Sun and Sweat

I've been silent lately, as I've been working on my album (still incomplete, but it's getting there!) and helping to coach the little league baseball team I once played on (we clinched a playoff spot this past week!). I also graduated from high school last week, and on my last day of school I got my street performing permit (I was playing illegally before that this year...) and played in Harvard Square for quite a while. I got pretty badly sunburned and I couldn't see anything while I was playing because of sweat getting into my eyes. Because of these two things, when I played there on Tuesday, I carried (in addition to my usual piles of gear and a giant bottle of water) a big tube of sunscreen and I wore a hat to keep the sweat from my head out of my eyes.

I played for about 2 hours that day and actually made a reasonable amount of money, despite the fact that it was very hot out and it was noon on a weekday. I suppose I can attribute that to all of the tourists who have now invaded (though really that's not a nice way to put it, since they're the ones who pay me the most!) Harvard Square. One regular of the square (I think he's homeless but I don't really know) has made a habit of sitting at the table at Au Bon Pain directly in front of me when I play, and applauding loudly after every song. Whether or not he's sincere in his appreciation of my playing, he's sparked rounds of applause after particularly good songs, and I'm sure that he's gotten a few people to look up and perhaps appreciate my performance.

I'll be performing much more over the next few weeks as the baseball season wraps up and I get more into my summer mode, and I'll be trying to be more on top of my blogging instead of forgetting for days or weeks at a time...

New Year's Busking

Today, New Year's Day, I realized that it was warm enough to go and play, so I ventured through the melting snow to Harvard Square. I played in front of Au Bon Pain for about 3 hours, and made more than $65, which is (I believe) the most I've ever made. $40 of that came from one teenage tourist who I'm not entirely sure knew how generous he was being. I jammed out with a homeless guy who offered to play some rhythm guitar and have me solo over it - I didn't play all that well, but it was nice to actually play with another musician for a change.

Overall, it was probably the most fun I've had performing, ever - little competition, lots of tourists, and a well-rested voice. I doubt I'll be able to play again until the end of winter, so I'll get back to blogging then.

Foreign coins and such

The other day, I decided to take the huge pile of change I had accumulated over the year and bring it to the Coinstar machine at the store down the street. I discovered I had more than $50 in change, but more interestingly, I had quite a bit of foreign change. From the ordinary (Canadian quarters) to weirder and less common currencies like the Chilean Peso and Turkish Lira, there was a great diversity of change in my bin. This, I think, attests to the diversity of the tourist population of Harvard Square - I get tourists from all over the world hearing my music.

Day 24: Fighting a losing battle

Yesterday, I performed in Harvard Square for what was probably the last time this year, as the weather gets colder. It was 70+ degrees yesterday afternoon, but strong winds created quite the problem for me - I lost a dollar to the wind, and several times I had to adjust my equipment, which was repeatedly shifted by strong, swirling winds. I had moderate audiences at times, but most were teenagers, and so I made just $1. I also had to spend $10 for batteries as I had left mine at home, so I lost money on this particular performance. I had a great time, though, trying out some new songs from the album I'm currently working on, which will be due out on Belgian Man Records in June or July.

I have noticed recently as I've been singing in our school's choir (I'm a bass) that my higher range has dropped off significantly. I have lost about an octave off the top of my voice over the last two months, and it's frustrating to not be able to sing the same songs I used to without mangling them beyond repair.

After two years of performing, I am finally getting comfortable putting myself out there and singing publicly. It is certainly not a typical activity for a high school student, but I feel like I have become one of the regulars, part of a family of Cambridge street performers. Even when I have angered some of the others by playing too loudly, they have never been anything but helpful and respectful to me, and I feel that it's great that we have that sort of community despite frequently being in direct competition for donations.

Day 23: Fail, Fail, and More Fail

I really had some terrible luck on Wednesday when I decided to try performing in Harvard Square again...I first managed to forget my capo, which is essential for several songs, at home. Then, I discovered that every single one of my usual spots were taken, mostly by people with no busking license. I ended up sitting on top of a ledge about 10 feet up across from Hidden Sweets. My high-up perch made me essentially invisible to passers-by, who gave me just $2 over 2 hours.

However, there were a few interesting things. First of all, I was surprised to see Ray Magliozzi of the NPR show "Car Talk" sitting at a table outside a nearby cafe, listening. I've been a fan of his show since I was just a little kid, so I was pretty excited to see him there, though I didn't say anything to him. Also, a woman was sitting nearby with a (very cute) baby for a while. Every time I stopped singing, the baby started crying. It was very surreal to hear every pause filled with crying.

