I've been playing a lot, but updating pretty infrequently. Most of last week was a little bit of a bust. It was real hot and I ended up playing a lot for very little actual take. Which isn't any reason to complain; I mean, you need to take the bad days with the good... still makes it a little harder to work.

Playing Last Thursday last week was a little bit of an experience. I love that place, really do. And it was a little bit hard to set up and realize that it was going to be my last chance playing this particular night for a long time. I'm leaving for Ohio in less than a month now, and it'll be close to a year, at least, before I get to do Last Thursday again... but I'm glad I've been able to at least try to make the best of it. I was just walking down the street, looking for a spot, and I get stopped by a woman with cooler:

"Boy, you are looking hot! How about a nice cold one?"

"Ah, naw, I'm broke... I'm holding on to bus fare just in case I don't get enough to get me home."

This was true, but probably not a huge concern... I've luckily never made less than bus fare, which makes that a pretty easy way of getting around.

"Well, you just gonna set up and play? Here, play over by me. GIRLS! THIS BOY'S GONNA PLAY HERE! IT'LL BRING CUSTOMERS!"

That last little bit was for a pair of girls, probably 13 or 14, selling snowcones. They weren't so big into what I was playing, but they never complained, so... I didn't get any kind of movealong there. The woman who invited me to play there was really cool, and said that she really did like my music. Which is always good. She said I put some real soul into it, which is just what I want to hear. And really kinda what I needed to hear after a difficult, frustrating, and slightly discouraging week.

After about a half hour, a dude comes up with an accordion. Dude looks like he wants something, so I just go right and say it.

"Hey man, you looking for a place to play?"

"Yeah, kinda, I'm just chilling until I head over to this one gallery, heard they got free wine."

Well, fair enough.

"You want to jam for a bit, then?"

He lights up a little, and just walks right on over and starts running through some scales. I don't know a whole lot about accordion music, but I know what I like. And the dude seemed to me to be pretty good. We ended up playing this real nice, real dark gypsy jazz and old world carnival folk stuff... the kind of night music that I can really dig. Went off on that for maybe 45 minutes, and then the dude decided it was time to split. Probably never see him again, but it was a lot of fun. I think his name was Manuel or Emmanuel or something that sounded like that. I need to play with more accordions, though... that is seriously an underappreciated instrument.

Friday was hot. Really hot. Not much more I can say except that it was hot. Well, I did try a new spot - over by that one fountain and park in the Pearl District. The one with all the totem poles and the tide that goes in and out in the fountain. The one I always forget the name of. That was alright, but I didn't make any money. And the Pearl is still alarmingly clean - I had absolutely zero competition from panhandlers or other musicians. A little eerie, really, because I kept expecting to get whisked away in an unmarked van for daring to play in the precious Pearl District. After all, I am cheapening up the place. Or not. Your call. It's just really uncomfortable to put yourself outin public with your art and have people walk by you and actively do their best not to see you, not to make eye contact. As if being a musician is catching. And honestly, you don't have to feel guilty about not giving me money. I totally appreciate when you do, but I'm not doing it with the expectation that everyone has to or should flip me some coin. Honest, I don't bite. Maybe the Pearl is a little upscale for what I'm doing right now. Really hard to say.

The Saturday Farmers' Market was exactly what I expected it to be. I mean, it was nice - got my usual spot in the shade, and switched sides once that shade went out - but nothing really super special. People are stopping to listen more, though. And I keep seeing the same faces, so I'm definitely getting return customers somewhere along the line. Got a decent take on Saturday, and I probably could have done more, but I just ended up stopping when I just totally ran out of shade. I can't think of any really interesting things that happened last Saturday, but it was just a good solid day.

I took the day off on Sunday. Probably not the best thing to do, but I was tired and frustrated and didn't want to deal with playing a hot, off day.

Today was just fine. It wasn't great, but I had a pretty friendly crowd, and it wasn't too hot at all. I didn't play for as long as I should have, but I get lazy. And I've had a bunch of other stuff on my mind.

Tomorrow: Somewhere - maybe the fountain in the Pearl again.