Sunday

 On Friday I managed to get things sent out, and got to the service in time. This time they had musicians, not the full band but two guitars, some drums, and flute. It was pretty great. 

Then on to the barbecue and here I saw why there was such a large turnout. It was excellent. I had tons of brisket, some beans, and lots of cucumber salad. Before eating I got to talk to the flutist and we knew some people and places in common, and she might be interested in buying my flutes. In the solo in one of the songs she's done this really cool note bend and I'd started by complimenting her on that. I was able to get her card, and we might be able to do a deal. 

I came back here and just had some fish with my red wine, as I'd had plenty of beef. I watched a lot of videos about klezmer music which is pretty cool sounding. 

I woke up after half-sleeping a good part of the night, because I wanted to be up around 8. I got up around 8:30, cleaned up a bit, and took off for the temple for a thing we held today. Plus there were bagels. And by bagels I mean tons of schmear, onions and capers, and I picked out a bagel with big salt crystals on it which I proceeded to pile high with schmear, put some capers on top, and plenty of cucumber slices and red onion on the side. 

So I didn't have to worry about breakfast. 

After the thing was done and I'd schmoozed a bit, I took off for Whole Foods. There was a "Save The Children/Give Us Your Credit Card Info" booth so I had to busk elsewhere. I walked over to the light rail station and had just missed the train to go to the Whole Foods on Hamilton. I thought, I have time to take the 522 bus to California Avenue and try out the farmer's market there. 

So I walked back, and realized I could take the train and get there a lot quicker. So  I got on the train and was there in short order. I set up on the sidewalk where there was shade, and got no tips. I moved to just under a small tree that was part of the central "island" and played and got no tips. I went into Mollie Stone's and got some of those "Candle Lit" things I use (although I think I'll start making my own out of aluminum foil) and went to the train station. 

I can only conclude that the poor people of Palo Alto who were swarming around the farmer's market are too financially impoverished to tip a street musician, and so culturally impoverished that they don't appreciate live music or really even know what it is. The poor, poor, people of Palo Alto. 

I took the train to Sunnyvale (and it was one of the new electric trains which is neat) and tried playing on Murphy Street but there was not much foot traffic at all. So I walked down to the Whole Foods. There are two possible spots there - a windy one out on the sidewalk next to the street and across from this little park they've just put in, and the other spot's outside their other door where one can be seen/heard by the people going back and forth to their oh-so-important cars in that cathedral to modern culture, the multi-level parking lot. There was a scammer booth set up out on the windy sidewalk and at the entrance by the parking lot entrance, I'd only have to share the sidewalk with some watermelons. 

So I set up and it was slow, but I played what felt like an hour and a half and was probably an hour. I made $35 in bills and $7 and change from one Indian lady who also included in the torrent of change she dumped in the box, two Indian coins, a 5 rupee and a 2 rupee. 

There were a ton of people going back and forth and most had no use for music live or not, but a few did and that's what made the difference. I finally decided I was really tired and had done enough. I got on the train again and back to Diridon station and walked back to Whole Foods. 

I got some "Crispy" fried chicken and a beer and then cleaned my mouth and chewed gum and decided to put in an hour there as the scam booth was gone now, and made about another $12. 

So why did I do that additional hour? Mainly I'm only able to busk one day a week, and I wanted to get more time in before going back to the old grind. Secondly, while my free buzzing is helping me attain high notes more easily, it's not magic and I was still getting a rough tone. I simply need to play more. Also it's about the money to some degree. Also I wanted to play some different songs and played "If I Were A Rich Man" a bit, Hava Nagila, and Haktivah and other oddball things like Rubber Ducky which I want to work on - I'd like to have that one nailed. 

I was complimented on my tone, profusely, but one guy today and another guy asked if I was a "professional" player (just like that lady did the last time) and I said Well, this is it, I'm playing for money so that's professional. But that I'm self-taught. The guy knew about the electronics swapmeets and sellers and we talked about that for a while. 

Actually at the thing at the temple one gal there knew all about techie stuff and I mean really techie stuff, so we had great fun talking about ... really techie stuff. I told her how I got a tour of the Melles Griot (laser manufacturer) HQ in San Diego. 

The main focus of the meeting was ... well, largely that we gotta stick together because as one panelist put it, about 25% of the country wants us dead. Having read the excellent book "Danik! A Holocaust Survivor" yesterday, I can see that even the Catholics are far from our friends. 

In fact that might be why my Big Island friend has stopped communicating. He's a Catholic, product, like Ken, of a thorough Catholic education and like Ken, talks a good line about being a friend of the Jews but an interesting thing happened with Pat shortly before he went no-contact. I told him of my plans to retire in Israel "as is the dream of every Jew" and he retorted that the dream of American Jews is the visit Israel, not actually move there. 

This leads me to believe that other than being Catholic, Pat may actually be politically far-left and we've seen how the far-left and the far-right have teamed up due to their love of the idea of exterminating the Jews. A Jew moving to Israel is something they really don't like. 

As for Dace, the guy on Oahu, he's never seen a Qanon conspiracy he didn't like and swallow whole, and health-wise he's circling the drain anyway. He's pretty much useless, and fortunately this means useless to the far-right/far-left as much as useless to me. 

The same goes for Pat. He's so extreme vegan that I can't even mention fishing around him (it's funny, his Jesus ate fish) and seems to have a plethora of probably self-created health problems. Plus he's blown through the couple-few million he inherited in the mid-80s when that was real money and gets by on welfare and food stamps and various hand-outs. The far-left or far-right could recruit him to bomb a synagogue and they'd have to pay for his travel, then he'd pitch a fit when they take him to eat at In-N-Out. Useless, useless, useless. The both of 'em.