Just when I get really feeling like I'm going absolutely nowhere in my music life, I get the most encouraging email!

It had the subject line, "Bands for Twilight Festival." Yes, I'm IN! Okay, it's only one time out of a possible eight, but I'M IN!!! I'm performing at Twilight Festival (for you non-locals, a 2-hour downtown arts festival every Thursday evening in June and September. Guess I should explain that, huh.).

I officially get paid $30. I wonder if you're allowed to put out an instrument case for tips? Hmmm, better scope out earlier weeks and see if anyone else does it. (let me also point out that $15/hour is half again as much as I make on my day job so yes, it is worth it even without tips)

Plus I'm tickled to death that I have been referred to as a "band." I have NEVER been "officially" referred to as a band or even a musician -- until about 20 minutes ago! How legitimizing! I guess the demo CD didn't totally suck as I feared.

Speaking of which, does one EVER get used to listening to oneself? I shuddered and wanted to crawl under a piece of heavy furniture the whole time it was being played back for me.

PLUS my first real day being a street musician in one of the small historic towns nearby starts tomorrow. I played some a couple weeks ago under the awning of the shop that hired me. It was cold and wet so I didn't want to play long...but someone actually dropped a Susan B Anthony dollar in my case. I am keeping that dollar! First money I ever made playing music! Note to self: find out where coin collectors get those little square plastic sleeves...

And I even finished some appropriate 19th-century looking garb today for my big debut. Being a costume history minor (sort of) in college continues to pay off...

Someone wants to PAY ME to play CONCERTINA. I am flying...

Must go practice...

Did I mention lately that I've only been playing since August???

Yay! Congratulations, and good luck!

What songs or music do you play...I'd assume, 19th-century ones?

Interesting! Not having the first idea what a Susan B Anthony dollar was, I googled it. That in turn led me to Sacagawea and all sorts of quirks of American history which are not, shall we say, common knowledge this side of the Pond. Best of luck with the gig.

Chris

Hi Rhomylly,
This is great for you.... but do'nt fly too high.. just keep in sight with us

Congratulations! May it be your first of many

Cheers
Morgana

Congratulations! You are indeed brave! Let us know how the street musicianing goes, too.

Blessings,

WOW! Hats off, Rhomylly,

This is terrific. You are really going places. Am I ever proud of you.

You've just taken the concertina and run with it. Good for you.

Helen

Well, as far as the street busking in Boonville goes, I'm pretty lucky. There was a huge Irish population in St. Louis in the 19th century, large enough that it's okay to assume a lot of the tunes made their way up and down the Missouri River, which just happens to run 3 blocks from the shop I'm playing in front of.

I can mostly do my slow-jam tunes and throw in an occasional shanty and the tourists won't really know the difference Got a nice long ruffled skirt and 19th century shirt so I look "right." Oh, and an apron with deep pockets in case I need to empty the tip jar/tip concertina case occasionally. Hopefully.

And at the Twilight Festival, the paid gig, I have carte blanche to do anything that is "family-friendly." Which limits me some, but not much My demo CD was Haste to the Wedding (played badly), Wild Mountain Thyme (played well, sung badly), Demeter's Daughter (sung half-way decently) and Planxty Irwin (played quite well if I do say so myself). So, quite a variety!

Rhomylly,

Sounds like fun and a great way to get in a lot of practicing.

And you might make a few bucks in tips too.

Helen

You're AMAZING! I'm way too much of a chicken to play for anyone but my Morris buddies, I get a little nervous with them and I've known them all for at leat 12 years.

It sounds like a really nice venue to start out with. Who knows, maybe some other musicians will hear youand scoop you up into their band!

Lisa - it can actually be less nerve-wracking playing for complete strangers - after all they don't know you, and you will probably never see them again

The hardest gig I ever had was playing harp at my little sister's wedding, even though I'd been playing at weddings for years! I was terrified that I'd make a mistake [having a video camera taking close up of the strings whilst I played didn't help either ] Fortunately well went well

Cheers
Morgana

Okay, after reading the busking article that was posted yesterday on the front page of C-Net, I'm feeling somewhat mollified about my first attempt last week.

Needless to say, it didn't go well.

Nice sunny day, quite hot, actually (missed a few spots with the 45-proof sunscreen. OUCH!), me in lovely early 19th-century river town attire and sounding as good as I have ever sounded...

And people were walking down the middle of the street to avoid me.

This is not a good sign.

Keep it up. The thing about performing is that the reaction can be different every time. And it's quite possible that people are avoiding you (if that's really what they're doing) not because they don't like you, but because they're not in a donating mood and they feel obliged to donate something if they listen.

Time for a couple of anec/antidotes :
First is about the son of a friend, who was supporting himself as a street juggler. (No, not a New York taxi driver. A juggler who busks!)
He said the best money he ever made was in Kansas City, but he had to leave, because he couldn't handle the "audience reaction"... or lack of same. It seems that people would stand and watch, with no applause or any other outward reaction, then put lots of money in the hat and walk away. He needed audience feedback, but he wasn't getting any.

