I got going at an earlier time, having spent the night getting 30 things ready to list (as in ready to photo with no further treatment) and got ready to "launch" right after waking up and having some breakfast.
The guys next door were whooping it up with their Mexican music as usual. I swear that place runs on Mexican music and beer. Especially beer.
I got to the Sunnyvale Whole Foods at 6:15 and started in, and since it was a warm day I didn't need to dress warm.
It went pretty well and high notes were coming out well. At one point a guy with a white meat department jacket on came out and for a moment I thought he was going to hassle me about something, but he was friendly and asked if I knew anything by Chuck Mangione. I said, "Only 'Feels So Good' and since I was playing well, I went for it. I actually pulled it off, too. I can't believe the guy played that high on a flugelhorn but then, Chuck Mangione is one of the greats of all time.
So the guy was happy. I don't know if he dropped a tip or not but that doesn't matter. I wonder if the workers in there were shooting the shit and got talking about their new weekend trumpet player, and this guy scoffed and said it's probably one of those Gypsies with a set of speakers, faking it. Maybe they even got a bet riding on it.
I mean, buskers are very rare these days. And buskers who aren't just banging on a guitar, really rare.
I was going to play until a quarter to 8, but by then I was feeling pretty tired and I got talking with a guy of Chinese background, from Indiana. He's been a viola player and we got into talking about how antisocial everyone is here. I said the only way to make friends here is to find some hobby or interest and get into that, and for the hobby or interest, everything's hidden and it's really common to only find out about a thing after it's over, so you really have to dig for information. There *are* things, community band and jam sessions and so on, and I told him about Heaney's violin shop, and he said he might rent a viola there.
By this time it was just about 8 so I was done. I counted up and it came to $82.75 but actually I got a $20 gift card too so it's really $102.75 because gift cards are always spent on things I'd buy anyway.
I went to Baraka Market and got some broccoli and my yogurt drink, which I drank at the bus stop, and it was another relatively quick ride back to my "home" Whole Foods where I put $20 on my clipper card so I won't have to fiddle with it next week, and spent the gift card on some nuts, cheese, and sausage.
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