Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Don't Degrade Yourself Like That

It is Tuesday morning.
I woke up at the same spot where I sleep when I miss the ferry.
I was in time for the ferry; but the ferry had quit running early.
It is not running today, either.
I don't want to try to swim across.
I am stuck in New Orleans with one set of clothes.
Unless, I can get in touch with Becca, perhaps.
I Miss Becca
Last night, I left Becca a message on Facebook telling her that I would be on my spot "between 6 and 8 p.m.
I got there a bit later because I had to run to the music store to buy a pick, after discovering that I didn't have mine.
The fingerpicking stuff that I am adding to my repertoire has me putting my pick down in places where I don't always see it if I pack up and take a break.
I might want to get one of those on board pick holders which attach to the body of the guitar...
I met Becca in Mobile, Alabama when I was playing at the Serdas Coffee house.
She was in the Quarter last night, but I don't know if she is still here.
Minutes On Phone
My phone has finally been charged up with 250 minutes for the month, as of June 11th.
Health And Science
The lump in my throat and the associated discomfort when swallowing had migrated to somewhere between the back of my mouth and my left ear.
I thought that it was going away yesterday.
Then, I ate some very delicious food of the kind which used to give me a stiff neck and pain in my arm (soy sauce) which caused it to return.
It was some kind of juicy meat attached to and just about falling off of pretty large bones, (pork ribs?) but was in a Styrofoam with some kind of yams and a vegetable and a seperate little plastic cup of a sweet berry flavored kind of glaze.
I know that, given all that preparation and Americas affinity for oil and salt, there must have been something in there to aggravate me.
It was almost good to see a relationship between the food and my throat situation.
This leads me to think that I might have just had too much too fast; and that I might just fast on apple juice alone for a few days...
That is better than having no explaination at all.
Or worse -going to a doctor, who would "give me" pituitary gland cancer; or lung cancer; or whatever else he could think of in order to bilk the pharmaceutical companies and feather the nests of the oncologists...
I think it is a mucous producing gland which had gotten irritated (but not infected because I don't have a fever). When I chowed down upon meat; after about a week of vegetarianism and consuming mostly starches; I felt a cramplike sensation; as if some gland was trying to secrete something to help digest the meat; but had been shrunken from inactivity and became strained, trying to produce bile or something.
That's my opinion on the matter.
Julie at The Rebuild Center said "We have doctors that come here." and that I might want to talk to one.
I could have; this morning; but decided to sleep an extra hour instead of going there.
I have the symptoms of a cold, but a cold which is going away. Luckily, someone gave me a whole roll of toilet paper the other day...to blow my nose 18 times...
Career
I have been making a little bit each day.
I absolutely need to come up with some kind of nitch. If I ever want to make "a living" doing what I am doing; I just need to find "the little Chinese girl who can play anything" or to perform with a boa constrictor around my neck or a huge tropical bird on my head or to hang upside down and play or....
Maybe comedy would be the way to go.
You just can't out-hillbilly the hillbilly bands; or out-classical guitar the guy who plays one near the courthouse; and you can't out-Tanya Tanya after picking up a second hand violin at the pawn shop; and you can't out-Jazz Doreen.
So, that leaves: "Just do what you do best" as the most viable option here.
Which reminds me....
Tomorrow night, if I go to Caseys IntheQuarter and get a chance to play; I am planning upon doing something comical; without emphasis on virtuoso playing nor American Idol type of singing; nor deeply moving lyrics.
I have a few songs in mind; and will see which one comes out the best as I practice them on my playing spot tonight.
Sign Designer De"Sign"ed
Last night, something told me to knock off early; which I did.
Then I ran into the horse cops just a few blocks up the street. They were headed my way.
Then, I heard a guy who holds a sign on Bourbon Street for a living; lamenting in front of Rouses that he had been run off by the horse cops.
He added that the horse cops tore up his sign (what a waste of cardboard and magic marker ink!) which reads: "Smile if you touch yourself."
I think it is a stupid sign.
The guy is convinced that it is a winner of a sign and that people are not giving him money for any other reason.
When he first came to New Orleans, he made 150 dollars in 5 minutes with that sign. Someone threw a 100 dollar bill from a balcony and someone else handed him a 50 dollar bill.
Out-Sign Him?
I was thinking that I could make a much more clever and funnier sign, myself and stand around the crazy end of Bourbon Street with it and, though I wouldn't expect 100 dollar bills to float down from balconies (sign guy said that it had happened on his first day here; but not that it happens all the time nor that it even ever happened again) but, it would give my fingers a rest.
It wouldn't put me on any better terms with the horse cops, though.
And, I can already hear my musician friends saying: You need to stick with your music; don't degrade yourself like that.....
Entertainment
After I had vented my wrath in a misguided-anger fueled post; after thinking that Tanya had 
ignored me; and I happened to criticize one of the songs on their latest CD ("Will You Still Love Me, Tomorrow?") in that particular post; I ran to the library first thing the next morning and changed the whole tenor of it.

