c. Martin told me about the Door again, and explained that it's pretty much the only place you can play at night. He directed my attention to a window across the street that was slightly ajar, and explained that there's a crazy 76-year-old man who lives in there. If he doesn't like your music, you lose teeth. Martin smiled and showed me a gap. Apparently this man had actually come down with a club. Oh my god. Will try to avoid playing at the cathedral at night.
2. A group of assorted foreigners stopped by and asked if I was a busker. Yes I am. They needed to take a picture with a busker! "Is this a treasure hunt?" "Yes! We're not the first?" Hardly. I asked what else they needed to find, and one girl said, "Bus stop." "Oh, that should be easy!" "Really???" Turns out she said "Bath tub." Ah, a little harder.
3. I had a bit of an audience at one point! It included two men who came and sat on bollards in front of me. They reacted/sang along a little to "We Are Young," "Don't Stop Me Now" and "Chariots of Fire." One even indicated a slow-mo run with his arms during the latter. Finally, yes!
4. Also, the older local man walked by during C's of F. I liked that, since he has said he likes that song. I need a name for this guy! Anyone? Pockets? He's about my height with normal, side-parted white hair, beaky nose, clean-shaven, skinny, wears neutral earth-tone jumpers and trousers. Hangs out near buskers a lot. Super nice guy. Looks sort of like that older piper. He stuck around for more songs, and requested the Godfather. He said he likes movie themes, and often listens to soundtracks at home. I told him I ought to learn Star Wars, and he disagreed. He doesn't like that one.
5. There were also two construction workers lurking across the street, listening. I felt the strange urge to impress them, and cared more that they didn't notice my mistakes than I did random passersby. Oh, at one point a female construction worker walked by! Girl power!
6. A middle-aged man walked by with a totally tacky musical Hawaiian shirt. Like, covered in colorful musical notes, instruments (I seem to remember saxophones in particular), etc. I complimented it and suggested he join my act.
7. Saw adult twins. Always surprising! Women in their fifties who still wore matching clothes. Cool.
8. A very Scottish-looking man walked by in full Scottish attire as I was playing "What is Love?" I assumed he would HATE it, being the traditionalist he appeared to be, but he tipped. Go figure.
9. Also after "What is Love?" A guy came up and asked for an ID on it. When I told him, he reminisced aloud about it being popular in the mid-nineties. He was up north then, and it was playing at the pubs (my mind automatically did the back-in-time transition to the nightclub in "Airplane"). In those days, he was drinking a lot, and also brandishing a sword and wearing a kilt. And also working in a salmon smoking facility. Can't even make this stuff up!
10. It's weird, wearers of Red Sox attire will always respond when I yell "Go Boston" or the like at them, but people in Celtics gear always ignore me. Hmmm.
11. You know those trick photos, where you like appear to be holding up the leaning tower of Pisa? Well some [Asians] seemed to be attempting one with me. I'm not sure if the girl was supposed to be playing the keyboard or playing my dress, but it was certainly a first. I hope it turns out!
12. The adorable little [American] boy who had stopped by the previous night, and pushed some accordion buttons, came back. This time, he had a plastic sword. I asked about it, and he wordlessly swiped it out of its sheath and did a fancy wrist thing. Love it. His mom told me that he had seen me and said, "She's back! My friend is back!" Such a cutie!
13. On the subject of people tipping outside their predicted age bracket, I didn't lose a tip from an old lady who happened to hear only Madonna. Maybe she thought it was something else.
14. Since it was windy, my S^3 sign kept falling down. However, as luck would have it, whenever it fell it hit the tambourine. Usually I don't know when it happens, but whenever I heard the clang I knew I had to go fix it. Voila!
15. Speaking of the tambourine, I like when people hit it with coins. Sometimes I'll point out to people that they get bonus points since they hit the tambourine. I was thinking that this could be an extra gimmick: I could have the mini tambourine in the middle of the box, with a sign saying that they got a prize, or just good luck or something, if they got their coin into the tambourine from a certain distance (chalk line?). I think it would be popular!
16. Another idea, that was supposed to be in yesterday's post: there are signs on Rose St. with a map of the crossroads and listings of restaurants and stuff. I was thinking I could make a little sticker that says "Accordion player" and tape it onto the map, wherever I am. Must implement this too!
17. I had another visit from a lady I'll mention in the Big Fringe Post. She's a middle-aged woman in a wheelchair who has one leg. Both times she's come by, she is drinking a can of beer. Today, her caregiver (a weird guy) parked her in front of me while he went into the news agent to get more beer. She was quite enthusiastic, yelling, "Beautiful!" and waving her arms after every song. What characters we have here!
18. A woman dropped a tip, and indicated that she had been listening. She liked the Twin Peaks! I told her I was glad, since not enough people recognize it. She said that it really shows her age that she recognized Twin Peaks...and Madonna! I guess so, I hadn't thought of that.
19. I decided to take a food break, so I sat down on the steps, leaving everything set up. My new friend Cameron came and sat with me, and Elaine stopped to say hello as well. A man stopped and asked, "Who's in this routine?" "I am!" I said. "Who else?" "Just me." Elaine obviously looks special but Cammie is just a normal guy. Do we look like a band? "What do you do?" he asked. "I play the accordion." "Just the accordion?" Is it that weird that one person would play one instrument on the street? "Yep." "Good," he said, "That's better than bagpipes." I guess he was braced for the worst.
I took a break and went on a walk with Cammie to warm up, then resumed around 5:30 at my favourite spot at the arches. Again, using the "I thought it was okay after 5:00 approach if I get in trouble.
