Best & Worst Street Musicians?
Hojo2x
few street performers that some of us remember from that city, one truly
wretched saxophone "player" in particular.
It got me thinking about street musicianship in general. I actually got my
start as a street musician in Westport Square in the Westport district of
Kansas City, Missouri, and later played down at Jackson Square in New Orleans
before moving on to clubs and festivals.
You'll notice that I wrote "before moving ON to clubs and festivals," rather
than "before moving UP to clubs and festivals."
Because while it's undeniably more comfortable and usually better-paying to
play in a dedicated venue instead of out on the sidewalk, there is genuine
artistry involved in playing in the street to whoever just happens along.
It's certainly where I learned MY craft....
Anyway, I'd like to hear stories about the best and worst street performers
you've ever heard, and why you'd categorize them that way.
When I say "worst," I don't think we need stories about the misguided, the
stoned, the inept or the just plain untalented. When I was in Victoria, BC
this past summer there was some unhappy-looking adolescent girl with her hair
dyed blue, sitting on the sidewalk strumming an acoustic guitar just outside
the doorway to the Strathcona Hotel, singing Lilith Fair-style songs listlessly
and off-key, and with a tendency to forget the words and even the songs
themselves entirely before drifting off to some other half-remembered piece.
That wasn't bad, it was just sad. That doesn't count.
Now, in addition to the truly wretched sax player mentioned in the Chicago
thread, there was a "singer" who used to play on Rush Street outside the
singles bars. He was a scrawny little rooster of a guy with unkempt brown hair
and rust-colored whiskers who would bang on an out-of-tune twelve string guitar
and just BELLOW the words of the tender love ballads of the day:
"I know it's kinda LATE!!!,"
"Hope I didn't WAKE YOU!!"
"But there's SOMETHING I just GOTTA SAY!!"
"I KNEW you'd underSTA-HAND!!"
He was so shitty that it was a perversely satisfying experience to stand there
for a minute or two and watch him beat, bludgeon and pummel those songs to
death.
Now, whenever I've started a thread on RMMGA with the question "What's the
WORST (fill in the blank here) you've ever experienced?," there has always been
some newsgroup Sunday School Superintendent primly pursing his lips and
replying:
"I think it's really a misuse of this medium and a waste of bandwidth to be
focusing on what we DISlike when we should be learning from what is GOOD, what
is POSITIVE, instead of reveling in negativity and expanding upon bad
experiences."
Or words to that effect.
Okay, Reverend. Gotcha. Duly noted....
For those who DON'T feel that way, then, who was the BEST street performer you
ever saw? Why? Where were you? What did you learn from the experience?
Who was the WORST street performer you ever saw? Why? Where were you? What
did you learn from that (presumably traumatic) experience?
Neatness counts. Please show your work. Extra points awarded for creativity.
If you need to use the restroom, a proctor will accompany you to the door.
Wade Hampton Miller
Chugiak, Alaska
JD Blackwell
"Hojo2x" <hoj...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020421011918...@mb-cp.aol.com...
> Over on the thread about Chicago guitar stores we've started chatting
about a
> few street performers that some of us remember from that city, one truly
> wretched saxophone "player" in particular.
>
acoustic piano in the streets in Pike Place Market in Seattle. When all
other things piss me off, he makes me glad that it's possible for a guy like
him to make a living, however modest, doing what he loves. Artis the
Spoonman haunts the same area as well. My formative musical years were spent
on Dupont Circle in DC back before yuppies made the M Street corridor
upscale and gentrified. The circle was a great place to play and steal chops
from other pickers and definitely set the course for my musical journey.
JD
Jon Kiparsky
assured that it's true as well.
There's a Colm Sands song called "Buskers", dealing with, well, buskers.
The song mentions a fellow named Smilovich, who apparently had played
cello in the orchestra in Sarajevo. During the bombing there, he left the
orchestra and played on the street for months on end. The part I like is
this: when someone asked him if it wasn't crazy to be playing while they
were bombing, he replied "They're crazy to be bombing while Smilovich is
playing cello."
--
Jon Kiparsky - Portland, Oregon
fa...@sdf.lonestar.org
Sore fingers
Water Tower Centre on Michigan Avenue. 4 voices (2m,2F) guitar and double
bass doing r'n'b standards in close harmony. Fantastic.
The worst was also in Chicago last December. Again on Michigan Ave outside
the Marriott, this guy in a Santa suit playing carols on a electric guitar
through a battery powered amp. He was wearing gloves!! Not the fingerless
kind, but real thick gloves. Man, did he suck!!
"Hojo2x" <hoj...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020421011918...@mb-cp.aol.com...
Sore fingers
be my typing (and spelling).
"Sore fingers" <dr...@nospambigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:Ftuw8.18518$ML.26...@news2-win.server.ntlworld.com...
gorblimey
> Now, whenever I've started a thread on RMMGA with the question "What's the
> WORST (fill in the blank here) you've ever experienced?," there has always
been
> some newsgroup Sunday School Superintendent primly pursing his lips and
> replying:
>
> "I think it's really a misuse of this medium and a waste of bandwidth to
be
> focusing on what we DISlike when we should be learning from what is GOOD,
what
> is POSITIVE, instead of reveling in negativity and expanding upon bad
> experiences."
Worst? Greg Neaga. Can't play a note. Still insists on trying to play jazz
in public....
P
Peter A. Collin
was some kind of summer festival going on, so pedestrians teemed through the
main street. I saw this gnomish man sitting lotus style on the sidewalk
playing a hammer dulcimer. It was one he had made himself. People shouted
requests, and it didn't seem to matter if he knew them or not. He could
pick his way through a song and learn it on the spot. It isn't often that
you get to hear a hammer dulcimer being played, and this guy was real good.
