https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhQ5ohjwdPA&list=PLQG1xw2dg9YyRupB2vgl3obNwBHpSkIoA&index=2
A Clown's Life ~ The Dogs Bark & The Caravan Moves On
“In telling our stories community is created" ~ Studs Terkel
Summer in Isla Vista between freshman and sophomore year
“a what . . . a mime class?? Jon I thought we were going to sneak
into the movies at intermission and watch ‘Woodstock’ again?"
"Well, the teacher just returned from France, she was studying with
Marcel Marceau, it’s only 50 cents.”
Is the fish Okay ?
The little one, barely 3 feet tall and not really able to talk, “something,
something fish, something ok?”
Her mom interprets, “she just wants to know if the fish is okay?”
some more, “poo fih . . . wahah?” “ Fish in the water?
Yes, I’m going to take the fish home and put it in the water.”
A nod, "okay."
Becca lands a nice looking string of "Rubberhead" salmon
as children have been doing all summer at Jimbo's musical
clown shows
Been Fishing Lately?
Strolling and playing accordion at the Morgan Hill Mushroom Mardi Gras,
Two young women are walking towards me, one starts screaming,
“Ooh my god, are you the clown from the Monterey Squid Festival
ten years ago??”
“Yes, that was me alright.”
“I can’t believe it. You picked me to come up and catch a fish with you.
I still have the Polaroid photo you gave me!”
“Hey, it’s great to see you again. Have you been fishing lately?”
Smiles and we go on our way.
The little rub board ~ Le petit frottoir
Hey Mom, Mom, the clown gave me a potato
Arthur & Alan on State Street
“Hello Is Lenny There?”
“No, I’m sorry you have the wrong number.”
“oh, sorry.” click
Later a second kid . . . “Hello”
“Hello is Lenny there?”
“No, you have the wrong number, there is
no Lenny here.” click
Later a different kid . . . “Hello”
“Hello is Lenny there?”
“Listen there is no one here named Lenny.
Please stop calling.” click
Later, the first or another kid . . . “Hello”
“Hello, this Lenny,
were there any messages for me?”
This is the first joke I ever remember as a
little kid.. I was so young I didn’t really
even know why it was supposed to be funny.
My Dad told us this story.
Later, together we used to watch Art Carney,
”The Honeymooners” & Red Skelton on tv.
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Colombo & Sons
My friend Bobby suggests I get some kind of
a small keyboard instrument to contrast
with my height. I tried a concertina and a
melodian without much success. I head down
to Columbus Avenue in North Beach and
below Broadway right next to the Purple
Onion is Colombo & Sons Accordions. I enter
the tiny shop where a woman is playing a small
accordion, she says to take on camping trips.
She sounds really good. It doesn’t look that
difficult after 10 years of practicing classical piano.
Gordon sends me upstairs, "there's a whole pile of
these little 12 basses. Pick one you like and check
every note and button, both in and out to make sure
it all works and we'll get you a case.”
Upstairs is the original shop or factory as they were
known in the accordion’s heyday, over 200 of these
factories in North Beach. The floor was the original
rough, unfinished wood boards. The walls and slanted,
gabled ceiling are the same rough lumber. The afternoon
sun fills the room with golden, brown, dusty light.
In the center of this accordion ghost town is a 6 foot high pile
of these little accordions laying on top of each other. There
were old leather straps still hanging over the work tables and a
few of the work men’s tools laying around. I picked one with a
pretty little celluloid tile of an Italian village on the front,
got my case and was on my way. My first session I tried playing
a melody with just the right hand, “oh sole mio.” " Uh oh,"
halfway through the phrase the bellows is completely extended
and I’m gasping for breath too. “That lady at Colombo was really
good. This is going to take a while.”
I was practicing on my first accordion in the twilight, sitting on a bench
on the eastern edge of Huntington Park up on Nob Hill between the
Flood Mansion and the Fairmont Hotel to the east and Grace Cathedral
to the west. I hear someone whistling as they are walking down
Cushman Street, an alleyway to my left between Huntington Park and
the Flood Mansion. Over the 4 foot high hedge between the Park and
the Flood Mansion, “Tweedle dee, tweedle dee dee, the birds in the
treetops on Mockingbird Hill.”
“Hello, good evening.”
“Do you know that song,” he asks?
“No, not yet, I’ve heard it but I’m just learning. How do you know the
song?”
An oddly dressed man, a short sleeved mustard brown shirt and navy
blue work pants, out for an evening stroll. Dressed like a refrigerator
repairman.
“I used to play it in the circus.”
“What did you do in the circus?”
Just as casually, as if he were a refrigerator repairman,
“I ate light bulbs and played the accordion with my feet.”
I found out later that was a popular carnival & circus entertainment
in the ‘30;s, not chewing up light bulbs but putting as many things in
your mouth as possible and/or playing a musical instrument with
one’s feet. Known as an ‘eccentric’ act, totally believable. Though I
was having enough trouble playing with my hands.
