I'm a baby boomer, a very young 62 year-old. I am divorced, with two adult children (in their 30s), single and available but not searching. My main personal interest is music; performance, recording, songwriting, and of course listening. My musical taste is diverse and I tend to choose a genre that suits the mood of the moment. I can be rather boring in that music is almost a singular passion, but since everyone likes music I find a way to fit in.
I'm joining Couchsurfing somewhat incidentally- my mother lives in Durham, New Hampshire, and I am making plans to visit her this June, 2017. I'm retired and currently living on my SS retirement, so researching options in affordable temporary living arrangements. I'll be camping in some of the many nice campgrounds at area state parks, and I may rent a room or efficiency for a week or so.
I'm not ready to be a host, but I find the couchsurfing idea very intriguing. I have an appreciation for new people, new ideas and life perspectives. I can usually offer worthwhile advice, philosophically speaking, and I am a good listener. I'm very comfortable with a few friends and quiet conversation, not a lover of noisy crowds in chaos. However, I do appreciate a quality music concert or festival.
Currently my interest in Couchsurfing is to develop a plan for an affordable one-month visit to New Hampshire. But my music performance these days is strictly busking/ street performance. I am keeping an open mind to the idea of traveling the US, visiting some of the towns with a thriving atmosphere for spontaneous music performance. So maybe I'll be couchsurfing during those times of travel.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm on couchsurfing with a newbie-type motivation, I suppose; I'm planning to visit my mother in New Hampshire in June of this year, 2017. I am retired and living on a fixed income, so am researching some alternative lodging that is more affordable than a typical hotel.

Right now that is my only motivation for joining Couchsurfing, but in the future I may be doing some travel to destinations favorable to busking- street/sidewalk music performance. I am not a homeowner, so don't have a property to manage, and can be comfortable residing just about anywhere temporarily, provided it's legal and safe.

I get along well with new acquaintances, with so much to learn about and to share. I imagine establishing friendships within the context of temporarily sharing living quarters can create a new dimension to my life experience. Friendships that are centered around a practical purpose are the best way of development of trust, because there is a definite context that both understand from the start. I know I would appreciate more friends and friendly acquaintances like this in my world.

Interests

• photography
• music
• camping
• swimming
• watching movies
• buddhism
• busking
• taoism
• zen buddhism
• recording music
• singer songwriter

Music, Movies, and Books

My music interests include; Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Stones, Bruce Cockburn, The Grateful Dead, J.S. Bach (Brandenburg Concertos and Well-Tempered Clavier, Joni Mitchell, Weather Report.

Books: The Thomas Cleary translations of Taoist Scriptures and Literature, Baghavad Gita, The Bible, Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut. I may have outgrown comic books and graphic novels, but in the past I've been a great fan of Spider Man, Fantastic Four, Xmen, Superman and Archie.

Movies: Probably my favorite movie series is the Alien series, with Sigourney Weaver. I usually favor silly comedies over action, drama, crime, detective stuff. I just find laughter more enjoyable than the emotions that are tweaked by the others. So, Dumb and Dumber, The Airplane series, Marx Brothers, a few of the American Pie franchise, stuff like that. I've watched some Fellini and can appreciate it, but don't find it satisfying as casual entertainment.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I suppose I have one amazing thing I've done, and continue to do. Street performance of music, and music performance in general. By itself this is not so amazing, necessarily...but the things I've had to do in my life to get to this, and the fact that, even among the many buskers I've seen, what I do is extremely rare. There are many factors that must join together for this to succeed, but mainly persistence and dedication. In the past 3 years, I have performed about 500 separate occasions, with each performance lasting an average of 6 hours. I am licensed in the city of Annapolis to do what I do, and I am welcomed and enjoyed by the proprietors of the shops and restaurants on Main Street, the hotspot area of town for the tourism trade here. The skillset required to establish and maintain such a positive relationship with everyone include; diplomacy, public relations, providing a quality performance with a consistency the proprietors can depend on, a wide repertoire of music that the majority of tourists from all over the world will recognize and enjoy. It requires a personal endurance and affinity with the world of street performance as opposed to stage or venue performance, a spontaneity and flexibility to be able to communicate with random strangers in a friendly, welcoming manner, and give them the song or style of music they request. There is much more to it, but suffice to say that a 'bundle' of small achievements, skills, character qualities, conditions, and passions, all combined, make possible what I do. I know it is, statistically speaking, very rare, and because it is also successful and enduring, I guess 'amazing' is one way to describe it.

What I Can Share with Hosts

What can I offer hosts? Well, I'm an excellent dishwasher :)...I'm a team player in regard to typical household chores, cooking, lawnmowing. Socially, I'm a good listener and usually take some interest in whatever the subject may be. Because I'm a musician and vocalist, I can offer singalong type accompaniment, background music for most occasions, even a casual living room or backyard concert. My repertoire includes over 300 songs that most people know and enjoy. I also have about 30 of my own songs, if people want to hear originals.