Music in public places appreciation.

drbrownscelraydrbrownscelray 648 Posts
edited March 2008 in Strut Central
Last night I was leaving a meeting and headed down into the 57th Street F station and heard some beautiful noise. As I got down to the platform I saw that it was a dude playing "Fool On The Hill" on a big ass vibraphone. The vibes were echoing off the walls of the station and it transformed the whole subway scene from mundane to magical. I think that life would be better if every public space had live music playing in it.Rep your favorite busker, or subway musician, or concert you've seen in a public space or whatever...

  Comments


  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    I keep hoping to run into the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble at Union Square. That shit, by the youtube looks of it, sounds amazing.

    Hell, it'd be a step just to get their records in stock!

  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    A few years ago I missed some trains at 42nd-Grand Central so I could continue listening to this man singing opera. Magical is a good word for it; to hear something so beautiful and deep down, deep down in the ground. It transforms everything around it and the people, too.

  • nzshadownzshadow 5,518 Posts
    i like it when some wannabe thug sits down in the same train as me and plays 50cent or the game.

    its even better when it is being played through his mobile phone speakers.

    that shit really brightens up my day.

    luckily this happens at least once a week so i am always in a great mood on public transport.

  • nzshadownzshadow 5,518 Posts
    i recorded this a while back:


  • skelskel You can't cheat karma 5,033 Posts


    this is a less common sight than it used to be, but still the better parks in the UK have a bandstand and often on a sunny afternoon a brass band will play free and gratis. Greenwich in particular is good for this.
    Sitting upwind so it's not too loud, eyes closed, lie back on the green and let the gentle oompah strains of Men of Harlech or Abide With Me waft over you....
    ok, EWF it ain't but these amateurs sure know how to pace a show and the playing is always tighter than a duck's arse

  • jaysusjaysus 787 Posts
    Hang drums in amsterdamn!

  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    On my first visit to New York, I remember this young black guy (mid-20's, maybe) with a guitar and amp who sang a beautiful version of "People Make The World Go Round" on a subway platform, although I don't remember which station. Even though I'd inadvertantly wandered on to the wrong platform, I wasn't going to leave until he'd finished so I could drop him a few dollars and tell him how much I enjoyed it. When I crossed onto the correct platform I could still hear him playing - I didn't recognise this next song, but it was pretty and he sang it well. Then I heard another voice, except I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. At first, I thought it was someone singing a completely different song, but it soon became apparent that this voice was improvising a harmony over what guitar man was singing/playing. I was praying the train wouldn't arrive before I found out who the singer was, and soon enough a big, grey-haired white guy who looked to be in his late 50's came into view, singing away without a shred of self-consciousness. I swear that people applauded when they got to the end of the song. I think that's what they call "a New York moment".

  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    Not even sure there is that much of a history for it in Toronto, but reading about S Cooke's early days and groups singing on the street in front barber shops and in salons made me wish for it to come back.
    They happen now and then, especially around Caribana, but the blocko needs to come back, too.
    The guerilla set-up is easy if you're one or two people with easy to carry equipment, but permits and $$$$ insurance and noise levels make setting up a sound in any vacant lot difficult.
    I wish Toronto could put aside some money to make more things like that happen as opposed to sinking it all into Nuit Blanche.

    And what would the corner of Yonge and Dundas be without some nut with boundless energy playing drums? Where is Graeme Kirkland these days anyway?

    My favourite guy last Spring and Summer was the textbook rocker with a small amp playing h-e-a-v-y power chords at the corner of Queen and University.

    And the older guy and younger woman playing classical strings at Finch Station in the 80s and 90s.

  • akoako https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,413 Posts
    in the summer i bring my whole drum set downtown and play for 1-5 hours on fridays. a lot of fun, sometimes i get a huge dance crowd going and the vibe is amazing.

    plus i have a money box and end up with anywhere from $60-150 in a night...

  • verb606verb606 2,518 Posts
    in the summer i bring my whole drum set downtown and play for 1-5 hours on fridays. a lot of fun, sometimes i get a huge dance crowd going and the vibe is amazing.


    Well shit, if you sound anything you did in those clips you posted the other day, I can't see a party breaking out around you!



    My local busker experience nowadays is pretty There used to be this dope drummer on Chicago's red line who used to tear shit up. I haven't seen him in a while. Right now there's a dude at Jackson in the mornings who just sings through an amp over these weak-ass R&B tracks. He kinda sucks. Fortunately, I only hear him for a second when the doors open.


