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[nikolorraine]

Buskers tip: Even when you are losing yet beloved, you still have to believe you aren’t crazy, your proving yourself and that you want it more than everybody else in your hemisphere. Even when u have that sinking feeling in your stomach because a lot of “good people “ r going to prey on u. Survival of the fittest and all, “”it’s not, personal” 😑

[nikolorraine]

(Con’d) so I’m on hold with the police station less than 2 blocks away from it in fact & I’m put on hold. Jerry Garcia and I both watching cautiously and both sending each other the keep calm eyes as ‘Rage’ is mocking everything I had said to the officer one hand like a fake phone to his ear the other holding the shive. He approached my equipment again and I warned him again, “Lay a finger on my shit and I will take u down without hesitation.” Then he pulled out his penis and repeated how his father raped him and he was going to rape somebody. I should mention that I’m certain he was obviously mentally ill, but he read like he was on PCP or something similar so I wasn’t sure if my tazer would be enough to stop him if he was but I wasn’t going to show weakness because sometimes that just makes them worse. The whole encounter lasted about 30-45 minutes and no officer ever came and he raged on down the street and Jerry Garcia kindly offered me a ride because the bus stop was a ghost town and we were not sure if he might wander past with me out there alone. I pretty much always say no to rides from strangers but it felt like a safer bet so I turned to Jerry Garcia and said, “you better not be a creeper” climbed in the cargo van and was delivered safely home. Turns out he was a promoter and event organizing was his thing. He too had lost a friend who had survived being shot 8 times, 4 times in the face so my song ‘Jason’ really took him back to that memory. That is what I mean when I say it’s not just a job it’s a healing connection sometimes in a world rocked by madness. Support art, we bleed for it, sometimes literally.

[nikolorraine]

Two dope fiends and a Hippie

So here’s todays advice and a true story in the life of Niko. It all started with a random act of kindness from a friend of a friend who didn’t know me until my slumlord/landlord made it impossible to live where I do anymore. He gave me some advice and went out of his way to be kind and offered to drive me around to try to find somewhere else I might be able to live. It was fruitless but filled with dreams exchanged and stories of origin and how our very different paths came to cross. It was encouraging and taught me a lot as these random acts of kindness always do and I was dropped off by the time rush hour traffic began so I could spend a little quality time with my dog Billie, pack up my 100lbs of equipment and hop a bus to the French Quarter to go hustle in my musical boot camp. It was sweltering but not too many obstacles to get there but emotionally it was the very definition of a grind. I set up, fixed my makeup and started to play. I always say I’m not going to be just a human jukebox and play only what passers by yell out but it was a delving day that defines you as you allow the world to have its way with you in search of your dream. I wasn’t even 15 minutes into playing when this tiny imp approached me with obviously stolen cigarettes that she couldn’t use because she didn’t smoke at least she didn’t partake of tobacco she obviously had other things to smoke in mind. She was all of about 80lbs and in a bad way and I’m a soft touch so I traded $5 for a brand I can’t usually afford in the hopes that maybe we might mutually find some kind of temporary pleasures in our separate daily vices. I try not to judge and she was kind, soft spoken and respectful so why not save myself another trip to the over priced stores in the Quarter? I mean Jesus ended up a Rockstar of sorts because of the compassion he showed to lepers and whores so maybe I should be aiming for that too. She thanked me and said she’d check on me later to see if I wanted another, I thanked her and went back to work entertaining the masses hoping for more miracles. Several hours in just before midnight a kind faced hippie baring a striking resemblance to Jerry Garcia strolled up dropped a $20 in the case and sat on the curb to really listen like most people are unable to do because of the plague of terminally short attention spans since Covid. I started to play one of my originals about my brother Jason and prefaced it by saying, This 1 I wrote when my brother was shot 3 weeks after we started recording my 1st album and died 4 times.” He listened l, I mean like how old women test a time consuming stew they worked all day on. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw dope fiend ‘Rage’ storm up. I call him that for obvious reasons he for years had just been an angry rage filled black boy with unkept dreadlocks, usually (like tonight) shirtless, pissed at everything and sweating profusely. At 1st it was mostly gibberish aimed at God and anybody in his vicinity, then he focused on me. My stomach dropped immediately as I put down my guitar, turned off my Cube amp and reached for my tazer and pepper spray. Because I’m kind and a child of God and the Universe I fired up the tazer and informed him I am no punk and I was not bluffing I had every intention of using both (and secretly I wanted to see if it was like it looked on ‘Cops’ and quite honestly I guess I have a bit of a sadistic side having been violated far too many times) but it did little to deter his raging as he kept approaching and walking away, going around the corner and coming back even angrier. Jerry Garcia and I did our best to ignore him, to talk him down from a bad decision to fuck with a fed up woman, such as I am but he wasn’t hearing any of it. And I’m standing there blocking my very pricey equipment firing up the tazer several times to show I mean business as he’s yelling that he wants to rape at least one of us like his Daddy did to him and he pulled out a make shift litttle shive he had made and kept approaching while I was reporting the threat to the police station…

[nikolorraine]

Once when I was playing at Royal and St.Louis during festive season a guy came up and listened like a ghost remembering something that broke him. After a few songs he came closer, I thought to tip me or give words of encouragement then I saw the knife. He was crying holding a 6 inche blade speaking a foreign language to someone I was not. So I desperately started telling him details of my life like Oprah told us to do and he wandered away and I’m still here. This is not a life you can survive without the courage to face down the possibility of death. You want to know who I am? This is my response and my truth.

