Morning Has Broken

 When I got in last night I packed the things that are overdue, and just relaxed, watched YouTube, caught up on stuff. I finally went to bed, and woke up around 3:30 this afternoon. 

I kind of wanted to busk over in Mountain View, to see how things have changed with the "pedestrianization" of Castro Street, but ultimately I ended up just going to good old Whole Foods on the Alameda. 

I started in at 6, and kept up until 7:30, by which time I was tired and the wind, which had died, was coming back and kind of cold. 

I'd been "joined" by a female beggar holding a sign, naturally said sign on tattered cardboard and in light blue lettering, so it was pretty hard to read. I'm pretty sure legible signs are against the Bums' Code Of Conduct. I thought it was Pee-Pee Lady due to how she was standing I couldn't really see her face, not that I went to a lot of trouble to look at her, and it's been a couple of years. 

I played the usual assortment, except I did a couple of new songs, "Lean On Me" and "Morning Has Broken" which seem to work well with the cornet, as I could make it "sing" on these tunes. 

I have a sneaking suspicion that this cornet has a nicer sound than the student trumpet I was playing before, and while I was prepared to hate deep cup mouthpieces, I've got to say I'm getting to like the one that came with it, a Yamaha 16E, more and more.  Not only do I seem to be able to get a nice "singing" tone, but when I got tired I could still play higher notes and I didn't start sounding so much like a duck. 

I had some annoying Indian guy ask for my card or info, saying he wanted to hire me to play at San Pedro Square. I told him everyone's broke there, I don't have a card, and he should buzz off and go find something useful to do. This pissed him off of course, and he stalked off, saying he'd given me a dollar (he hadn't). Like I'm gonna play for some Indian guy! I can just see it ... mysteriously there's no money for my pay, sorry, but I can have the leftover yogurt dip everyone's had their fingers in... 

"Discovering" two new tunes was neat, and in the end I'd made $37 which isn't as thrilling as the money I made yesterday, but it's still good grocery money. I packed up and, passing the beggar, joked about going in to steal butter, since Pee-Pee Lady is convinced I do that, but saw it was a younger gal, kinds junkie looking. Passing her again I said she'll make some bucks now, with no distraction (me). 

I think I'd overheard her talking with a lady who she'd talked to, who then went back into Whole Foods and came out with a bag, mentioning "Titos" which is of course a brand of vodka and might be the least expensive they sell in there. With more than a couple of hours before closing, I'm sure she'll get what she needs; junkies/alkies are good at that. 

I had time to get over to Nijiya in Japantown to spend some of that money on groceries so that was nice. I talked with the guys about how nice it is to have electricity again, and how I'd gotten bored so I'd gone out busking these last couple days making $150 for the weekend. I'm in there pretty close to daily so they know me there.