tales of the city

[metaphortunate]

The train station I get off at downtown frequently features a homeless man torturing a broken violin for money. I don't know if this guy has been deaf since birth and never learned the concept of music, or if he has simply achieved transcendent levels of not giving a shit, or what, but what it looks like is cargo cult behavior: like he noticed that some other bums had instruments that they messed around with and then they got more money, so somewhere he got a beat-up violin and a bow with one or two unbroken strings left on it, and now he rubs one against the other to fill the escalator with deranged nightmarish noise and puts a hat out. It's hideous and pathetic. He doesn't seem to collect very much.

But today he wasn't there. Instead, a totally different guy was there, a white guy wearing clean clothes, playing smooth beautiful music on a violin, and for extra cough-up-the-goddamn-money, the violin case with the money in it was being guarded by an adorable small fluffy tail-wagging dog.

I know it's just a different guy who is 5,000,000% better at his job. But my very first thought was "OMG, he finally found the Blue Fairy and she turned him into a real busker!"

Comments

[jrtom]

:)

I feel bad for both you and the homeless man. I mean, it would torment me to walk through the noise every day, and I suspect that he has his own troubles even if he actually gets a perverse enjoyment out of the noise he's making.

(I suppose he might put the hat out on the "pay me to stop" basis. If so, he may need better advertising. :/ )

I have to wonder whether the second guy showed up because he couldn't stand it any more...but I like your theory better. :)

(Also, hey! I should crawl out from under the kids and respond to your posts more often. :) )

[metaphortunate]

You have a lot of kids! I could see how it's hard to shift the pile. :)

How old are they all now? It's hard to even imagine.

I have frequently thought that the first dude needs a WILL STOP PLAYING FOR $$$ sign.

[jrtom]

Kids are now 7, 5, 5, and 2. I still outweigh them all, but it's only a matter of time. :)

(Any chance of you traveling up to Seattle anytime soon? I have tentative plans to go to the Bay sometime within the next few months, but I won't be bringing the kids with me. :) )

[metaphortunate]

To be totally honest I am hoping not to travel anywhere for like a year. :P So tired of it!

[jrtom]

I can totally sympathize. We're just now getting to the point again of feeling a bit more like traveling. :)