Saturday, November 27, 2021

Tuba Skinny: Diggers of Dixieland

 


It’s kind of amazing how this band manages to exist 
without a manager or a label. It’s hard to imagine 
how it could happen without the internet.”
– Max Bien-Kahn


Standing (l-r) Barnabus Jones, Jason Lawrence, Greg 
Sherman, Erika Lewis, Shaye Cohn, Todd Burdick. 
Kneeling (l-r) Craig Flory, Robin Rapuzzi.
(photo by Sarrah Danziger)


Tuba Skinny

 

Diggers of Dixieland

 

by Jamie Jobb

Intricately woven into the foggy fabric of San Francisco’s Summer-of-Love” lies the legend of The Diggers – a raggle-taggle brood of itinerant free-spirited activists who fed and clothed nomadic hippies in the early days of Haight-Ashbury’s Flower Child” invasion. In his “Season of the Witch”, a montaged memoir of that fabled time, author David Talbot succinctly sums that samaritan situation into a single paragraph: 

With the Diggers, it was not about the free food and clothes, it was about the act of giving away the free food and clothes … The Diggers’ street manifestos were among the earliest and most passionate expressions of what would later be called ‘San Francisco values’. The leaflets’ ‘free’ ethos – which challenged the public to think of food, shelter, health care and even entertainment as fundamental human rights, not commodities – began to shape the consciousness of the emerging new San Francisco. Decades later, echoes of the Diggers philosophy could still be heard in web mantras such as ‘Information wants to be free’ and other slogans of the digital age.” 

Whereby-its-Bay, San Francisco harbored historically far-out hippies flocking to free-for-all concerts of long-ago lore, today New Orleans continues to harbor its street-savvy buskers – those al fresco musicians who hand out their talent and tunes for tips. Street musicians leave free food and clothes to other operations. Their tip-jar income is totally dependent upon any passing stranger who wanders by at the moment … not to mention internet supporters on Patreon® or various “tip-the-band” platforms. 

Fabled Crescent City native Anthony Lacen, also known as “Tuba Fats” (1950-2004), was a locally notorious tuba-centric band-leading busker who seemingly single-handedly begat a loose affiliation of similarly situated musicians in his Big Easy days. Lacen’s band – “Tuba Fats and The Chosen Few Brass Band” – played for spare change around Jackson Square in The French Quarter, where he encouraged younger musicians to follow suit.

Socially-mediated musicians born into the digital age find it much easier to build their careers on NOLA’s streets via YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and other internet byways. These players have learned to eliminate musical-chair middle-managers and other unproductive “producers”demanding their cut. 

Today’s digital buskers produce their own “records” and set their own touring schedules in true DIY street spirit. Some of them travel the world on those nickles and dimes, greased by their widespread communal street cred. They’re the obverse of Scott Bradlee’s lucrative Post Modern Jukeboxfranchise (Motto: “Today’s Hits Yesterday”). Or the flip side of New Orleans native Wynton Marsalis and his well-heeled publicly-endowed offerings from Jazz at Lincoln Center, the ultimate world stage for jazz. 

New Orleans’ free-flowing Digger” approach to jazz continues to inspire a new slew of sidewalk players – particularly the Steady Eight And A Half who compose the street-savvy dixieland ragtime and blues band known round the world as “Tuba Skinny” – an obvious homage to the legacy of Anthony Lacen. 


Anthony Lacen: aka "Tuba Fats" (1950-2004)


* * *

We’re a band that’s from the street
and we want to keep it there.”
– Robin Rapuzzi

* * *

In its short lifetime, Tuba Skinny has become as synonymous with New Orleans as The Po’ boy or The Muffaletta – their totally unique musical cuisine could have been gumboed nowhere else on Earth. I became aware of this al fresco band in 2015 when I stumbled into The Unknown Jazz Band at the corner of Charles and St. Ann in The Quarter. I recall it well because it’s documented in my “Umbrella Video”.

