![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Today I am a Busker
Aug. 21st, 2009 10:09 pmI have had a very long month at work. I have lost count of the number of 12+ hour days I've worked on this project. Well, technically I haven't, as I keep pretty meticulous logs, but I don't think I want to know. Anyway, today the project hit an important milestone. It's far from done, but a lot of hard work came to at least partial fruition today, so huzzah.
I wanted to celebrate. My default plan was to go to B. Good and get myself a (veggie) burger, fries and a shake. Sadly enough, this is un-characteristically decadent of me.
I've been teaching this week at our classroom in Downtown Crossing. Every Friday, there is an arts and crafts fair there, and one of the regulars is a drum-maker. He makes very nice drums of a kind I've not seen before. There is one in particular that I've had my eyes on a while now, a tall, djembe-like drum called an ashiko, which he makes with beads on the side that can be slid up and down to tune it on-the-fly. Very cool.
I'd wanted to get it the last time I was here, a couple of months ago, but there were a lot of reasons not to. It's expensive (hand-made by the guy selling it), for one thing, and for another I got a doumbek last Arisia and have barely played it. It didn't seem right to spend a lot on a drum that'd probably end up gathering dust.
...and yet, you can probably see where this is going.
I got the drum, for two reasons: first, while the doumbek is a relatively difficult to play correctly, this one I had a more intuitive feel for. I still want to get better at the doumbek, but it's nice to have something I can just sit down and play. The second reason is that, dammit, I wanted to, and I defer satisfaction too often. I had the cash to spare and it was puuuuurdy, and with a little discipline I'll get more out of it than just about anything else I'm likely to spend that money on.
I am pleased to announce that the drum has already paid for its self. Apparently, if you wander around Harvard Square with a large drum in your hands, street performers will ask you to join them. Pro tip!
This happened not once, but twice. First was a drums/guitar/bass combo from Tufts, who had set up in front of the train station, jamming on whatever song came to mind until they got bored and sort of tapered off into the next song. They were very cool about taking requests, and inviting people up to sing (or play drums) with them.
Other highlights include a 50+ guy who got up and did a shockingly good rendition of "Come As You Are", and an even older guy, around 60, who said he'd been singing in rock bands all his life and asked if he could do "House of the Rising Sun". The band agreed and he nailed it. I talked to him afterward and in the course of the conversation he said that in the 70's he'd had some problems with drugs and gotten replaced in the band he was in by a guy named Brad. The Band, he said, was called "Boston". Aside from their singer being named Brad, Wikipedia doesn't bear his story out, but it was a neat story anyway.
Lowlights include me totally failing to sing Creep (stupid cold-- did I mention that I've had a cold all week?). but the most important thing I learned? I can totally rock Bob Dillon's "Wagon Wheel" on a hand-drum.
Eventually the group split up and I went on my way, but not before their leader asked for me contact info in case he ever needed a percussionist. Woo!
Wandered around for a while after that and stopped at Million Year Picnic to see if they had the second Girl Genius TP, which they did not (hey, I guess something had to go wrong). Stopped at the Brattle to see what was playing. Ghost Busters in an hour. Tempting, but nah. I was out for adventure.
Stopped to listen to more musicians. Hardvard Square on a Friday night is full of street musicians. I'd never really enjoyed that particular square until tonight, when I was just wandering aimlessly, enjoying whatever crossed my path.
After listening to a guy with a nice voice doing mostly Cat Stevens and Paul Simon covers, I sat down in front of a very pretty Russian woman who was singing and playing the guitar. I swear no sooner had I sat down than she asked "Can you play that to Beatles?". I don't even remember what song she played, only that I played along and loved every minute of it. Then we did "Daydream Believer", and lo, it too was awesome-and-weird sounding. Then I sort of blew her mind by asking if she could play a Vladimir Vyssotski song, and to her credit, she managed one off the top of her head. We chatted for a bit (turns out she teaches writing at BU-- nifty), and then she too asked me, un-solicited, mind you, for my info in case she ever needed a drummer! Go go gadget validation! Apparently screwing around every now and then with a pair of bongos for 10 years will actually get you somewhere.
Earlier today I told![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
juldea that tonight I needed to deal with the stess of this last month by going to one extreme or the other of activity. I told her I was stuck between going home and just going to bed, getting some much-needed sleep, or saying "screw it all" and driving to PiCon because I could. The former was obviously the most sensible, but it also felt like a defeat. Sensible is what I "should" be doing. I've had too much "should" lately.
So, I didn't go to Pi Con (though hey, the weekend is young...), but I did buy a drum and become a street performer for an evening, which sufficiently adventurous for tonight.
And I also got a burger (but no fries or shake) at B. Good. Oh, this debaucherous life that I live.
Update: Sweet! Went to Tealuxe to write this post and put off going home a little longer (btw: Vanilla Roibos Honey Drop Latte? Tasty, tasty win). They're closing up and getting rid of their baked goods. Guess who now has a bag full of free muffins, scones and pecan buns? Woot!
