I'm going to skip an intro, because this post's anecdotes are numerous, and they say it all.
Only a minor preface:
The hunt continues for the perfect name for my puppet. Since the last update, these are the names that have come to mind. Let me know if you like one a lot or have a new idea! They are: May (busking mentor in Ptown, month I bought her), Eve (in honor of busking mentor Jaia), Clementine (because she's my darling), Sylvie, Poppy, Estrella, Greta (because she was originally Gretel), Dagmar (because it has family significance and the cool Czech girl in this cafe I'm writing in is named Dagmar). I'm sure I'll have a whole new batch by the next post.
Anyway....June 19-July 6, 2014
1. People continue to be absolutely flabbergasted that I am American. I'm serious, people ask where I'm from, I tell them, and their eyes widen; their jaws drop. "Are you kidding me?" (Seriously, people learn that phrase in English.) "No way." This one Italian family looked at each other for moral support. Everyone who assumes I'm Russian looks like this when they learn the truth:
I told one person I speak English, and he said, "Are you from England?" "No." "Russia?" Really? Russia is the second guess for an English-speaker? I'm expecting the Cesky Krumlov Times to publish this front page:
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A man stopped by to ask my hours for the following day. After a quick conversation and performance, he revealed that he's a tour guide for an American group, and he thought his travelers might like to hear me because I speak English and I know American movies and songs. Even he didn't put it together; there's a reason I speak English and know American movies and songs.
2. On multiple occasions people have offered me licks of their ice cream. And most days someone offers me a swig of their drink! Hey, it's sort of a beach town. One night, a group of young Czech men stopped by. One approached me holding a bottle of rum in one hand and a bottle of Coke in the other. He offered me a swig of both, which I declined. He then bent down to extend them to the puppet, and humorously said, "For you or your bike!" Yeah, that's just not what that is. "Doll" or "girl" is okay, but she is not a bike. I wonder if the words are similar in Czech.
These guys asked where I'm from, so I said "The USA." One said, robotically, "Are you kidding me?" I specified, "Massachusetts." Another guy spoke up and said, "Boston, Massachusetts!? I am a lifelong Celtics fan." So I asked him, "Why are you a lifelong Celtics fan?" He replied, "Bill Russell!! And Larry Byrd is my white basketball hero because I am a white man." Fair enough. I played "Sweet Caroline" but I guess he's not THAT much of a Boston-er.
The next night these guys came by again, this time in full red, yellow and black apparel, clearly headed to watch World Cup. Not following the game schedule, I asked them, "Belgium or Germany?" They replied, "Colombia!" Guess it was blue. These guys are full of surprises.
3. A guy asked for metal and did a detailed drumming mime. Others asked for Metallica and ACDC. Guess I have to fill this gap in my repertoire!
4. A textbook fantasy-entertainment-type nerd walked by, so I confidently played the opening chords to Game of Thrones. He kept walking, expression unchanged. I couldn't believe it; he looked perfect. I was like this:
But then he got it, grinned, and turned around. Yes, nailed that one!
5. Speaking of which, I'm trying to think of a term for when I play G of T thinking someone will recognize it, but they don't. A "King's Missed Landing?" "Harren-fail?"
6. Some young guys in Lederhosen stopped by. "I have the number for a taxi, will you tell me where is the nearest strip tease club?" Seriously, you ask the girl in the modest piano dress? Not any of the dozens of young drunk men harassing me? "Prague!"
7. Just a nice thing: I got caught in the rain. I felt it in the air, eyed the cloud, and planned to pack up BEFORE the rain started. Of course I didn't, and quickly scooped up everything and went under a tunnel thing to pack up properly. This was a nice little happenstance, because the tunnel led to a tiny covered porch behind a Pension that had about three picnic tables full of drinkers, and a musical duo or trio including lovely accordion wafting through the air.
8. A shocking thing happened: someone interrupted G of T, my most popular song! That never happens! But it was okay because he requested....Twin Peaks!
9. A guy stopped to talk and revealed that he's a musican as well. He had a strong accent, and asked if I like "tone ways." "Sure!" I said, not a mega-expert on music theory. Who doesn't like tone ways? Turns out he meant "Tom Waits." Ohhhh.
10. One unpleasant character is this drunk disheveled guy who wears a leather vest and has a mohawk. I think I've already posted about him. He walks by and tips me, then walks by again and asks for some money. Last time he walked by three times, leaving a tip each time, and the third time hesitated before also throwing in a Snoopy eraser.
On a particularly drunk-or-worse night, he stood a few feet to my left and leaned against the bridge's rail, beginning to doze off. It was dark out and I was playing slow songs, so I don't blame him. I tried to suddenly come in loudly and rouse him, like this:
11. During "Paint it Black" a girl walked by and enthusiastically exclaimed what sounded like "Sal drooy antoony!" Any Czech speakers have an idea?
12. Last week included both Canada Day and U.S. Independence Day. Canada Day in particular tends to be good for busking wherever I am. After a few rounds of "O Canada" I have it down well enough, and normally it brings down the house. But it was a quiet night and my neighbors to the north were few and far between. Next year!
On the 4th of July, there happened to be some random fireworks, so I limped through the difficult "Star Spangled Banner" and got a celebratory fist in the air. We'll count that!
13. Speaking of which, there is always a single firework at 9:30, before it's dark enough to see. Not sure what that's about. Maybe it's the "buskers go home" alarm.
14: Just a recap for Future Me to remember the people I see every night: Filip from the restaurant at one end of the bridge, the guy who drives the Hotel Anděl van, the super nice guy with the blue car, the friendly cop, the nice lady from the toy store, the lady who maybe goes swimming but ignores me, that guy who comes from the left and says dobry den, the fat guy who comes from the right and says dobry den, the Czech girl who works at the Chinese restaurant, the cute guy with the dog.
