Special Tips

When I'm busking on the streets, sometimes people show me appreciation by throwing a monetary token in my tip jar.  Other times they give me something other than money.  In the past I have been given food, gift cards, lip gloss, bus tokens, medallions, and even a Bible.  At my spot on Leopard and Carancahua a young man reached into his pocket and fished out a fist full of old pennies, a few pills, and a peppermint.  He emptied his fist into the jar, pills and all.  I suggested he take his meds, as they wouldn't do me any good.  He smiled and retrieved them.  I wondered where he was going to get his next meal.
Shortly after a woman stopped by and posted an account of our encounter.  Here it is.
"I was walking down the street from the bus stop near City Hall today when I thought I heard guitar music and then I saw the edge of a lovely acoustic guitar. Thrilled to see and hear a genuine musician practicing the lost art of street-singing, and a talented one at that, I dropped a bundle of my crucifix pendants into his coin-jar. He stopped to look and as he was taking a careful look, I remarked that I hope the crucifix is ok with him and I launched into my standard witness-pitch in which, after asking permission to offer the crucifix, I ask if they know what makes a crucifix different from a cross. But before I could finish, he smiled and said, "good, they are the crucifix" and was obviously happy about that. Then he told me his wife is Catholic but he is going through RCIA. We commiserated about the meaning of Catholic art for a few minutes and I went back to my errands and he back to his singing." 

Singing on the streets is often about the music.  But most of all it is about the people who grace me with their presence.