But don’t give me “Lola’s on Harrison”. This is the café I dropped by last evening to see the sidewalk musician. Not wanting to listen for free, I asked for a cold Budweiser. The snooty pimple-faced dropout behind the counter noticed I was riding a bike, therefore I must be homeless. He hands me the “we don’t have anything like that” treatment. First, buddy, stick your attitude where it feels good. If you had any brains, you would notice my bicycle is worth more than your car. But then, you are a food service worker, aren’t you. That is the one occupation I look down upon, not because of the work, but because of the grade of people who do it.He was also the drama queen, pretending he was doing me a personal favor by breaking his busy routine and going all the way to the back to dig me out a bottle of “Native” lager beer. Foul tasting stuff. I brought the bottle home, still ¾ full. Clean up your act, Lola’s, unless you have some non-standard (Columbian) funding sources, you won’t be long in this town.
[Author's note 2015-04-24: Lola's was bankrupt within the month and I don't miss the place. Putting on airs in that part of town is crazy thinking. Over the next 60 months, quite a number of shops open and close in the same area, in some cases up to four different businesses a year in the same location. Soon, most of the street is full of art stores and foreign restaurants.]
The tourists left in a hurry this year and my crowd tonight reflects that. I had fun without making any money but it gives me time to reflect on the big picture. For instance, I’ve been moving in several directions at once between my show, the live Karaoke work, and practicing my vocals. This caused some of my song lists to get out of date, a problem which just does not occur around here. I went to play my newest and best solo “Secret Agent Man” and it was not there. Tonight was the unplanned windup to another successful season. Now, the real work begins. The biggest change is that although I’m still a lousy singer, I’ve quit worrying about it.
Technically, my [music] season ends May 26. Without specifying a figure, I am making money thirty times faster than when I had a guitar player. I played 42 gigs during the year, although certain people still maintain I can’t do this. It cost me $465 including gas to perform and I estimate since the majority of the gigs were on a Friday, I saved $2,100 by not going out on my own. I am pleased with the situation.
The city inspector came by for the first time in 15 years and made us take down all but two of our window signs. That means my “Million Toothpick” banner is gone [from the shop]. No more than 30% of display window space can be taken up by signage. (And that signage must reflect the nature of the business.) The nasty thing about these bylaws is that they are so unevenly enforced. Worse, there are far more serious things they should be tending to, like cafes that block the sidewalks with furniture. They even tried again to make Fred remove his neon signs (the city has a real paranoia about inert gas) but they ought to know his are grandfathered.
Normally, I monitor the event calendar for Hollywood. That’s why I was surprised to see another street fair blocking 19th beside SunTrust this evening on the way in. I’ve learned to avoid playing whenever the city is giving away free entertainment. This is the third Friday in a row they’ve caught me unawares. I really hurt when they do that.
Let me end with some trivia. I’ve often misquoted that a pound of tea makes 200 cups. Today, I discovered it is 300. Tea is popular in England mainly due to the way it was originally taxed. Thus, you don’t get as many coffeehouses in London as in other Euro cities. You can look up the facts, but I admit I got them wrong for at least 20 years. This tells you I may very well not remember every piece of trivia recorded here, but nor is that my purpose. Look at it this way--because I write them out, my chances of remembering them are vastly increased. So there.
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