    The best shit was in Paris on my honeymoon, my wife and I came upon one of those groups of grimy kids doing the crazy brass-band thing, complete with dude with the giant bass drum strapped to him. It was right on the river and mad people were standing around listening and singing along when they could. Turns out they were from New York. I wondered for days after that how they could manage, physically and financially, to bring all that shit overseas. It was dope, though.

  • hemolhemol 2,578 Posts
    I keep hoping to run into the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble at Union Square. That shit, by the youtube looks of it, sounds amazing.

    Hell, it'd be a step just to get their records in stock!

    You haven't seen these dudes!?!?!? They are definitely fire.

    Some of my favorites are:

    The blind dude with the dog who rides the E and C trains. He has a mic on a collar--harmonica style--and two little amps with incredible amounts of reverb hanging off of him. He just croons, and makes singing-type sounds.

    There is a guy who looks to be in his early-to-mid forties who plays a grey pearl finish drum kit downtown. the man goes off ridiculous on some Jack DeJohnette New Directions funky beat blast off type of stuff. Plays for hours and kills it dead.

    A Japanese guy I saw on the AC/FV platform at Columbus circle playing amplified acoustic guitar, with a jangle on his foot. Serious blues facemelt aggression.

    Saw three guys down at Broadway Lafayette FV station last week. One on Tuba, one on Drums, and one on Trumpet/megaphone. Raw ass down South Jazz feel, and the Trumpet dude was gruff in that megaphone.

    Little old guy that plays Accordion on the NQRW platform at USQ. He's always smiling.

    Andean folk band that plays in USQ with a drummer. Pan pipe braeks for days.

  • hemolhemol 2,578 Posts
    Hang drums in amsterdamn!

    That drums is sick!

  • ToccuDomuToccuDomu 225 Posts
    Maybe this stuff is old-hat for you euros, but there are a few things I???ve seen o???er there that were facemelt.

    Somewhere near the center of Amsterdam on my first visit there, we passed an alcove underneath which three dudes were doing that multiphonic throat singing thing. The acoustics underneath the arch/alcove added to the sound, and I had to watch for a few minutes. I still don???t understand how that sound comes out of a human.

    Several times In Manarola, Italy I???ve watched these 2 Roma guys marching through the town from the train station to the marina with a squeeze-box and a coronet doing the marching gypsy thing. They are always excellent and histrionic as hell, and the tourists go ape. Perhaps the best part of this, though, is watching all the townsfolk grip their purses or shift their wallets to a safer pocket, and then quickly disperse into the caf?? or restaurant, or whatever. Looks like a scene from a Kusturica film.

  • nzshadownzshadow 5,518 Posts


    Somewhere near the center of Amsterdam on my first visit there, we passed an alcove underneath which three dudes were doing that multiphonic throat singing thing. The acoustics underneath the arch/alcove added to the sound, and I had to watch for a few minutes. I still don???t understand how that sound comes out of a human.


    You were under the rijksmuseum (home of Rembrandts 'nightwatch')

    The group you heard were Tibetan moks that used to be there daily. Unfortunately that tunnel is now closed as they are renovating the building, so no more riding through on my bike and hearing that amazing sound.

    I have some photos somewhere, ill see if i can dig them up.

  • ToccuDomuToccuDomu 225 Posts
    You were under the rijksmuseum (home of Rembrandts 'nightwatch')

    The group you heard were Tibetan moks that used to be there daily. Unfortunately that tunnel is now closed as they are renovating the building, so no more riding through on my bike and hearing that amazing sound.

    I have some photos somewhere, ill see if i can dig them up.

    Hey thanks, I almost wrote that it was near/at the rijksmuseum, but as it stands, memories of the first trip to Amsterdam can be a bit hazy, and my confidence in the details was lacking. Glad to know that some synapses still fire accurately.

    Great stuff, it sounded like three hundred souls singing out of three throats.

  • markus71markus71 937 Posts
    A couple of years ago I used to travel to work from Utrecht central station and there was always this young kid playing harp in the morning. Although he was playing the same songs every day, the serene sounds coming from that instrument formed such a nice contrast to all those busy office people rushing to work in their morning frenzy. It really calmed me down.

  • love me some bucket drums


  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    love me some bucket drums

    YES. There are a few of these dudes in Boston, but there's always one dude on the bridge from Fenway Park to Kenmore Square after Sox games. If I were putting together an album, I would consider using a bucket drummer. Different sounds.

  • akoako https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,413 Posts
    love me some bucket drums


    i would LOVE to see this dude on a kit.
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