3/25/07 Wash Sq Pk and Paddy Reilly's in 1 day!!!

Well I had a great day last Sunday. I had a beer, then went to the park with guitar at around 3 pm.

It was a beautiful sunny early Spring day--warm enough in the bright sun. I saw Pete playing with Alan, Dan and others, a big crowd gathered around. A bearded guitar player I've seen a few times, guitar virtuoso Scott, Joe with guitar mostly not playing , also a good harmonica player who I'd played with the night before. Later on a guy who played a conga drum. I was sitting up on top of a little concrete wall, trying to pick along to the songs. If the song is in G or E I can usually do a halfway decent bass-line, and my guitar has a pretty full sound.

I forget all the songs we were doing, but it was the songs those guys always do, like "Hang on Sloopy" and "Love the One You're With" and "Bad Moon Rising". Pete worked in a few of his songs in between. And Scott did a few. The only one I remember was "Jet" by Paul McCartney and Wings.

Finally I asked Pete if he wanted to work on some folk songs. So we went over to the other side of the circle. He tried to show me his arrangement of "Early Morning Rain" which I still can't follow -- something about the phrasing I guess doesn't jibe with my uniquely fucked-up sense of rythm.

But we played some easier songs, and of course a few people stopped to listen, because there were hundreds of people in the park. Soon the harmonica player from the other group came by. He looked like he had somewhere to go, but I asked him if he would do a Dylan song with us (as a rule, people who play harmonica in Washington Square Park are Dylan fans). So we did "Don't Think Twice" and a bunch of others. This harmonica player was awesome.

He turned out to be an Australian, named Pete ("Pete and re-Pete" ha.ha.ha), visiting New York. He was apartment sitting in a high-rise on 5th Ave overlooking the park (tough life). He heard people singing and playing so he came out. He hadn't spoken to anyone in two days.

We did a bunch of country songs, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and anything else we could think of. Of course "Rambling Boy", "My Bucket's Got a Hole in it.", "St Louis Blues". We had a small but very appreciative crowd. One guy said that he used to play in the park in the 50's and early 60's and that he was glad to finally hear some "quality music" again. Last thing I ever thought anyone would call me was quality music. Anyway this guy liked to hear himself talk, and Pete finally told him to shut up (Pete would make a good embassador to North Korea). The woman next to him expressed solidarity with Pete, and told us that she was the guy's ex-wife--they split 10 year's ago. There was also an Israeli woman who tried to sing, a French guy, and a very cute young couple. The guy was enthusiastic about singing along, and had a nice voice.

Finally it started to get cold and dark, and I my fingers got stiff. It was coming up on 7 pm, and we decided to go to bluegrass jam at Paddy Reilly's, which goes from about 5 to 8 pm.

To be continued on next post...