Diary Of A Busker Day 283 Thursday September 13th 2012 Winchester High Street 1. Opposite O2, Time: 1:28-3pm, 2. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 3:52-5:04pm, 3. Opposite Vodafone, Time: 5:07-5:37pm
At my first session, near The Buttercross, I meet someone I haven’t seen for awhile; George, the man who loves my Chet Atkins numbers. He asks his usual question; ‘Got any gigs yet?’ whereupon I reply with my usual, ‘No, not yet,’ which is met with his usual and incredulous, ‘What?! How can you not have any? – we’ll have to do something about that!’ followed by my usual, ‘You keep saying that, George!’ although I know he means well. He asks if I want a cup of tea. ‘No thanks, George. I never drink anything when I’m out here, only when I take a break and go off somewhere.’ ‘Oh yeah, I remember. Well, it’s a crime you don’t have any work. What are you going to do now?’ I think for a second…’Apache.’ ‘What? Never! You’re going to have a PASTY?’ ‘No! APACHE – The Shadows!’ ‘Oh right, I thought you said you were going for a pasty!’ George hangs around for Apasty and a couple of Chet ones that I know he likes, then he puts a £5 note in the bucket with, ‘Don’t you worry, I’m gonna sort you out with some gigs!’ and he’s off.
At the end of the set, after I’ve written down the time I’ve finished, a man wearing dark glasses comes over. He’s been sitting with a woman on the bench across the road. ‘Hey, I notice you writing something down, and with your left hand, but you play right-handed,’ he says, in American. ‘Yeah, that’s very observant of you. That’s probably because when I was learning the ukelele – I was about ten – I had a right-handed 1-2-3- Step book, so I learnt right-handed.’ We chat a bit more and I keep thinking there’s something familiar about him, but it’s only after he says, ‘We love your CD, by the way,’ that I realise it’s Len (and Nancy) from yesterday! I didn’t recognise him with the sunglasses. Anyway, I profusely apologise for not knowing who he is and we talk some more. Len says he used to be in a group and tells me a great story. ‘We played just after The Beatles did, at a club in Germany, in Hamburg. In fact it was about a week before their first single came out, in June ’62 (October, actually)…someone said, “You guys are good – really good! Not as good as the ones we had last week, though,” and I said, “Oh, who were they?” and he said, “They were called, um…The Beatles.”‘ Len goes on – ‘and we played with Tony Sheridan a few times. In fact our lead guitarist was better than him; he was really good, he was better than George Harrison even, but he went into session work after that.’ I ask the name of the guitarist. ‘Tom Ollway. Then we were offered a record deal but it was with Woolworths, they used to have recording studios back then, but we said no, we thought they were just, you know, a sort of rubbishy label – cheap, so we didn’t sign.’ Len asks me about my experiences; any record deals, etc, so I tell him a bit about the Salvation Sunday/Polydor thing from years ago and then some of my own stuff, then I think, well, Len’s an American of a certain age; he’s bound to have heard of Van Dyke Parks, so I tell him about VDP’s endorsement of Little Speck Of Blue, and yes, he definitely knows the name! Finally, someone who’s heard of Van Dyke Parks! ‘Here’s my card, Len – there’s some videos on youtube. There’s one of the song Van Dyke Parks likes! Have a look!’ ‘Yeah, sure will! We love your CD and we’re gonna play it a lot! ‘Cheers, Len!’
Earnings: £49.24 + 2CDs