This is the second day I've walked the extra three blocks to the bus stop up by the Convention Center just so I wouldn't have to wait ten minutes at the stop where that damn hippie is beating his drum. Good lord is there anything more hateful than being a captive audience to some scruffy kid with a five-day beard growth who is furiously pounding away on his djembe with all the musicality and subtle rhythmic nuance of a truckload of geodes being dumped down a wooden staircase? With that little hat sitting out in front of him on the sidewalk for "tips?" Hey, dude, here's a tip: Take some drum lessons! Or at least understand your market: You'll earn a lot more money with a sign that reads "I'll stop for $1."
Just what I need after a day's work: An endless free-form percussion solo.
As I’m waiting at the next stop up I see an ad on the side of a bus that says “You don’t have to wear a cape to be a superhero. Say YES to organ and tissue donation.” And there’s a picture of an ordinary-looking dude who is, I note, not wearing a cape. I begin to mull this over….
And now, presenting a limited-edition series: The Adventures of Organ-Donor Man!
Wonder Woman: “Great Hera! Green Lantern’s down!”
Green Lantern: “Can’t…. move….or….process….waste…in….blood…stream…”
Batman: “Green Lantern needs a kidney, or he’ll die!
Organ Donor Man: “…”
Batman: “…Or he’ll DIE!!”
Somwhere, somebody coughs. Once.
Organ Donor Man: “Why is everybody looking at me?”
Martian Manhunter: “Your powers are needed here, Organ Donor Man!”
ODM: ”What is it with you people? If you’re not losing gallons upon gallons of blood, you’re blowing out your livers—“
Batman: “You know, I never thanked you for that--“
ODM: “Or you need a skin graft, or a pancreas--“
Batman: “Or a cornea.”
ODM: “Corneas, bone marrow…”
Hawkman: “You knew the job was dangerous when you took it. This man needs your help!”
ODM: “The job description was very vague! ‘Fight Evil’-- that could mean anything! I thought I’d only be donating organs in emergencies, but it seems like every week it’s some new emergency with you people!”
Wonder Woman: “Without your kidney, Green Lantern will die, and without Green Lantern’s powers to aid us, the Earth will fall before an alien invasion!”
ODM: “You all understand that I need at least one kidney to live, right? We’re all clear on that?”
Everybody Else: “…”
ODM: “I just wish you’d all try to be a little more careful…”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maybe it's my karmic comeuppance. Because in the past, though I'm not proud to admit it, I may have busked. Once or twice. Maybe more. There I've said it! But I promise I'll stop. For a dollar.
Ah! My bus is here.
Next: Stop #3
Busking is wonderful and I support anybody who has a talent and uses it to get money. Ideally busking should happen where there is open space and a steady flow of traffic, so people can stop if they want or move away if they do not like the music.
People who are not talented should not busk. People with a digeredoo, a djiembe, or a water bottle are generally not talented.
Posted by: anne at May 28, 2006 02:18 PMWell, there goes my idea for the ultimate busking instrument: The didgeredjiembe.
Posted by: flamingbanjo at May 29, 2006 09:52 AM...the Aqua Didgeredjiembe.
Posted by: raej at June 1, 2006 11:38 AMIf my business ever goes under I'm just going to take my rottie downtown and make a sign that says, "Pat my dog $1."
Problem is she'll be giving that shit out for free and peeing herself with excitement while doing it.
Posted by: DG at June 2, 2006 07:05 AMyou need to appreciate music and life more, take time to look at the trees and the sky, walk barefooted in the dirt.......the earth is beautiful and you can learn things you never thought you'd know if you just sat back for those 10 minutes and listened...
p.e.a.c.e.
Yeah, not so much. There aren't any trees to speak of within ten blocks of that bus stop, and while there might be some dirt downtown, there's none that I'd feel comfortable walking barefoot in.
There's a time and a place for everything.
Posted by: flamingbanjo at June 3, 2006 01:01 AMHA! Nicole's & your exchange made me laugh.
Where's bus stop #3?
I think Mark ran into that Stop#1 dude in his bus travels. Sounds very similar to a story he came home with one late evening; different conversation, but with the same brotherhood & then weird mood shift.
Posted by: Peggy at June 9, 2006 12:49 PMGood site. Thank you!
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