Jesse did some recon just after noon and found out that we wouldn’t be able to set up around the park… SO… we’re going to play at our usual spot downtown @ Westlake near Nordstroms -- sometime after 3P on. We’re going to move later in the day and play down by the park with a smaller set up -- instead of Jesse having his drum kit, we’re going to drop that off at his studio and we’re going to have me on pipes and him on a d’jembe(sp?). Enjoy! ~ D

(This is echoed from a blog on our MySpace profile)


4th of July 2005 busking
Current mood: artistic

So Jesse, Robo, & I hit it yesterday. We had planned to busk outside of one of the Seattle parks where a fireworks display was to be presented. Before I departed, Jesse recon'ed the area around park -- looking at where we might play, checking with the police, the security for the family oriented soft-rock concerts that were going on in the park before the fireworks display, etc. What came back was a big fat NO... so Jesse called me and we agreed to meet at our usual busking spot at Westlake hoping to catch some Independence Day Sale shoppers until the evening when we’d move down around the park.

We got down there and going a bit later than what we planned -- around 5P I think -- attracting nice little crowds in a sunny early Seattle evening. Our first few sets were really hot -- it's been going like that lately. We were visited by a guy how caught our first jam last Labour Day at Bumbershoot -- that was a trip. An 11yr/old girl from North Carolina danced the fling for us -- she was fantastic -- she's been dancing for the past 5 years and has achieved a champion status within her division & area (sort of thing). All & all, the Westlake area was kinda dead (and $dead$), but we had a good time and we could see that the folks who were there were rockin’ out to us.

After 7P or so we took off for the park. We bounced past Jesse’s studio dropping off his drum kit, grabbing a d’jembe’(sp?), tambourine, a drumstick, and the minidisc gear we’ve recorded all our work on before. We got to the entrance of the park, grabbed a great spot, and played for about an hour & a half before the fireworks show.

The combo of my pipes with Jesse’s tambourine/drumstick/d’jembe’(sp?), was nice -- it made for a warmer sound compared to our usual combo. It was along the lines of drumming/piping we’ve talked about before, possibly incorporating into our performing. While it was a new bagpiping/mental adjustment for me, I got it -- and what’s really great is we got it, as in recorded it. We think it turned out well and we’re looking forward to hearing the playback from the minidisc unit. I’m hoping to get a sample uploaded to the MySpace profile here and that we might be able to include some of this material on one of our albums, if not make a 4thofJuly’05 CD itself.

While things didn’t go much $better$ busking around the park, again, we had a good time and received a fantastic response from the public. We moved a few CDs, including our first few to a cop (as far as we know), so maybe they’re starting to like us (LOL). We met some nice folks and had a closer interaction with a fellow I think we’ve seen on the streets before while playing. Usually this guy is walking around talking to himself... moreover angrily talking in a raised volume. So we were playing to a crowd of people when he crosses the street, comes over to Jesse & puts a hand on his shoulder and says something to him. I don’t know why, but I was assuming that this guy was saying something like, “Hey, that’s some nice music, thank you for playing. Have a wonderful long life with good health.” I’m guessing this was not the case, because after Jesse, he came over to me -- while Jesse was smirking at me -- and yelled in my ear, “Would you shut the F up!” Well, I guess you can’t please everyone.

So all in all, while the 4th of July was not a day quite worth our $while$, everyone (er, well, but for one guy that we know of *snicker*) liked us and many more folks are more aware of us. Happy 4th everyone, and may Freedom, Peace and the pursuit of Happiness continue throughout the world.

Enjoy!
~D