Saturday in the Park
Saturday in the park/I think it was the Fourth of July/Saturday in the park/I think it was the Fourth of July/People dancing, people laughing/A man selling ice cream/Singing Italian songs/Eicay vare, eise narde/Can you dig it (yes, I can)/And I’ve been waiting such a long time/For Saturday
– Saturday in the Park, Chicago
On a sunny autumn Saturday in Tokyo, we wandered our way through Ueno Park. We weren’t expecting to be entertained any more than our usual casual people watching, but it turns out there is a sideshow to just strolling through urban green space.
Every time we turned the corner, we came across a crowd watching someone perform. Like this flamboyant yo-yo performer, dazzling the crowd with his high-energy yo-yoing:
Or this hunchbacked geisha, grinning and smiling for photos:
Or an acrobat, climbing higher and higher on a stack of chairs:
This three were just a sampling of the many street performers we saw that day. The one that really took the cake, though, was this guy. I really don’t know if I have the words to convey how utterly strange this performance was. Perhaps I need my art spoon fed to me, but I just didn’t get it. And judging by the faces of the others in the crowd, either did anyone else. In an attempt to convey the bizarreness, I will show you a series of pictures of his performance. It is one of the few times I wish I had a video camera. If you’d really like to experience the bizarreness, you will need to pretend that dramatic songs such as Ave Maria and How a Man Loves a Woman are playing in the background. And no I am not kidding.
Injecting confetti into a giant balloon:
Injecting himself into the giant balloon:
Walking over to bystanders while inside the giant balloon. Note the man shielding his daughter’s eyes from this hot mess.
Trying to give his heart away:
Breaking his heart and bouncing around in a mad state, still inside giant balloon:
Busting out of giant balloon:
Completely losing it now:
Bursting giant balloon in a cloud of confetti:
Blowing up a dog balloon:
And, my personal favorite, laying on ground with dog balloon, scooping up confetti with a dust pan, and throwing it on himself.
Say it all together now: How Bizarre!
LOL! I am at an absolute total loss as to the one street performer’s message. But I am loving the photos of it – and you’re right, the last photo in particular really takes the cake. 🙂
Haha!!! Really funny. Love the photos…I don’t get his “art” either, but it sounds like a fun experience. Love the humped geisha pic also. Thanks for always getting different songs in my head while reading your blog…:)