Front and center, leading that rag-tag troupe was a spry cornet player, Shaye Cohn.  But none of those other marching band members were her current bandmatesLater I began to notice Shaye in other YouTube videos. The social medium took notice of my viewing habits; algorithms kicked into gear.  Later back home as I scanned YouTube for new music, I started getting video suggestions for something called Tuba Skinny”.  The name was familiar because my pal Snakebite Jacobs, a local sax-man who did his time in NOLA, also praised the group. 

Pops Coffee, a Nottingham octogenarian who runs the informative Playing Traditional Jazz blog has written extensively about this unique musical ensembleHe tells the story of how the band got its name:

... when Todd Burdick —a tall, slender gentleman from Chicago—appeared in 2008 playing a tuba in the French Quarter, he inevitably became known as ‘Tuba Skinny’. Fellow buskers formed a band around him: ‘Tuba Skinny and His Tiny Men’. This was soon abbreviated to ‘Tuba Skinny’. Todd, by the way, arrived in the city as a banjo-player but had very rapidly mastered the tuba. Most of the young musicians in New Orleans play at least two instruments.”

Pops' blog also points out that YouTube does more than promote the music – it provides musicians reflective platform for self-study. Pops Coffee explains this, using Robin Rapuzzi for example:

“ … it's not just the fans who enjoy the YouTube videos. He said many musicians – including himself – use them as learning tools. They analyze their own performances and consider what improvements could be made. He found it particularly interesting to spot how his own backing of, say, trombone solo choruses varied according to which trombonist he was playing with.”

Born in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Tuba Skinny has survived lockdown primarily because it’s always been an “outdoor” act, less encumbered by health regulations than indoor venues facing pandemic times. When foot traffic returned to urban streets, so did Tuba Skinny.

* * *


I never thought I’d be able to ‘make it’ 
playing washboard for a living.”
– Robin Rapuzzi

* * *

The Players

Seven years ago, Tuba Skinny’s roster finally settled on the players ensembled in the photo above, although they’re often joined by banjo/dobro master Max Bien-Kahn, originally from Oregon. Max also functions as the band’s sound engineer who aims to capture the group’s street energy in recording studios without their CDs losing quality. Max is a “utility player” who sits in when a string player can’t make a gig. Otherwise, here is the current lineup that is Tuba Skinny:

Todd Burdick – tuba, sousaphone, upright bass – is the original “Tuba Skinny” his own self. While the band’s name features his instrument, Todd tends to take it to the back row even when the players are arranged in up-front crescent-seating. But Todd’s upstage position does not hide his hot licks when it’s time for his solos– which give the band its distinctive jug-band sound – without the jug

Shaye Cohn – cornet, piano, fiddle and album covers – is the de facto band-leader, directing the traffic of tunes from her seat within the band. The daughter of jazz guitarist Joe Cohn and granddaughter of American arranger/composer and saxophonist Al Cohn, Shaye was classically trained on piano in New York. 

Barnabus Jones – trombone – is an original band member who always loved traditional music, plays his horn “all the time” and clearly enjoys it. Barnabus grew up in Virginia as a fiddler/banjo player. When he relocated to the Crescent City he quickly took up and mastered the ‘bone which was more attuned to his rough but inventive tone.  Barnabus often performs with his dog Tupelo at his feet.

Erika Lewis – drum, vocals. An exquisitely nuanced, vinyl-inspired virtuoso who seems to command any singing style while sitting on a bass drum to bang it because, as Barnabus says, “she didn’t wanna carry it anymore”.  After hearing Erika sing, many folks assume she was born and raised in The Deep South although she grew up north of New York City in the Hudson Valley.

Craig Flory – clarinet, tenor saxophone. What a strange mockingbird is this clever professor of a musician whose clarinet soars to the bleats of his own inner strummer. Flory is from Seattle but he understands New Orleans has a long, proud history of reedmen, so he has concocted a style that stands alone. His short solos are particular audience pleasers. So uncommon is Flory’s style that it’s easy to believe his is a unique instrument no one else plays. 

