Science…

This past Saturday coming back on the subway from Brighton Beach, I had the good fortune of bumping into one of our city’s character actors. My gumption fortified by a day of beer drinking in the sun, I couldn’t resist. He was (advisably) a little slow to warm up to me–I don’t know if it was my soothing lavender t-shirt and my “beach hat”, or my suggestion that he was bravely contributing to the urban tableau–but he gently (and kookily) tolerated my interview all the way to Atlantic Avenue.

Here’s a couple of fun facts:

1. Tourists can be jerks.  You can’t just start taking photos people… it costs $2.  But that covers his entire sitting fee, not a per snapshot charge.

2. The money goes in the guitar hole and when it’s full it holds approximately $1600!

3. Not surprisingly, the best places for this sort of thing are Las Vegas and Mardi Gras.  In fact, this was his last day in NYC as it’s just not worth the trouble anymore.  And he said he has a better costume in storage in Vegas.

4. That’s not his real hair.

5. Also not surprisingly, it’s a real hassle to keep the costume clean.  I didn’t even notice the awesome cape until I saw this photo and I’m sure it’s no walk in the park to keep that thing pristine in Times Square.

6. In case you were wondering, as I did, about the office politics of Times Square performers, apparently the Naked Cowboy is a real class act.