Yesterday didn't work out so well. I only played for a little bit in the morning, until I got frustrated and just decided to go home. I know I need to be more patient, but it really just wasn't working, so... I decided to cut my losses and take off. Today was a little better - I tried out a new spot and made a few bucks. I didn't go downtown today... stayed on the east side instead. I ended up next to the Starbucks on 45th and Glisan. I figured that there would be a bunch of people around, and that I could get enough traffic to make it worthwhile. It went okay, but not great. The way I see it, at least I have more money now than I did when I woke up this morning. All in all, I think downtown is probably better and easier. Just a really unmemorable day.

Tomorrow: Farmers' Market

I played last Friday and Saturday - Friday over by Nordstrom's, but a different corner than I usually use, and Saturday at my usual spot outside the Farmer's Market. All in all, they were two good days. Definitely better than usual, as far as take (and as far as how friendly people were), but not setting any new records. Good, solid, encouraging days.

Friday I decided to try a different corner just to shake things up a little. As I walked across Pioneer Square, I picked up a free sample bottle of some new Coca Cola drink. This ended up being my breakfast - except that it was diet, so I really didn't get anything out of it. I need to start making it a habit to eat something before I leave the house... I'm not all that hungry in the mornings, but it's still a good thing to do, to try and start the morning off right. As they say.

I met a lot of really interesting people on Friday. By met I mean ran into and chatted with, but that's the same thing as far as I'm concerned. The traffic was pretty heavy along where I was playing. I don't know if it was the street or just some fluke of the day, but I ended up getting a bunch of audience in total - probably more than usual. And it was a chatty bunch, too. Got a few conversations going, and I'm just getting to the point where I can almost pretend to talk and play at the same time. Right now I'm limited to "thank you" and "have a nice day" while I'm playing, and even that's sketchy, but as long as I'm not playing something too complex, I can occasionally get a few words in edgewise.

One guy was pretty insistent about how I spend the money he gave me:

"All right, brother, here you go. Good playing."

"Well thank you very much!"

"This isn't money for college, though. This is drug money, brother."

Well, right on. Drug money. It turns out that drug money spends just like any other money, so I'm overall just fine with that.

Another guy came along and said he liked my playing because it was very "avant garde." Again, right on. I'm always glad to be appreciated... I wonder how Elgar would feel about being called avant garde, though. Don't know if he'd be turning in his grave or just happy to know that he's still almost relevant. To digress a little bit: I don't like Elgar very much. I think that a lot of what he wrote represents the parts of traditional "classical" type instrumental music that people love to hate. If I'm wrong here, please steer me right. I just don't really like most of his work. This doesn't stop me from playing his Salut d'Amour, because it's easy and sappy and people like it. I think that somehow it's the kind of thing they expect. I don't know, really. My point is that Elgar isn't my favorite composer. Anyways. Back to the guy. I stop playing and thank him, start chatting with him. He looks kinda ratty; looks like he's probably been out on the street for a little while. And then I see his harmonica. It's a slightly dingy, slightly dented thing peeking out of his bag. I motion to it: "you play?" And yeah, he does. He actually plays pretty well. And we start jamming, him playing old shaker tunes, me trying to follow along behind without losing track of where he's going. This was the first time I've had someone just start playing, out on the street, trusting that I'll join in and do it justice. I really hope I was able to pull it off. It sounded alright, I think. And that was enough.

Saturday started off real well. As soon as I took out my violin, someone gave me a dollar. This is before I started playing, before I put in any seed money. She gave it to me with an apologetic smile - "I wanted to give you a whole dollar last time." I just smiled back and thanked her. I wish I could have remembered her, recognized her, but I just see so many people.

It was pretty uneventful after that, until a guy walked up to me, holding his cellphone out at me. I stop playing to see what he wants.

"Hey, would you play some stuff over the phone for my friend? She's a musician, and I want her to hear you."

"Oh, um, sure. Yeah, no problem."

"Great! Also, can you answer some questions while you play?"

"I'll try, yeah."

"Okay, cool!"

He flips the phone and dials, motioning for me to start playing. I work through some jazzy stuff that I know I can keep doing even if I'm distracted without much problem - also gives me plenty of room to work if I decide to get fancy. And I do. He keeps talking to me as the phone rings.