The worst street musician I ever heard was in Quebec City. There is kind of
a commons along the Saint Lawrence where the street performers play. It's a
large cobblestone place where everyone can walk freely and all performers
are within earshot of each other. Three was this lone man with an acoustic
guitar and some sort of small amplifier on his hip for his guitar and voice.
He looked....strange. I think he might have been blind, because his eyes
were sort of sunken in. His clothes were dishevelled. He kept singing the
same song over and over again..."You picked a fine time to leave me
Lucille!" In a very heavy french accent. We wondered if he was mildly
retarded or autistic. Just the way he handled himself and the
interpretation he gave to his material. We tipped him a few bucks.
Pete Collin
Joe McNamara
a commons along the Saint Lawrence where the street performers play. It's a
large cobblestone place where everyone can walk freely and all performers
are within earshot of each other. Three was this lone man with an acoustic
guitar and some sort of small amplifier on his hip for his guitar and voice.
He looked....strange. I think he might have been blind, because his eyes
were sort of sunken in. His clothes were dishevelled. He kept singing the
same song over and over again..."You picked a fine time to leave me
Lucille!" In a very heavy french accent. We wondered if he was mildly
retarded or autistic. Just the way he handled himself and the
interpretation he gave to his material. We tipped him a few bucks.
>>
Merci.
Blinky
efdesousa
A wonderful outdoor restaurant in a hidden part of Rome on a warm May evening
in 1998. I remember it well...
A pudgy fellow, about 5"-4" with mutton chops, apparently trying desperately to
look like Elvis.
"Played "at full volume, about 15 odd American songs with a beat up and out of
tune guitar... all with the identical scratching rhythm and a SINGLE death
gripped chord....crooning, of course, with a distinct Italian accent. Went on
for what seemed like hours. Almost ruined dinner for hour entire group. It
seems it quite accepted by restaurant owners in Italy.
Gary Hall
I'm glad you narrowed it down to musicians, because there were some
very impressive acrobats and jugglers working a Quincy Market spot.
Some of the best and most memorable street/subway musicians were
Bennett Hammond (a contemporary fingerstylist who went on to record
for Shanachee {SP?}), Bill Bellinger (a jazz/pop saxophonist who died
in '88) and Walter Stanul (a luthier and classical guitarist who loved
playing Bach).
One of the impressive things (to me) about guys like Bill and Walter
was that they could do very well in the subway at rush hour, when the
trains were arriving every minute or two. People would listen to Bill
or Walter play twenty seconds of some familiar tune and open their
wallets/purses. The quickness of their responses was a revelation to
me. As a singer/guitarist who played unfamiliar material (unless a
Red Sox or Celtics crowd was coming thru and making "selling out"
worth my while), I'd found it much more lucrative to play later in the
evening when the trains were five or ten minutes apart and folks could
hear a good sample of what I was doing. Folks like Bill and Walter
clearly demonstrated the power of combining superb musicianship with
familiar material. Bennett Hammond (also a superb musician), on the
other hand, would play original compositions and often had to play
'til his hands were raw and bleeding just to make $50 or so. Still, I
give him credit for making a living wage (for that era) playing
EXACTLY what he wanted to.
Worst street musician? Most of the bad ones didn't get enough
encouragement to stick around very long. I do recall a certain
bagpipes player (only saw him once) who was playing on the inbound
Harvard Square subway platform. He was standing on one end of the
platform and the crowd was on the other end, as far away as they could
get.
Gary Hall
hoj...@aol.com (Hojo2x) wrote in message news:<20020421011918...@mb-cp.aol.com>...
Tim Brown
Paris during the summer of '88. My less familiar material brought little
response. I discovered that if I played Paul Simon's "Mrs. Robinson" over
and over again I'd make about $20 per hour. I'd also make good money by just
playing a very basic blues progression and play melody notes with the
harmonica. The harmonica echoed through the tiled passageways so that the
commuters would often have their change ready when they got close to the
guitar case. It was grimy work, but fun. I'd leave the subway system
relatively wealthy but oily from the air down there.
Tim Brown
"Gary Hall" <ah...@tusco.net> wrote in message
news:6b270d07.0204...@posting.google.com...
Brent Pellegrini
He was a homeless, mostly toothless guy who didn't know what a library
was. He asked about the changes ot a song and I told him he could
probably find it at the library. He asked me what a library was.) One
day I heard him playing incredible jazz guitar on some beat up,
high actioned acoustic that looked like a kids guitar. I asked him to play
Lady Be Good and he whipped off this great half picking half melody cohord
version. He was this great, naive guy from Chicago who obviously had some
kind of setbacks that he would never let me in on. Last I heard he had hit
some old Pike Place Market guard on the head and was in jail.
CLOSE SECOND. Street group in Haiti with this little ragged teenager
singing lead in an amazing, booming Pavarotti power voice.
CLOSE SECOND. Baby Gramps in Seattle
WORST. Richard Peterson in Seattle. A sympathtic retarded guy who
played some pretty bad trumpet solos. Some people put together some
support and he cut an album. A folk hero. He also used to fly
everywhere to see Johnny Mathis I think it was.
Hojo2x (hoj...@aol.com)
writes:
John E. Golden
wonderful atmosphere.
Anyway, about five years ago on a very quiet Sunday morning in downtown
Cologne, Germany about a block from the Cathedral, I was the sole listener
to a young man playing the Bach Lute Suites on the Classical Guitar. He
wasn't just playing lightly--he was playing his heart out. I listened for
what seemed like half an hour. When he was done, I gave him DM 10 (about
five bucks, I always was a "big spender"). I'm ashamed to admit that I
didn't even ask his name.
