"Do any of these have anything to do with a frog?"

Ahhh.  And don't forget the 'monkeys' that we place
on the backs of our children.

 

I get a chance to speak to only a fraction of the 10 million visitors that stream past our booths at Pike Place Market each year.  We watch them as fishermen watch a river.  We put our bait out and hope that someone will bite and purchase one of our works of art.  With this mass of moving humanity it is rare to see or hear something new to respond to or point a finger at. I think that this will prove to be a banner year for "firsts" as I recently had two in one day.

We see many animals coming through.  Even what someone insisted was a large rat.  The tail was a dead give away.  You may ask,  "How can someone have an animal just sitting on their shoulder?"  We ask ourselves the same thing.  " Where does the pet poop and pee?" Also a valid question.

Regular animal sightings include a lovely gray parrot that will "meow" on command and play dead, flipping backwards and swinging off of his owners fingers.

A 'possum.  Gross.  I really dislike their beady little eyes, long pointy nose and there's that tail - long, skinny and naked.  ick.  It's best not to look past the 'possum to the guy carrying him on his shoulder.  I won't take time to describe him here. 

Then there is the homeless woman with the black bird tied into her jumble of hair so that he just stands on top of her head.  Last year she carried a beautiful little bantam rooster in her coat.  At times she would bring it out and put it on her shoulder.  She would stand not three feet away from me as tourists took pictures of her seemingly ignoring the fact that she was dressed completely in long black rags with bare blackened feet hardened with time and pavement and carried a large wooden staff.  "How cute" they would say and then attempt to ask her questions.  I think that it was for the best that they never received a response.  One day she took the rooster out of her coat and swung it over her head, threw it on the ground and stomped her foot on it's neck.  I believe that I may have screamed.  She calmly picked him up. Feathers fluttered and she popped him back into her coat. Oh, and did I mention that she floats by on a scooter? 

Back to my story - so - lots of animals on shoulders.  Dogs in strollers are also popular.  I once reached out to pet a chihuahua in a doggy-pack device hanging across the front of the owners body and was reminded immediately of the scene in Alien when said alien comes bursting out of the human's chest.  Have you noticed that it's the littlest ones that can be the meanest? Nasty little thing.  There is also the occasional shoulder or carry pack kitty.  But yesterday - well yesterday a family with 3 children walked by the booth and I noticed that they were each carrying a small cage with a handle.  A cage purse if you will.  In each cage was a hamster busily munching on hamster munchies or digging around in their hamster shavings.  The proud mom said that her son's hamster had been with the family for 7 years.  Ok then - that was a first.

The other was a "first hear" -  A woman strode right up to my booth, pointed at the work, and asked "Do any of these have anything to do with a frog?"  Cricket chirping silence. "uh. No."  She left the booth, I turned to my neighbor and asked "Did she just ask if any of these have anything to do with a frog?".  Neighbor nodded.  The woman popped back in front of my booth and overheard my question.  "Yes, that's what I asked."  She explained that she saw that I did symbols and simply wanted to know if I had anything that represented a frog.  I told her no, but in the 17 years that I've had this business I had never been asked that question before and how much I appreciated the diversion.

Who's on First?

This picture has nothing at all to do with this post. I just loved her very yellow hair.

Every artist on the line as well as all Market Security staff, busker and I'm sure anyone that looks like a Seattleite gets THE market question. Sometimes in a hushed reverent tone. "Where is the first Starbucks?"  The question is asked many times each and every day.  A visitor suggested once that I should put up a sign  directing people to the most holy coffee site.  "No", I said.  "I prefer it this way."

The way that it played out a few days ago was quite unique for me and went something like this:

"Where's the first Starbucks?" - Right over there. (pointing across the street).

"I'm meeting someone at the one on 1st Avenue" - Then go to the end of the market and you'll see it on the corner of 1st and Pike.

"Pike. Pike Place?" - No Pike Street.

"But is that the first one?" - No. The first one is across the street.

"Now I'm not sure if they wanted me to meet them at the first one or the one on 1st". - uh huh.

"You know, I'm really just looking for a good cup of coffee.  Where's that first one again?" - Well.  The first Starbucks is across the street and the good cup of coffee is at Local Color over on that corner.

 

Has Anybody Seen My Old Friend Abraham

 My office. The view from under my sunflower umbrella.

I think that most of us have a soundtrack that plays in the back of our minds as we go through our day.  While at the market I find that quite often the soundtrack is the noise and chaos of the market itself.   Setting up on the sidewalk puts me in close contact with the street.  Cars, trucks, ambulances, fire trucks, dogs whining and barking, babies crying,  homeless men hawking newspapers shouting out "Real Change to help the homeless".  You hear the firetrucks from at least 5 blocks away, the siren getting louder and louder then they start blowing the horn.  It makes your head hurt.  I've gotten so that I don't even lift my eyes to watch it as it careens through the intersection.  Never slowing, it races through with people jumping out of the way grabbing children, pets and parcels as they go flying in it's wake.

Or we have the dreaded SongWorm.  You know the one.  "Oh I wish I was an Oscar Mayer Wiener".  The Urban Dictionary cites Beyonce's "to the left, to the left, everything you own in a box to the left".  You get my drift.