"Yeah, she just got a violin, and - hey, Jen? I got someone over here for you. Hey kid, how old are you?"

I manage to mumble something that sounds like 18 in the direction of the phone.

"Ha, 18. How long you been playing?"

I do my best to try to tell him, and most of the words get out, but it isn't pretty.

"Okay, one more question: would you be willing to date a 33-year-old woman?"

I put a few flourishes in and get a little fancy. Did he just say what I think he said?

"Heh, no, probably not. And I'm leaving town soon in any case, yeah?"

I think that one got out pretty clear. The dude just laughs.

"Well, it was worth a try. Bye now."

He hangs up the phone and gives me a tip. Gotta love customers.

Tomorrow: I'm going to try the corner of Nordstrom's that I used on Friday.

The Farmers' Market was uneventful and hot. It was way too hot. Not to be complaining, but shade was pretty scarce and it was way hot in the sun. Wasn't very memorable, I gotta say.

One guy flipped me a buck and then noticed my sign:

"Kenyon, huh?"

"Yessir."

"Hope you're smart."

Gee, thanks. You know? I hope I'm smart too.

The band that I've been half-heartedly competing with somehow got a spot inside the market. I could be paranoid here, but I'm thinking that they were offered a spot inside. I was told in pretty certain terms that it was market policy to only allow vendors and customers to work the inside of the market. Again, not complaining. Just wondering.

Tomorrow: Somewhere downtown and hopefully somewhere in the shade.

I took a week off and went to the beach. Most of a week, anyway - in any case, it was probably more time than I should have taken. I haven't updated in at least that long, either, so I've got a bit of catching up to do.

Last Tuesday I decided to try and meet up with a friend to play - me still on violin, him on guitar. I don't know if it was just an off day or if our music or our format wasn't working, but it ended up being pretty dead, as far as take was concerned. Every so often someone would flip us some cash, but most of the time there was absolutely nothing. One lady came by and gave us a dollar, but she wanted to make sure and let us know that she was one step ahead of us:

"Here's your beer money, kids. Wouldn't want you to get thirsty!"

Yeah. That's what we're going to use the money for. Because, you know, I'm a huge drinker. And most places have no problem at all selling beer to 17, 18 year olds. Yep. Beer money it is. I mean, I don't have any real problem with her saying that, but I just think it's interesting that she sees kids playing music on a corner and immediately thinks beer money.

As far as take goes, though, Tuesday was still a bust. Didn't even bring any cash home that day... we just decided to go and grab some Indian food instead. Tasty, tasty Indian food. If you're ever downtown, go to the India Chaat House and get lunch there. I've never regretted a meal there.

After that, it was the beach, and I didn't work on anything while I was there. Just skipped stones and caught up on some reading I'd been meaning to do. That was nice. I mean, not very productive, but I was up with a friend and it was just nice. I think I need nice sometimes.

Today was the first day since last Tuesday that I worked out on the street. I've been working on some other side projects, but that's been mostly boring design grunt work - a lot of time spent in front of a screen laying stuff out, a little bit of time cutting and spraying stencils, and basically not a lot of time being truly creative and doing what I'd like to be doing. But getting out today felt good, even though it was really hot outside. I was only able to work for a couple of hours, because I'm a wimp and the sun was starting to get to my head. One thing I didn't really count on with this heat is how quickly my strings drop. I mean, I barely played for a half hour and I had to tune up probably more than a quarter step. That's no good, really, and I hate to think what it's doing to the rest of my violin. Probably nothing permanent, but it still makes me uncomfortable. I had to call it a day after about 2 hours... not nearly as long as I had wanted to work, especially after having taken a week off, but it was all I could do. Nothing really super interesting happened, and it wasn't a particularly memorable day as far as take goes, but it felt good to get back out there. I'm hoping tomorrow will be a little bit cooler, be able to get out and play a little bit more. And I still need to find a good spot on off days...

Tomorrow: I really have no clue.