John E. Golden
"Hojo2x" <hoj...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020421011918...@mb-cp.aol.com...
> Anyway, I'd like to hear stories about the best and worst street
performers
> you've ever heard, and why you'd categorize them that way.
>
T.M.GLASS
: BEST.George Henson....
I thought for a moment you wrote George BENSON!
Was thinking about B.B. King. Didn't he get started performing on street
corners? I can't quite imagine what style he would have done since he
allegedly professes not to be able to play rhythm guitar. I guess that's
why he developed his singing so much. Makes for more interesting blues
that most guitar hero stuff IMHO.
\\\\\\\ Michael Glass \\\\\\\
\\\\\\\ Sogang University, Seoul, Korea \\\\\\\
Hojo2x
Pike Place Market (Pike Street Market? Downtown there, anyway.)
Black guy, big tall fellow wearing a derby hat.
He sings in one of the loudest voices I've ever HEARD, dances and then plays
"trumpet" using just his mouth and various sizes of fast food restaurant soda
cups to amplify the sound.
The guy's incredible. He plays GREAT jazz solos, Louis Armstrong kind of
stuff.
And it's LOUD. His voice and "trumpet" carry over the sounds of commerce and
automobile traffic.
My guitarbuilding buddy Duane Waterman and I caught his act a couple of years
ago.
"Howdya like THAT?" Duane said admiringly. "I spend my time persuading my
customers to spend thousands of dollars on musical instruments, and this guy
walks into McDonald's and spends - what? - two BUCKS on all of his!!"
"Yeah, but the pre-war paper cups sound BETTER..." I replied.
Anyway, a student of mine who was down there last year told me he caught the
guy's act, so he was still around as of then. If you're in Seattle, it's worth
making an effort to hear him. It's not just remarkable street performance, but
good music, as well.
gtrplr
was an old black gentleman who played some great old blues tunes. Used
to hang out down on 2nd Ave. I never did learn his name.
The mose memorable street performer I've ever seen, however, wasn't a
musician. He was called "The Scare Man", performing on Fisherman's
Wharf in San Francisco. His gig was to squat down on the sidewalk,
holding a couple of leafy branches in front of him (looking like an
innocent shrub), wait for some unsuspecting soul to walk by, then jump
up, scream at the top of his lungs, and scare the living bejezzus out
of 'em. We watched him from across the street and laughed until we
almost cried. Now that's creativity.
Randal Smith alias Smitty the Kid
gtr...@go.com
www.i-s-o-p.com
"We have enough Youth, how about a Fountain of Smart?"
Brent Pellegrini
don't remember much about him but I think Zappa recorded him on
Bizzare Records????
Matt Hayden
Elliott Gibbons, a 13-string archguitar player. First heard
him play in 1994 in Ghirardelli Square in SF (hey, I was a tourist
before I moved here...). THere's a small brick nook where sound just
carries, and he was taking full advantage of it. I listened to him
for over half an hour (at least), left a fiver, and got one of his
CDs (still available through www.archguitar.com, I think). I don't
know any more about him but dear god he could play.
Worst:
A couple of kids performing in the upper Haight on Saturday. They
were trying to play "All Along the Watchtower" and didn't seem to
grasp that the first chord is MINOR. A Major to G Major to F Major
to G Major to F Major, ad aeturnum.
mh
--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG
Hojo2x
>Best:
>
>Elliott Gibbons, a 13-string archguitar player. First heard >him play in 1994
in Ghirardelli Square in SF
I heard him there this summer. My family left me there by him to listen while
they toured the facility; they were gone for forty five minutes or so and I
didn't even notice.
His archguitar is an archaic style instrument that he plays just astonishingly
well. And RMMGA regular Al Carruth either built it or radically REbuilt it, I
don't remember which.
How would you characterize his music, Matt? Early Baroque? Late Early Music?
I, personally, would characterize it as "music I haven't got a hope in hell of
ever pulling off...."
It sounded great, anyway.
Fine, fine player.
>THere's a small brick nook where sound just >carries, and he was taking full
advantage of it.
Yup. That must be HIS spot. Nobody came along and tried to nudge him out of
it.
It wouldn't surprise me to learn if the folks who run Ghiradelli Square have an
agreement with Mr. Gibbons, either formal or informal:
Ghiradelli Square Guy: "Okay, Elliot, you seem to fit in pretty well with our
clientele of well-scrubbed middle class visitors: you play nicely, your clothes
are clean and neat but just threadbare enough to inspire generosity, and, most
importantly, you're sober and well-behaved and not once have you gotten drunk
and mooned the police or frightened any Midwestern tourists. So you can play
here and we won't have our rent-a-cops roust you."
Elliot Gibbons: "Gee, thanks!"
Ghiradelli Square Guy: "Just one question...."
Elliot Gibbons: "What's that?"
Ghiradelli Square Guy: "Can you play any Mariah Carey songs on that thing?"
Elliot Gibbons: "Uh...not really..."
Ghiradelli Square Guy: "How about Celine Dion? Whitney Houston? C'mon, how
about some Barbra Streisand, I KNOW you know some Streisand!"
Al Carruth
that in the sense that whatever he plays, no matter how musically simple, or
technically difficult, is _musical_.
He's also a quirky guy. Back when we ran a concert series out of the old shop
we tried to get him to perform, but he would not do it. He simply refuses to
play a 'normal' concert, and only really feels comfortable playing on the
street. It's a bit sad, since he'd be a 'big name', I think, if he'd only play
'real' venues.
The instrument he plays was built originally by Walter Stanul here. Elliot is
pretty demading, and kept bringing it back to Walter for 'tweaks'. Eventually
Elliot got the feeling that Walter was tired of seeing him, and brought it to
me. I re-topped it to get a better sound, and then built him a 22 string
arch-guitar, with an extended peghead, sharping levers, and custom pickups.