Robin Rapuzzi – frottoir, percussionist – has a syncopated percussive syntax that’s his alone. Half his spunky washboard rhythms seem to leap out of his toes. He certainly can’t stand still during performance. Although he became a Tuba Skinny regular after he arrived from Seattle, Robin gets around town playing with Rhythm Wizards and The Hokum High Rollers – who know a good frottoir is hard to find. 

Jason Lawrence is a gifted guitar player but specializes in six-string banjo, with lots of nimble finger-picking much in the style of Papa Charlie Jackson. Jason, aka “Mr. Hokum”, also heads The Hokum High Rollers and joins the Slick Skillet Serenaders when he has time.

Gregory Sherman – dobro, harmonica and vocals is a crackerjack singer-resonator. Sherman came to New Orleans from the pickers paradise of Asheville North Carolina. See him shine in “Too Much Competition”, one of the band’s livelier tunes. 

Although Tuba Skinny’s roster has varied over the years – Todd, Shaye, Erika and Barnabus have been regulars from the band’s 2009 inception. Robin joined a year later. Craig, Jason and Greg found the group in 2014 when it began to settle into the current eight-and-a-half player lineup with the release of Owl Call Blues in August of that year. 

Barnabus Jones believes the tunes his band uncovers is music that needs to be kept alive in its original spirit.” Anybody who’s seen this band perform knows that comment about nails their musical manifesto.

* * * 

I think we sound best when we’re on the street, so the goal 
for the last couple albums has been to capture how everyone, 
especially the horns, kind of pop in and out. You need to hear 
the punch of Shaye’s cornet. We’re going for something 
that’s honest and has that quality of old recordings, 
but not trying to make it a throwback thing either.” 
– Max Bien-Kahn

* * *

Roving brass bands and parades are such an integral part of the Crescent City’s character that the city issues parade guidelines to visitors. Tuba Skinny can be a marching band when it wants to, and it has made Jazzfest entrances on foot. But the band tends to sit at selected sites on Rue Royale. When they’re not busking, Tuba Skinny can be found performing indoors on Frenchman Street at d.b.a. or in the past at The Spotted Cat. 

Recent years have found the band booking buskers holidays to France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Australia, Mexico, California and Colorado where they’ve performed in an impressive lineup of way-outta-town festivals including Melbourne’s Speigeltent, Breda Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz Fest, Grass Valley Worldfest, Vitoria Jazz Fest, Aspen Snowmass Festival, Brittany Fest Jazz, Australia Womadelaide, Port Fairy Folk Festival and Tasmania’s Mona Foma.

While the group “covers” a wide range of tunes, it’s not fair to consider Tuba Skinny any kind of“cover band”. Far from it. Every song gets renewed through the crisp tight arrangements and collective improvisation, which keep each tune at three or four minutes instead of the standard jazz length of seven or eight.

While standard jazz bands tend to play the same handful of tired pieces with overlong solos week after week, Tuba Skinny has built up a huge repertoire that mixes rags and blues with modern tunes and offers them up in crisply-conceived communal solos that are concise and never dawdle. Structured around a 32-bar chorus, two or more players “trade fours” or take the lead in turn, cued by a nod from Cohn.  Precision teamwork and syncopated synchronization are obvious keys to the band’s success. Like Diggers, there are no Prima Donnas here.

While their music reaches back beyond the dawn of recorded music, the GoPro surveillance-videoquality of their YouTube presence defines their modern free spirit. Often a bike or taxi, dancers or a cop will wander across the frame.  This endears the band to its world-wide audience visually held spellbound by their sound which stylistically blends old and new styles as the band digs its vinylroots into Ragtime, Dixieland and Deep Delta Blues. 