This has been a good day, after all. And damn, did I ever need a good day. I think... I may... be starting... to... relax. YAY.
Now, to rest, or go to a random con for no reason tomorrow? Hrmm....
I wanted to celebrate. My default plan was to go to B. Good and get myself a (veggie) burger, fries and a shake. Sadly enough, this is un-characteristically decadent of me.
I've been teaching this week at our classroom in Downtown Crossing. Every Friday, there is an arts and crafts fair there, and one of the regulars is a drum-maker. He makes very nice drums of a kind I've not seen before. There is one in particular that I've had my eyes on a while now, a tall, djembe-like drum called an ashiko, which he makes with beads on the side that can be slid up and down to tune it on-the-fly. Very cool.
I'd wanted to get it the last time I was here, a couple of months ago, but there were a lot of reasons not to. It's expensive (hand-made by the guy selling it), for one thing, and for another I got a doumbek last Arisia and have barely played it. It didn't seem right to spend a lot on a drum that'd probably end up gathering dust.
...and yet, you can probably see where this is going.
I got the drum, for two reasons: first, while the doumbek is a relatively difficult to play correctly, this one I had a more intuitive feel for. I still want to get better at the doumbek, but it's nice to have something I can just sit down and play. The second reason is that, dammit, I wanted to, and I defer satisfaction too often. I had the cash to spare and it was puuuuurdy, and with a little discipline I'll get more out of it than just about anything else I'm likely to spend that money on.
I am pleased to announce that the drum has already paid for its self. Apparently, if you wander around Harvard Square with a large drum in your hands, street performers will ask you to join them. Pro tip!
This happened not once, but twice. First was a drums/guitar/bass combo from Tufts, who had set up in front of the train station, jamming on whatever song came to mind until they got bored and sort of tapered off into the next song. They were very cool about taking requests, and inviting people up to sing (or play drums) with them.
Other highlights include a 50+ guy who got up and did a shockingly good rendition of "Come As You Are", and an even older guy, around 60, who said he'd been singing in rock bands all his life and asked if he could do "House of the Rising Sun". The band agreed and he nailed it. I talked to him afterward and in the course of the conversation he said that in the 70's he'd had some problems with drugs and gotten replaced in the band he was in by a guy named Brad. The Band, he said, was called "Boston". Aside from their singer being named Brad, Wikipedia doesn't bear his story out, but it was a neat story anyway.
Lowlights include me totally failing to sing Creep (stupid cold-- did I mention that I've had a cold all week?). but the most important thing I learned? I can totally rock Bob Dillon's "Wagon Wheel" on a hand-drum.
Eventually the group split up and I went on my way, but not before their leader asked for me contact info in case he ever needed a percussionist. Woo!
Wandered around for a while after that and stopped at Million Year Picnic to see if they had the second Girl Genius TP, which they did not (hey, I guess something had to go wrong). Stopped at the Brattle to see what was playing. Ghost Busters in an hour. Tempting, but nah. I was out for adventure.
Stopped to listen to more musicians. Hardvard Square on a Friday night is full of street musicians. I'd never really enjoyed that particular square until tonight, when I was just wandering aimlessly, enjoying whatever crossed my path.
After listening to a guy with a nice voice doing mostly Cat Stevens and Paul Simon covers, I sat down in front of a very pretty Russian woman who was singing and playing the guitar. I swear no sooner had I sat down than she asked "Can you play that to Beatles?". I don't even remember what song she played, only that I played along and loved every minute of it. Then we did "Daydream Believer", and lo, it too was awesome-and-weird sounding. Then I sort of blew her mind by asking if she could play a Vladimir Vyssotski song, and to her credit, she managed one off the top of her head. We chatted for a bit (turns out she teaches writing at BU-- nifty), and then she too asked me, un-solicited, mind you, for my info in case she ever needed a drummer! Go go gadget validation! Apparently screwing around every now and then with a pair of bongos for 10 years will actually get you somewhere.
Earlier today I told
juldea that tonight I needed to deal with the stess of this last month by going to one extreme or the other of activity. I told her I was stuck between going home and just going to bed, getting some much-needed sleep, or saying "screw it all" and driving to PiCon because I could. The former was obviously the most sensible, but it also felt like a defeat. Sensible is what I "should" be doing. I've had too much "should" lately. So, I didn't go to Pi Con (though hey, the weekend is young...), but I did buy a drum and become a street performer for an evening, which sufficiently adventurous for tonight.
And I also got a burger (but no fries or shake) at B. Good. Oh, this debaucherous life that I live.
Update: Sweet! Went to Tealuxe to write this post and put off going home a little longer (btw: Vanilla Roibos Honey Drop Latte? Tasty, tasty win). They're closing up and getting rid of their baked goods. Guess who now has a bag full of free muffins, scones and pecan buns? Woot!
This has been a good day, after all. And damn, did I ever need a good day. I think... I may... be starting... to... relax. YAY.
Now, to rest, or go to a random con for no reason tomorrow? Hrmm....
