chilly morning ride home

Great day for a chilly, brisk ride home from work. 

This morning before our show I walked into Henry Higgins bagels.. I ordered coffee and a bagel, tried to pay, as usual they wouldn't let me. A large group of 20 somethings were sitting at a table nearby. As I waited, one of them noticed me and started talking about me like I couldn't hear them. "Oh I forgot to tell you (to a friend) Portland is the kind of town where famous people walk around and visit shops like normal. look there, That's a famous clown called "Oliver". LOL! I wasn't about to correct them. My order came up and the barista didn't miss a beat, "Order for Oliver!" and handed me my loot.   oliveanddingo.com

Teens at burger joint drive thru: "Dingo, can i please get a free balloon, it's my birthday." Me: "You bet!" I don't care how old you are, be polite and I'm happy to break my stride.

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Second thoughts.

We were coming home from our gig at Know Thy Food. On the way we dropped into a cafe to try and ask about a gig. The fact that it was empty at lunchtime was our clue that they may need our services.
Well they guy at the counter said he wasn't the owner but I told him what we were about anyway.
I told him we just left a busy cafe gig and that we have our own tea product that is currently selling out.
I informed him that we can draw customers from all around the metro and also point out his menu items. Keeping paying customers in seats is a huge priority for us.
As soon as I said that the shop owners pay us at least $20 per show, he said something that made me think he was the owner. He said no way would he pay.
He started complaining about a performer who filled his shop with people who didn't buy anything.
I know that nightmare.
It is the worst case scenario in our world too.

The man told us we had to pay HIM to perform at his place.
In that moment I realized that I didn't want to partner with him.
He had "tells" of a high maintenance friend.
He said "I want you to pay me a guarantee in case nobody comes and I still have to pay for the lights to be on.
I looked over my shoulder at an empty cafe, at lunch, with all the lights on.
We thanked him for his time, wished him good luck and I snatched the information back (out of his hand).
Then his face changed. I think it became clear to him that he was watching a potential score walking out the door.
He quickly said "Maybe you can come and perform for free?"
Me: "No thanks Sir. We are professionals."
Then we went on our merry way.
We see a lot of cafes close.
It's a hard business to be in.
I don't blame him for being cautious.
Still, it felt good to see his face at the end.

Revisiting the spot (33rd. and Killingsworth) where I was in a movie.

 During the Clown House years a Hollywood film crew invited us to be in their doc about buskers. 
They had me re-do my favorite experiment for their hidden cameras. Here is how it goes.

 I perform as three different kinds of common busker. First I spent 30 min. playing and singing "House of the rising son" in my best voice. It has complicated chords and I played it on a gut-string (classical) guitar. Then I just sat out there with a broken guitar for 30 min. straight begging, then I was the crazy guy, no guitar, only a tin cup that I had. I just banged on the street with the cup and muttered about peeing my pants. 

At the end of the hr. and a half, the beggar made $15 and the other two nothing. One person dropped a $5 and the guy who dropped the $10 only did so after griping me out for being an able bodied beggar. It was easy to stay in character while he was hollering at me because I knew several really good cameras were collecting comedy gold. After that guy was done reading me the riot act, he stormed into the grocery store. A production assistant ran after him. They couldn't use the footage without him signing a release. I followed behind the crew watching the guys reaction as he discovered it was a set up. His face went from concern to a big smile and laughter as he signed away his images. 

It was neat to revisit the spot today and remember this episode. This experiment came to me by accident as I was often a busker and noticed that the people who need it most get help the least. 

The laziest thing you can do is feed money to a bum or someone holding a sign by the freeway. The real way to earn those self pats on the back is to investigate, vote, invest in the community and get involved. Anything else is just thanking yourself for supporting the cig and malt liqueur companies. I never did see the movie. Making movies is hard but who knows. Maybe someday it will be made and or released and we can see how well my memory was.

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