So, while setting up my booth the other day and the song "Abraham, Martin and John" popped into my head I was pleasantly surprised.  Now it was just a matter of trying to remember all of the words.  Interruptions to my thoughts, well, they are ongoing.  I'm at the market to sell my art and make money.  But sometimes I just can't wait to get back to what I was thinking.  Like dreams that we're woken from and we can't wait to get back to hoping to pick up where we left off.

Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?  Can you tell me where he's gone?

"Where's Ivan's?" - you must mean Ivar's. "No. Ivan's.  It used to be up here next to Peet's Coffee". - sure.  Well, Ivar's is on the waterfront.  Peet's Coffee or Ivan's?  I dunno.

He freed a lot of people but it seems the good they die young.  You know, I just looked around and he's gone.

"Where are all of your Christian pieces?" - well, over here we have a Byzantine Orthodox design of the cross.  "I'm a Catholic. I know all there is about the cross." - alright then. We're selling this one for $25.  "Listen honey. I've been married for 50 years and I don't have room for anything more". - ok then.

Has anybody here seen my old friend John? Can you tell me where he's gone.  He freed a lot of people but the good they seem to die young.  I just looked around and he's gone.

"Is that your bike?" Referring to the snazzy Harley parked butt up against my booth display. - yup. That's my sweet ride. (not!)

Anybody here seen my old friend Martin? Can you tell me where he's gone.  He freed a lot of people but the good they seem to die young.  I just looked around and he's gone.

Husband "Geez these are beautiful!"  Wife "Where would you put it? If you get something you need to know where you're going to put it".  - come on man. you can do it.  They walk away down the sidewalk.  Girlfriends, wives, husbands, sisters - can all be such downers when it comes to making a sale.

Didn't you love the things they stood for?  Didn't they try to find some good for you and me? And we'll be free..

"I'll take 2 of your Hamsas.  Here's the cash" - I do so love the 'walk up and buyers'.

Someday soon and it's gonna be some day.....

Happy May Day ! It's here - Cruise ship season, naked bicyclists and more. Much more.

 This image is cropped to protect the innocent.
 

Times change and stay the same.  So does the market.  This years cruise ship season has begun.  Pike Place Market is waking up, the streets of Seattle are filling up and the hub bub is ramping up.  I want to start this season off with an updated view of the market - I'm setting the stage here for the adventures, stories and characters to come.

There is a major renovation of the market going on.  I wonder what the maintenance staff thinks of all this.  They've held this market together with bubble gum, spit and duck tape for years.  They are part of the "invisibles" that keep the market running.

Pike Place Market : A farmers/artists marketplace on Pike Place and 1st Ave. in downtown Seattle, Washington. Crammed with numerous fish markets (including the most famous where they actually throw the fish when you make a purchase), produce stands, fresh flowers, lunch counters, honey, nuts and then of course the nuts selling art (also referred to as daystallers or crafters) along with 9.5 million visitors who walk through each year. The market is also populated with it's own security force, buskers (those who sing, dance and play instruments on the sidewalk for money), homeless men and women, some of whom sell the "Real Change" newspaper. "REAL CHANGE to help the homeless!" they call out or whisper to passersby.  Lumbering delivery trucks, parades of naked bicyclists, Conan O'Brien, William Shatner and others both in and out of disguise.   

I saw one of our disguised regulars yesterday.  This year he has chosen an anime character look - wasn't he a super hero wrestler last year?  Young and old teenagers can be seen coming through the market with chartreuse hair spiked up 2 feet off of their heads, draped in black, head to toe tattoos, Herman Munster boots, 3 inch spiked collars and black lips.  If they're looking to get stared at - the market community barely gives them a glance.  We've seen the old crone dressed in rags, bare feet, a wooden staff with a live black bird tied into her ratted out hair floating by on a kick scooter.  I mean really?  Herman Munster boots? That has soooo been done.   Visitors to the market, especially those from the mid-west take furtive glances over their shoulders or just stand and stare with open mouths. "Did you see that?"  they whisper loudly to each other.  Seeking safety in their numbers, they move on, distracted once again by all that there is to see and hear.

CraftLine : Artists set up their sales space along a line of tables set on either side of a 3 block long building with a roof, but walls open to the weather on one side. Concrete floors, metal and concrete tables that hold the cold like a freezer. Each artist is given a 4 foot space on which to set up and sell their wares.  I look at us all in wonder.  We raise our families, pay our mortgages, put children through school, live our lives the best that we can - in a 4 foot space.  

We are a hardy bunch.  There are no other more resilient and creative people.  Our creativity is not only in the art that we make and sell - it is in the way that we create our "shops".  The amount of effort that we go through each day is the same with varying results.  Good sales days balance with the bad and somehow we hope that it will turn out "good enough".   We all know how to contract, to get smaller.  Looking to the produce vendors to put out their $1.00 bags of cabbage and peppers and carrots - we make it through the winter.

The roll call board at the north end of the building is a mass of energy in the morning as we get our space assignment for the day.  "What's going on here?" a visitor asks.  "Free cheese, Free Meth Clinic, Lottery Drawing..." We cram together.  We push and shove, trying to see the board as our names are called.  "Gregory!, Kinsey! Mounts!"  My name is coming up soon - I push forward "Callan! Allen!" That's me. I call out my spot, push my cart into position and set up for the day.  Hope to see you soon.