Wednesday, November 09, 2005

The one hit wonder

When our kitchen was out of commission, G and I got in the habit of eating at a particular restaurant downtown. It's a cute little pizza place where you can eat outside. It's also about a block from the hangout of a particular street performer.

This street performer plays a recorder-type instrument. The first night we heard him, he was playing a nice little tune, and we were impressed that he could make such nice music on an instrument that we had both learned to play back in elementary school. Needless to say, he was more talented than we had been.

The next time we went to our little pizza place, we heard him playing again. The same song. Hmmmm . . . maybe that's his favorite?

No, it's the only one he knows. We have since heard him multiple times, and he's always playing the same thing.

I recently heard a story somewhere about street performers who don't really know how to play their instruments but just learn to play one thing. They figure that people will just be passing by, so they won't need a large repertoire. That seems unlikely, right? Well this guy is the proof. (I wish I could remember where I heard the story. I think I was with G when I heard it, and I almost remember laughing with him about it. He denies it.)

So we were downtown last night and our guy was there. But he seemed to be playing a different song. We excitedly listened as we passed by. A new song, how wonderful . . . Wait, I think he's falling back into the old pattern . . . Yeah, that's the same song.

I wonder if he gets good tips.

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