busking

...spent about 3 hours busking at St. Lawrence Market today. I added a couple new tunes to my little playlist....a Portuguese Vira called Vira de Santa Marta and a Scandinavian Schottiche (sp?), the name of which I can never remember. The first is like a fast waltz, very spirited. The latter is very controlled and delicate, but played fast. I had a nice chat with a fellow who picks a 12-string guitar and plays harmonica on a rack in the north building. He's a really good guy - I play loud and I told him I didn't want to play too close to him and interfere with what he had going on, but he was really cool about it. "It's like a festival here on Saturdays". I ran into a guy I know from work - he had no idea I busked, or even played music. So much for separation of church and state.

I was playing away, and heard a band saw off to the right of me. There is a butcher there, and somebody has asked for a whole pig, and he's cutting it up into ribs and chops and so on, using this band saw. I had to stop playing to watch him work. I couldn't believe how fast he was. Finally, I ran into an old friend, who used to work with Tuffy P - she and her partner are in the Christmas tree business.....