How Didgeridoo Last Night?

• Draught Ends
• Rain Pours Down
  

Last night, I went almost straight to my Bourbon Street spot. I say "almost" straight; because I DID find some fine dark microbrewery beer in cups along the way; the kind of beer I love and that some Budweiser drinkers can't stomach...
Dumbed Down Setlist
I decided to abandon the music which I have recently been playing and which I have worked on to the point where I use them to showcase technique; and fast playing; I decided not to try to keep pace with Tanya Huang.
John Lennons words "I lose the beauty of the melody; until it sounds just like a symphony...) ("Rock And Roll Music") came to me.
I played songs more reliant upon good old fashioned strumming (the horns and the backup singers can be added later...) like "Things We Said Today," by The Beatles; and made 8 bucks rather quickly; breaking a 2 day drought; and took a break just as it was starting to sprinkle out.
Traveling Nowhere
I made it to Decatur Street and Sydneys; passing one group of "traveling kids," who seemed pretty content as if they had reached the end of their travels, with one miniature guitar between themselves and lots of white Styrofoam containers of food.
None of them were very friendly at all.
I never know how to walk past them; should I smile patronizingly as if to say "You'll get it; keep practicing... and try to buy a tuner," or is it proper etiquette to at least stop and hear a verse or two out of respect for fellow musicians?
Even gutter punks yelling, rather than singing, can be amusing, depending upon what they are yelling...
Somewhere Over Where The Rainbow Children Were
Walking Royal Street, towards Canal, there was another group of three dressed like travelling kids and they were standing there watching a street guy of about mid 50's in age; playing a mean blues scale on a white electric guitar plugged into an amp.
The amp was set on "full distortion," "full saturation," with the volume and every other button that I might not have mentioned turned to the "full" position; and wailing away was the skinny, baseball cap wearing guy whom I had seen before on the street; and who had then wanted to play my guitar badly enough to have followed me a few blocks to nearby the Marriot Hotel; and whom I had refused to let play the guitar; even after he had assured me that he was an excellent guitarist, who especially knew the technique of playing in such a way as to not break strings.
Well, there he was; playing a fully distorted blues scale, at The Clean Guys spot, as the doorman from the hotel across the street shook his head; and he turned and boldly looked me in the eye as I approached, with a countenance which read: "I TOLD you I was a rock and roll god, but you didn't believe me!"
One of the three travelling kids; perhaps the owner of the guitar; was wincing.
Theo The Didgerodoo-ist

I walked on, mumbling "So; you know a blues scale...wow!" to myself.
I had only gotten a block when, I hear a voice behind me and turned to see perhaps the youngest of the 3 travelling kids, who was holding a long hollow piece of eucylyptus wood; and who asked "Do you want to jam?"
I looked at the thing that I would be jamming with; and must admit that it was a stronger recomendation of a jam session than the kid holding it was.
He was bare footed; 18 years old and named Theo it turned out; and had only been playing the eucylyptus tube for a month; but we made 11 bucks in about an hour; after I tuned to the thing.
Theo had a lot of rocks and crystals, and always seemed to keep one in his hand, as if usurping energy from it.
Theo talked about a guitarist whom he had seen (in San Francisco?) who was missing his arms; but played with his feet. He said that our feet were meant to be a lot more dextrous than most peoples are; and that shoes were to blame for this particular plight. Hence, his barefootedness.
He talked about hallucinogenic drug trips on the newest drugs, like synthetic LSD, and another one which went by initials (DMD?) and made a person feel at one with the universe, and told a story about an encounter in Savannah, Georgia with some aggressive cops, who tried to intimidate him but were unable to do so, due to the amount of cough syrup Theo had ingested prior to the encounter, which kept him nonplussed..
Lack Of Preparation Rears Its Head
Then, it started raining as Theo and I took our time walking down Royal Street.
He kept engaging himself in conversations with drunken street people whom I was sure were predatory and were trying to see what they could get out of the 18 year old, who was born in Oxford, Mississippi, who was a Rainbow Child and who had hitch-hiked to New Orleans from somewhere near the Alabama/Mississippi line after he and 4 others were thrown off of a freight train.
I bought some food at Rouses Market and then, to our mounting disappointment as we stood under their awning, waiting for the rain to let up; it didn't.
I got pretty wet walking to the dock; especially my feet; and, just preceeding my ducking under the thing; the rainfall intensified to a hideous level and I had to make one last dash for it.
I hadn't packed my blankets or my sweatshirt; but was able to stay just warm enough to drift into a fitful sleep. Every time I woke up it was still raining heavily with thunder and lightning to boot.
I had sliced roast beef and English muffins and a tomato and an apple and an energy drink for the morning in my pack, at least.