Beth Fridinger
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9/2/2008 12:38:29 AM
playing the streets/subways & learning many lessons
I've been busy playing the subway...it's lots of fun and has lots of lessons to teach...the most challenging thing is to maintain positive energy and enjoy making the music...the money comes then...but if you chase or think about the money then it doesn't. This work can be extremely tiring and you may spend hours without access to facilities. People can really read you and if you are tired or thinking about the money you need they pick up on it right away. I've made the fastest money when I'm in the best mood. One day one of my spots was taken and I went upstairs to use the restroom and as I was wheeling my cart towards the elevator a young man with a punk hairstyle came up to me and handed me a dollar and said "I just love your music...& I had to listen to that other guy down there just now." I thanked him...it meant the world to me and lifted my spirits...I went on to find my spot, within the first hour I had $40; three people gave me a five dollar bill, one man bought my CD for $10...Now the first time I busked alone I was very confident that night and I ended up getting a bit of a street gig and made $190 (very encouraging)!! Another evening I went to the same spot, fell on my cart, cut my leg, didn't recover emotionally, and that evening I only made $14!! It was after that bad night on my way home that I met this very upbeat sax player who told me about this book "The Law of Attraction" and I got the book and read it. It's very interesting and basically says to be positive...and if you have negative thoughts the universe will give you more of that...and it gives you tips on how to rephrase your thoughts ...It brings positive thinking, belief in yourself, and the "you creative your own reality"...a little further..to say the universe will give back to you what you are thinking. My experience after reading the book is that I have experienced these things before I read the book. It was fate that led me to meet this sax player that night.
It takes courage and guts to put yourself on a street corner or a subway stop and start playing music to people who may have things on their minds and are in a hurry to get someplace...and if you play a couple of songs and don't make any tips on that wave of folks you can feel discouraged...in the book The Law of Attraction says to focus on what you have not what you don't have, and instead of saying what you don't have, say "I am in the process of" in order to avoid focusing on what you don't have. One young listener wrote me a note on a piece of paper and put it in my guitar case and it said "great sound, love your music, I'm broke right now but I will catch you next time" I kept that note in my guitar case. Another woman said to me admiringly "...a woman doing Johnny Cash..wow." and a young woman telling me "I like your style." This seems so incredible because until 1 1/2 years ago I never sang or wrote music...and just two years ago I picked up my guitar and started to play, and this is the last thing I would have ever imagined myself doing. I am not sure where this will lead, but the journey is interesting!!
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