Out of Debt...Out of Danger!

After a day off to "update the blog" (got very little done), I resumed work this afternoon on the Mile.  It was strangely quiet, however.  It was warm in the sun but otherwise cold, and the wind was blowing.  Few people were out.  Only one busker was out, Edgar, who had set up on the stairs on the side of the cathedral.  I reversed my direction to set up at the police box, which was painted purple at some point during the festival, when I saw a new pitch calling to me: the famous Door. 

This nondescript door is a step up from the clearly slanted High St., giving it a quirky look.  It is next to a close, with an "American" restaurant on the other side.  I first became aware of the Door my first week in town, when I was strolling on the Royal Mile (to be honest, I was just lost trying to get back to my hostel).  A man was playing guitar there, and I stopped to talk.  He was super nice and told me it was a good pitch, that the folks at the restaurant didn't mind buskers.  I made a mental note to come back there, a place I imagined to be way closer to the castle than it is.

And then, months later, Todd pointed it out.  He said that it's a famous pitch; buskers come from all over the world to play at the Door.  Well, today seemed to be the day to join the masses before me who have had this honor.  Usually the Door is behind vendor stalls, but there were fewer out than usual.  It's also too close to the circle pitch, but no one was doing a show.  Best of all, it was on the sunny side of the street!  So I went for it.  Played here for a bit, fine, nothing memorable, and then Tim said he was going to do a show.  Tim is a street performer from Canada who drives a motorcycle hauling a huge silver box with a giant Canadian flag on it.  Not sure how he shipped both it and the motorcycle over from Canada.  I said it was fine for him to take over that area, but that I just wanted to play "La Vie en Rose" before packing up.  You'd think that was a reasonable request, but he made a big show of setting up and blowing his whistle and everything to get a crowd and all passersby's attention went to him.  Come on, couldn't he have waited two minutes?  I nail that song.

Edgar had packed up so I set up at the cathedral where he had been, but it was quite slow.  And it was in the shade, so it got cold.  Right as I decided to move anyway, a piper set up at the courtroom so I wouldn't have been able to continue there anyway.  The presence of the piper indicated that it was 5:00, so I decided to try my luck at my favorite pitch.  I was literally the only walk-by act out so it was weird to not be in my normal pitch anyway, but I didn't want to risk getting in trouble with Richard Dreyfuss.  But after 5:00 I could pretend that I thought the problem was only during working hours.  Worth a shot.  I finished up there until I got too cold to move my fingers fast enough, then called it a day.  It was a totally adequate day; and inspiring since I was playing pretty well.  I played really terribly all weekend, so it was a relief that I hadn't permanently backslid.  Here are a few notes from all the pitches:

Tuesday, 4 September, 2012:
1. A young man recognized the song I was playing and announced it as he retreated out of view into the council courtyard: "What is Love!"  "Yeah!"  I responded, then added, "Baby don't hurt me."  Few second delay..."Don't hurt me..."  "No more!"  Awesome.

2.  Two young women walked by with a plastic tray of sandwiches, such that would be left over after a work function of sorts.  They stopped right in front of me, and time slowed down as they lifted the plastic lid off.  Oh my god, they were going to give me a sandwich!!!  They looked so good!  But...denied!  The one girl just wanted one, so they covered them up again and kept walking.  Right in front of the hungry busker!

3.  An old man walked by, took in my signs, and kept going.  But then he came back a second later and handed me a leaflet from a church.  The title: "Out of debt...out of danger!"  I don't usually give these "gifts" a second thought, but I had to smile at the relevance.  My student loan sign (and buskerhood) indicated debt, and he happened to have a brochure on eradicating debt.  There we go.

4. After "l'Autre Valse d'Amelie," an older man who had stopped with his wife asked if it was from Amelie.  He said that he's been trying to find the music.  Turns out he plays accordion too.  A real accordion player actually listened for that long!  Very nice people.


5. A woman (with a foreign accent, maybe she's Brazilian??) recognized Tico Tico.  We talked about my studies and loans, and I accidentally misled her into thinking I'm Scottish but I chose to study in the US.  Oops!  And I said I went to school in Boston.  Turns out she lives in New York.

6.  After "I Believe (When I Fall in Love...)" a young American man walked by with two thumbs up, and said, "Two thumbs up!"  I asked if he was a Stevie Wonder fan, and he says he is.  I liked this, since no one ever responds to that song and it's one of my better ones.  The whole group was so nice, and responded favorably when I yelled "And go Giants!" after them.  The dad was wearing a Giants t-shirt with "Dad" written across the back.

7.  Right after that I heard some other Americans walk by, and one said, "You can't just say 'naranja!'"  I had to wonder about the meaning of this statement, especially since the Spanish word was pronounced horribly, just like "piranha."

8.  Todd's baby Judy came over for a visit, so I picked up the shakers.  She saw them and immediately just stuck her hands out from her stroller.  She was adorable with them; it took her a while to figure out what to do, but she had the cutest little smile once she was shaking away.  

9. A guy recognized The Godfather, as evidenced by the fact that he mouthed "The Godfather" to his friend.  That's another one that doesn't get recognized enough.

10.  A middle-aged man came up and asked, "Are you in a band?"  Oooh, I'm about to get recognized for KAIHO! "Why yes I am."  "Good, do you play jigs and reels up to dance speed?"  "Well, it's more of a......rock band."  "A rock band, oh."  He gave me the card for his Ceilidh band, the Thunderdogs.  It actually looked quite familiar, and I realized we'd met before.  He explained that it's hard to keep up a quintet during this economic recession, and that he's looking to put together a trio.  I told him I'm leaving soon anyway, but recommended Tom, the other accordion player.  So many music options now!

The end.  It was nice to be back out there, but I'm getting nervous about my tour in the Fall.  If I'm cold now, I'm going to be really cold in like Germany in November!  I'll have to abandon my goal of packing light and bring lots of layers.  Must find a hat that works with short hair. 


I realized that I haven't busked a September before.  In 2010 and 2011 the tourism season in Provincetown was done, and I was working a lot at my day job.  There may be a couple odd Saturdays, but this will be my first full September of busking.  Cool!

Time to get dressed and go out and compile material for the next blog post.