There followed a round of 'tweaks' until Elliot got the feeling that I was
tired of seeing him, and took the instrument to another local maker, who
removed the back and tinkered with it according to his own 'secret formula'.
After than Elliot moved to the west coast.
Do we see a pattern here? :o)
I'm glad to hear Elliot is making a success of the San Francisco scene in his
chosen way. Anybody who gets a chance to hear him should do so, and buy one of
his CDs. You won't regret it.
Alan Carruth / Luthier
Greg N.
> ... there is genuine artistry involved in playing
> It's certainly where I learned MY craft....
Wade, it's true, I find discussions about sightings of shitty music
uninteresting.
What I'd find immensely interesting though, would be a contribution of
yours to a RMMGA CD or an RMMGA project, so we can actually judge that
genuine atristy of yours instead of just keep taking your over the years
frequently repeated implications for it.
yours truly,
Greg N.
newsgroup Sunday School Superintendent.
--
Greg N.
Lumpy
the swap meet in Redondo Beach. He was
a surf cat that played a home made dbl
neck guitar. Had a hi-hat cymbal, echo
plex, horns, brake drums, hubcaps,
tambourines, kids toy xylophones.
Had everything rigged to ropes and cables
so that he could play all the percussion
stuff with his feet.
Surf's up dood...lumpy
Hojo2x
in Germany replied:
>Wade, it's true, I find discussions about sightings of shitty
music>uninteresting.
That's why the technology makes skipping the thread pretty darned easy, Greg.
Greg continues:
>What I'd find immensely interesting though, would be a contribution of
>yours to a RMMGA CD or an RMMGA project, so we can actually judge that
>genuine atristy of yours instead of just keep taking your over the years
>frequently repeated implications for it.
Put up or shut up, eh?
Well, you know, Greg, I've never claimed to be a great artiste. I am an
accomplished entertainer, and I've always found making money at playing music
to be fairly easy for me to do.
The truth of the matter regarding my non-participation in any previous RMMGA
anthologies is that I truly have a hard time listening to anthologies, even
when the music and artists on them are music and artists that I really want to
hear.
I just find them pretty jarring to listen to. It doesn't matter if it's the
good folks of RMMGA or the bands of the British Invasion or Timeless Bluegrass
Classics, if it's a bunch of unrelated songs compiled in an anthology I just
find the lack of a connecting thread between the pieces to be a major barrier
to my enjoyment.
That's been one the main reasons I haven't contributed to previous efforts,
that and an unwillingness to spend the money for the studio time to do it
right.
Now, I am slowly working on a website, and one of the things I intend to have
on there will be MP3 files of a few of my tunes. When it's ready, I'll
announce the website, though I will tell you right now that putting up free
samples of my music for people to download is NOT high on my list of
priorities. That's probably one of the things that will just get done when it
gets done.
Another one of the reasons that I am very leery about donating my music to
either an RMMGA effort or to post it where it can be downloaded for free is
that I've been ripped off a few times. I did an LP in 1981 which never got
promoted or sold beyond what I sold myself, but the guy who owned the record
label also owns the copyright on all of my original songs which appear on the
album.
One song of mine which I have never formally recorded but which went out on a
local public radio broadcast got snagged and copyrighted by some sleazebag
who's claiming ownership. I learned about it about five years after the fact.
I also recorded an album six years ago which is still unreleased, largely
because of some totally ridiculous legal bullshit.
I had thought that would have finally be resolved and even out by now, but it's
not, and yesterday my attorney told me to expect it to get untangled no sooner
than this autumn.
So I have some ISSUES, you might say, none of which have anything to do with
you or the newsgroup.
As for my musicianship, there are a few folks on the newsgroup who have heard
me play. You might ask some of them whether I know what I'm doing.
Personally, I would say that I'm a good mountain dulcimerplayer and just
adequate on everything else.
So I might not meet your definition of an "artist," but I think I can use my
instruments fairly effectively.
Be that as it may, there's a chance I might add something to the next RMMGA
project - as it happens, I've already been toying with the idea. But if I do,
it WON'T be because some guy across the Atlantic Ocean thinks I need to put up
or shut up.
It'll be because I WANT to.
I hope that's stated clearly enough to transcend any possible language barrier.
T-bone
>
> After I wrote about learning how to work a crowd as a street musician, Greg N.
> in Germany replied:
>
> >Wade, it's true, I find discussions about sightings of shitty
> music>uninteresting.
>
> That's why the technology makes skipping the thread pretty darned easy, Greg.
>
> Greg continues:
>
> >What I'd find immensely interesting though, would be a contribution of
> >yours to a RMMGA CD or an RMMGA project, so we can actually judge that
> >genuine atristy of yours instead of just keep taking your over the years
> >frequently repeated implications for it.
>
> Put up or shut up, eh?
I think you're way off base here Greg.
I never thought the RMMGA projects were about "judging" the competency
of the contributors. They were about sharing music.
Now that I know that there are people out there who look at it as a
mandatory proving ground, I'll not contribute again to any future
project.
All you "pros" can have the honors.
Bob Dorgan
But that doesn't mean I'm shutting up!
Joe McNamara
> ... there is genuine artistry involved in playing
> in the street to whoever just happens along.
> It's certainly where I learned MY craft....
Wade, it's true, I find discussions about sightings of shitty music
uninteresting.