I wasn't really sure if I was going to like playing First Thursday. I go down there every so often, and while I definitely like being part of that scene, I also worried that people would be uptight art crowd wannabes who would only look down at me. I didn't want some overzealous cop bent on keeping the Pearl District completely shiny and free of street musicians to hassle me. It turns out that playing First Thursday, as long as you get a good spot, is just like any other high traffic space. This is a good thing. I got a ton of exposure today, and it worked out really well in terms of take, recognition, and offers. I got 3 job offers, a new record for me for a single night. I really don't know if I'm going to take them (or if I'll even be able to take them) but it's real good to get my name out there.

I originally planned to play at that one park with the foutain and all the totem poles. I can never remember the name of it, but it's right in the middle of the Pearl. There was a band there. A really loud band. Playing really bad dance music. I didn't stick around to see who it was, but I'm thinking that that park could be a good call in the future. It's in a nice area, way populated, tons of families (that is, parents wanting to expose their kids to music, and maybe throwing a tip my way), and right off the streetcar. Good place to think about in the future. Only problem is no shade... I'll take a look, though.

I saw the woman who suggested the I start a blog. She was with some family ("like herding cats," as she put it) so didn't stick around for too long. Remembered who I was, though, and where I was going to school, all that. She seemed genuinely excited that I had used her idea and started a blog, and promised to check it out. Blog lady, if you're reading this, please feel free to leave a comment.

It looks like about 5 seconds of me might appear on Cita con Nelly. The cameraman shot about that much of me at a cool little artistic angle. Again, looks like I'm famous. At least as far as Cita con Nelly is concerned.

The woman next to me was selling laminated paper snowflakes from a little table as fine art. I kept going back and forth about whether or not she was actually serious about this, or whether this was some kind of elaborate performing arts joke. She seemed pretty earnest about selling these thing (at $4 - $7 a pop), and some of them were actually a little bit nice and fancy looking, but still... snowflakes seem like a pretty weird little niche. Although if she's doing what she loves, can't really blame her. I don't see a huge future in cut snowflakes, but you really never do know about that kind of thing. I mean, I didn't think I would do this well playing violin, but so far so good. I hate to say it, but I think there just might be more of a market for violin than snowflakes. Just saying.

Did another Happy Birthday for some girl out with her friends. No tip this time, but I really love playing happy birthday for people. I mean, it's a song everybody knows, it's a song you play for a reason, and it's one that people really want to hear. Plus, now I've got it down with doublestops and chords all the way through, so it actually sounds pretty good. All the practice I've been getting doing this kind of thing helps too, of course.

I ran into the people I chatted with on the streetcar later on in the evening. Nice folk. One of them in from out of town, very polite, very interested in what I was doing. Right on. I like talking to people like that. All in all, the whole evening was a lot like that - just very nice, lots of people I've seen around, and a good time had by all.

Tomorrow: I have a class all day, so probably nowhere. Saturday I'll be at the Farmers' Market.

Today's Farmers' Market down in the park blocks was nothing short of normal. It was, all in all, a completely average day. Never got too hot in the shade, didn't get as crowded as I've seen it, and my take ended up being just about what I expected - not a whole lot more or less than it has been on Wednesdays. This is a little bit of a mixed thing for me. On the one hand, it's really nice to have this kind of predictable and easy to work with day. On the other hand, it also drives home the fact that not every day can be actionpacked and super exciting. Which is fine. I mean, I didn't really seriously expect every single day to be filled with larger-than-life events people. It would be cool, though.

I'm starting to see a lot of the same people at all of these different markets. More than that, they're starting to see me. There's the Street Roots guy, the Walmart Union Petition guy, cookie girl, and all of the people who regularly shop at the markets. It's starting to look like becoming a fixture, a known figure, is a definite possibility. And I really love that. To be honest, I thrive on the kind of attention that I'm getting when I play out on the street. I love to perform, it turns out, although I never really found the right forum for it until now. The kind of interaction I get with people out on the street is the perfect opportunity for me to perform, maybe get a little fancy and show off a bit, and then chat and work out that patter. Or just chat; it isn't like I have some kind of routine worked out.

