I love playing in Salzburg! People are friendly, children are abundant, and wallets seem to be heavy. I set up this afternoon after my Sound of Music tour of Salzburg (did you notice in the movie that Gretel keeps getting fatter, because everyone kept giving her cake all through the shooting?) where the human statue had been the previous day. It seemed like a good pitch, and indeed I wasn't shut down. I still don't understand my comments in German, but I like to think my pronunciation of "Danke Shöen" improves every time.
Sunday, 14 October, 2012
1. A man talked to me in German, so I said I don't speak it. He asked a question which was undoubtedly, "What DO you speak?" and I said "English." "Ahh, England!" he replied. "Elizabeth! [German word for Queen?] Elizabeth!" and he did this funny thing to act it out, like puffed out his chest and did a facial expression. So I mimed a crown to help it out. He asked, "Salzburg...one day? Two days?" "Three days." "Then Vienna?" "Then Budapest!" He told me the people are very good, and mimed tipping. Said the Swiss are good too.
2. Another old man (or it might have been the same one, really) got as far as determining I speak English when I asked him if he speaks English. "A little." "Or Spanish!" His response was in German, but undoubtedly meant "even less!" Funny how intonation can get you so far.
3. A man left me his phone number :) Contrary to what I expected, this doesn't actually ever happen. I said I was leaving, and he said to call him in the morning. No thanks, but still a good one for the scrapbook.
4. I don't love my hostel and haven't had great luck on Couch Surfing this time, so I secretly hoped that someone would see me playing and invite me to stay. One older woman talked to me, with a little bit of English, and asked if I have a place to live. I sort of didn't even get it, and said I was staying at a hostel. Oh damn, that was my shot. Oh well.
5. One little boy lingered for quite some time, getting more and more involved in the act. He kept asking me questions, but didn't respond to my "Ich spreche kein Deutsch." So I felt bad for just smiling and ignoring him. He saw the lights, which I set up with Flaca even though they can't turn on, and commented "licht!" Hey, now I know a new word. I tried miming while saying that when it gets dark I turn the lights on, and an American mother watching encouraged her evidently bilingual daughter to translate for the boy. He stayed put, despite our language barrier. I decided to hang up the string lights I got, even though it was light out, and asked him to help, which just meant holding it. And he said something about my trailer, so I nodded. It came time to pack up, so I put my accordion down. He undoubtedly asked if he could play it, so I nodded while I packed up. Then he wordlessly helped me put stuff in the box, and I let him close the lid and put it on the trailer. It was really awesome having this non-communicative experience with a little boy in a foreign country. I guess that's why I do this!
6. Another little girl lingered for a while and said a lot to me. I continued just smiling and nodding, but then her dad translated one comment: that I had played the theme to Wallace and Gromit! Every once in a while Americans will recognize it, but only in weird places like San Francisco or Northampton. Of course all the Brits recognized it, but I really didn't expect anything playing it in Austria. Awesome! This girl also kept trying to speak German for me, and finally her father intervened and told her I don't speak German. She asked if I speak French, as translated by her dad. I said no, but that I speak Spanish, which the father relayed. The girl responded and the father laughed before translating: "She thinks you should speak French...and a little German." Excellent advice!
7. Two other adorable kids on bikes stopped for a while, and like went all around my setup figuring it out. It was time to go, but the dad had a hard time getting the littlest one to come with them. They tried many times, and finally the older daughter biked back over with the little one's pacifier to lure her away. Wow, I'm more entertaining than a pacifyer!
8. I took a break and walked around (the Mozart birth house was my destination, but they had no where to leave my gear). I decided to play more, and as I came back to the spot two sort of sketchy guys were sitting nearby. As I walked by one pointed at me as he talked to his friend, so I gave a polite wave, assumign he had said, "Oh my God, there she is, the puppet accordion lady!!!" I realized that he could equally have likely pointed out that I had a sack full of coins, and that I'd better watch my back. Not to make assumptions, but I've never had trouble, and it's bound to kick in sometime.
9. I try not to gloat about money anymore, as I did in early pre-blog facebook posts about busking, but I msut say that Salzburg is treating me well. Well, the puppet is treating me well. I predicted that I'd do better with the puppet, and it's proving to be true. I think part of if is that my non-puppet gimmick is the student loans sign, so in a place full of non-English speakers, I need a non-verbal gimmick. This is just so thrilling, since I'm totally out of money. Especially since I don't have my bank card; I reaaally need to be making money on the road. Three times I started packing up, then saw I had a crowd waiting, so I kept going. I'm also feeling like a bit of a celebrity, since a few parties from this morning's tour went by and commented on my celebrity status, and a guy at the hostel just asked, "Is it possible that I saw you busking earlier?" Yes it is, my friend.
10. A man came up and said her sister is looking for a musician to play at her "marriage." It's in Salzburg next June, will I still be here? I told them maybe! Hell, maybe I'll go back to Edinburgh for the Fringe and travel all summer before! Always a nice proposition :)
I'm sure there was so much more, but I didn't write stuff down for whatever reason. JP, who is, by the way, completely on my black list and never to be trusted again, let alone credited with good ideas, advised me to try to centre my new act around doing a show, not just being a walk-by act. I'm toying with the idea and seeing if that makes a difference. I am getting decent crowds, but whenever I stop to fix a foot thing or drink water, they do take it as a cue to leave and tip or not tip and walk away. So I do want to test doing shows, which would be an epic four-song medley, I guess. But I don't want to completely piss off vendors and such, so I think i could do two shows. Maybe The Godfather-Paint it Black-Funiculi Funicula and Vieni Sul Mar-The Final Countdown-La Donna e Mobile. Those songs seem to be the best.
I do mean to record a proper video demo sometime, but since the first video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crspu63V3aU&noredirect=1 and that's the first day, I've gotten better!) I've added a string on her right hand, which I can yank as I please to flail her hand out. It's so much fun and looks so silly! I like doing it and fun times and seeing people's reactions. You can usually count on somebody to wave their arm as well, confirming that they saw it. Oh, and everyone taps their feet in solidarity.
Next stop is either Budapest or Vienna. I want to go to Budapest, but it all comes down to money. I don't think they're on the Euro, and since I can't withdraw cash I might get into some trouble. Or just busk right away for local currency!
Off to go do hostel things like look at trains and maybe have some beeeeer.
No comments:
Post a Comment