62nd day sober. I got some decent practice in last night, listed Ebay things, and went to be around 7AM. Woke up a bit past 2. I got pretty solid sleep due to my being so tired, and had also practiced over an hour.
I finished packing things and got out of here a bit past 5 with things for the post office. On the way there I noticed Tom was back and he saw me so I waved as I went by. I dropped the things off and stopped by the storage unit for a few things to list, then rode over to Tom's place. "How was Alaska?" I asked as I rode up. We talked for a while and I mentioned the "compensation" he'd brought up when we were talking over the Ring device.
I'd taken $10, a $5 bill and $5 in change, with me with the plan in mind of getting a gyro at the falafel place but they'd been closed. So when Tom said "Will you take $50?" I said "Sure - I've even got change" so I got 3 $20's from him. We talked about things for a while, and I mentioned my plan to do my first busking since the shutdown. He hasn't been practicing but maybe my getting out there will inspire him.
I finally said I had to go, and that I'll be by tomorrow, and took off. I got back to the shop and got the trumpet and my tip box together, and headed for Japantown. I'd planned to get a bento from this one place that I thought for the longest time only served ice cream, but when I got there it was kind of busy so I went down 4th street and stopped in at the La Victoria there and got a "super taco" for $5 which was just the right amount of food - enough to keep me from being hungry, but not enough to feel bloated.
After eating I rode to Whole Foods, noting that downtown looked fairly busy, especially the San Pedro Square area. I locked the bike up at Whole Foods, picked my teeth and chewed sugarless gum until the flavor was gone, then set up to play.
I played a lot of Saints and Amazing Grace, but did other things too. Some high school age kids were hanging around, just enjoying being out of the house it seemed, and after a couple of tips from a couple of them for "sounding good" one of the gaggle of them started singing some song I've heard before, that one that goes Kiss Me Once And Kiss Me Twice and something about it being a Long Long Time so I played a bit of that which impressed them. That led to another tip or two, and I asked if they play anything. One kid plays clarinet "A little" and another plays violin.
A couple of them wanted me to play "Fly Me To The Moon" which I did, then explained that the song is actually titled "In Other Words", but the funniest thing is, tons of people *my* age love a band called The Who and there's a song by them everyone knows as "Teenage Wasteland" but the real title is "Baba O'Reily" and if you call it "Teenage Wasteland" to Who fans it really pisses 'em off. I'd seen it time and time again and it's really funny.
Things felt a bit slow but I was getting a steady flow of $1's. An old lady had her family stop the car (the exit to the parking lot is right there) to put a tip in, and I played My Funny Valentine for a couple of Sikh guys who wanted to hear something "jazzy". All sorts of people tipped, including a bum who walked up and stashed his pack behind the stack of carts, gone in and shopped, then come out with a paper bag of groceries.
All in all it was pretty good and I got to work on some songs, and my high notes didn't go away on me. I put in an hour, which I felt was enough. That hour earned me $26 consisting of one $5 and the rest $1's. I'd played the 8-9PM hour.
I went into Whole Foods and couldn't think of a single thing I wanted to buy. The sardines in there I like have gone down in quality and are over $4 and no better than the $1.50 ones from the Asian stores so those were out. I'm not eating beef or dairy so fancy cheeses are out. I finally ended up buying a 6-pack of Beck's non-alcoholic beer to try for about $8.
I started the ride back and noticed it was very busy around San Pedro Square and also the Jesus freaks had taken over the intersection of Santa Clara and Market, yelling over megaphones etc. I thought about the old trumpet guy who always has a rabbit with him and thought, If he's still alive, he'll be playing at the Old Spaghetti Factory. So I doubled back and rode over there to check it out. He was not there. There was a bum a short way down with a bike and a lot of packages, selling something or who knows what, but not close enough to be a problem, and the usual space was open with no bums, beggars, artists, etc.
So I set up and played a bit for old times' sake. It was so noisy there that only simple songs could cut through, and once I made $4, in a few minutes, to bring my night's earnings to $30, I packed up and left.
I rode back here by taking Hedding to 10th and riding along that, avoiding the zombies on Commercial street which I'd have to ride up if I rode on 7th, but I still had to dodge two different zombies on bikes on 10th near the fire station and on Old Bayshore. The safest route is probably to take 1st up to Brokaw and then come in that way along Zanker. The zombies are certainly active - I stopped to look at an interesting pile of stuff (and what I thought was a Halliburton briefcase) by the side of Bayshore but it was all junque and the zombies in the zombie nest across the street started fighting loudly, probably over who would get to eat my brains. So I got out of there quick.
No comments:
Post a Comment