Not to mention the cameras. I am, for whatever reason, a magnet for tourists and their cameras. I had a whole group of japanese tourists with cameras and video cameras come up to me today and just start taking picture after picture, walking around to get a better view. I was a little bit stunned at first, but then I started working the camera, getting a little fancy, getting into it. They ate it up, started taking more pictures. This is really unusual for me, because I'm almost always very camera shy in any kind of normal context. For some reason, playing and performing and showing off really opens me up, and I don't mind people taking pictures of me out on the street with my violin. I'm not even particularly vain or egotistical, either - there's just something about getting attention out on the street that keeps me going.

Working on adding a few more things to my stack of material that I've been playing. The most successful new thing (added today) is a kind of latin jazz dance number... pretty simple to work out, but you can go a little wild in parts and it sounds real good without needing to be totally polished. I'm trying to think of the name right now - it's a classic, I've heard it done by any number of folk (including the fantastic - and local - 3 Leg Torso). Oh well. In any case, it's working out real well. I need to add some more standards to my collection, and I really want to learn some more dance type stuff. I think a tango or two would be nice.

Tomorrow: First Thursday in the Pearl District

No update today. Didn't go out and play again, and instead worked on other projects that need getting done. I'll be back tomorrow.

Tomorrow: Farmer's Market

The Hillsdale Farmers' Market is awesome. I really can't say much more to it than that; the experience I had there was I have to say unmatched compared to everywhere else I've played so far. I wasn't at all sure what to expect - the only reason I went out there was because of an invitation I got from one of the managers last Wednesday at the Portland Farmers' Market. It pays to get noticed, I guess... the dude just liked my playing and wanted me at his market.

And oh, the market is great. It's on the small side, compared to the Saturday Farmers' Market over by PSU (where I played yesterday) but it has a lot of the same folk selling, and it's really cozy. Not to mention I got a phenomenal take today - just a few dollars shy of yesterday. And they treat their musicians really amazingly well - not only did I have a canopy, a table, and no competition, they also made me a sign, brought me water (without me even asking!), and sent me home with a big bag full of produce from the market. Really good produce. I'm talking lots of organic, all local, and just good quality stuff. Those artichokes were real good for dinner, I gotta say. The homebrew soda they threw in there went down nice after a day in the hot sun, too. Although the sun really wasn't that much of an issue today; the canopy they gave me provided more than enough shade. I did get a really weird sunburn on my arm, though; my left arm was in the direct sun for a while, but my violin was also casting a shadow on it, so I ended up with part of my forearm burned, with a little bit going up to the elbow unburned, with a perfect violin curve dividing burned from not. I burn really easily, so it's not like that's a big surprise, but the curve of red going down my arm is a little bit funny. [Update: I also ended up on the Hillsdale Farmers' Market website. Didn't look at it until later, but my name's on there as of tonight. I'm famous.]

One thing that really made today stand out was just the reality of being a central musician and an actual part of the event. Instead of standing on the sidelines, watching out for a movealong or anybody hassling, I was a legitimate component of the market. I even had an official sign. This was, in a lot of ways, really nice - gets rid of all the competition, for example. On the other hand, it really changes what I do. I'm so used to running through the same handfuls of fragments and songs, repeating things in places that don't always make sense, and basically playing for a moving audience rather than as a regular performer per se. It's not like I'm trying to be lazy, more of just looking for economy in what I'm playing. The more I can stretch out my repertoire, the better. When I'm staying in one place, I have to watch what I'm playing and make sure that I'm playing things all the way through and not repeating too much. In a way, this got a little bit stressful when I was nearing the end of my shift - I was losing track of what I had already played, and how recently I had played it. It's very interesting to look at the different styles, I guess... personally, I prefer the more freeform "moving traffic" style, but I think that if I build up my stock of music a little bit more, I can get into staying in one place a little bit more easily.

