Water Moccasin

I only learned one new song for tonight, the Beatles "For No One" (which I actually used to know way back when). I have plans for almost every night this week, so I busked somewhat abruptly tonight knowing it would be a while until I could do it again. Although I got to my pitch at 49th St pretty late (around 7:00), I still made decent money -- and I got two five dollar bills! Yowza. One couple gave me six bucks -- I was flabbergasted. I guess my salivary glands were overeacting tonight; one of my harmonicas was waterlogged by the end of the night. Luckily, the reeds seem to be okay, which is fortunate since I don't know the first thing about replacing them. Speaking of which I've been kicking around the idea of getting another harp...I've got one in G and one in C. I've got a lot of songs in A, so that might be a contender for purchase. I also cannot get concertinas out of my head! I want one so bad, but they're surprisingly pricey (like many musical instruments, it's not necessarily a good start to buy a bottom-of-the-barrel model).

Been listening to Neil Young like crazy. Especially his golden era (no pun intended) like After the Goldrush, Harvest, and Comes a Time. Such beautiful music. It makes me want to be a lone vagabond traversing the wild west. Will the time ever come for such things?

Last night I got entranced with Desmond Ivey's biography. He built his first guitar from plywood and fashioned guitar picks from plastic bottles. Years later, when he finally examined a professionally-made guitar, he discovered his fretting format was absolutely perfect! What an amazing guy. He's studied all over the world. Yet he plays in subways! Don't get me wrong -- I love that! It proves that even for the most talented musicians, sometimes the most important part of your life is the MUSIC, not the money you make playing it.

Anyhow, I started working on a new song last night using Desmond's story as a starting point...we'll see what happens. I definitely want to have some new songs when I go out again.