25 days, $1080, And a Bucket of Stories - Day 17
Goal: Play in the Subway 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 25 days making at least 1080.00, which will cover all my bills for January.
Updated 1/20/15
Need 750
1/21/15 15.00
1/22/15 27.00
1/23/15 85.00
Below Goal: 23
Above Goal:
Under Hours: 6
Over Hours:
Total Days off taken
Days off this week
For Today
Goal: 50
Actual:
85
TIME:
3
WHERE:
Grand
CD's Sold:
1
Temp: High 34, Low 30, Current 33, feels like 22
These are basically the same day. 3 days in a row now. Amazing.
What a lovely afternoon and morning this has been.
Its a half day off because I don't have rehearsal tonight, which means I get to have a night shift in the subway and hopefully make the big buckaroos :)
Today I'm doing the unthinkable. I've been talking about doing it for months and months Maybe even as far back as June. But it's such a struggle to carry everything I've never followed through with it.
In the Mercury Theatre's production of Barnum 2 summers back, I learned how to stilt walk.
Fancy right?
Well, today, finally - after months and months of inaction - I'm going to take them to the subway, and play guitar, on stilts, on the platform. I don't actually know if I'll make more money. We'll see. People will either drop whole purses, or nothing at all, because they're afraid of the crazy dude on stilts.
Unfortunately, I don't have the red and white pants. But I do have a pair of black ones that will do nicely.
Now - people have said,
"Aren't you afraid someone will push you over?"
and
"Aren't you afraid someone will steal your money and you wont be able to chase them down?"
and
"Aren't you afraid of falling into the train?"
and the infamous -
"Dude. You're gona die."
Thank you Laura Tatar. For the Confidence :) :) :) :) :) :)
The answer - is no I'm not, and I'm not going to die. This is either me being very ignorant - very naive - or truly optimistic to a fault. But I'm confident, that nothing terrible is going to happen.
People - are generally good people. No one is going to push me over. Besides maybe the drunk bro from DePaul with all of his friends. But I'm confident even HE has a little good in his soul. :)
I'm hoping to hop onto either Grand or Chicago. I've scouted both platforms and have strategies to get them on and off safely.
So - If you don't have a post from me by midnight tonight, everyone's fears will have come to glorious fruition, and I will have died by train in the subway - a true buskers death.
Cheers - :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
Ryan
EDIT:
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Not. Dead.
Things I learned today
- People Love Seeing People On Stilts
- The CTA K9 unit leaves at 6, not 5 pm
- Before I do this again, I should add a fair amount of friction to the bottom of my stilts.
- Standing on stilts for 3 hours, is a very, very long time.
I got to grand at 5, and was up on stilts and playing by 5:15, at 5:20 - a K9 unit rolled up, and kicked me out. Now - I thought I had it pinned down. I'd never, ever seen them past 5 - so it must be 6 when they actually leave.
SO I've carted my stilts all the way downtown. I've put them on, started playing a song, and I'm out of them again before I've even finished it. And this is where I began my stakeout. I could not admit defeat on the day I finally brought my stilts down. So I sat there, on the bench at Grand for 40 minutes until 6 o'clock - and then set up again.
There were 3 different reactions that people gave tonight.
1 - The "Oh my god there's a 9 foot tall man standing there, I'm very very surprised" look
2 - The "Whoa - props dude. I'm very impressed, and can't figure out why I can't stop smiling." look
3 - The "I work downtown - I have see everything - and this man on stilts is not nearly wild enough to even deserve a look." Look.
It was pretty wild. Being noticed. at least 70% of the people usually shuffle by without glancing up from thier book or "I'm on my way home don't bother me gaze". But it was like 85% of people were double taking, telling thier friends, and just smiling - all of the smiles.
Snapchats - I must have been the most popular snapchat event in Chicago tonight. I cannot tell you how many people I saw snapchatting, or asked to snapchat me.
Photos - so - many photos. With people, without people.
And people talking. People would walked by and I'd shoot a "What's up man" their way and they'd man-giggle while gazing sidelong at me and chirp out a "nothin man" hahah.
People were nervous - but in a good way. The kind of nervous you get when you don't know whats going to happen, but you know its probably going to be something good.
One lady dropped a dollar and said, "This is just for the stilts man. You've got some guts"
The chief stories of the night, however - are people trying to make change and or find CD's in my case - and missing their trains - because I can't reach it.
Peter and Cara - Peter rolls up first, there's no one in the stop yet, is all smiles, Looked like he'd just gotten off work. He drops me a few dollars, sits on the bench and say's play me a tune man. :) I think I played Charlotte Mae. The stop is filling up, and Cara comes over and starts talking with us, laughing about Niel Young getting played on stilts. The train arrives and I tell em they can each have a CD, but its under my guitar case so they'd have to get it. Cause I'm on stilts. But I mis-spoke - they were in my guitar case. So while i stilt on over to the train to try and hold the door open, they are looking UNDER my case for CD's. I look back, see them failing beautifully, and look down the train imagining the look on the conductors face when he sees a 9 foot man half way in the car. The doors close, and we're left alone. Sorry cats. Missed your train scrambling for CDs hahah.
Eventually, I explained they were inside the case and they found em. They hung out and left on the next train. Nice folks.
Funny thing is, damn near the same thing happened again with Cory and Carolyn. I believe I gave the same bad directions trying to get them to find the CD. but even when they got in the case, they were pushing around like 50 singles trying to find it and the train was gone. They were happy to stay and listen though.
These are the things I didn't plan for. The things I didn't think about.
Matt - From Georgia - Wants to break a 20 to buy a CD, but I'm out, and so he just starts grabbing ones and counting them out from my case, But the train is coming, hes only at 10, starts panicking, and grabs a small handful, leaving the 20 and says,
"I'm positive I'm leaving you at least 2 more dollars than I'm taking" ha. ha. ha. ohhhh. hah.
Who knows. It looked like about 16 or 17 to me. Maybe het came out on top - either way it was hilarious.
All in all? The stilts are a mega success. They'll be brilliant for when I play in front of the Disney Store on Michigan Ave in the summer time, though not as incredible as when I finally master playing the Uke while singing Oh Susannah, while riding a unicycle. I still think that's pretty much the top. But there's only so many hours in the day.
Finally - I found, Quite possibly, the largest possum in the world on my porch when I got home.
Meet - Goliath, The Possum
He was running across the lawn, and then thought it was a great Idea to hide, at my front door. Which is an entryway, and about 8 feet of dead end. So its this Possum stand off. And he's not moving. He just keeps hiding behind this damn bucket thats up there. And I try everything. I walk out of sight for a few minutes. I slowly approach the door. I walk up the opposite side of the steps. I stand WAY back in the street so he can scamper off. Nothing.
So I finally walk AROUND the building, go in the back door, walk down the front, and he is STILL there. So I got back upstairs, grab my camera, open the door, and chase the fella behind a bush before I FINALLY get a picture. And you can't see it here - but He's a mammoth. He's about as wide as a BASKETBALL, and 2 feet long. He's huge. He could eat both our cats. He could fit them inside himself.
Huge.
At anyrate - a solid solid night.
For all you folks that read this mammoth post - Here is the reward -
This is my at Grand, wearing stilts busking, for the first time - Ever.
Follow the link, be a champion.
I love you all -
Ryan