20. Police everywhere! As I was setting up, I saw two police officers. One was talking to Super Scott, who had been beginning a show as I had left before. The second was talking to a trampy looking old man in a close, whose trousers were unzipped. I tried to put it together, and the most likely explanation is that this man had urinated in the middle of Scott's show? Something like that. Eek!
The other police were across the street from me, dealing with another guy who did not look to be in great shape (slumped over on a bench). The officers, wearing neon vests and blue latex gloves, appeared to be taking good care of him. After a while, an ambulance came. I guess we're seeing the Trainspotting side of the city (as declared by someone who has never read or seen Trainspotting).
21. Another old guy carrying a can of beer walked by. "Hello," he said. "Hello," I replied. "Bye." Kept walking. That was easy.
22. There was this one small tour group wearing matching rain jackets. One woman had tipped me earlier. Now, then were walking down the sidewalk holding each other's waists, a la a conga line. I did the only thing I could think of to do: attempt to play the Can-can song. It turns out they can, can, can do the can-can! That was a rare incident of success in that kind of endeavor. And the woman from before tipped me again, so I said, "Thanks again," and she tipped me again again because I had remembered her! Not sure where they're from, but it's my new favorite country.
23. Oh, this is old, from last Saturday I think. I've been wanting Japanese people to say "Arigato" just so I can show off and say "Doitashimashite!" The other day, the people said they were Japanese and said "Thank you" in English, which I deemed the closest I was going to get. I said it, they liked it. Bam.
24. Two young people in heavy-metal band t-shirts came up and started speaking Italian. Nice that they wanted to talk, but strange that they assumed I would understand them! I actually did pretty well, because of my vast knowledge of romance languages (hyperbole in action, folks). It was clear that he wanted to play Wee Red, and since she's Italian too I handed her over. He definitely knows how to play, but couldn't quite get a song out. Told me more stuff in Italian. It was strange, for people unwilling to speak another language, they were really underwhelmed by all MY Italian (Molto grazie, buona sera, and the list goes on).
25. I was directly across from Caffe Nero. It was pretty cold out and I wanted a hot chocolate, but I didn't have someone to watch my stuff when I went to get it. I decided to call them and ask if they would deliver one across the street. I didn't, however, have their number, so I paid 19p to text my brother internationally, who I knew would be at a computer and could fetch me the number. Strangely enough, the Royal Mile Caffe Nero isn't listed on Google. Is it new or something? So that failed. I sort of wanted to move to the Door anyway, so I packed up and got my own hot chocolate.
If you're bored with this hot chocolate story, you can move on. If not, here's the rest of it: my last hot chocolate from there was strangely oily (even before I added whisky). I told them this, and, feeling cheeky, asked if I could pay half price for the one I was getting. Rather than getting half off a small, they gave me a large on the house! And rather than just verbally announcing this, the guy dramatically grabbed a frequent shopper card and stamped all of the squares. I definitely didn't deserve that, especially after all the times I used their bathroom during the festival without being a customer!
26. At the Door, who walked by but Not Larry Farber. This is an inside joke mostly with myself, but also with my parents. Only including it to make myself laugh at a future date. It'll be really awkward though if Larry Farber reads this.
27. I heard a sound. Bagpipes! It turns out it was just a siren, as heard through an accordion. That's how you know you've been in Scotland too long.
28. I got to speak some Spanish! A dad read my sign and translated it into Spanish for his family. The emphasis he gave his son indicated that he, too, was a student, so I piped up in Spanish to remind him that it's muy importante estudiar. Oui.
29. A friendly man with a US Southern accent, who had also walked by last night, said something like, "You never rest, you've been out for two days straight!" Two days? TWO DAYS?? (It's been three days.)
30. Penultimately, I talked to a man from Illinois. He was waiting for his family/travel party to get back from a day tour through the Highlands. I asked why he stayed behind, and he said he had been golfing in St. Andrews. He said he'd listen to me while he waited, so we had the typical conversation: "Do you have any requests?"
"Well, I don't know a lot of accordion music."
"Well I don't PLAY a lot of accordion music!"
"Really? Can you do The Who?" "No." "Zeppelin?" "No." I forget the third. "How about Rolling Stones?"
After "Paint it Black" he gave me a lot of song suggestions. He thought I should definitely learn something from Tommy, Freebird, the theme from CSI ("Or is is NCIS now?"), "the one from Casablanca, folks would love that on a rainy night!," and Phantom of the Opera ("perfect for those haunted underground tours!"). A couple songs later, he asked, "Can't you do Edelweiss or something?" I just loved that. The impatience of it. I don't think Edelweiss has ever been in such demand.
Since it was raining, I was playing "Singin' In the Rain" which naturally no one picked up on. Except Illinois, of course. "You're playing all my favorite songs, even if I don't know what they are!" or something. He was a strange companion for my last fifteen minutes, but a totally nice man. Even if he skips the highlands to go golfing.
31. Lastly, I decided to stop since it was raining and I was bored. But I decided to play La Vie en Rose one last time, since it's so nice after dark, and I got one last pefectly-timed tip in the last measure of it. Nice way to conclude a good day busking!
I'm officially taking tomorrow off. It'll be a nice day; I'm having breakfast with my friend Rob in the morning (obvs when you have breakfast), then climbing Arthur's Seat for the first time with another friend, then hanging out with a Scottish marine who plays drums in the royal pipe band. Then hopefully I'll put in a long day Saturday!
P.S. On the coin front, I got Athletics today, as well as a third Taekwondo. Next time I'll put a sign out soliciting new ones! Running out of time to get all thirty!
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