Snoop and success
Last weekend Harper and I went to see Snoop Dogg. It was a great concert..Snoop rocks!
Yesterday I got up around six, dressed, and headed straight downtown. The trains took longer than I had hoped, and I got there at a quarter past seven. The good spot was open! I set up my stuff, put out my tip buckets, and proceeded to try and conserve energy until the crowds thickened while still looking like I was “performing.” Strangely, people started tipping me before too long…that spot must be magical.. This guy took a number of pictures of me over the course of half an hour or so, and then told me he works at a photo developing place nearby, and he’d develop these for me for free. I started gathering crowds by 10:00, a good hour or two earlier than happens anywhere else.. Partway through the afternoon the guy came back with the developed pictures, all but one from my balancing routine. The dude’s a good photographer. At 3:30, absolutely exhausted, I decided to call it a day.
This was a big weekend for interaction with other street folk downtown.. I sometimes feel like I’m starting to become part of a community there. One guy who wanders around with a big sign and megaphone talking about crazy political conspiracies or whatever has started helping my show..twice now he’s walked by while I’m building up my rubber-chicken-balance and said through his megaphone “That’s impossible!!” with big grinning theatrics. In a less friendly interaction, on Friday the same blind guy who interfered in my show a few weeks ago reappeared.. This time he literally walked through our show twice before setting up right next to us, just like before. Harper and I moved. More homeless people begin to chat with me now, or the crazier ones talk at me…one even gave me 25 cents in spite of my protests..another insisted on helping when the diabolo string broke, then asked for a few dollars afterwards.. Twice on Saturday groups of kids with drumsticks and buckets set up in the same square with me. They are quite good, their drumming completely commands everyone’s attention, and I cannot form an audience. None of the kids have street performing licenses, so they always get busted by the cops after a little while. Fortunately, the police are pretty lenient with them…the cop just shows up says Hey! and motions for the kids to follow him. The kids walk off in the opposite direction. I chatted with one of the kids for a while..he wanted to learn diabolo.. I kind of wish I knew some way for them to perform without breaking the law..
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