For Boston, For Boston

Today was just what I needed.  During such a week of extremes, I needed a neutral day.  The weather wasn't extreme.  I didn't use Flaca so my body didn't feel extreme.  I wasn't hungry, nor did I need to pee.  As far as busking goes, it's hard to get any less extreme than today.

The overarching theme of the day was approval.  Often buskers get comments insinuating that they are homeless, suggesting that they get a job, or otherwise implying disapproval/a lack of understanding.  But today, people got it.  They got it and they approved.  Countless people told me to keep it up, several strengthening it by saying such things as "I mean it" and "Do this for as long as you can."  One young man contradicted my judgement of him based on his preppy attire and said, "Don't ever stop."  (When I passed him later, on my way to the car, he reprimanded me for packing up.)

I must introduce today's post, of course, with my reflections on the Boston bombings and its relevance to a busker.  I was in a weird mood Saturday morning.  The last five days were chock-full with emotion-inducing events.  A relative died, the bombings occurred, I got the job I wanted for the summer, I met my new baby cousin, I radically changed one of my plans for the summer, the lockdown occurred, and then I found out that two of my friends are conspiracy theorists who considered the incidents in Boston to be not a tragedy, but a ploy.  That was the most shocking news of all, but the cocktail of all these emotions made me want to go busk.  Although I'm not and never have been a Bostonian, I spent a couple of weeks in Boston busking as an elf, and I have fond memories of beginning that chapter a mere few feet away from where the bombings would occur.  My way of coping with all of this was to go play.

I decided not to use Flaca for a variety of reasons.  Mainly, I just didn't feel like it.  My act featuring Flaca is entertaining, but not passionate.  I didn't feel very entertaining.  Also, when I use Flaca my main emotion is boredom, and I didn't want to be stuck with my thoughts while I rotated the small repertoire that I use with her.  With the accordion, I can channel emotions through the music, playing my most passionately.  Also, my just-accordion repertoire is long, so I don't repeat a song for a long time and it goes much faster.  Today, if you factor in talking, it took an hour and a half to play through everything once.  I make less money when I don't use Flaca, but it was worth it.  Additionally, she wasn't working very well last week.  I changed one offending cable this morning, but she required other tweaks to be her full self.

The bombings and the aftermath have put me into a pro-human-unity mindset.  Not to say I wasn't in one before, but after a tragedy I feel the desire to hold both my loved ones and strangers a little closer.  I think this is the reason for the sudden approval from everyone, and general air of kindness from more people than usual.  Additionally, I've never seen so much Boston sports gear!  Everywhere I looked it was Red Sox and Celtics, mostly, and I wished I had worn my Red Sox earrings.

I know atrocities happen worldwide on a daily basis, and I do think Americans could improve their knowledge of current events/take more action to show support/oppose US involvement overseas.  I am guilty of taking local news a lot harder, and posting about it on social media sites, than I do news from abroad.  It's a lot more real in our backyard.

Anyway, my heart has been in Boston, so I tried to figure out "Sweet Caroline" to play on the streets this afternoon.  I sort of forgot how the verse went, but managed to wing it okay.  No one said anything, but it made me feel good.  In the immortal words of Big Papi, "This is our &%$#!@* city!"

Saturday, April 20, 2013

1.  The day began very interestingly, when a big question was answered.  As I was setting up, a young woman asked, "Can I talk to you about your puppet?"  When I said yes, she calmly said "I'm uncomfortable because your puppet is black and you're controlling her."  Aha!  I have been wondering if people feel this way.  JP warned me that the act would come across this way, but I hadn't received negative feedback yet.  I mean, I know she's Mexican but others don't (not that that's any better).  The whole thing was a really nice interaction, because she wasn't angry about it and I wasn't defensive about it.  (Here's another example of the post-tragedy unity thing.  Maybe a week before I would have gotten defensive.)  I thanked her for bringing it to my attention, and she thanked me for being receptive to it.

I have therefore decided that my next puppet is not going to be dark skinned.  I do need to custom design a new puppet that moves exactly how I want her to move, so the question arose of whether or not I'd try to recreate Flaca.  I felt like making her light-skinned would be offensive since the idea of the new puppet was to "improve" the old one.  On the other hand, I was worried about our discrepancy in race, and didn't want to do all the work of making a new one just to continue offending people.

I talked about this to a friend, and he suggested giving her skin that isn't associated with standard humans.  Make her green, she can be a Martian.  (I said that then I'd imply Earthlings are the superior species of humans, so he suggested making her an Earthling and I could be the Martian.)

Anyway, I'm curious on other opinions.  Are other people concerned about the race issue with Flaca?

2. "You're the first person under fifty I've ever seen playing one of those!" Cool, but where have you been??

