September's Snotty Sunday

Sunday at the Stockbridge market!  It was a very nice day, and the market was hopping.  It seemed there were more stalls than usual, and I had to squeeze in next to a coffee van to get a spot near the entrance.  There was the usual plethora of children and babies, in addition to puppies.  At one point two puppies were playing, a boxer and someone brown and scruffy, and it was the cutest thing I had ever seen.  I played really badly for the first hour or so; probably just not warmed up, although it seemed worse than usual.  Oh well.

Sunday, 2 September, 2012:
1. A brother and sister wearing yellow were the first kids to linger long enough to join in.  I now carry around all my percussion instruments and distribute them accordingly.  They happily sat down and shook them, but the little boy's nostril was threatening to give out at any second.  Finally, I looked over and saw snot running down his face.  I made a mental note to wash the shakers that evening.


2. Another group of kids was on their tail.  It was an enormous group, six kids, four parents, and they had their hands full.  The two girls, one little boy, and the baby sat in front of me while another boy and another baby hung back.  The parents took advantage of this distraction to go off on various lunch runs, coming back with delicious looking food.  I hadn't thought about it when I handed the percussion instruments over, but I realized that the kids were definitely getting germs from the snotty boy.  And here they were eating bread with their hands.  Oops!  Here are three of them:

They stayed in front of me for a very long time, and came back for a second session later on, after I took a break, but the girls wouldn't talk to me!  When I considered my lunch options I asked them how the soup had been, and they just looked at each other and stifled laughter.  Come on!  I later asked them if I needed to put on more lipstick and if there was chocolate on my face...nothing.  They were rearranging tips as they came in, so when someone dropped a fiver I thought they'd be eager to help and asked them to please put a few pound coins on top of it so it wouldn't blow away.  Nope, now they don't want to help.  Sort of funny.  But they did answer when I asked if they were sisters.  They confirmed that they were, and that all the kids were brothers and sisters (not true).  The one true thing they declared, though, was that the one little boy was a "silly monster."

3. A creaky old woman came over and asked, "Did I hear you play 'Amazing Grace?'"  "No."  The end.

4. After "Paint it Black," a man asked, "Was that the Rolling Stones?"  "Yes it was!" I yelled back (because he was sort of far away, not because he deserved to be yelled at).  "Can you do French cafe music too?" he asked.  "Of course!"  This was just sort of funny because my set list literally has "Parlez-moi d'Amour" directly after "Paint it Black."  For that exact reason.

5. A man who I took to be blind (linking arms with someone else, holding white stick in other hand) had a listen.  He heard me and did the universal accordion arm movement.  I finished a song and he wanted to leave a tip, so he walked towards me and asked, "Is it here?"  I took this to mean the tip box, so I directed him a little more forward, and he dropped in a coin.  That's a first!  He asked if I'm French, I said I'm American, and he went on his way.

6. As I was playing "What is Love?" a normal, motherly, older woman put on a facial expression and waved her arms in the air.  So cool, she was doing an awesome dance to the song!!!  I realized a second later that she had merely tripped over the curb.  My next thought was that my cousin Thea was really going to like that.

7. A young woman came up and said, "You probably get this all the time, but do you know any songs from Amelie?"  I did the standard "play the first measure of all the ones I know and let her choose."  She reiterated that I must get it a lot, but I don't!  Usually people comment once I'm already playing them, but it's nice to have them requested.

8. A family walked by with a brand new baby.  Couldn't have been more than a week old.  I took pleasure in the fact that I provided what was probably the first accordion music of that little person's life.

9. A young woman came up and asked about the protocol for busking the market.  After confirming that she's American, I asked her the million dollar question: WHAT KIND OF VISA DO YOU HAVE????  It turns out she is here with her partner, who is doing a PhD program.  It's a four-year program, and the partner can bring whatever family she wants.  Luckyyy!  She gets to stay here legally and busk!  I'd like to hear her sometime; she plays blues guitar and sings, mostly originals, but when she busks she does some Nina Simone and Billie Holiday too.

I packed up, but wanted to take advantage of the day to play more, so headed to Rose St. where I did just about one run-through.  Surprisingly slow, actually!  I was struck once again by how amazing the acoustics are there.  Three things to report from here:

1. I met a mother and young son from Greece at the market a couple months ago, and seen them a few times since.  They came by Rose St., and the son had drastically changed his hair: it was now a cool mix of maroon and blue!  Nice!  The mom said that whenever they see me the boy wants to give a tip, very nice.

2. After describing my studies to many people who ask about the student loan sign, I realized that the fact that I double-minored is perfect for me.  Whereas most people try to do few things well in life, I tend to do many things mediocrely.  Hm.

3. Flaca has new legs!  I'll talk more about this in the big Fringe post that's coming up, but I realized today that although they're great for Flaca, they make her a lot harder to use at the moment.  Since she now has two controllers I can't do her with one hand while playing with the other hand, and if I hand her off to kids now I worry more than before about them messing her up.  Ah well!  It'll be worth it once the project's fully done.

And then...we're not done yet...I went to the Mile for a bit.  I shouldn't have, because it made me late to meet people for the fireworks later, but I wanted to stake my claim on my pitches.  I went back to outside McGregor's for just a wee session, but there are a few notes:

1. A woman wearing a Canada sweatshirt turned around and gave me a thumbs up for "O Canada!"

2. An Australian man stopped to talk, and asked about piano accordions.  It's funny how they call it the full "piano accordion" Down Under; I have another friend who does it too.  They're all accordions!  We talked about the mechanics and stuff.  He plays banjo.

3. And lastly, I've been playing "We Are Young," the No. 1 song that I only know from the car ad at the movies.  But a guy recognized it!  "Fun!" he yelled.  Yep, that's the band.  Glad to know it's working regardless of the fact I haven't officially declared my arrangement complete.

The end!  Almost caught up!