Friday, December 21, 2012

My Slithery Slimey Blog

My 13th "Follower."
Somebody had to come along, after I had amassed 12 followers and cast aside their superstitions to become the 13th follower of this blog.
And, it was none other than Wendy C. Allen, a writer, illustrator and doll maker, amongst other things from Maine.
Her biography is quite voluminous; but after a quick perusal, I was able to glean that she, who uses the alias EelKat, is "drawn to eels."
In fact, if the photo to the left doesn't depict a lady who has been waiting in the forest and is just having the realization set in that she has been stood up by an eel; then I guess I have
lost my touch.
Friday, 21
Clear
57 | 39 °F
Clear
Chance of
Precipitation
0%

Cold and windy night
Last night; the weather was the main attention grabber; as winds of up to 30 miles per hour were gusting through the French Quarter.
At one point I was walking down Canal Street and looking across to where a trumpet player was playing on the other side, I saw the box which he uses to collect tips, overturn and start to tumble down the sidewalk.
A single bill flew out of it and began an erratic flight across the street in my general direction. I tried to coral it so that I could return it to him, but it was racing at about 30 miles per hour, swirling and spinning like Barry Sanders and soon had disappeared around a corner.
Little Jack Horner
...stands on a corner...
Trumpet guy does very well on that spot and his horn can be heard for a quarter mile around him. He plays very slowly and very accurately; hitting notes perfectly and holding a lot of them for emphasis. The Godfather Theme seems to be one of his favorites. 
He empties out his cardboard box, when it is about a quarter full and pockets the 35? dollars or so, then continues to play for about 5 hours. 
He said that his busking "pays my bills" -bills to include an apartment, cable TV and other such things which some people can afford. I don't think he was trying to toot his own horn when he told me that.
Cold Makes Things Worse
I have had a cold for the past few days. I almost bought some aspirin Wednesday morning, but didn't.
Last night, I played for a brief period of time, but couldn't put any seed money in my case because of the high winds.
I found 3 unopened cans of Coors Light beer, sitting on a granite ledge by the Insectarium on my way to the ferry, after calling it a night pretty early. That allowed me to save the 3 dollars which is about all that blew my way that evening.
I put on all of the shirts that I could pull out of my pack donned in the order of tank tops first, followed by the smaller tee shirts; then the larger ones, over-wrapped with the two button up flannel shirts that the Lidgleys sent; and topped off with my hoodie. I then wrapped up in the two fleece blankets; and had a fitful night of sleep; with the temperature probably hitting the forecast low of 37 degrees; and myself having to wake up to blow my nose every hour or so it seemed.

2 comments:

  1. it sounds like Trumpet Guy is (a) a good player and (b) trumpet is a "jazz" instrument and that's what people want to see/hear in NOLA.

    As for paying the bills, well, a consistent $20 a day makes $600 a month, that's probably enough to rent an apartment there or pay the mortgage on a house. If he's playing for 5 hours and making $10 an hour on average, that's the amazing $50/day average I keep citing as the amount that, if you can get it, you can live quite well anywhere in the US.

    let's see if it's possible to post this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. He doesn't improvise at all; just plays the melody exactly as it was written/recorded..there is a market for that; people can pick up the vibe from what the composer was feeling instead of what some crazy guy on the corner is "feeling" as he wails away

    ReplyDelete

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