Day 2 Busking in the Tunnel

Rained all day. I wasn’t expecting much. Figured I’d practice some new songs. There were hardly any people out. In the tunnel I get a lot of the families on their way to or back from the zoo. I imagine seeing wet animals behind bars isn’t high on the tourist itinerary. A Japanese couple took some shelter from the rain, ate their lunch of noodles and rice. It smelled good. They were making me hungry, but I kept playing sad country songs. It was the rain. It had me in a weird mood. They had their backs turned to me the entire time not paying me any attention. When they finished their lunch they each put a dollar into my guitar case and thanked me for the songs. You just never know.

The highlight of the day was a very attractive girl who walked by, then stopped to listen to me playing Mississippi John Hurt’s Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me; a happy ragtime blues song with sad lyrics: “When my earthly trials over cast my body in the sea, save the undertaker bill, let the mermaids flirt with me.” She leaned against the tunnel next to me, smiling the whole time. When I was done she looked me deep in the eyes, peering into the depths of my soul, and said, in what I gathered was a Eastern European accent, “You juz made my day.” Shucks. I nearly melted as I watched her happily walk away, then cursing myself later for not asking her to marry me.
An hour or so later a guy stopped for a couple of songs. He was looking for the tennis courts, but liked what I was playing. Ended up he was from Long Beach, California where I was born. He said I sounded like some guy named Doyle Dykes. I’ve never heard of him. Then he asked me if I knew a particular ELP song.
“Huh?” I asked.
“You know, Emerson Lake and Palmer.”
“Nope, sorry, but I’m sure my dad would,” I said, thinking they were probably the same age.
“Fuck you Seth!” he said jokingly and then walked away.