A good friend who has been in a couple of unsuccessful bands with me just got his busking license, so we may start playing together, probably doing just instrumental jams due to his lack of an amp.

Day 22: Protesters and hobos

Yesterday, after a disastrous audition for the Music Performance Club at school (basically, our school's unofficial rock band), I played in front of Au Bon Pain for about 2 hours. My time was cut short, however, by a group of protesters angry about the firing of a professor (I think) from Harvard. They decided to set up about 30 feet away from me. As soon as I realized this, I tried to find a police officer, because by setting up so close to me and with their absurdly huge loudspeaker setup, they were violating Cambridge street performing and noise ordinances left and right. However, as soon as they showed up, all of the Cambridge cops nearby seemed to disappear, for whatever reason. In the end, I had to crank my amp far beyond the legal limit, and so I decided to play songs to annoy the protesters. Mostly, I went for songs with lines like "Open your eyes," in the hopes that maybe they might notice my plight, but to no avail. With my voice faltering, I was left with no course but to pull out the deadliest weapon in my arsenal: The RickRoll. If you don't know what that is, you should probably go look it up for a full explanation, but basically, it consists of singing a particular Rick Astley song to unsuspecting people.

In other funny things, a possibly drunken homeless man stood next to me for most of my set, laughing every time I sung just about anything. As one might imagine, this is rather disconcerting, especially when coupled with loud chants about justice.

On the whole, the day was quite amusing, though I made nearly nothing and left feeling rather angry at the protesters, who didn't seem to notice at all that I was 30 feet away and screaming my lungs out.

Day 11: Forgotten parts and Rick Rolling

Today, I went out at about 11:45 to catch the lunch rush, which was a good idea, as I made about $35 in just over two hours. However, in my rush to leave, I forgot my demo CDs that I was planning to hand out, as well as my capo, which is essential to playing certain songs. I rearranged some of those to work without the capo, which worked on some (for example, "The Only Exception," by Paramore, which fit much better into my vocal range with my on-the-spot alterations), and less so on others (Coldplay's "Viva La Vida," which stuttered and didn't work at all).

Today, I used my platform as a busker to execute something of a prank on unsuspecting passers-by. Rick Astley's song, "Never Gonna Give You Up," has become an internet phenomenon, by way of something called "Rick Rolling." Urban Dictionary defines Rick Rolling as the following:

"A method in which a prankster makes a fake link to the music video of Rick Astley's Never going to give you up. To be rick rolled is to be the victim, rick rolling is the act of being the predator. The prank is considered funny because of the horrible dancing in this music video. Sometimes the bar tender is seen to be funnier. Over one million people have been rick rolled and counting."

I engaged in a variation of the prank, in which I sang the song (while dancing just a little). Most people seemed not to notice, but a kid my age and his girlfriend both fell off their seats at Au Bon Pain when I began singing the first verse.

Day 8: Harvard graduation and shirtless men

I'm a bit late (more than a week) on this one - I've been very busy writing some end-of-semester papers and recording a set of demos.

Last week, I played in the Pit during one part of Harvard's graduation ceremonies. The money wasn't great, and I got a terrible sunburn, but I had lots of fun. I played, for the first time in public, my version of the song "Falling Slowly," from the movie "Once," and, though I forgot the second verse momentarily, I got a generally positive reaction from passers-by. The song has a very high note in the chorus, which I can only hit if I shift to more of a scream, but I made it work.

A crazy, shirtless guy came by just after I started playing and got in my face, trying to get me to sing and play louder, despite the fact that I was playing an original song that has to be quiet to get the full effect. He then proceeded (once I had gotten a little louder than I would have liked) to encourage people to give me money, and later sang with me on a cover of "Use Somebody," by Kings of Leon.

Overall, it was a good time, but I need to use more sunscreen.

Day 7: Guest stars and such

Today, my busking was not particularly profitable (just $15 in about two and a half hours), but it was one of the more fun times I've had. My friend Julian of the band Nervous Breakdown came by and sang a few covers with me. I must have been more in-key than usual, because several people complimented me on my singing (usually it's, "you're a pretty good guitarist, but the singing....not so much"). I attribute the lack of monetary contributions to the stiff competition I was up against. Sundays are usually pretty tough, because that's when more musicians come out, and today, they were all playing extremely well. It's days like today when I wish I could arrange a jam session with all of my fellow Harvard Square musicians...

I had to stop in the middle of songs twice today to let the Harvard tour guides do their introductions (I don't like having to compete with them for top volume).