Mercenary-Mutual

A note again on the nature of music-making in Dupont Circle. You have solo singers who bring their electric rig all over town to play the same covers every day, lay out their hat and generally obstruct the air with their wha wha whas. You have your amateur Phish-Head who bake in the sun for hours playing the same three chords and incidentally, bake, KWIM. And you have Alec, the troubador and his longstanding bud Steve who knows all his stuff, must have been playing together for years. They kindly let me sit in and tinkle on flute solos, cowbell and shakers. A small crowd crept nearer on the grass to hear some, for once, intelligently played music. In this realm I feel justified. I'm still waiting to shine and rip out with the old drummer guys, hope they have another strong summer left in them.
Why Dirty Harry? I'm just a loose cannon with a badge that says "musician". No big deal.

Hitting Fifth Base

The day started off normally, things just went on and on, trying hard to avoid the charging bull that is Ms. not-to be named here. Hard to stay out of her work-ethic ways. Instinct is an acquired thing. But 45 minutes of overtime was more than I could take. I hit the wall so to speak...again. The last vestige of my good natured, on the job sense of humor was spent singing along to Earth Wind and Fire's song Fantasy..along with a cray-zee looking homeless woman...not that I acknowledged her, but from behind the espresso machine I could see that she too was singing along, waving her arms and drinking her imported-from outside soda. Since we have patio seating now to go with the fine weather, and since there was another Falun Gong demonstration in Mcpherson Square (aka CrazyPark) Our shop became the popular place to hang out, use the bathroom, drink free water and generally do what comes naturally. If this is a sign of things to come, my attitude might be adjusted, one way or another. As long as I'm not cranky from hitting the wall. I need time to recharge, photsynthesize, make grass angels and listen to my iPod outdoors. At the very least! I might have real things to do soon like follow up on a real job! Soon, you muthas, yer gonna miss me! Gotta go roll up my dirty blanket and hit the park!

Free Coffee beats Chinese Death Camps!

Latte Art at Grounded
Originally uploaded by Neubie.

Quite a thrill for me to be released upon the public again...and maybe tomorrow, to shill and shrill and bark and sing the praises of our current promotional venture. I spare the offers details, unless you wanna comment. But I'm out there babbling in public to these poor commuters and tourists alike in my Michael Buffer voice and not so buff latte belly. What made it a bit trifling though was having to share the corner, outnumbered 4:2 with Falun Gong practicioners gathering at McPherson Square for what would be a big demonstration later in the day. Clearly I felt up to the task, my product and message a relief in this town where the activism outreaches never end. On every corner you have a cause. My only cause today was Free Coffee!! And singing. One suited young gent offered the obvious but succinct observation, which entitles this post. Yes indeed it's damn true.
So, no follow-up to the Gongers, I've tried the art which sort of bridges meditation and yoga but the literary accompaniment and it's peaceful, nonviolent, potential-threat to Chinese Gov't message I don't take to heart. I did not attend such rally. Meanwhile with a tweaked back, I am now accruing several left part of body ailments. Hope I don't go totally numb. At least my brain still works half the time.

Barista Gone Wild

Typical day at work. A bit rusty from the weekend funk, slowed a bit. About 530 I was released onto K St. to badger the public about a free morning coffee promotion. When I warmed up, the shtick flowed like fine wine. Buy a muffin...get a free Latte. In a bold Michael Buffer-ish tenor I bellowed Free Coffee! Lost our Lease! It's Free...it's coffee! It will be sobering to face the public in the morning as they storm the Java Palace for their freebie. If only we had a tip jar, sigh!
Now I am watching Discovery times programming about how Al Quaeda spreads propaganda through to media sources. Actually I was very enlightened by a Wash,. Post story about Al-Zawahiri's praise of Hamas' victory in the elections, and warning them about Western influence. We know clearly from their lifestyle that they're not in it for money or power, but for ridiculous devotion to God. They declare that Democracy interferes with God's right to rule. Allahou Akbar, indeed.