I woke up believing that Tanya had been ingenuous in her assertion that she just hadn't seen me.
My "stats" showed that 6 people had read the rant.
I was worried that Tanya and Dorise had read it; or that one of the 6 people that did, had run to tell them that they had been criticized.
I thought about all that they had done to help me and what good friends they were; and the fact that Tanya had calmly explained that she hadn't noticed me when I had walked into Caseys; and the fact that they just weren't having guest performers up that night "Sometimes it's like that," said Dorise; and I realized that I was just off base in my assumptions.
I hoped that the 6 people who read the post are the ones in Russia or Turkey.
Well, I came upon them the next day and got cold shoulders from both of them.
"You know, my blog is kind of like a diary," I told Dorise. "It's written from my personal perspective; the way I see things; and my readers have come to expect that and take it with a grain of salt.."
"I don't read it," she said.
But then, when I came upon them later that night; they immediately began to play "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" and tore it up.
Tanya was on fire and I've never heard her play better.
Coincidence? Or did one of the 6 people who read the post tell her about my criticism; she, who has only heard "You're amazing" and "You're incredible" since she was 6 herself???
Well, I'm glad that she takes pride in her music and isn't just going through the motions...
I will have to see what kind of reception I get tomorrow night at Caseys...
Travel
I am headed for Massachusetts within the month.
I'm not going to be here for the slow season when bums jump on people like fleas after the family returns from a 2 week vacation; with the dog.

3 comments:

  1. I've had that throat thing, I don't know what it is, something to do with tonsils I think.

    It eventually goes away. It's just annoying.

    You should try keeping track of where and when you play, and how much you make. You might find a pattern. Maybe just keep track using the text editor on one of your laptops.

    And if Tanya and Dorise are making such good money, if you can find a way to be really useful to them, like helping them set up and break down, being their "bottler" etc, they might pay you quite well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, I suspect tonsils, or tonsil ('cause its just on one side) because I think the function of tonsils is to secrete something which is no longer necessary now that we don't accidently ingest rocks in our diets; or grass; And, I think that, maybe because I have food allergies (intollerances; whatever) that I may be one of the rare few who have tonsils which have become functional; and I might have ingested a *tiny* trace of hydrocloric acid or cyanide on that day when my throat flared up; I DO "sometimes" smoke butts off the ground.....And, yeah; it's possible that when I hang around Tanya and Dorise; rather than being seen as a stalking groupie; they just might see me as being loyal, supportive, and usefullI just have to get used to the idea that our relationship will alway have a parasite/host aura hanging about it; I think they understand that not everybody has their money making magic; and don't hold it against a musician if he is struggling; as long as he is struggling hard.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your making your posts short with a "read more" arrow makes your page a lot worse. It just looks like your posts are super short.

    ReplyDelete

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