What I'd find immensely interesting though, would be a contribution of
yours to a RMMGA CD or an RMMGA project, so we can actually judge that
genuine atristy of yours instead of just keep taking your over the years
frequently repeated implications for it. >>
Hey Greg,
Having had the fun of playing music with Wade a half-dozen times, I can tell
you he can walk it as well as talk it. And having heard your playing, which is
first rate, I find it kind of distressing that a musician of your ability would
call somebody out like this. Maybe I'm readin' it wrong, and excuse me if that
is not your intent, but it seems beneath you. The guy can flat-out entertain,
and is about the best mountain dulcimer player i've ever heard.
Not looking to start a war here, but instead stop one before it gets stoopit.
Joe
JOHNPEARSE
dulcimer trophy (up against some seriously good players!) Afterwards I heard
him playing banjo in a pickup session in the parking lot and he's a pretty
damn' good banjo player, too.
As far as guitar goes, he kept me awake one night in the campground leading a
massed choir of intoxicated musicians right outside my tent - so I can attest
that he's pretty guitar picker, too. He just doesn't know when to go to sleep!
<G>
John Pearse.
Steve
>yours to a RMMGA CD or an RMMGA project, so we can actually judge that
>genuine atristy of yours instead of just keep taking your over the years
>frequently repeated implications for it.
>>
This sounds disturbingly like the yeah-dooder solidbldy rock/blues solidbody
gunslinger RMMG's "post yer clips" refrain.
Distasteful.
Steve (posted 'em, so what)
SEFSTRAT
music webpage: http://members.aol.com/sefstrat/index.html/sefpage.html
Kathy Wingert
>
>What I'd find immensely interesting though, would be a contribution of
>yours to a RMMGA CD or an RMMGA project, so we can actually judge that
>genuine atristy of yours instead of just keep taking your over the years
>frequently repeated implications for it.
>
>yours truly,
>Greg N.
>newsgroup Sunday School Superintendent.
>
Just when you thought it was safe to discredit Wade, it turns out that things
that are repeatedly implicated sometimes turn out to be true. Wade can play
with enough guts to be heard all the way across a crowded street, and yes, with
artistry.
Kathy
---
Visit www.wingertguitars.com
jobro
> What I'd find immensely interesting though, would be a contribution of
> yours to a RMMGA CD or an RMMGA project, so we can actually judge that
> genuine atristy of yours instead of just keep taking your over the years
> frequently repeated implications for it.
>
> yours truly,
> Greg N.
> newsgroup Sunday School Superintendent.
Oooo, oooo Wade Hurry! We're all anxiously awaiting Greg N.'s judgment!
Dan
jobro
> and he's a pretty
> damn' good banjo player, too.
John, you just had to pile on. He's REALLY a nice guy in spite of this.
Dan (who Wade does not let play his 6 string banjo)
> As far as guitar goes, he kept me awake one night in the campground
leading a
> massed choir of intoxicated musicians right outside my tent ...
I'm here to testify that it is clear from this that Mr. Pearse does indeed
know Mr. Miller.
Dan
Matt Hayden
> Matt Hayden wrote:
>
> >Best:
> >
> >Elliott Gibbons, a 13-string archguitar player. First heard >him play in 1994
> in Ghirardelli Square in SF
>
>
> I heard him there this summer. My family left me there by him to listen while
> they toured the facility; they were gone for forty five minutes or so and I
> didn't even notice.
>
> His archguitar is an archaic style instrument that he plays just astonishingly
> well. And RMMGA regular Al Carruth either built it or radically REbuilt it, I
> don't remember which.
>
> How would you characterize his music, Matt? Early Baroque? Late Early Music?
>
> I, personally, would characterize it as "music I haven't got a hope in hell of
> ever pulling off...."
Wade, my friend,
I've heard you play....so I think I can say the following:
I would suggest that you *could* pull some of it off without too
much difficulty.
In any case, I think his music can be characterized as baroque,
more or less. I've got a wonderful collection from Frederick Noad
called "The Baroque Guitar" that has trasnscriptions (standard
notation only) of four or five of the pieces that Elliott
plays. I'm currently working my way through two or three of them
(and preparing a tablature, bit by very painful bit, of Tombeau
Sur le Mort de Coucy, an extended-form piece that Elliott does) just
for the discipline (and because I like how they sound on steel-string).
I think Elliott is one of the best players I've ever heard, irrespective
of his particular choice of venue. I gather that he doesn't play
normal concerts and plays only on the street -- to which I say "Go
Elliott! We need more music like this on the streets of SF."
>
> It sounded great, anyway.
>
> Fine, fine player.
God yes. He played the Bourree in Em from Bach's 3rd Cello Suite the
first time I heard him....and I don't think I've been that transfixed
by a live musician in any venue ever, and I've seen folks like Michael
Hedges and Leo Kottke live and up close. I was absolutely awestruck
by the sheer musicality of his playing. He was quite approachable
as well, and took time to briefly describe his instrument to me. It
was not a meeting I'll ever forget...
> >THere's a small brick nook where sound just >carries, and he was taking full
> advantage of it.
>
> Yup. That must be HIS spot. Nobody came along and tried to nudge him out of
> it.
It's a great place to play. There's a hammered dulcimer player who
periodically comes in and does stuff there and when he plays in that
nook, the sound rings like a grand piano. Hearing that fellow play
"Carolan's Draught" took a bit of wind out of my sails -- I'd been
thinking "Hey, I can play this!" and then I heard the HD player do it
at breakneck speed with great time and feel....sent me back to the
woodshed for a while.
>
> It wouldn't surprise me to learn if the folks who run Ghiradelli Square have an
> agreement with Mr. Gibbons, either formal or informal:
>
>
> Ghiradelli Square Guy: "Okay, Elliot, you seem to fit in pretty well with our
> clientele of well-scrubbed middle class visitors: you play nicely, your clothes
> are clean and neat but just threadbare enough to inspire generosity, and, most
> importantly, you're sober and well-behaved and not once have you gotten drunk
> and mooned the police or frightened any Midwestern tourists. So you can play
> here and we won't have our rent-a-cops roust you."
