today i can sit down and be thankful.
today after a short stint busking in front of the bookstore/coffee shop
i am taking a break from the nearly and seemingly continuous busking of the past
several days. though i expected rain today, it maters not, a break i will have.
the break has sort imposed itself on me as yesterday i just hit a wall and
could no longer continue the mental gymnastics required to convince my fingers to do interesting and fun things on the fret board. it's quite a work out to keep up with Mario's bunch so i sat down and listened to the boys cut it up for a while. then i went to have a beer with guitarist John Mark and mandolin picker Luke. i got to know the fellas i've been pickin' with for the last few days a bit better and i like that. they both are studying environmental science.... it seems every third person i meet on this trip is doing so, that seems kind of encouraging for the future of our planet no?
i'm going to a potluck tonight hosted by another fiddler i met last week and played with, that's Matt, i met him with this guy named James who lives over in Black Mountain. the three of us make i good stringband, i'm excited to pursue that further.
so now i've got those guys in addition to Mario and co. to jam with. Mario is recruiting everyone he can to play his django jazz with but also he can tear up the bluegrass flatpickin'. these guys are all great and they are eager to jam all the time, i look forward to introducing them to my brother in november. Mario has also recruited Chris, an excellent bluegrass singer and guitarist from Vermont and at times Chris and i will pair off and hit the streets together. the other day i finally got up with Trevor a bad ass Accordionist i met last week. we rocked the five klezmer tunes i know and one i didn't know and my d minor bluegrass waltz Cora is Gone, so that has some promise as another street jam outlet. so the word for the month, by the way is, STREET JAM!
tonight, i also hang out with another new friend. we have had some great conversation and a lot of laughter so far. i like her ideas about spiritualism and life and justice and love, she's truly a new friend and an old soul to add to the list this trip has brought me to and to me.
now, the more time i spend here, the more sweet people i meet, i made another new friend today... after a coupla-few weeks of tension and uncertainty and have come back to a place of peace in this journey. and yesterday i spoke to some dear friends from back home which was welcomed grounding.
the last few weeks have been full of ups and downs for people here, it's typical of city life, so many folks are runnin' to and fro tryin' to keep it together and stressin' out over it all. the strain of the marketplace is ever heavy and we struggle with bent knee under it's weight. some buskers get pissed because they don't make enough money, some get attitudes about themselves and can only talk about themselves and not much else. on the other hand, others are like beacons of joy to associate with. there is overall a really good scene here and a lot of mutual support amongst the buskers. The White Statue guy here is super nice and he has one of the thickest Southern accents i've ever heard, you just don't expect that from a statue.....
today, i went to the Amazing Savings dumpster and found: rice milk, greek yogurt, a loaf of bread, and corn tortillas. then i bought an onion. people, know this, food is still past it's expiration date... most of you that read this already know this...
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