Okay, so I've been working hard lately on The Commotion. I'm devoted to getting it out near the beginning of the school year. Here's something i did today, it's really rough and sketchy but I'll be touching it up later.

The Commotion interviews a dancer-advertiser-holding-a-sign-guy.

The guy was dancing with a red and white sign (with gold handles!) in front of a mattress store. The sign, as you can see, {picture here} states , �Mattress Sale.� Fascinating. We found him cheerful and equipped with headphones (salsa music!) and cell phone.

TC: So, how long have you had this job?

Guy: Well it�s not like a job, it�s like uh� you know�

TC: A part-time thing?

G: Yeah.

TC: How did you get this job?

G: Uh�like, a friend. Yeah, a friend.

TC: How long are you planning to do this?

G: Not too long, heh heh. Just for a few, I�m going to school.

TC: What�s the best part about the job?

G: When I get to go in the shade.

TC: And the worst part?

G: When I have to go in the sun!

TC: Do people ever hassle you?

G: Mmm, no.

TC: Can you bust a groove?

G: �What?

TC: Do you like dancing?

G: Sometimes.

TC: Can you dance very well?

G: No.

TC: What kind of dance moves can you do?

G: No, nothing, just moving. It�s not dancing, just moving.

TC: I see some people really getting into it, really dancing, though�

G: Oh, yeah! I have a friend a couple blocks down there, uh� he�s a little more uh�in than me. I�m not so good.

TC: So how�s the sign? Is it heavy? Do your arms get tired?

G: No, you wanna try?

I said that I did, and the guy gave me the sign. He proceeded to show me the correct way to move it (put the sign all the way down to your feet, then all the way up. Wave it back and forth, and take up the whole sidewalk, walking up and down it. Basically, just make passing you virtually impossible.)

TC: Do you have a mattress from here?

G: No.

TC: Do you get a discount if you buy a mattress?

G: Yes.

TC: How much?

G: I don�t know how much, but they can make a good discount, I guess.

TC: How much do you get paid?

G: About 8 dollars an hour.

TC: How long are you usually out here?

G: 4 hours. 3,4 hours.

TC: Okay, thanks!

G: Yeah, bye!

So this job is a good one, if you can stand the humiliation of moving around with a giant cardboard sign by the road for a few hours. Hey, why not.

The Commotion interviews a homeless trumpet player who also happens to be a clown who can twist balloons.

Someone once said, �the worst dressed people are usually the most interesting.� And that�s so true! This guy was really awesome. Equipped with lots of balloon animals, plastic trumpets, buttons, american flags, poppers and all kinds of great stuff like that, he was totally totally cool. His voice was kind and a little timid, and he was overall a great interviewee. Plus he played a mediocre mini-trumpet. [picture]

TC: How much do you get a day?

G: It varies greatly, but lately I haven�t been getting as much.

TC: Where did you get your outfit?

G: Oh, a collection of places, hah, I got this little striped outfit from a Goodwill store, and this came from a clown costume shop (gestures to his shoes) and this, this came from Macy�s or Norstrom�s, I�m not sure.

TC: Fancy!

G: (laughs) As you know, the wig, the hat and the makeup came from a costume shop.

TC: Where did you learn to play the trumpet?

G: Well, I learned how to play it back in Wisconsin, from a very unlikely gentleman named Waldo Ralph Emerson, great Ralph Waldo Emerson�s grandson. The poet, philosopher, philanthropist who was always bailing through a lot of jails�uh� do you know who Ralph Waldo Emerson was?

TC: �Not really.

G: Oh. (laughs) Well, you�re going to have to study your literature history!

TC: I will! Okay, Do people ever hassle you? Or are they mostly nice?

G: Well, you know, I get a little bit of everything, I get some really rude, and some really nice, and I tell you, the really nice makes up for the really rude.

TC: Has anyone ever given you free stuff?

G: Sometimes! Yeah, I do this for tips and things.

TC: Where did you learn how to make balloon animals?

G: I taught myself, from books.

TC: Uh� wow! Well, I�m kind of unprepared here�

G: Okay, I�ll give you some things. Well, most people nowadays have forgotten our roots, you know, where minstrels and troubadours came from, prior to the aspects of electronic recorded music, it was like the most common form of employment for musicians. For minstrels, and troubadours, they invoke kind of a romantic image, you know? But try living the life nowadays, and so many people out homeless and everything, just panhandling on the streets, people with lesser intellects cannot tell the difference, you know? But frankly, if you ask me, if you can�t tell the difference, between a legitimate musician and a whiner panhandling under the influence of a bottle, then maybe you got some problems! (laughs)

TC: So when did you come out to California?

G: Well, I�ve been out here most of my adult life, I�ve been out here since I was around thirteen or fourteen, around 1963, �64. We came out here in the summer of �63 and moved permanently in �64.

TC: Were you a hippie back then?

G: Well, I don�t know about being a hippie back then, I drank whiskey with Janis Joplin, if that qualifies as being a hippie!

TC: WOW!

G: Yeah, in B(?) stadium, and I�ve been to some of the parties that they talked about in Ken Keasey books, like, uh, what was it, the Electric Koolade(?) album. I�m been to some of the parties up at Toad Hall, and at B stadium. In fact, I�ve got pictures of that published in a book.

TC: (at this point, all I�m doing is Wow-ing my brains out)

G: In a�a� biography about her.

TC: What was she like?

G: Well I didn�t spend MUCH time with her, only 5 or 10 minutes, but she seemed very uh, a carefree, wild person! (laughs)

TC: Well! Wow! Uh�thank you�and uh�

G: yes! Okay! Bye!

After talking to this well-spoken man, I was really surprised. What was a guy like him doing out in the streets? He probably had a bunch of stories to tell, he was clearly pretty smart. He wasn�t a drunk, or a crackhead, I mean it was pretty clear that he wouldn�t have the money to buy that sort of stuff with all the weird items that he bought�oh. Maybe that�s why. But seriously, folks, he was just a guy trying to make a few bucks off of his music. So spare a few quarters next time you see someone like him, maybe even stop to chat a while. Okay?

Well, OH MY GOD this guy was the COOLEST! I so have to talk to him again, I hope he�s there regularly, god! I just want to sit down next to him and hear about what he has to say� you don�t think he made up any of that stuff, do you? He sounded so sincere! I wanted to talk more, but my dad was looking kinda..like he needed to go. Wow.