“Manny, Manny come back, he’s not a clown,
he’s just a man!”
The Pismo Beach Clam Festival.
I meet “Crackers” the clown. He suggests working the auto shows,
“where the real money is. Kids get on my nerves.”
“Are you a real clown?”
”Do you mean like this is what I wear at home and I’m playing music
and I can’t find things and I’m dropping things a lot.”
“Um um, yeah.”
“Well what do you think?”
“I uh, I think that you are , , ,”
The original was a Christian Dior with just red and blue polka
dots from the Salvation Army store in downtown Santa Barbara
Yodeling with Pete
One afternoon at our group singing class
Pete Seeger arrived to look around the
circus. He had heard about The Pickle
Family Circus from his interest in non profit
and community service organizations. The
circus toured throughout the year from
Los Angeles to Seattle and helped raise money
for community groups; day care, senior centers,
schools and food co-ops. who would sponsor the
shows. These mostly small towns would help
with logistics, hosting barbecues, bake sales
and other events to raise money.
We had finished our warm up exercises to
help the performers who spoke in the show
use their voices more efficiently as they
didn’t have microphones in the ring. Pete
explained that yodeling was breaking one’s
voice intentionally to achieve that “yodel”
and demonstrated a simple example.
Easier said than done for most of us.
“The key to the future of the world is
finding the optimistic stories and letting
them be known." Pete Seeger
Something for everyone
The birthday party in Redwood City,
is really an occasion for the extended family
to get together; aunts and uncles,cousins,
grandparents, nieces and nephews, a house
full to the brim, 50 people throughout in a
quiet, residential, working class neighborhood
developed in the boom years after WWII.
The one year old birthday girl immediately
starts crying, so they just take her to another
room, no problem. Everyone is there to
celebrate and have a good time together.
The women insisting I relax and have something
to eat afterwards. Everyone brought food to share.
The older men, “you want something to drink, a soda,
a beer, some tequila? Oh sure, you can stay a few
days.” The kids had a blast and when I was leaving
they all run out to see my car, thinking it would be a
tiny little one I had to squeeze in.
What's that ??
I was walking down the inside stairwell at the hospital one morning
and I heard 2 doctors going down in front of me talking about a case.
They aren't supposed to do that but they were unaware that I was
behind them. “Boy, this morning was a rough one. This poor guy, we
had to do a pneumonectomy on him.
“What’s that?”
I didn’t hear the reply. They exited the stairs and headed to the
operating room, but I was kind of surprised that the second doctor
didn’t know.
Later that afternoon I ran into Tom, the staff photographer. He’s
photographed a lot of art work done by people in our program but
today he was wearing full scrubs; gown, booties, surgical cap,
the works.
“Hey, Tom, how come you get to wear scrubs ?,” I joked.
“Well, sometimes they ask me to photograph
operations and procedures for the medical students, for teaching
purposes. Today I photographed a very unusual procedure, a
pneumonectomy.” . . . I couldn’t resist.
“What’s that?”
“It’s when they actually remove one of the 5 lobes of a person’s lungs.
‘Jimbo the Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgeon’ Pay attention,
learn something and maybe you can help the “other” doctors.
“La Del Moño Colorado” ”The Little Red Bow”
Sitting on a bench under a gazebo at the
Healdsburg July 4th celebration, I’m waiting
to go on next and do my clown show. I’m
listening to a singer singing in Spanish.
I recognize a distinctive instrumental riff
from a familiar song but have never heard
this tune. A couple at the end of the bench
point at their neck and then at me. I point to
my red bow tie and they affirm, nodding their
heads, “he’s singing about your bow tie!”
After my show I talk with the singer in
the parking lot and learn the name of the song,
“La Del Moño Colorado,” a cumbia about a
courtship tradition of giving a red ribbon or bow
to one’s beloved as a symbol of their commitment.
I find a version by “Los Pedernales,” “The Flints.”
The link ~ Los Pedernales - La Del Moño Colorado
"The Little Red Bow' is a symbol of affection,
given to the one who 'makes me dizzy all day long.'
The suitor proposes to the girl with the red bow
and in the video she shows her acceptance by
returning with her ATV, her all terrain vehicle and
offers him a ride, gesturing with her index finger,
“Would you like a ride?”
He hops on the back and they drive off together.
Some of the lyrics;
Que le digo si la miro, Cuando la miro pasar
I say, if I see it when I pass by
Mi corazón se estremece, Y empiezo a tartamudear
My heart stutters and I start to tremble
La del moño colorado, Me trae todo el día mareado
The little red bow makes me dizzy all day long
De todas las que yo miro, Hay una que quiero más
Of all that I see, there is one that I want more
Con la de moñito rojo, Me quisiera yo casar
With the little red bow I wish to marry
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