>
> Elliot Gibbons: "Gee, thanks!"
>
> Ghiradelli Square Guy: "Just one question...."
>
> Elliot Gibbons: "What's that?"
>
> Ghiradelli Square Guy: "Can you play any Mariah Carey songs on that thing?"
>
> Elliot Gibbons: "Uh...not really..."
>
> Ghiradelli Square Guy: "How about Celine Dion? Whitney Houston? C'mon, how
> about some Barbra Streisand, I KNOW you know some Streisand!"
Now, Wade, there are classics and there are classics....;-) Streisand
is classic in a *different* neighborhood. Ghirardelli Square is about
the finer things in life -- chocolate and ice cream (and combinations
of the two things) and overpriced geegaws from Sharper Image.
I think that Ghirardelli Square needs a high-end guitar shop. But I
suppose it really wouldn't work....it would slowly drive the owner
bankrupt and crazy while the tourists trashed his instruments
and didn't buy anything.....
Paging Alan Carruth: if you've got archguitar plans (for something
like the 13-string that Elliott plays on his first album) or if you're
interested in building more, pls contact me off list -- I am starting
to think I want one of those things. Just think about it -- a whole
new learning curve! Another instrument I can't play! ;-)
JimLowther
>I've got a wonderful collection from Frederick Noad
>called "The Baroque Guitar" that has trasnscriptions (standard
>notation only) of four or five of the pieces that Elliott
>plays. I'm currently working my way through two or three of them
>(and preparing a tablature, bit by very painful bit, of Tombeau
>Sur le Mort de Coucy, an extended-form piece that Elliott does) just
>for the discipline (and because I like how they sound on steel-string).
Matt:
I have the same Noad book, I think. I got bogged down with standard notation.
Wonder if you'd be willing to sahre that tab?
Best wishes,
Jim Lowther
Gary Hall
Do you know if the Walter Stanul who built Elliot's guitar is the same
Walter Stanul who used to play Bach in Harvard Square and on Boston
subway platforms? That Walter Stanul was a luthier, and I believe he
lived up in Stoneham, MA at the time.
Thanks,
Gary Hall
alca...@aol.com (Al Carruth) wrote in message news:<20020422175044...@mb-cr.aol.com>...
Greg N.
> Hojo2x wrote:
> > ... there is genuine artistry involved in playing
> > in the street to whoever just happens along.
> > It's certainly where I learned MY craft....
>
> Wade, it's true, I find discussions about sightings of
> shitty music uninteresting.
>
> What I'd find immensely interesting though, would be a
> contribution of yours to a RMMGA CD or an RMMGA project,
> so we can actually judge that genuine atristy of yours
> instead of just keep taking your over the years frequently
> repeated implications for it.
>
> yours truly,
> Greg N.
> newsgroup Sunday School Superintendent.
I can see by this thread of responses that I did not make my point very
clear.
For the record: 1. I don't doubt Wade's competence as a musician. 2. I
don't think anybody has an obligation to participate in RMMGA music
publications. 3. I don't think RMMGA music publications should be a
competition, or 4. should be used to "judge" the participants.
My remark was directed at negative newsgroup threads. I think lashing
out at incarnations of poor performance sometimes provides little more
than room for explicit or implied self-aggrandization and embarrassment.
As I think Wade's thread opener had elements of both, and was
embellished by what I perceived as a cheap shot against me ("some
newsgroup Sunday School Superintendent primly pursing his lips"), I
tried to make this point (embellished, unwisely, by a cheap shot of
mine, if you will).
I'm not saying music critique in RMMGA is always inappropriate. Quite
the contrary.
While I fail to see what useful purpose a thread about sucky buskers
should serve, debates about known artists ("Does Leonard Cohen's singing
suck?") can provide occasional insights because I can confirm or dismiss
some of the pros and cons by listening to the artist myself.
Also, opinions about the quality (or lack thereof) of musical
performances can have substantial added value when stated by somebody
whose own playing is known. Take, for instance, El McMeens comments
about music that is "melodically or rhythmically compelling, rich in
textures...". After hearing some of his playing, we obviously get a
better understanding of what he is saying here.
So, to rephrase my post without any verbal meandering:
In general, I don't like negative threads much. Still, I'd get a lot
more out of Wade's expert advice on the skill of musical entertainment
if I knew some of his playing.
--
Greg N.
Greg N.
> Worst? Greg N. Can't play a note. Still insists on
> trying to play jazz in public...
Hey folks, don't believe a word of what tis guy says. He's a liar. While
he's trying to convince us he's running a consulting business, the truth
is he makes a living as entertainer in a sleazy drag dive. It is even
documented on the web:
http://www.geocities.com/yodel_dodel/the-real-gorblimey.htm
So there!
:-)
Greg N.
> I never thought the RMMGA projects were about "judging" the
> competency of the contributors.
Neither do I, Bob. I have explained it in detail in a post further
down: Music criticism by a musician makes a lot more sense when we know
his own music.
Greg N.
> Maybe I'm readin' it wrong,
Yes, but I certainly phrased what I intended to say poorly. I tried to
explain my position more clearly in a post further down the thread.
> ...and excuse me if that is not your intent,
> but it seems beneath you.
Certainly. This was a cheap shot exchange, and whenever we do that, we
inevitably say things that are beneath us.
Lumpy
> ...Music criticism by a musician makes a
> lot more sense when we know his own music.
