Music in public places appreciation.
drbrownscelray
648 Posts
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
Hell, it'd be a step just to get their records in stock!
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.
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
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.
plus i have a money box and end up with anywhere from $60-150 in a night...
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
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.
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.
That drums is sick!
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.
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.
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.
i would LOVE to see this dude on a kit.