I woke up this morning and on the radio all they're talking about is the ridiculous failed attempt by the young hero to rescue our country from fascism. At least a point is being made, that Dirty Diaper Don has been calling for violence for years, talking endlessly about shooting political opponents and those of his own party not loyal enough, and now he's all surprised someone took a shot at him.
Maybe the message is now becoming clear. If that menace is allowed to pollute the White House again, we will start our "years of lead".
I got out of here far too late to catch the lunch crowd if there really is one, but I'm pretty sure it was the 4:30 - 5:30 hour that I played at Whole Foods. I actually played for 15 or 20 minutes at the Old Spaghetti and someone toss in $2 but it didn't feel promising.
So over to WF it was, and while it was windy, it wasn't too hot and there wasn't a booth set up with scammers dividing the public's attention. So I played my hour and had fun because I tried out some new songs and talked with people, and in the end I'd made $44. Then I took a break for food and a beer and then chewed gum to get my mouth clean again, and rode down to Willow Glen. I figured I'd play in that little niche where the movie theatre used to be, but when I got there, there was a gal singing in the bar 2 doors down, "The Wheelhouse" or something, and if I played it would interfere with her.
So I went into BevMo to look around. I found a liquor that's lemon flavored that might be what I'll need next week, and picked up a box of wine. But when I got to the checkout, the wine was magically $6 more expensive. "Wait," I said, "I have a bunch of $1's in the car I want to use up, I'll go get 'em". And walked out.
I went to Mr. T's thinking maybe it was one of those "treasure cave" places, but no, it makes TAK Market look upscale. Let's face it, Willow Glen is ghetto. To further emphasize its ghetto-ness, I came across two old phonographs in big standing cabinets on the sidewalk on the Lincoln Avenue, and took what parts I could manage with my Swiss Army Knife. Skeezy types on bikes rode by, no doubt ready to double back after a suitable while, to scavenge what I hadn't gotten.
I rode back over to Whole Foods and what the hell, it's practice, set up and played another hour, from 6:30 - 7:30. I got $20 and a fresh apricot. That brings me up to $66 for the day which is pretty good.
I rode back carefully since I had two Whole Foods bags, one now with a big rip, carrying the two big phonograph parts, got back here, some minor parking lot cleanup, and I'm done for the day.
As practice my playing went well. I'm starting to really listen to tone and vibrato, to try to make each note sound as good as I can and it's helping. Treating busking as practice is a good idea. At one point I said to a guy that I take requests, and he said, "Whatever you like, man, improvise" so I played My Funny Valentine, the version Chet Baker made famous. He got a kick out of that. And a dopey Christian lady gave me a $5 with one of those stupid pamphlets they're always handing out wrapped around it. I waited for her to be out of sight then got rid of the propaganda. All in all it was a friendly, happy day.
Dinner was 2 crepes filled with beef chunks fried with diced onion and potato, and sort of thick, soft, potato chips I made with the rest of the potato. All free things except for the beef and I guess I had to pay for the hot sauce and mayo I put on the filling, but a pretty cheap, and delicious, meal.
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