Have you ever been blown away by a subway/street musician?

(It is a statistical fact that 90% of buskers on the London Tube play "Redemption Song", regardless of race, creed or colour. And 100% of them sing it an unconvincing Jamaican accent - even the Jamaican ones

This one's a bit off the mark, but that somehow reminds me of a time during my teenage years when I was sporting an old Sabbath shirt in the park, and an obviously disturbed (and I don't mean that as a joke), one-eyed, homeless black guy came up to me and serenaded me with ALL the lyrics from "After Forever"... and, I mean, perfectly...

I was in New York this summer walking on 60th Street toward the park when I thought I heard someone playing ghettotech in their car or on a boombox, which I thought was a little strange given the neighborhood. As I got to the southeast edge of the park, it turned out to be just a percussionist with a bucket and a couple metal sheets! Amazing.

I just remembered Thoth, too -- so that's a couple of great experiences.

By the way, Redemption Song is also a NY subway "classic".

on a more grown-up note: a while ago Danish tv caught this American eurailer with his acoustic guitar on the Grand Central Station in Copenhagen. they filmed him busking and showed maybe 25 seconds in an early evening talkshow. they always do this, film people at the station and talk to them as a breaker in-beween guests. immediately, he got a record contract with a major label, and now, six months later, his record is out. can't remember what it's called though.

how about that for a&r laziness???

- there used to be a bloke on the northern line that played v fast elvis songs and finished by striking a pose

- i saw a man in toronto playing amazing drums made from junk

1. Young man who plays heart-breaking version of "Easy Like Sunday Morning" (!) late at night at various Blue Line stops. RIYL: Having a goddamn soul.

2. Old man in tunnel between Blue and Red Line Stops at Washington Street, who bangs on a keyboard and wails fequently unidentifiable hits of yesteryear (i.e., "Happy Together"). RIYL: Tom Waits.

3. Pony-tailed baby boomer on the corner of State & Washington who plays super-elaborate drum solos every day to the chagrin of passing commuters. When it's very bad, he brings along muso pals and "jams." RIYL: Some horrible kind of music I've never heard of before.

4. Androgynous-looking one-woman band who plays guitar, castanets and violin simultaneously. Only has one song, it seems, but it's a killer. RIYL: The Gypsy Kings, if they were awesome.

1. Sax player outside Wrigley Field at Cubs games that plays the "Flintstones" theme over and over.

2. Ernest Wilkerson (sp?) on tuba in the Loop, he's the main guy behind 8 Bold Souls.

3. Fat ol' guy playing an accordian underneath the Van Buren stop, usually wearing a dirty t-shirt that says "Polish Navy."

4. ENTIRE BRASS BAND that plays sometimes under the Van Buren stop, when aforementioned accordianist is not there.

5. "The Gambler" (it's a long story)

6. The blind doo-wopper guy who put out a record on Delmark.

the guitar/castanets/violin lady rulez, too.

Can't believe I forgot the "Flinstones" guy. He sometimes plays over by Union Station as well.

And I've heard that the whole brass band -- who play that killer droney funeral jazz -- is largely composed of AACM members' children and grandchildren. Is that true? (Their CD, incidentally, is on sale at the Reckless in Wicker Park.)

There is someone who plays (or used to) electric violin at around 3rd and Chestnut, very late at night. He seems to be classically trained. Not exactly my thing, but it was good.

The most impressive street musician I saw turned out to be with the music theater show STOMP! (though he seemed embarrassed to admit this). He was using a street light and trash-can (and so forth) as a percussion instrument, and he was quite good. I didn't get his name.

Three weeks ago at a street market in Frankfurt, an absolutely wild Bulgarian wedding band were just tearing it up. Interestingly enough, I've seen lots of fantastic Eastern European musicians on the streets of Frankfurt -- a couple of classical accordianists, a terrific marimba player, Cossack vocal group -- and they tend to get ignored, where the lame-o ersatz Mayans, the crappy African drummers, and some of the world's worst a capella RnB vocal groups will back up traffic. Weird.

Mary Lou Lord still plays the t-stops, I saw her at Park St maybe a year ago.

When I lived in NY (94-96) two hispanic gentlemen came on the F train, one playing a plastic bucket and the other a ridged water bottle. They sang a wonderfully up-tempo tune in Spanish and actually got a round of applause from the commuters, only time I've ever seen that. They did quite well in the tip dept.

"Woo" and "Frame By Frame" off his CDR are both great

I saw a drumset player and a djembe player in a NYC subway station that were just sick, the drummer especially. My favorite has to be a dude in New Orleans (think he was just passing through) playing percussion with a collection of metal pans and boxes. He was playing hip-hop and techno beats and had a really great way of playing the beats with his left hand and doing melodic stuff with his right. He would also smoke a cigarette while he was playing, flip it inside his mouth and then spit it out a few minutes later still lit.

Homeless looking guy on the 14 th St. / 6th Ave. platform two weeks ago. Has a big old school boombox modified with a taped on microphone, lots of stickers and decorations. Plays a grungy cassette of some Adagio For Strings-type piece, really mournful, and then proceeds to moan into his mic at the end of the music while playing some random (?) chords on a toy Casio keyboard (also plugged in). He does this for a few seconds and then sits silent. Shit kind of stunned me and I missed a train.

He wasn't that bad, but I swear it was the only tune he knew. This was around 1985-6.

it took a 10 block hike for the smile to fade

once waiting for the F at 14th street some dude had an acoustic and was playing this really beautiful slow reggae thing, but then I noticed all the lyrics were all about killing all the white people.

Don't spend much time on the 1/9, so I dunno how common, but a couple months ago I saw a kid do a credible Louis Armstrong vocal (not the v. annoying Wonderful World dude in the station at 110th).

Two and a half years ago there was a Rebirth-style brass band that used to play at the 19th St exit of the Dupont Metro in DC on the odd afternoon. Pretty decent.

Only one time in Paris where this guy was singing some cheesy John Lennon song and this couple walked over hand in hand and started singing along. I just thought "damn, I wish I could be that happy in public without feeling stupid."

Musically, I've never been anything more than mildly entertained by street musicians.

wasted? that "kid" is quite popular. people love to crowd around and dance to him. there are a few of these percussionists in boston. a droning good time.

Anyone ever see Charles Gayle play in the street? Or Moondog?

He still do that? not been for a few years myself...

If the combo was Druha Trava, they really are amazing. Their dobro player is some kind of virtuoso. If it wasn't them, makes me wonder how big the hillbilly scene is in the Czech Republic.

Union Square NYC yin/yang, seen in exact same spot, near 4/5/6:

1) Amazing jazz trio: sax, minimal drums, upright bass. Young fellas - not sure whether they're referenced above. Usually playing at warp speed. They always make me happy to be alive.

2) Weird "Sprockets"-like synth drums and electric violin Euro duo. One dude wears a lab coat, I think. Fucking horrible and hilarious.

http://www.geocities.com/fabiokatz/stick3.jpg

that was pretty amazing.

Then there was this sort of mobile dj who i think was released from the mentalist place, he wore gay pride stickers and buttons all over him and carried around a huge boom box and played disco records and danced on the t. He was amusing.

...thats DJ Nite Train

wtf

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1429032443998630

when I see kids like that I remember that there was never any hope for me