Street Performers

I like watching guys playing percussion made from objects -- saw a guy in DC w/ different size buckets for traps & then a shopping cart as a crash cymbal. He could play & his set-up sounded sweet.

bunch of dudes with empty paint buckets outside of Fenway Park. Damn good percussionists.

Russian slow tango-style (complete with accordian!) band on the street somewhere in Sevilla, Spain.

Not a band, but the weird midget lady balancing on objects was cool too.

Oh, and the gypsy band I heard (but didn't see) in the park near the train station was smokin' too.

As for locally, there's this guy who sits under the El tracks on Fridays and plays accordian and wears a shirt that says "Polish Navy" who is might amusing, too.

Mark - That guy is the coolest guy EVER. When I went to DC last November, I just stood there and watched him for about an hour. He probably got like ten bucks in 'tips' from me. Sweet lord! He was so unbelievably great.

there's this little old guy in nottingham who usually sits outside the broadmarsh centre by marks and spencer or up near hockley by waterstones and plays the xylophone. not very well. in fact not well at all. but the sheer look of joy on his face as he plays his music is like nothing else i have ever seen - concentration, exultation, joy. shame he misses decent music from the list but the happiness of the man makes you feel churlish for not appreciating what melodies are going on in his head. by FAR one of the things i miss most about the city. i entirely, utterly and completely love the man...

Thoth!

Once I came upon a bagpipe player in that really long tunnel you have to walk through to switch trains on 14th Street in NYC. He was so loud and irritating, I really liked him.

I also saw Mary Lou Lord in Cambridge Square once and marvelled at how incredibly cloying and awful she was.

I wish I had better things to say about street performers, I never see any good ones.

There's this Oriental woman who busks around Dublin. Some nights she expertly plays a peculiar, banjo-type instrument, other nights she does fairly standard dancing to songs by the likes of Blue, Backstreet Boys and Westlife. For the manner in which she embraces musical diversity, I salute her!

Every day I walk to the Civic Center BART station and hear a different performer (actually there are about 5; they seem to rotate). Freddie the Singer is just godawful... what's worse is I have a feeling he really thinks he's good. There's also this blowsy-looking chick who reminds me of the Indigo Girls (i.e. awful). BUT... there is this older black guy who plays guitar and sings, and his voice is so powerful and distinctive that I'm a little excited whenver I realize it's him down there. If he played at a bar I can imagine going to see him.