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Posted by fiddlepogo on Sunday, April 24, 2011
Okay, I got out to the Farmer's Market and got a decent space.
I'm playing along, and along comes this guy I know, a bus driver who takes his lunch at the cafe where the Bluegrass jam is held and where my jam WAS held. He has a bird on his shoulder... only it's not a parrot, parakeet, cockatiel or anything normal... it's a woodpecker. He's a bird rescuer,and he gets called when injured wild birds need to be nursed back to health.
So he puts this woodpecker on my shoulder. Now the woodpecker has a wicked looking beak, so I was a little apprehensive about it, but it was fine. I've had unusual things happen while busking, bu t that takes the cake!!!!
Then, at the snow cone stand behind me, there was this kid on a pogo stick that kept bouncing and bouncing... and it sounded really random and was hard to play against.
Edit: (I decided to put the answers to the comments here)
Well, the woodpecker didn't have a red head, but had a red cap on top of his head.
So he didn't look much like "Woody".
He wasn't all that big, maybe the size of a cockatiel??? I'm guessin'.. I was mostly looking at the size of the BEAK.
It ain't thick, but it's long, and I KNOW it can put serious holes in stuff if the owner of the beak wants to!
Yeah a cockatiel is about right... he didn't feel at all heavy on my shoulder or anything... well, I could feel something there, but not something heavy.
And I DID make a feeble attempt at playing the "Woody Woodpecker" theme on the fiddle!!!
Okay, here's about what he looked like, and him being an Acorn Woodpecker would make total sense because the main native tree around here is the Valley Oak, and he cracked a nut on my shoulder!
http://www.bird-friends.com/BirdPage.php?name=Acorn%20Woodpecker
According to the wikipedia article, Walter Lantz got "Woody's" call from the Acorn Woodpecker, and the bus driver pointed out that he was doing it like Woody:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Woodpecker
8 comments on “Busking- Fiddlepogo Gets the Bird and gets Pogo'ed!”
fiddleiphile Says:
Sunday, April 24, 2011 @5:18:40 AM
Better to have a woodpecker on your shoulder than a kid on a pogo stick!
fiddlepogo Says:
Sunday, April 24, 2011 @10:26:53 PM
Yeah right... the woodpecker WAS pretty light.
fiddlin-da Says:
Monday, April 25, 2011 @1:38:09 AM
Was it woody woodpecker
bj Says:
Monday, April 25, 2011 @6:04:13 AM
Better to have a woodpecker on your shoulder than woodpecker sh*t on your shoulder. ;-)
robinja Says:
Monday, April 25, 2011 @8:17:42 AM
Good thing you didn't have any insects living in your fiddle! Maybe a cure for bow-bugs, though? Cool story!
mudbug Says:
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 @3:07:18 AM
Was it piliated? They're beautiful, and pretty big.
fiddleiphile Says:
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 @4:42:49 AM
Yeah, a sick big pecker with a red head sittin' on your shoulder. That could be scary!
nancymae Says:
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 @4:15:49 PM
That is an AWESOME STORY!!
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