3. I had a really nice interaction with a middle-aged couple, including a Clark Alum!  He used to play the accordion, and his [wife] had heard me play "Paint it Black" before.  Today, she asked me to play "PIB" for her husband, and he seemed to like it.  He had only ever played traditional accordion songs on his, but one day a friend gave him a Beatles songbook for the accordion and all that changed.  I asked if he still has his accordion, and he says he does, although is first accordion was stolen in college (that's how Clark U came up).  Someone came in the window of his first floor room in Sanford, on Spree Day, and took it right from its case (which didn't fit out the window).  Boooo!  Hopefully he'll start playing accordion again, something his wife would like, and take me up on my offer to send over my arrangement of PIB!  These were such nice people.

4. A man asked if I could play "Roll Out the Barrels," and said it was his favorite drinking song, even though he doesn't drink anymore.  So I played it, and he suggested I check out the new music store above Jake's and see the electric harpsichord.  Cooool!  It was a big day for Barrels, since another man requested it too, then didn't stop to listen.  Ah, well.

5. A young woman asked, "Do you know anything Slavic?"  Nope!

6. It was a very big day for Twin Peaks.  All three times I played it someone recognized it!  One such man and his girlfriend (?) stopped to listen, and I told them I've been playing it more often since I'm in the middle of watching the series for the second time.  The man said, "Me too!"  I asked him where he is in it, and he said, "In the dullest part of season two."  Yep, me too.  But both of us are trucking through it so our girlfriend/dad sees the end.  I love playing "Laura's Theme" for people who know the show, like these ones.  Good job, America!

7. This one family walked by smiling.  It really stuck in my memory, because all six of them gave me these amazing, huge smiles, and they all looked alike.  Mom, Dad, three sons, and a daughter.  Wow!  I felt like on the Sims when the green happiness cone fills up.

8.  A guy stopped by and asked if I wanted to play at at party.  A joint birthday party, "no pun intended" (Because it was 4/20 and Extravaganja was happening in Amherst).  Apparently it was happening in a field, and there would be kickball.  I thought about going, but didn't in the end.  "I appreciate your squeezebox," he said before walking away.  Pun intended?

9.  A woman walked by with her corgi puppy who I had seen a few times.  Today, she used treats to try to get the dog to sit in front of me and listen.  "She needs culture!" the woman insisted.  :)

10. I saw one dollar in the box that appeared to be accordion folded....heh heh.

11. Speaking of dollars, remember a few weeks ago when this guy came by and stamped all my bills with "Not to be used to bribe politicians?"  Well, I got one of those back in the box.  Which means that the Valley is truly circulating money and people are supporting local businesses.  I love that!

12. Today, for the first time, I started listening to the bass of my songs.  I noticed it first on "I Believe (When I Fall in Love...)."  I love the bass!  From now on, when I'm bored playing songs, I'm just going to listen to the bass.  I love bass!

13. I played "Chariots of Fire," then realized it might be inappropriate so soon after the Boston marathon bombings due to the theme of competitive running.  Hmmm, what do you think?

14. The host of the Really Big Show came by, and I was happy that I was playing something he hadn't heard.  The past few times he's walked by I was coincidentally playing the songs I played in the show, and I wanted him to know my repertoire is bigger than that!  I'm sure he didn't notice, but I felt good about it.

15.  A man walked by pushing a stroller with someone very talkative in it.  I guess the kid had complimented the backward-facing design of the stroller, since I tuned in when the dad was confirming, "We can walk and talk and have a proper conversation!"  They saw me, and had this conversation:
Kid: What's that?
Dad: That's called "Sophie's Smokin' Squeezebox."
Kid: I don't know what is that.

16. While I was figuring out Sweet Caroline, a local man who I see every week came by, and I told him of my intentions to play Boston songs.  He asked me if I knew the Boston College fight song, which he said is easily improvised on.  I didn't, so he sang it, helping me to find the notes.  That would have been good to learn!  "For Boston, for Boston, We sing our proud refrain!"

17. As I was packing up, and had Flaca lying around next to the accordion, I heard a woman say, "Sorry I missed THAT!"  :)

Lastly, some good news about today is that my dress is somewhat repaired!  My piano dress is in rough shape, mainly because of a giant hole in the back that wore through from wearing my big backpack in Europe, as well as sitting.  I tried to patch it, but it failed.  I wanted to just make a new dress, with such improvements as lining it to prevent more holes, and making it more modest both at the hemline and in the shoulder region for sun purposes.  However, the fabric was discontinued and I struck out with another company online that advertised similar fabric but didn't have it.

And so I raided my stash, and saw that I had enough of the original piano fabric left to apply a massive patch to the whole lower back region.  It felt great to play without that breeze coming through the dress!  I daresay the dress is going to last a little longer.

Now, my next project is to make a little sign bidding farewell to Northampton.  Only two more Saturdays!  Till next time.