^^
and then wrote
> ...This was a cheap shot exchange, and
> whenever we do that, we inevitably
^^ ^^
> say things that are beneath us
^^
Is there more than one person at your computer
or are you including me, without my permission,
when you use the words WE and US.
lumpy
Greg N.
> ...Music criticism by a musician makes a
> lot more sense when we know his own music.
> ^^
OK, if you can't subscribe to that, if you consider this an opinion
rather than fact, then I admit I should have avoided the "we".
> > ...This was a cheap shot exchange, and
> > whenever we do that, we inevitably
> ^^ ^^
> > say things that are beneath us
> ^^
>
> Is there more than one person at your computer
> or are you including me, without my permission...
Allow me to get away with this latter case by stating that here, "we"
and "us" refers to the two persons involved in that exchange. It is not
meant to include anybody else.
At heart, I share your reservation against the pretense of majority view
by referring to oneself in plural pronouns.
shrimer
"Greg N." wrote:
> Allow me to get away with this latter case by stating that here, "we"
> and "us" refers to the two persons involved in that exchange. It is not
> meant to include anybody else.
>
> At heart, I share your reservation against the pretense of majority view
> by referring to oneself in plural pronouns.
Except for Dolly Parton, of course.
There is enough there for two people.
Hmmm.
(Did that come out wrong?)
Jeff
gorblimey
Greg N. <yodel...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3CC55023...@yahoo.com...
> gorblimey wrote:
>
> > Worst? Greg N. Can't play a note. Still insists on
> > trying to play jazz in public...
>
> Hey folks, don't believe a word of what tis guy says. He's a liar. While
> he's trying to convince us he's running a consulting business, the truth
> is he makes a living as entertainer in a sleazy drag dive. It is even
> documented on the web:
>
> http://www.geocities.com/yodel_dodel/the-real-gorblimey.htm
>
> So there!
Shit! I've been busted!
P
Dana Charette
My wife and I saw him two years ago in SF doing this. What is really
fun as all the people on the opposite side of the street standing as an
audience watching him, laughing, and applauding each time he supprised
somebody. It was like watching a live performance of "Candid Camera."
Regards,
Dana
aka: d1cha...@aol.com
gtrplr wrote:
... The mose memorable street performer I've ever seen, however, wasn't
Dana Charette
My wife and I saw him two years ago in SF doing this. What is really
fun as all the people on the opposite side of the street standing as an
audience watching him, laughing, and applauding each time he surprised
George Reiswig
me screaming, particularly if I had my wife or kid with me, my first
instinct would be to immobilize him!
Or maybe that's the gambit...then he could sue for battery.
George Reiswig
Song of the River Music
"Dana Charette" <dcha...@tft.ucla.edu> wrote in message
news:3CC57FD0...@tft.ucla.edu...
gtrplr
<dcha...@tft.ucla.edu> wrote:
>Hi Randal:
>
>My wife and I saw him two years ago in SF doing this. What is really
>fun as all the people on the opposite side of the street standing as an
>audience watching him, laughing, and applauding each time he surprised
>somebody. It was like watching a live performance of "Candid Camera."
>
>Regards,
>Dana
>aka: d1cha...@aol.com
Nice to know he's still going strong. Seems like I saw a short segment
on him on some TV show a while back. Maybe "You Gotta See This" or
something like that. He was great fun to watch. Wonder what he puts as
a job description on his resume. Or a loan application.
Loan Officer: And what do you do for a living, sir?
Street Performer: I scare the living sh*t out of people.
Loan Officer: Oh, you're an IRS agent?
Street Performer: No, I jump out from behind a bush and scream at
people.
Loan Officer: Secret Service? You protect President Bush?
Street Performer: No, I crouch on the sidewalk, hold some leaves in
front of me, and when somebody walks by, I jump up and scare them.
Loan Officer: And they pay you to do this?
Street Performer: I pass the hat.
Loan Officer: Next, please.
Randal Smith alias Smitty the Kid
gtr...@go.com
www.i-s-o-p.com
"We have enough Youth, how about a Fountain of Smart?"
Bob Dorgan
"George Reiswig" <Rei...@europa.com> wrote in message
news:aa40vo$i...@news.or.intel.com...
> Did the guy ever get decked?! I hate to say it, but if a guy jumped out
at
> me screaming, particularly if I had my wife or kid with me, my first
> instinct would be to immobilize him!
>
> Or maybe that's the gambit...then he could sue for battery.
>
> George Reiswig
> Song of the River Music
Good point George.
The guy might have been a lawyer.......
Dorgan
Rolavine
dog. The guy just strummed chords and sang, not too well either. But here was
the cool part, he just improvised everything up, on the spot.
One day I was listening wondering how he could do that, when a girl in the
crowd said, "Well he isn't any good, he is just making all that up". It was a
funny comment, but one that has stuck with me.
Ken Cashion
<snip>
>Anyway, I'd like to hear stories about the best and worst street performers
>you've ever heard, and why you'd categorize them that way.
<snip>
Wade, the questions are to name the best and worst street
singers.
First off, if they don't interest me I don't listen to them
and this means I have no recollection of bad performers. They simply
didn't register on my screen.
Now for the best street singer/performer.
I could say the blind guy in Orlando and the two good guys in
England.
Big deal! So you've learned what?
Why were they good?
To help you understand why I think them good, I must tell you
about them.
First off...I have never performed on the street. I live near
New Orleans and I think I could develop some persona and dress to give
it a try, but why? I don't need the money, the recognition, or abuse.
Yet, I am very liberal with street singers...very. I watched
the few miscellaneous and worthless Brazilian coins tossed in a
tambourine on a boat in a back bay of Rio and I was ashamed for the
Americans there.
Just who the Hell did they think they were? The cheap
bastards!