Today wasn't really as memorable as far as running into unusual people or having weird stuff happen around me. In a lot of ways, it was a very normal day. I'm starting to see a lot of the same people around; the same vendors, the same Street Roots guy, even some of the same customers. I'm really hoping that this means they're starting to notice me, too. I'm hoping to become sort of a fixture around town by the end of the summer. I don't expect all of Portland to know me by name, but I'd love for people to be able to walk by and think, "hey, that's the violin guy," or even better "hey, that's the violin guy with the blog." Not to take away from the artistic side of what I'm doing, I would love to reinvent myself (in this job) as a kind of product that people remember and will talk about. Just getting myself out there is really the first step, but getting some buzz around me is just as important. I'm looking into some collaborations, some side jobs, and some other alternative stuff to go for this. What I'm doing is definitely fun, and definitely a labor of love, but even if the hours aren't as long as most jobs, it still is ending up to be a job. And I want to make the best of it.

Tomorrow: Taking the day off.

The Farmers' Market today was nothing short of amazing today. The crowd was as friendly as I've ever seen it, I ran into some amazing folk, and I got an incredible take (set a new personal record, as a matter of fact). I got down there reasonably early to when it started (I set up and was playing by 10) and kept on for a good bunch of hours, with one 20 minute break for food around lunchtime. So I was playing for a pretty good stretch, and it was totally worth it. Had a bunch of cool stuff happen, too.

After I had been playing for about an hour, this woman comes up to me, gives me a dollar, and steps back to listen for a while. She's really really nice, and I keep thinking that she looks familiar. After a song or two, I put my violin under my arm and stretch a little bit. She comes a little closer and starts talking with me.

"You know, you sound really good."

"Oh hey, thank you very much. I've just started doing this for a job... trying to get money for school."

"Music school?"

"No, I'm probably not going to study music - I mean, I'm definitely going to keep doing it, don't think I could ever not, but I don't really know what I'm going to study."

"I did this in college, too - supported myself all the way through school as a street musician like you."

Oh yeah? Huh. Well, right on, looks like she definitely knows what she's talking about. And there's still that little nagging thing going on - why does she look so familiar?

"Hey, that's really cool. What do you play?

"Violin."

"Oh! Right on! Well, I gotta be honest here, I'm really learning how to do this as a job as I go along. If you're into that kind of thing, check out my blog at streetviolin.blogspot.com sometime."

I motion at my sign (now with the address of my blog) with my bow. She gives me a wry little half-smile.

"Gotcha. You can check out my website at pinkmartini.com. My name's Paloma, by the way."

Oh. Oh holy crap. I'm talking to Paloma Griffin. Oh yeah do I know who you are. Of course she looked familiar... I try to go to as many Pink Martini shows as I can, and she's one of the best people in the band. Not to mention everything else she's done. I'm a little bit of a fan, to be honest - not like a huge obsessive fan, but she's awesome. And here she is talking to me. That was something else, to be sure... I wasn't quite sure what to say, but she took off at that point, so it was all good. Wow, though. The people you meet.

Later in the afternoon, a bunch of people come running up with a cellphone held out at me.

"Hey, can you play happy birthday for someone? It's my friend's birthday, and we want to do something cool for him."

Right on. I love doing this kind of thing. I wait while they dial and get an answering machine. I think I did a pretty good job on happy birthday; didn't play it totally straight and boring, ended up jazzing it up a little. Really satisfying, and I think I made them happy. They tipped well, too. Just a really cool thing to do, and I hope it's not the last time I play happy birthday for a stranger over a cell phone. There's just something indescribably cool about that.

Wound down about an hour before the market closed, and decided to head home. I probably could have stayed downtown and found another spot, but I think it was just fine to call it a day at that point. Such a good day for being out. This is the kind of day that makes doing what I'm doing totally worth it. Hopefully tomorrow will be as good. I'm playing the Hillsdale Farmers' Market, and they're giving me a dedicated space inside the market with a canopy and everything for 3 hours. This means I get shade and I don't have to worry about competition or getting kicked out. I'm hoping this works out good, and if it works out maybe I get invited back.

Tomorrow: Hillsdale Farmers' Market

Decided to go downtown today. I was originally going to try Hawthorne again, but I just realized that my bus pass expired yesterday, I didn't want to front full fare for the bus, and I didn't want to walk all the way down there. So I got on the train and headed downtown instead. I know that I was technically jumping fare by doing that, but I got on one stop outside fareless square and I really don't like paying $1.10 - $1.40 for what, minus one stop, would be free. And in any case, I usually have a bus pass, which I'm going to get tomorrow anyway. Or if not tomorrow, then at some point. Hopefully I'll still be able to get a youth pass... $17 instead of $51 sounds nice to me.