15. I saw a heavily-primped guy walk by wearing a t-shirt into which he had cut a low neck to show off his chest. First time I've seen a guy do that. Other interesting fashion: the lady wearing jaguar-print pants with cow-print crocs; the pretty, made-up otherwise stylish [Asian] tourist wearing huge khaki overalls with factory-added multi-colored paint dribbles all over; the girl with a velour track jacket with "Noxious" written on the back in rhinestones; and other questionable English shirts on foreigners ("Balls Deep.")
16. A group of hooligans walked by, and one guy pointed to another and said, "His name is David Seagull." It wasn't that, but that's the closest I can get. I asked, "What?" several times, thinking it might be a famous person. The fourth time, the guy said, "His name is David Seagull, he's twenty-two years old, and he's a good person." :)
17. Young drunken asshole across the bridge mockingly bowed at some Asian tourists. Classy.
18. I've been mentally drafting a list of "Things Not to Do to Buskers" for a future blog post. An older Italian man with a mullet in a ponytail gave me an idea for another when he stood next to me, puckered his lips, and headed for my cheek. Don't worry, I dodged it. Thou shalt not kiss thine buskers.
This has actually become a thing now: people (men) wanting me to kiss their cheeks. So I started saying "Sorry, I only have kisses for my girl," motioning to my puppet. For one guy, I pointed to the puppet and started to deliver that line, and he interrupted me and said, "Only for your....[thought of word and discussed with friends in Czech]...Barbie!" Ha, close enough.
19. Cesky Krumlov does sort of have a beach town vibe, since people come from out of town to go rafting on the river and drink all day. It's common for people to walk around with plastic cups full of beer or mojitos, so liquid landing in my box is a concern. I've started to be strict about this, and made one guy step off the sidewalk before I would play. I went as far as to take off my accordion and put it down, behind me, and repeat that I wouldn't play until I had some personal space. I should learn "The reason I want you to get off the sidewalk is that I do not want beer on my things" in Czech.
20. "Where are you from?" "The USA." "CALIFORNIA!!!!!!!" "No, Massachusetts." "......MASSACHUSETTS!!!!!!" "[Babble babble Czech Czech] The Beegees!" Right, I keep forgetting to learn the Beegees' "Massachusetts."
21. I constantly worry that I am going to indirectly kill somebody this summer. I play on a relatively narrow bridge where people walk in the street. When cars come by, pedestrians clear out, unless they're distracted by me. And drivers usually brake for pedestrians, unless they're distracted by me. Uh-oh!
22. A dwarf walked by while I was playing G of T, and I was worried that he thought I was playing it because of him and was offended! That's a new one.
23. I was speaking English with a group of travelers I know from my hostel, and this older German (?) man invited himself to the conversation. He thought he recognized G of T and asked what it was. He asked what other movie songs I do, and I rattled off the list. He said, "You should really learn 'Last of the Mohicans.'" Noted.
24. Speaking of songs to learn, I had the idea to learn "Land Down Under" for Australians. I ran this by an Australian, and he suggested "Waltzing Matilda" as well. I don't think it's the old traditional one; rather a popular Aussie song. I also thought to learn "Let's Get it On" for the times people are hardcore making out.
25. I played "Stayin' Alive" and an older man within a group grinned and said "Wreck me, baby!" What?
26. Aw, I lied to a nice German lady. She stopped me on the street to ask where I got my dress, and I said that I had made it. She asked where I got the fabric, so I told her it was at a store in my small town in the United States. It's from the internet. I can't have someone walking around Germany in a matching dress!!
27. Apparently "accordion" in Czech is "harmonica" which is confusing. But I'm getting used to it.
28. Maybe I said this in the last post, but some young people study Spanish! So I offer it as a language I can communicate in, and once in a while the people summon their children to speak with me.
29. There is a young (eight-year-old?) gypsy-looking boy who walks by a lot, often stopping to listen. This time, he stood to the right of my setup for a while, enthusiastically clapping and smiling after every song. He speaks a tiny bit of English, and asked me for some money. I said no. Slippery slope. But he stuck around for a while, and whenever I bent down to adjust something, he asked if he could help.
It was annoying having him because I was a little worried he'd help himself to some krona when I was looking the other way, so I didn't look the other way. But then I didn't know if any nerds were going to walk by so I'd miss starting G of T in time! Then the boy bent down and started drumming on the side of my box, so his hands were practically in my stash so I was on full alert. Argh!
But then, my affection increased. In three of my songs I do a keyboard swipe (you know, when you swipe your hand down the keyboard and sound aaaaawwwwwesome) (can't Google the official word because of the goddamn "Keyboard Swype" app). I am really excited about these keyboard swipes, and when I mastered them, a feat I could never do on piano, I expected people to FREAK OUT! I think my dad may have winked once, but that's the extent of the reaction to this feat.
But....this little gypsy boy on the bridge DID freak out. It was in "Paint it Black" and he literally burst into applause and yelped mid-song because of the swipe. So I warmed to him. When a staggering drunk guy tossed a coin towards my box and missed by a mile, the boy hurried to pick it up and return it to the box. So I told him to keep it. He was super happy, and ran off. Okay, that was the right move. (Now you know how to get money from me, just love my swipes.)
The café (Ántré, of course, with Horká Čokoláda) is closing and my notes are finished, so this is the end. In conclusion, things are going very well here and I've got a good rhythm down. But I almost forgot! I spent this afternoon with a tube of rubber cement and a bunch of bobby pins giving nameless-puppet a much better hairdo, covering her god-awful bangs! Here she is!
I tweeted you: @AccordionBruce
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