Diary Of A Busker Day 2433 Tuesday August 13th 2024 Winchester.
I mentioned the psychedelic double-neck a few days ago…so I decided to play it in town, and I’m pretty sure I only ever played it in town once before, which was just after the paint job was done which must have been 2011. Straight away, it got attention. A couple came up and the woman said ‘Oh wow, that’s amazing – I mean, you’re playing’s good too…but that’s just incredible, can I video it?’
Well, I was only too pleased to get some attention – sorry, have the guitar get some attention, during it’s first airing in 13 years, so I let her film me.
A few minutes after, another woman came up, with an opening line that’s new to me – ‘Are you giving out healing frequencies?’
‘Sorry?’
‘I think I can hear…solfeggio healing. Have you heard of it?’
‘Um…no. What’s that?’
She gets her phone and starts typing – ‘Look, here (she shows me a list of SpewTube videos)…they’re frequencies that help heal things – to do with muscles, tissues, your body, different frequencies help heal different things, you know? They are sort of microtones -twelve of them, like a scale. Like…there’s a frequency that helps clean the cells; raises cell energy, detoxifies…there’s one that helps with relationships, that removes guilt…they’re all different. Look at this one, with the big heart in the picture – that’s a good one but they all will kelp with inner balance.’
‘Inner balance? Right, OK, I’ll have a look later on, I’ve never heard of it.’
‘Oh yes, good…I just thought I heard a frequency – some harmonics from what you’re playing.’
‘Right, well thank you for coming up and telling me…what’s it called again?’
‘Solfeggio – solfeggio healing frequencies, they are marvellous, you MUST look them up!’
Right after this illuminating encounter, the old woman who loves dancing to me turned up and I find out her name – Claire. I told her I thought she lived here in Winchester but she comes up from Otterbourne – ‘I hate sitting in my house. I’d much rather be outside, doing things. I don’t understand all these people who just stay in their houses. I HAVE to get outside!’
I said ‘I know what you mean…I’D much rather get out as well. I mean, when you’re in your house, nothing’s moving…well, apart from stuff on the TV…and the cat!’
Claire asked if I would be around tomorrow. I said I probably would be, depending on the weather. She then gave me a £20 note – the first time she’s contributed, which certainly made up for all the other times!
I packed up not long after Claire left – two hours was long enough on the double-neck. I used the 6-string neck on almost everything as the 12-string one was too hard going. For a start it was right under my chin and also, it didn’t sound nearly as good as the 6-string neck. The only other problem was, at one point, the sound cut out and it took a minute before I worked out why. My right arm had inadvertently knocked the neck selector switch to the up (12-string neck) position!
Just before loading the bike, a man came up and said ‘For 25 years I used to run a special school – you know, for kids with special needs, and I always used to play Albatross to them and it was amazing, the calming effect it had on them, every time I played it, they all quietened down!’
On the way back, I was behind a car with a sticker in the rear window that made me laugh – “When I die bury me upside down so the whole world can kiss my ass.”