The flower sale was still going on in the square so I figured that somewhere in that area would probably be a good choice. I set up right adjacent to the Mario's/Fox Tower space for a few reasons. One, my usual corner over at Nordstrom's was taken by some dude with a banjo. Two, there were still plenty of people milling around on Broadway, with some decent traffic coming in front of me. Three, I have some issue with the security people at this building, so I love taking a spot that's basically still in their space but that they really can't do anything about.

About a year ago I played a morning against the wall of Mario's. Actually, that's not totally true - I played about 5 minutes before they sent security out to give me the movealong. This probably happened at about 7:30 in the morning; it was before school and I decided to pick up some extra cash for lunch. The store wasn't even open yet, but according to the security guard my playing was disruptive to their customers and their business. That is, the customers that weren't going to show up for a few hours. Whatever. I just stayed friendly, packed up my stuff, picked up the few bills and change I got (not bad for an early morning thing... I guess commuters are generous) and bought myself a cup of coffee. Or tea, or hot chocolate, or whatever drink I had that morning. No harm, no foul - the guard was a little rude and did interrupt me in the middle of a song, but I just put it behind me.

Last week I go up to the same building, but one business over. I figured that the security that hassled me however long ago was from the store, not the entire building. So I just start playing and doing my usual thing, and after some 10 minutes I look up to see a security guard standing off to the side, with a cop behind him. They just watch me as I wind down and put my violin under my arm. The second I stop playing the guard just jumps at my throat.

"Sir, you're going to have to move. Now!"

I'm just a little taken aback at this. The cop steps forward. He is way quiter, way calmer than the guard, and to be totally honest he looks more than a little embarassed to be dealing with that kind of guard.

"I'm afraid he's right. You're on private property right now, and you have time to pack up, but you do need to find another spot."

I'm not going to argue with these guys. I might give the guard a hard time if he's on his own, but talking back to a cop just isn't worth it. I figure I'm entitled to some advice, though, so I have to ask:

"Any idea where I should go?"

The cop is eager to help, eager to show that he's not the bad guy, he's on my side.

"Move out to the treeline and you'll be fine. If you want more detailed information, you can go down to city hall and look at the Portland Street Musician Agreement."

Good cop, unpleasant security guard. Rentacop. Give them a badge and a little flashlight and they think they're kings. Not that I have anything against ordinary security guards who are just trying to make a living; I only have a problem when they go on power trips. I mean, there are so many nice ways to give somebody a movealong. Not my problem though. I just blow it off and move out to the corner, over by the treeline, far enough out from the building. One interesting thing that I thought about later was that the guard was kicking me out because I was esentially trespassing. Wait, though - I'm implicitly trespassing by standing there? What about all the people who walk past the door, inside the property line? Are they trespassing too? It's their right to decide who can stay or go, of course, but it'd be nice if they were a little bit clearer about it.

Oh, and I did go down to city hall and look up that Street Musician Agreement. It turns out that while the building was well within their rights to tell me to move on, the way in which they did it violated the Agreement (which is technically breaking the law, but that's splitting hairs). They are required to come talk to me in person and wait a half hour before calling the cops, they are required to be polite, and they are required to let the performer (me) finish a number before talking to them. I'm not at all bitter about this. In retrospect, it's good to know my rights, to know where I can and can't be, so at least I got some education out of it. Plus, now I can play outside the building, right in plain view of those guards, and they can't touch me. Feels good.

One last thing, way nicer. Today some folks (a young couple) just stopped and listened to me for close to 20 minutes. After a few songs, I stopped and asked them if they had any requests. Quietly: "Duke Ellington?" I play through a jazz standard. I don't know if it was Ellington or not, but they liked it. It means so much to me when someone is willing to actually sit and listen to me play. It isn't the same as the perfunctory and polite opening of ears... to have someone actually validate my playing by giving me the time to show them my art makes the whole thing worth it. The take was pretty low again today, but those folk really made my day.

Tomorrow: Farmers' Market, over by PSU