Our Busking Year: Week 2 - Coffee Songs

AllTheChordsThatFit
SoreFingerVille

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Update: Week 3 (Sun Jan 17th) is going to be crazy!.....Bigger E is on the road with a gang of maniacal Uke-wielding exchange students who are going to aurally assault the waves at French Beach on the Island (video of that to come, I'm sure)....So that means it will be just me and littler e. on the home front.....She and I will be hitting the far Western end of Spanish Banks (where the little dogpark beach is) at about 11:oo am this Sunday.....More on my travails trying to get a busking license that involves kids to come (apparently the City of Vancouver has a pretty strong aversion/paranoia about musical Fagans)....And to Mr. Beer, Sonja and the Hammer (what, no Hunke Bill?), we plan to hit the top of Little Mountain again next week....

Finally, for anybody that cares - the Lotuslandian Fog/Cloud lifted just long enough today to reveal the top of Cypress Mtn where a bunch of the Circus' Nordic events are to be held.... And guess what - There is essentially no (as in none/nada/zippo) snow up there - Ha!
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Young Derek would like to take my order (..."Hi!")...
He works at the coffee shop just up the street (..."Mornin'!")....
He's happy and annoying with a smirk the size of Texas...
He's my Coffee Enemy.....

Don't want to smell like an espresso....
With your coffee-scented soap...
...."Well, maybe you should have some Chai Tea"
......"Or maybe join me for some Tai Chi- C'mon!"
The Arrogant Worms - The Coffee Song

Well.

I didn't get the 'Street Entertainment License' in time for Week 2 (stupid work!).

So, instead of venturing far afield, we returned once again to the top of Little Mountain and pulled out our instruments beneath the Tai Chi Arbours.

It was just Bigger E., me, and the Whack-A-Doodle. Of course, the latter made friends wherever she went, orange hockey ball-in-mouth. This included little kid pictured below who spoke Spanish, which gave E. a chance to try out hers.

Her Spanish I mean.


Unfortunately, littler e. bailed on us again to go to the movies with other even littler kids and Mom (both thumbs 3/4 up!). So, once again, we were short our percussionist/videographer. But e. did promise to return next time, provided that she is not working on her video side-project that day which is titled, 'What's goin' on with Gina', and which is also actually considerably funnier, not to mention wittier, than pretty much everything on the Family Channel times a million (or 10).

We began our outing at Solly's on Main where the bagels are excellent, as are the Americanos. As for the regular coffee? Not so much. Here's the thing though - what are all the shops and stores and cafes along Main in the 20's and 30's going to do when their business disappears during the entirety of the Five-Ringed Circus because nobody will be allowed to park within miles and miles of the new Curling Rink (oops!..... sorry, slipped back into 'irate-speak' for a moment there).

In the end, we played for a long time - almost three hours. And more folks hung around for a bit this time, including a Little Rascals look-a-like named Sam whose Dad finally had to scoop him up and whisk him away because his Mom was waiting in the Conservatory.

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Today's set-list was large, loose and unwieldy, with a slight dose of the The King.

And one of the funnest parts of the whole deal is that this time each of us took a bit of a break to just listen and chase the Whack-A-Doodle while the other let loose on their own - E. on JuNu's 'Into The Sunshine', and me on my fusion of Martha Wainright's Dirty BloodyMotherF'inA (mumbly version)/Astral Weeks (Hansard Pound version).

As promised last week, pictured below is E.'s most excellent new-fangled, electrifiable 4-stringed instrument.



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O.Y.O.B.D. - Week Two:
Venue: Queen Elizabeth Park on top of the reservoir, stomping feet under the Arbours sans the Tai Chi.
Weather: Grey with bright sky off to the east; incredibly warm for mid-January.
Set List: Best Ever Death Metal Band Out Of Denton, EasyChair/HeyDay, California Stars, Lakes of Ponchetrain....In The Ghetto, This Year, The Weight, Blue Suede Shoes...... The Coffee Song....You And I, Send Me On My Way, Into The Sunshine, Hallelulah, BloodyMoFo/Astral Weeks...I Saw The Sign, Don't Stop Believin', Closer To Fine, Suspicious Minds...Folsom Prison Blues, Bobby McGee, Fallin' Slowly, Knockin' On Heaven's Door, I Bid You Goodnight.....Denton (Reprise, only louder)....
Working On: 'Winter Winds/Heart Told My Head' (Mumford & Sons) and, to, as E. put it, surprise our younger 'kids' in the audience, 'Time to Pretend' (MGMT).
Number of Not-So Good, Non-Evil Green Empire Coffees: Just one each; as I said, it was darn warm. And we only had one bagel each as well, although the Whack-A-Doodle had quite a few mini-treats when she had to be distracted from passing schnauzers, etc.
Faces We'd Like To See In The Passing Parade One Day: Well, in addition to the usual suspects on the sidebar (you know who you are!), how about Mr. Beer et al?


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