5 Dollars, Mortal Combat, Vaudville, and a New SONG!

(Disclaimer: Dear beloved reader. This post is massive, but I could leave none of it out without waking up tomorrow furious with myself. So, if you do not have to time to read all my ramblings - Do yourself a favor... and at least watch the 1st video in this post. You will not regret it. I guarantee it)

If you would have told me when I woke up Thursday that I would have made 5 dollars, fought a woman in a Mortal Combat costume, seen a group of 9 ukulele players in costumes playing a song, Saw a dog the size small dinosaur, watched my very first Vaudeville show,  jammed folk songs with a group of strangers, and wrote a new song all in one night - I wouldn't have believed you, but you would have been right. 

So - in classic Ryan fashion - Here we go. 

Thursday, I went to a street festival called Last Thursday. It happens on Alberta street in Portland, OR on the last Thursday of every month through the summer. This was the last one of the summer. So it was a blowout! It seemed like every circus clown and busker in all of Portland was there. There must have been 15 thousand people on the street.

I walked onto the street and was greeted by this nice looking fellow: 

Those balls in his hands? He tosses them up into the bucket. And catches them. All of them. INCREDIBLE.  

So, after having my mind blown away by the juggling-holding a stick on his chin-man, I walked down the street and found a spot to play between a hat vendor, and some cool lookin cats selling pipes. No, they were not cats as in furry, four legged mammals with tails, but cool cats as in people that I liked so much, they deserve the title, Cool Cats - I'll explain why later. Remember them. 

I played for about an hour and a half, and with 5 dollars and a free beer coupon, I decided I needed a break because I wasn't making any money. 

SO! This is where things get interesting. One of the problems I'm facing with busking in Portland, is there are always such amazing things happening.... that I get distracted, and stop playing guitar... 

Things like this - 

Imagine you're walking down the street and you turn around to see a man with his shirt off, in a kilt, holding a duct tape/foam sword, with total Braveheart blue warpaint on his face shouting in his best Scottish accent,

            "DO WE HAVE ANY MORE VOLUNTEERS FOR...... THHHEEEEE ARENA?" 

I watched two sets of people arm themselves with Styrofoam shields and an assortment of weapons, and battle each other before I decided - I HAVE TO DO THIS. So I laid down my guitar case and my bag, gave my camera to a bystander, and walked up to this kilted Braveheart man, and volunteered. Right after that, a woman walked up behind me and joined in. I turned around, and, this woman - to say she was terrifying is a rash understatement. This woman was the Lord of Terror,  in Woman Form. She was straight out of Mortal Combat. 

    HOWEVER! I've played my fair share of World of Warcraft! I've played DAYS worth of Mortal Combat! I've swung my fair share of fake swords! I've pretended i was a mega ninja and climbed a tree silently to hide during a game of capture the flag AT LEAST ONCE!.  SO!  Intimidated - I was not. I walked out, head held high and decided I was going to go all out. No mercy, because I thought I'd get the same from this vision of Sonya I was fighting. I was gonna destroy this woman in combat, and that's all there was to it. 

Here, my dear friends - Is that footage. The whole battle, is on tape. All for you. And so my children, once I have them, can have a really, really good laugh at the expense of their old pops. 

The rules -

    - If you are hit in the leg or arm, you have to "Drop" that appendage. So, hop on one leg, crawl, use one arm, what ever you need to do. 

    - If you are hit in the head or chest, you are dead, and lose the round.

    - There are 3 rounds. Best two out of three. 

May the best warrior win....

So, I lost. HOWEVER. At least I knocked down this dual wielding sword master once.  AND, if I am going to lose, I  can't think of a better reason,  than because a ninja-girl with a face maskdive rolled behind me and hit me in the back, because both my arms were cut off and I was holding a sword with my teeth. I THINK that's a pretty honorable death. 

NOW. At this point, I decided, there was faaaaar too much happening here for me to merely stand around playing the guitar. SO, I just started walking west down the street. 