More minor tragedies/What'cha gonna do when the well runs dry

Ah, Saturday. Springtime and relflection on this lovely late morn. Yesterday is gone and I wonder..still I wonder...is that espresso machine still not workin'. Thank the lord lord lord it made it through the morn. But before lunch lo and behold I found a leak and the water was a'poolin from behind. I said whoa, somethinn' ain't right. I made a call and the people did come crouching down and bringing their screwdrivers. And we all wondered how could this be? It was a dark day for our patrons. We couldn't make a latte, couldn't even sell a Snapple or a Dasani 'cause we had none. We had to make do with our home brews, our Arctic mochas and a lone case of San Pellegrino. We all had to chip in and make do with all we had. Fortunately I made it out by 2:15 pm and started my weekend early! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha....not quite.
I got my rain coat and headed out into the sunny afternoon, headed on a bus NE, to take a physical for the next step in my halfway determined pursuit at law enforcement. The other side of civil service. I'm thinking all along...maybe 20 years and a pension later I can do what I really want to do and spend all my says muse-ing on the mall. My conscience is clear about my high days being merely anecdotal. But it turns out my history of asthma looms much larger, though unmedicated for some time. As it seems a lot less risky for me to be lugging myself up wide marble steps than rickety wood, potentially dander-balled inclines, I think the degree of mental and physical comfort afforeded by my original pursuit of particular civil service establishment would be the more complementary option.
So I have to realign my focus again, sometimes being narrow-minded can make the world seem wider around the waistband, and comfort is very important. If you can breathe, you can think, write, sing, paint..or just do nothing...peacefully.

*G* Knew this day would come

Just as another great Jew, Moses strikes water from a stone (shown in the art by my latest friend Bacchchiacca) I too performed a miracle today which will secure my standing as an altrusistic, long suffering Hebe of great value and historical significance.
I worked from 6:30 am to 7:45 pm, the second half of the long-ass day washing detail. The lower body fatigue is intense, as was the smell which I corrected soon after getting home. Have to work again at 6:30, so for those who know me and did not think me capable of such miracles. Gaze if you will...behold the power of the mighty Matzoi!!!I!
If this is all I can do to commemorate our great Exodus out of Egypt and the defeat of the powerful Pharoah, so be it. Man I miss the big family Seder brouhahas, with the kreplachs and charoses and the chikken and hiding the Afikomen. Just no energy for me to make it myself this year. I'm fed, cleaned up and ready for bed. It sure is early!
And yes, I made sure to wash my Pupik.

Marching in Place

The joke is that I was 10 blocks away from the huge rally on the mall and I spent it in Cosi like Gomer Pyle's Canteen. Eh, not a bad place to be. But what's at stake anyway? The right of some people to take my job? Hell, they can have it and probably will soon. I thought we'd be seriously swamped with people coming to eat but they mostly just got water. Some late-arriving families came in and left a friggin' mess. Worse than on Saturday when they left their wet umbrellas on the chairs. It was like the Subway on a bad day. I even gave free hot milk to a young couple's obnoxious boy-child as they both filled out job applications. I knew i'd probably have to end up cleaning up that same milk. Hard to be kind and generous with people when you know they're gonna make a friggin' mess and expect more free shit out of you. I have to keep my altruism in check, y'know. I'm all for free, all for helping out, hate the waste, but when the world is spinning out of control like it is, keep those fluids in check.

My late afternoons...

02.GaryMiles.Dupont.WDC.2apr06
Originally uploaded by ElvertBarnes.

As I expounded yesterday, I value the now scant couple of hours of late afternoon sunshine available to me after a long morning in the java pits. I just want to lie in the grass and make grass angels. Usually accompanied by any of the following a. a cool beverage, b. a good non-fiction, c. zounds, d. an accomplice for my narcissism. Thankfully EXB is still about shuttering the public and even if I'm just taking up space in DC,DC publicly, he will shutter for the benefit of those who like to view as such shutterbugs will look. BTW this was about a week ago, but I revisited Bettie today after my clandestine lunch with Duchamp and Ray. My managres (I meant that) seem to understand, including the put-on, and I let them know what is cool and what is not cool. I actually got out as scheduled today. Overtime is overrated!

Ehe weel note staand fo dese

As if getting up at 5:45 am isn't bad enough, the Cosi is pushing me on these days to 4, perhaps 6pm, near closing. That's a full day. Without much sunshine. Though I sneak many a drink and sometimes a sandwich, my time and life-force are too valuable for this. This I tell Erique, the closer barista-man from Cote D'Ivoir. And I explain to him that I must go. I have an important meeting with Degas and Tolouse-Lautrec at another cafe that I cannot reveal. They better not pull this stuff on me tomorrow, when I meet with DuChamp and Man Ray. It is bad enough I lose sleep and have so little to offer in way of conversation with the likes of such geniuses whose pleasure I company. I have not even the time to organize my gallerie, so I just put these artworks up there just for luke-si.