Outdoor Entertainment

So usually I busk down in the subways but this Friday it was so stifling down there! I was getting a headache, I was thirsty and running out of water, and pretty soon I would have to go pee anyway. A busker's dilemma. So when a fellow busker came by and offered to show me a good spot to busk outside I decided to give it a shot. 

When I got set up I was so nervous. This was the first time I had ever done outside performing in Boston. One song in, and the guy in the picture below comes up to me, scratching and burping, asking if he could sing. (He didn't look too happy about the pic so I left out his face.) Clearly I'm way too nice. Here I am trying to make an honest living and this guy is trying to talk to me while I'm singing, fully expecting me to stop what I'm doing and listen to him. This happens a lot, so be prepared for it if you want to start busking. I say yes, let him get his minute of busking fame and then deny his request for money. This also happens a lot. If someone asks to sing or play with you they either expect to share whatever someone puts in the case, or they expect you to give them something regardless. Uhhhh no. Not this time. There's a reason I'm singing my wiles on the street.

Well he left, slightly sad looking since his bid for extorting money out of me flopped. (I find I'm more inclined to give people a dollar if they just honestly ask for one and don't waste my time.) Then this guy came along, loudly touting about how I was the next Tracy Chapman. (I love these types... This was my second or maybe third Chapman reference of the day. I imagine every singing guitar-playing Black girl with locks has to deal with this.) He knows music, he says, and he's been around for awhile, having seen Chapman and others doing what I'm doing now. He says for sure I'll make it. While I appreciate them and sincerely hope the people who wish me well in this manner are spot on, I was hoping he'd extend his bid of confidence in me far enough to give me one of the dollars lining his dog's collar. I mean, this dog is bling-ed out. No such luck, but at least the dog is super cute, even if a little ostentatious. Check it.

Solefull Soiree

Hey There! So Friday the 8th I played at the Solefull Soiree (@solefull_lounge), a lovely event full of artsy hipster fashionistas/fashionistos. Can't say I'm terribly broken up over the fact that I stuck out like a sore thumb. But they gave me a shirt so now I'll be all nice and fashionable :). They really have nice designs.

There was live art going on for the entire event, with people painting, and the house band played really well.

I really like this piece, mostly because of the vibrancy of the colors. I really liked what she chose to work with.

I also really liked this guy's work. It was very strong, and you could almost feel the energy of the figures he presented, it seemed.

  This artist was really nice. What stood out to me about her work here is the way she played with light and layering, using a really simple palette to bring out a really beautiful idea. The piece was themed around the intersections between dreams/hopes and the unknown/darkness. She also wanted to express the importance of the beauty and transformation that happens in the midst of uncertainty. Basically I loved it.

Here I am singing. All around jolly good time.

Green

This post is all about how many puns, phrases, innuendos etc. I can write using the word "green" while giving an update on my life as I currently see it.* Prepare to be made green with envy(1). Obvious opener, I know...

So, times are hard in the Label/Dilbert/Fletcher household (me my mom and her boyfriend all have different last names) and so we're a little short on the green(2). Since my mom and aforementioned boyfriend aren't the green(3) types, there isn't any recycling or separation of anything, not even to help out the people in our area who do go through the trash to cash in on empty bottles. About the only thing green about them is the boyfriend's thumb(4), evidenced by the plethora of plants competing with us for living room and balcony space.

Clearly the inflow of green stuff(same as 2) must be augmented, because here in the U.S.A. you have to have cable, internet, at least two gaming platforms and corresponding games, a flat screen HD tv, a smartphone with a data plan, and any other number of "necessary" items. My current master plan to make moolah and thus furnish the acquisition and retention of such items is singing in the subways, where I employ all four years of my hard-earned college degree to bolster up my ego as people glance at me pityingly or condescendingly. (The real purpose of the moolah is to fend off the collectors of my college loans...) Occasionally I'll get some nice smiley types. It's the only temp job so far that my mother has given me the green light(5) on, since there's the possibility of my being discovered, becoming famous and filthy rich, and thereby solving all of our problems forever, without anyone else having to do anything. Hopefully I'll have the rub of the green(6) soon. (I looked up that last one up. Apparently it's British.)

At any rate, many of these posts will cover the joy that is being a subway performer. And trust me, it's a joy. Oh, and do bear with me. I'm green(7) at this whole blogging thing.



*Some green references have been left out because they don't fit, I don't want my mom to read them and get mad at me, or I didn't know about them. :)