[nikolorraine]

A couple of years ago I was dragging all of my equipment home after playing until around 2 am on Royal and a guy tapped me on my shoulder from behind and asked me for a cigarette, it was summer like now and super hot and I was exhausted so I said I didn’t have 1 then walked on. Then minutes later he did it again as I was heading for the trolley on Canal with 1 goal in mind, safety. The 2nd time he tapped me on the shoulder I turned around and he bashed me me in the face with something that resulted in my having to get 21 stitches in my face. I couldn’t sing for 8 weeks and I thought all my teeth were going to fall out. But I’m still standing. This is not a hobby or a hustle although I do as much as the world will let me. I’m a beast so at least that I know. This is being a Busker.

[nikolorraine]

Some of the best parts of your life r unexpected and gifted to you by the people who love you. My chosen brother and my very best friend Jason built me a stage because he believed in me more than anybody I’ve ever met. He saw through how some people see me on the surface and made me love myself better, my blood relation brother never did that, I don’t hate him for it anymore because he just wasn’t capable and because Jason gave me all the things I wished I had and so, so,so much more. Jason, everything we built together is what kept me going all these years and why I won’t give up on getting that Grammy, the villa in Hawaii and changing the world. You are my best friend and my inspiration, thank you for making me feel real. And thank you for all the things you have given me worth fighting for. I love, love, love u bro. What kind of life would it have been without you? I shudder to think.

[nikolorraine]

I’m sitting here chilling with Billie girl trying to find a place to live again and feeling pretty low and it inspired me to look at my blog again I haven’t had time to give it but I’m waiting for my batteries to charge so I can go play anyway and the only houses on the market right now r hating on big, beautiful dogs so fuck it.

My mind is consumed with doubt and fear a lot these days because it took me a long time to figure out what I love and I am making really good money at it and I have a real live Marmaduke kinda dog that makes the solitude I’ve been existing in so much happier than I’ve been in a long time. I get people every day encouraging, loving and blessing me every time I go out but it’s bittersweet and hard to maintain but such is the life of a Busker I guess. I’m not traditional jazz and blues so gigs can be scarce sometimes, times like now and I’m a singer/songwriter so I’m not a band. It’s hard being unique but I’ve earned the right because I’m good, I’m beautiful (no matter what they say) and damn it, people love me!

[nikolorraine]

That whole Covid shutdown/crisis was a bummer but things change although they don’t always get better. I played unplugged walking up and down the streets of Nola( Lower 9th, the 7th, The Irish Channel, etc. everyday because there should never be a day without live music on the streets of Nola but I have to beg to get a gig now?!? I’m so frustrated that Buskers r treated like vagrants and hustlers, some of us believe we make a difference, do u agree? If so share and support this indie artist movement especially if your on Royal I’ve been playing here for 7 years as a valuable, significant part of this community and I play a ton more than I’m compensated for because I love y’all so damn it love us back! Respectfully but seriously!!!😡

[nikolorraine]

Ok, time to rant on my soapbox for a grave injustice, I am freaking pissed and discouraged that 3/4 of the very few very expensive apartments, duplexes and houses on the market right now (if they are not a scam are so prejudice against dogs! Seriously?!?! Some of us have never been married, don’t date, and don’t have children and I’m totally ok with my life choices so why r dog babies being treated worst than the carriage horses that have special rights for humane treatment in Nola?!?! They have work condition laws but I can’t rent a space hardly anywhere without any chance because my dog is my best friend?!?! Bitter and tired of the intolerance!😡

[nikolorraine]

Krewe of Barkus

[nikolorraine]

Buskers tip #10 from Niko in Nola:

My landlord disabled my water, which is included in the rent on the 1st of the month and it’s the3rd. So I don’t get to shower, cook or flush the toilet because I asked to pay on the 2nd 1st thing to see if I was approved for a better place. I was rejected for the 12th time because I love having my buddy Billie with me more than hoping to have a mate or a child, she is like a child to me. Almost no properties will allow pets but we have thousands of dogs in strollers attending the Keene of Barkus parade every year.

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Niko Live / NIKJ Studios

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Follow My Voice Live From Armstrong Park NOLA

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Feast Or Famine (Damien Dane's Suck It Dry Remix)

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