This post is about the last two Saturdays, spent both busking in Northampton and playing at the Farmers' Market in Amherst.
Saturday, January 5, 2013, Part I:
The first stop of the day was at the Winter Farmers' Market at the Amherst Middle School, my alma mater. I had been booked as the first musical act of the day, and I was planning to just play accordion. My repertoire with Flaca is much smaller, my goal was to entertain people at various distances and levels of visibility, and I wanted to save Flaca for busking in the afternoon. I did one run-through of my whole set list, and it was great to do my old songs. I miss them all! One vendor told me that he and his co-vendor recognized a lot and tried to place them, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.
For my second set, a bunch of kids had arrived and they crowded around. I had brought my collection of percussion instruments and I handed them out, like I used to do at the markets in Edinburgh. It soon got loud though, so I had to collect them back. Flaca was just sitting there, and one little girl asked what she was for. I said, "She just sits there and makes sure things are going smoothly." "What does she do if they're not?" she asked. I was stumped. "Well...we don't usually have any trouble." I let one little girl play with Flaca, like we used to do, but immediately became nervous about her breaking. I said she needed a rest and took her back.
But after a bit, I decided to just give the kids what they want and do the Flaca routine. I turned over the box and set her up while more children came over and sat down to watch. This was good, and I ended up with quite a crowd. The one little girl who talked the most asked me a ton of questions while I was playing that I couldn't quite keep up with. At one point she asked, "Does she know you're doing it?" Another tricky one. Here's a photo someone emailed me:
Flaca also worked really well because, for once, I was on a level surface. Additionally, due to the slipperiness of the linoleum floor, I could easily pivot my left foot to operate Flaca's right hand rather than having to lift it off the ground.
A couple other tidbits from the market:
1. "'Paint it Black' always sounded like a gypsy song to me!" Right on.
2. "I'd take out a student loan for you anytime!" (Said by a Leverett-residing man who also did the disco dance during "Stayin' Alive")
3. "I have the same thing but with a dinosaur," a guy said, with a wink.
I really enjoyed playing here and running into lots of people I know. The captive audience of children was nice too, since I'm getting more and more used to playing for crazy adults. Additionally, vendors tipped me in apples, spinach, and a quiche. Mmm.
I'll be back there on February 16th; see you then!
Part II: Northampton
After the market I headed into Northampton for my first post-holiday busk. I got my favorite spot, but the snow banks were out of control so I had to move way down. I didn't take great notes and I waited quite a while, so I don't have much to report.
1. A recognizable man talked to a group of people as I chose my spot and began to unpack. I heard him ask the people, "Have you seen this act?" Made me happy.
2. There was one funny instance that brought the whole community together: I had a little crowd, and one man asked some other folks if you can park for free with a handicapped sticker on Saturdays. I got the impression that it would be a quick thing, so I piped up and mentioned that I could stall the parking enforcement guy, who I've gotten to know. The homeless guy nearby piped up as well, confirming that he could park for free. Someone commented "Everybody's helping!" :)
There's excitement on the horizon for Flaca. I had plans to fiddle with her to make her system work better, but now it's moving forward. I've made a new friend in town who's really good at little inventions such as this, and we've discussed possible options for Flaca. One seems promising, in which her arms and legs move separately, or together. Looking forward to a big work day soon to get her dancing properly.
Moving on...
Saturday, January 12, 2013
The following Saturday I set out as well, since that's what I do. It was quite balmy for January, but weirdly misty. Here's what we have:
1. A lady walked by and yelled either "Best show on the street!" or "Shut down the street!" She was smiling, so I'll take it as the former.
2. This older lady stopped by, as she often does. She had funny questions when I was an elf, which is how I got to know her. She asked me to play something she could sing, so I suggested "Fly Me to the Moon." She said she didn't know it, and proposed "You Are My Sunshine" instead. I've been getting a lot of requests for it, so I know it pretty well now. We sang, and it was very lovely. A photographer was hanging around getting good photos, which he says he'll send me. There's one very nice one coming with this woman, who I think is named Lucy.
3. I talked to a woman who has a 48-bass and wondered how I play minors. I explained, and she told me her accordion is from a shop in Philadelphia called "Liberty Bellows." Clever! She said they have "great boxes." I'll have to check it out!
4. One woman stopped to talk, and asked me some questions. It turns out she is a local journalist. She took a card and said she might want to come talk to me more. I would love that, of course. On New Year's Eve a photographer from the Gazette took my photo but didn't print it, possibly because I admitted to not being part of the official First Night line-up. I scanned my answers to this woman, hoping to not have repeated something like that. She had asked me if I only play in Northampton and I said no, but hopefully she's still interested. Exciting.
5. A guy stopped by and asked, "What's the name of your band?" Hmm, tricky question. Sophie's Smokin' Squeezebox? KAIHO? I expressed my confusion, and he mentioned a show at the Iron Horse recently. Nope, not me. Apparently there's another female accordion player in town who sorta looks like me.
6. One thing I witness quite often is people trying to get into the bank to use the ATM, finding it locked, haphazardly looking around for the slot to swipe a card, not finding it, and leaving. Sometimes I'll yell after them "It's right there!!!" and sometimes I won't. One young woman was standing outside the bank when there was a strange interaction regarding the card-swiping thing. I caught her eye after and she smiled and said, "Well that was awkward." I must say, I love my role as "public witness."
7. I goofed around with some local youths at First Night regarding calling their friend Jose Reyes. A couple teenage boys walked by and recognized me. One finished the story from that night and said, "We called Jose Reyes that night!" Nice.
8. It's funny, people often refer to Flaca as "him." Even if you can't see her long braids, it's pretty clear that she's wearing a skirt/generally girly outfit. Hmm.
9. Here's one from NYE that I forgot: a man walked by and said, "Where's your monkey?" I had gotten used to people commenting that I was no longer an elf, so I thought this was a similar statement, that this man had thought Flaca wasn't with me that night. So I said, "She's right there, she just changed clothes!" and he politely nodded. I had forgotten that "Where's your monkey?" is a question I've gotten many times, just because I play accordion. This guy was clearly seeing us for the first time and just saw the accordion, so he made that joke. Oh well.
10. When it's slow, I like to play my non-Flaca songs to make sure I remember them. When it's getting dark, I like to play slow songs. So at a slow, dark moment, I whipped out "Laura's Theme" from Twin Peaks; the one I don't play as often. However, two young women stopped to watch. This is in no way a dance song, but I tried to make it as entertaining as possible rather than switching to a song Flaca's used to. It failed, so I melded it into something upbeat, but it was a good challenge.
The end! There's a lot of excitement coming up: I'm heading to DC tomorrow for the Inauguration, and I hope to get some busking in. I'm booked at the Farmer's Market Feb. 16th, and of course I'll be out for Valentine's Day. But most exciting of all is that I was asked to play in the Really Big Show. Northampton has a "Four Sundays in February" show series. I've only ever seen the Silver Chord [A Cappella] Bowl, but I have heard great things about the Vaudeville-esque Really Big Show. Well, an amazing family friend suggested me to Bob Cilman who's in charge, and he asked me to play. I told him that the marionette is hard to see from afar, so he suggested we have a camera and project her on a big screen behind me. Wow! So now I'm extra motivated to get Flaca's movements more interesting by then (February 24th).
Sorry for all the typos in this post; I'm doing it quickly so I can watch Downton Abbey and go to bed early to catch my 7:00 AM train!
Love,
S
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