As for myself, I made some nice spare change busking at South Street Seaport before its yuppie makeover, though never enough to tempt me to quit my day job. When I tried Greenwich Village, on the other hand, what I made was hardly worth counting. BUT... one day I was playing in what should have been a prize spot and getting no money... 25 cents in two hours! I was about to pack it in when a fellow came up to me and said, "Can you play a hornpipe?" I could, and did. He seemed pleased, and he asked for my phone number. And that's how I became Assistant Music Director of an original ballet (choreographed by Edward Villella), and also for a couple of weeks a spare hand and shantyman on the Shenandoah, a wonderful schooner out of Vineyard Haven, MA.

You can never know ahead of time.

Oh, I'll keep trying! maybe not tomorrow, as I think I may be coming down with something, but I will soon!

thanks for the stories, Jim, they were very encouraging.

And I must remember that the first dollar I ever made was at that same exact spot on a cold, yukky day.

But this brings up another question: just how hot is too hot for a concertina? Unless I want to spring for a shelter (and if I had the money to do that, I wouldn't *need* to busk, lol) I am in direct sunlight all day. And so is the concertina.

Should be fine in the open air even in direct sun light. Just don't leave it alone in the car on a sunny day. No instrument deserves that ever! A friend of mine left his violin in the car for an hour last summer (OK it was the hotest british summer for 28 years) and in that time all the glue and resin melted, leaving him with a very nice flat pack violin kit!

Jim, those are lovely stories.

Peter, yours was a horror story.

Rhomyll, you go girl, nothing can get you down. But do drink lots of water. Someone gave me that very good advice when I started out doing art shows ( for tapestries not music, mind).

I wonder how good it is for you to be in full sun, forget the concertina.

Take care all.

Helen

Water alone is usually a bad idea if the weather's very hot.
When you sweat you lose salts, too, and other things is smaller amounts.
Keep balanced.

With the caveat that different people have different requirements, I'll say that I like fruit juices, often diluted with water. A personal favorite is a mix of limeade and grape juice. But when I was hiking with the scouts, the absolute best was grapes: bite-size capsules of refreshment, and difficult to spill.

In play, concertinas are the original 'air cooled machine', when not in play and if not looked after...................they can cook, twist, crash and burn!

Dave

Re cooking: Note that in much of America it occasionally exceeds !00° F (38° C) in the shade. Add to that streaming sunshine, and "air cooling" may be more like "air heating". Also, 140° F (60° C) or more on parts of the instrument in direct sun is not out of the question, while temperature differentials of tens of degrees can develop in minutes. I would not expose a good concertina to direct summer sunlight except for brief periods. (And if high humidity can also cause damage, you should note that Americans talk about "90-and-90" days: 90° F and 90% humidity, or more!)

Funny, I just read something about this on the net...

http://ggweather.com/archive/weacorneraug14.htm

"90-90 conditions are a myth and do not occur naturally" ... "If it were possible to get to 90 degrees and 90 percent relative humidity, the heat index would be 122 degrees."

Having personally experienced 90-and-90 days, I have to say that the person quoted doesn't know what (s)he is talking about. And a friend of mine who did a merchant marine tour of the South Pacific told me of a 3-day stop in Taipei where the temperature was 120° F with 90% humidity for the first two days, while on the third day it dropped to 110° F... in the rain!


Actual temperatures of 122° F (in the shade, and ignoring humidity), even in the US, may be rare, but are not impossible. The University of Utah Department of Meteorology reports high temperatures (admittedly long term records) of 122° F for both Phoenix and Yuma, Arizona, both populated areas. A quick internet browse shows that the highest recorded US temperature was 134° F in Death Valley, in both 1913 and 1995.

I remember one week in Pasadena, CA where the temperature only dropped to100° F at night. Humidity wasn't 90%, though. In fact, it was reported as less than 1%, because it went lower than conventional instruments could measure. (A teacup of water would evaporate in an hour or two.)

However, your same "informant" reports -- from personal observation, rather than just belief -- seeing a a thermometer's recorded temperature jump 23 degrees F -- from 80° to 103° -- in 5 minutes. So subjecting a wooden instrument to direct sunlight would seem a risky business.

When I first got my concertina my friend told me to treat it like you would a baby. . . not too hot, not too cold, never in the car alone. Sounds like good advice.

I think they meant it doesn't naturally occur in the U.S.A. I've heard that from some other sources too. Tropical parts of the world would be different of course.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, but the 90-and-90 I have experienced has been in the US, and not even on the south coast.
Those days may be rare, but they can happen.

Sometimes people say things that are wrong simply because they don't have all the data, but assume they do.
Certainly, not everything available from the internet (or from government agencies, for that matter) is true.

They can, they do, and they can do it for several days. Although it is usually more like 88 / 90 or 93/85. Central Illinois is just that way.

The devil you say!

Notice that I didn't report it as fact, just that I'd read it recently, and I've heard the same thing from another source. Either it's a common myth that the myth is a myth, or a myth that the myth is a myth is a myth, but I certainly don't know and I'm not about to dig into it. I don't see any reason 90-90 couldn't happen, even if it's unlikely.