42 Comments
Jul 25, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

There was a man who sang so beautifully accompanying himself with just a stick string and wash pan (gut bucket?) sounded like Nat king Cole. I think it was 8th st N/R platform- late 90s. He restored my faith in music after being in grad school for musicology - ha.

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Yes! I remember him too. He was fantastic. I used to see him around the Astor pl cube. Also, around there used to see “free” drummer Joe Bruno (not everyone’s taste for sure). So many greats through the years, cone and gone.

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Jul 25, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

One of the most memorable artists in NYC during the late 80s-early 90s was the guy with the bent busted up saxophone who would enter a subway car, announce that his spaceship had crashed from Mars and he was in desperate need of Earth dollars to repair his ship - then he would play an example of Martian music - loud screaming and skronking until people gave him money to stop. Don’t know his name but he was legendary

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I remember that guy!!

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Jul 25, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

I used to see Artis the Spoon man in Seattle back in the 70s/80's. He was amazing to see. He's roll out that bag and out would come an large assortment of Spoons & bones & ??? If it was warm or Summer, all he would have on was a tattered pair of shorts, nothing else & skinny as can be. But what a mesmerizing performer. He could move a huge audience with just those Tools. I often wondered whatever became of him. One of the Great Street Artists.

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He got his own song thanks to Soundgarden.

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Jul 25, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

Thanks for this piece. I have seen many amazing players on streets around the world. They are mostly ignored by passers by but deserve our attention and recognition for their freely offered artistry. Good or bad, they serve to remind us that not all music is streamed.

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Jul 25, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

Delightful piece. I have a friend who is a “street poet” in New Orleans. They add to the character of the city.

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Is New Orleans, after the disasters of the last twenty years, still a good venue for street musicians and the like? ( I wonder if Lord Buckley might have been cherished there? This veers into different territory, that of the local eccentric whose oddness makes him a celebrity. )

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The last time I was there, in 2013, there were many street musicians, and all of them could play. Lots of young drummers, playing that New Orleans clave rhythm.

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Wonderful! The brother of a friend of mine is what an American should be, not averse to being a vagabond. He has a good job with plenty of independence, and has been known to hop a freight for parts unknown. He's a talented violinist and worked the streets of New Orleans for awhile, then came back home for a life of more conventional routine. I'm glad that there is still opportunity for street musicians in New Orleans.

Do you remember the experiment of about twenty years ago in which Joshua Bell played his violin in the subway station in D.C, or maybe New York? It was dismaying how few passersby stopped to listen.

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I remember when Joshua Bell did that.

There are several you tube videos of musicians playing in the NY subways and on the streets & people walking by, paying no attention. There are also videos of musicians playing on the streets in Europe, surrounded by large groups of people. Make of that what you will.

When I was in China, about 14 yrs. ago, there was a pavilion where about 8 Erhu players were all playing at the same time and playing different pieces. One man, about 6' tall, with long hair, sounded like Coltrane on a one stringed instrument. Around the corner from this group, sat an old man who sounded like Pablo Casals on one string. Again, there were large crowds listening.

Americans are always in a hurry, and these days, they walk around with cell phones attached to their ears. It may be the same in China and Europe. I don't know.

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Folding money's good, too.

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Jul 26, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

Here in Perth Western Australia we had a guy called john Gill. He played Scott Joplin's music on a stripped down upright piano that he wheeled about on a handcart. Sadly John passed away 10 years ago.

We still have street musicians many from the local academy of performance arts. A rite of passage for them to create something on their own without all the bells and whistles and to gauge audience reaction. The public still appreciates the artistry and immediacy involved

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When my first wife and I honeymooned in San Fran summer of 1990, we kept running into this guy down by the piers name of Chuck Edwards. He had a little table set up by where he was playing guitar and singing, and he was selling cassettes - "Old Favorites in San Francisco." We picked one up. Only later did I discover that he'd been a working, professional R&B singer in the '50s and '60s!

And of course, down south by Santa Monica Pier was Ted Hawkins, who parlayed his street music into a recording career ...

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Jul 26, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

Gene Palma- great drummer in any setting. Gene Krupa and Buddy , two of my faves that made me take up the drums at 13. Should have stayed with the drums, but the guitar was calling my name. Turns out drummers are always in short supply, and guitarists are everywhere. There are some great street musicians here in Seattle. What I have learned over the years is there are world-class musicians in every town that you'll never hear, or hear of. They play because it's in their soul, and it's a gift to every passerby. Thanks for the tip of your hat to them, Ted.

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Jul 25, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

It's not quite authentic but I love the scenes with the Crab man and woman selling strawberries in "Porgy & bess"...(!)

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Jul 25, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

When I moved to Manhattan from Queens NY in 1981, there were some great musicians playing on the streets and to this day, there are great players on the streets, parks and subway.

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Jul 25, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

Truly excellent, Ted.

Street musicians are a treasure and a joy, and I always will give them something if I can- as a musician they get my utmost admiration and respect.

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Thanks, Ted, for this moving, informative piece. Playing on the street is a great way to bring the warmth of music to the general public and to light up people's days. It ain't easy, but it's very rewarding as long as you stick to the wealth of the music and not how much money ends up in the donation jar.

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Ted, another great piece. I recently read your book, Music, A Subversive History, which I thoroughly enjoyed and related to on many levels. I recommend it to all my fellow musician friends when the opportunity arises.

About ten years ago at a street fair a woman sang “lemonaaade, sweet delicious lemonaade!” My wife and I still remember that melody. It was so unique and catchy, not really a song, more like a call. Like farmers calling the cattle in. Which also makes me think of the lost art of commercial jingles. So many from my childhood deeply embedded in my brain. For some reason mostly beer ads. Of course those I probably heard hundreds of times.

In my research into NYC music history I recently read Everybody’s Doing It which contained some descriptions of the underground music of the dives, black’n’tans, and pleasure gardens of downtown NYC in the late 1800’s. I am really fascinated with this essentially undocumented prejazz music. This article really resonates with me — the sense that some of the most interesting, unique, and human aspects of music have been completely overlooked and lost forever.

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Jul 25, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

Palma and Dave Tough would have gotten along.

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My daughter played their harps on Columbus Avenue yesterday. Smiles all around.

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