They had been entertained by four superb Brazilians...one
apparently with cancer...and in exchange for their wonderful,
enthusiastic music, they gave them coins? Brazilian coins? Give me a
break! (Give street performers a break!) I thought, 'This is their
job, for Christ's sake.'
I mentally counted the total take of these guys and it looked
like maybe $10 dollars American. They would take another boat back to
Rio and make another $10. This would be $20 for the day for the four
of them...not too good for some really talented hard-working
musicians.
After the little boat docked at an island, I slipped them a
few American bills and this would at least pay for meals for perhaps
eight people for two days. They were pleased.
But they don't count as street performers...they were on a 40'
boat, though they were still self-employed entrepreneurs.
In Okehampton, Devon, England, I was visiting with the retired
curator of Okehampton castle and he said we had to visit the castle
that weekend because the "Corridors of Time" would be performing. This
was a crusade reenactment group with period dress, weapons, food, and
musical entertainment.
A young husband and wife lived in a tent on the grounds that
weekend and played music and instruments of that period. They were
very good but it was like an open-air concert. They were being paid to
perform as street minstrels. (I have them on video tape and enjoy them
still.)
Strangely, a couple of years later, I was in the southern
Yorkshire dales at another castle and they were there. This time they
playing other instruments and doing songs of the English Revolutionary
War. And again, they were too good, too orderly.
So who was the best street musician?
In Orlando, Florida, back in 1959, there was a grocery store
at the edge of town where we shopped. Me and the four kids would let
Bettie out to shop and we would cruise the parking lot until a car
moved from just to the left of the door.
Then we would laugh and race into that slot, put the windows
down or sit on the hood and fenders of the Rambler station wagon and
listen to this blind street singer.
The best I can say is "Imagine Doc Watson playing a little
slower." It was the same voice and good humor and endless ballads. He
got to recognize my kids' voices and enjoyed doing requests from them.
When the shopping was done, one of my kids would take his kid a few
bills. I gave liberally but I was short of money myself. (I did say I
had four kids, right?)
His kid led him back and forth along that 50' sidewalk. The
kid looked slightly retarded though he could see reasonably well.
The musician was tremendous and he is one of the few people
that I wish I had the money to "manage." He could have done so well.
There is another part of this story.
Many years later, I was travelling all night on a
coast-to-coast bus. It was a horrible, sick trip. I had family in the
hospital, a car that wasn't reliable, no money, and I had to get back
to work to pay for medical bills.
I don't care if the bus company did say "Leave the driving to
us" -- it was as depressing as all Hell.
I was somewhere in mid-Alabama and we had a rest-room stop
at a small town depot. They had to clean out the bus because some wino
had left his meal in the floor a couple of seats behind me. I was too
miserable to leave the bus and had my head leaning on the cold, greasy
window. I had slept as long as I could force myself to and now I had
to suffer with consciousness the near-surreal.
There was a bout six feet between my bus and the next and here
comes the street musician being led by yet another little boy. Also in
tow was the son I remembered when much younger; all equally dim-witted
appearing. Their over-weight mother of questionable wit was with them.
There is no way to tell this nicely so I will be literal.
The older boy had a sack of powdered sugared do-nuts that the
younger boy kept snarling at and reaching for. This scene was tragic,
but I was in no mood to sympathize with any one and I thought it
funny. Like a living "Three Stooges" routine would be funny.
Finally, the mother made a swing at the older boy and most
likely told him to give his little brother one of the do-nuts.
The boy pulled out a do-nut and thrust it toward the open
mouth of the younger kid. With his lack of coordination, he missed the
kid's mouth and he ground it straight into an eye.
Pressed, powdered sugar in the eye has got to hurt.
The little kid let out a yell and the mother, with even slight
vision, made a real swing in the general direction of the older kid,
made good contact on the side of his head and popped his neck back. He
did not drop the sack, however, or did the little kid cry long because
not only did he have his do-nut, he had some powdered sugar to lick
from his face.
This didn't take long as they were boarding their bus.
The point --
He was a good musician who was shielded from much of the human
tragedy in his life. He had a big smile when on the street because
there, he was safe.
And like Mike Settle wrote, "their brightest day is as dark as
the coal." There are folks whose typical day would break our
collective hearts, yet to them, it is just another day and one that
wasn't nearly as bad as yesterday and hopefully will be better than
tomorrow...but they wouldn't bet on it.
Ken Cashion (I have been busy and not posted in a while and
thought I would make up for it.)
Bob N
Ken Cashion <kcas...@datasync.com> wrote in message
> Ken Cashion (I have been busy and not posted in a while and
> thought I would make up for it.)
>
And so you did. Thanks, Ken, for a hard story so well told.
Bob
Ken Cashion
Bob, there has been a few times when I have told this story in
a bar -- complete with gestures and sound effects -- and I have had
guys laughing out loud and spitting beer, but I am older now and I
haven't done that in a while.
The whole thing just isn't that funny any more.
But man! You should have seen that guy smile, lean his head
back, and do a great Jimmie Roger's "Blue Yodel." Bless his memory
for the joy he spread on a narrow sidewalk in Orlando, Florida.
Ken Cashion
>
>
WILL PACKERDOODIE
Co. and I saw a very unique musician. I don't evern remember if he was
singing or not because of his instrument. He had an instrument that he
had invented. It lookrd like a cross between an autoharp and a pedal
steel. This thing was huge. It had many string courses One large set
of courses were double and another was single. It had four or five foot
pedals. He was good at playing it. Some of the songs were recognisable
but others were originals. Very eerie sounding instrument. This guy
was a very strange but focused person. He played it with fingerpick and
sometimes a flatpick. If anyone ever saw this guy, please let me know.
Will Packerdoodie