I saw this dog. This Massive, massive dog. 

And I saw this band. Which, more than anything, made me smile and smile and smile and smile for days. 

After that I run into a group of people sitting next to a sign that says "FREE ADVICE". Which, was perfect, because I was actually really torn about something in that moment.  I asked them, "Should I go turn in this coupon for a free beer, or should I go play more guitar?" It was a unison vote. Turn in the free beer coupon, and then ask whoever you meet there if you should buy another, or go play more guitar. Fair enough advice methinks! The beer tent was next to the Vaudeville show. Of course. So. Onward to the Vaudeville!!!

This, is one of the several pictures I took of the ROSE CITY VAUDEVILLE SHOW!!!!!

FIRE DANCERS!?!?!?!??!?!??! Yes please. My camera is very old, and usually does awful things when trying to take pictures at night, but, it really surprised me here. WHAT A FUN PHOTO! 

I got there towards the end, so all I saw was 45 minutes of fire dancers but, I was more than ok with that!

Hoola-hoops on fire, long swords on fire, bowstaffs on fire, balls on chains on fire, and batons on fire, all being thrown and spun around these people. SO incredible. 

Alright. Remember when I told you to remember the two folks selling the pipes? I run into them now. Their names are Britt and Cassandra. 

I'm walking back down the street and I decide I'm going to have a "One cigarette night". However, if I am going to bum a smoke, I am only going to smoke an American Spirit. I'm wishing that I would just run into those folks that were selling the pipes, cause they had them.... AND BAM. I look down, and they're sitting on the sidewalk right in front of me. 

So we get talking a bit, and they tell me Britt blows the pipes, and Cassandra is an artist. A number artist. She uses thousands of numbers to draw a picture. Kind of like those pictures that are actually 1,000 pictures, but make up an image of their own. Well, I asked them to email me a photo and cleared putting it on the blog with them. Check it out. 

Its almost impossible to see in this picture, but if you save it, and zoom in, you can see the numbers. 

Cassandra is still in high school. People still amaze me. I think that's why I like meeting new ones so much. I'm always waiting to be amazed. 

Last, but assuredly not least, as I was waiting for my ride to pick me up, and I spotted a group of people about my age, sitting in front of the Black Cat Cafe, playing a guitar, singing and laughing. I walked over, sat down and just hung out and listened for 15 or so minutes. Then EVERYONE started pulled out instruments from out of nowhere. Really, it was like they were invisible, then all of the sudden, POOF. Instrument. So, I took my cue and pulled out mine. All in all there were 3 guitars, a banjo, SPOONS, and two whistles. I'd be lying if I said we didn't sit there for 45 minutes and laugh and laugh and laugh as we played song after song. Each person would take a turn to lead it, teaching everyone the chords to the next song. 

     My ride showed up, and my newly found, one night only, band mates asked, "One more song?" I said yes, took the lead, and said, "Lets just play E, and B7 over and over and over". What came out of my mouth  - was my newest song - "Smile for me Baby" - it was all on the spot, and one of the girls chimed in with harmony on the chorus. It was magic. It was just magic. I got home that night, wrote down the chorus, remembered about half of the verses (WHICH NEVER HAPPENS with songs I make up on the spot) and made up the rest to fit the song. 

Here it is! ( think is just a dark video recording so I could get the sound in, It will be replaced by a video of me playing it when the sun comes up tomorrow :) 

All in a day's work, as they say, I suppose.  A 5 dollar day's work. I haven't figured out how I'm going to pay my October bills yet, but I've never NOT figured it out, and I don't plan on starting now. There's always selling homemade bread and knitted slippers-- which, I might do. But, 5 dollars or not - I wouldn't change a thing about this night, even losing to ninja-Mortal-Combat girl, because now I can tell you about it. Which, is what this is all about. Writing songs, and telling stories. 

There are more songs, and more stories to come. 

I love you all, 

Ryan 

Ps. Please leave a comment if this last video does not work. Its acting.... odd.