Grounded in the same hallowed haunts of New Orleans’ iconic Louis Armstrong or Louis Prima or the Marsalis family, Tuba Skinny’s sound also reminds many listeners of the funky upbeat sounds of Leon Redbone, Dr. John, Jim Kweskin’s Jug Band, Cheap Suit Serenaders and their ill-fated master-picker Bob Brozman.  But the band finds particular inspiration from Bessie Smith, Blind Blake, King Oliver, Bunk Johnson, Jim Robinson, George Lewis, Mississippi Sheiks, Blind Boy Fuller, Jelly Roll Morton and his Red Hot Peppers, Sam Morgan’s Jazz Band, Louis Armstrong’s Hot Seven, Memphis Jug Band and Kit “Stymee” Stovepipe.

Tuba Skinny’s DIY ethic is as old as public performance and a modern massive self-funded internet publicity machine keeps it ever afloat. The band sets up where it see fit, puts out a tip jar, and dictates success in the street. Sometimes Skinny players sit in with other NOLA street bands like SuperBand and Yes Ma’am. Practice and performance become one in that fluid environment.

* * *


For a long time we didn’t really practice, we’d try out our new ideas
on the street. It’s a conversation on the street, so you can take time
to discuss an idea. And if it fails, it’s not a big deal.”
– Robin Rapuzzi.

* * *

Tuba Skinny has a massive YouTube presence, but Raoul Duke 504 and digitalalexa have some of the best surveillance video” not posted by the bandFor those who’ve never heard of Tuba Skinny, here are some good starting points:


One of their best YouTube videos 
is this full 2019 concert at Louisiana Music Factory:
(40 minutes)


Full January 2021 concert at
Festival de Blauzac, France
(one hour, fifteen minutes)


A great short clip featuring the early band in the background
from the great post-Katrina series “Treme” (HBO) - 
(two and a half minute)

Those who order CDs through the band website are re-routed to Louisiana Music Factory – LMF is located between the Jazz National Park and the hot clubs on Frenchman Street. Albums may also be downloaded through the band website.

The CDs offer a crisper sound than the wildtrack YouTube cuts.  Erica Lewis is particularly vivid on early Tuba Skinny albums with her note-perfect renditions of Bessie Smith’s “Do Your Duty” andMy Kitchen Man”Kokomo Arnold’s “Biscuit Roller BluesLucille Bogan’s “Tricks Ain’t Walkin’”and Irma Thomas’ You Can Mess With Husband, But Please Don’t Mess With My Man”.

Listen to the originals and we realize Erica intuits how to handle these tunes in the style they were intended. She does not attempt to blow out her pipes like some Janis Joplin wannabe.


New York one-man-band Jeff Masin

Busking Across America

In the middle ages troubadours criss-crossed Europe, dramatizing news-of-the-day in mime, poetry, song and danceCommedia dell’Arte vagabonds elevated the craft during the Renaissance. In modern times Edith Piaf, Paul McCartney, Dolly Parton, Jimmy Buffett, Simon & Garfunkel and Cirque du Soleil acrobats all got their starts performing on the streets – usually in locations with high pedestrian traffic. 

Not every busker is worthy of attention, of course. I recall one of the worst nights of my life as I tried to sleep on the seventh floor of the Monteleone in the French Quarter. Outside, non-stop, was a wannabe Jimmy Hendrix thwacking his ax. He only knew one “tune” on that guitar. Actually it was no tune at all, just a single stupid cord progression: “Stairway to Heaven” all day long. He was no good on the instrument and his “practicing” in the street strained all tolerance of public performance. Clearly, it was disturbance of my peace. 

The trouble with busking is there’s no easy way to eliminate this kind of thoughtless public nuisance unless a curated busking program is in place – as in Key West, Baltimore or Cincinnati (see Busking Across America below). Indeed, who’s to say what’s a “nuisance”? Let’s ask those folks who thought it was OK to vandalize the U.S. Capitol because they didn’t like the result of thousands of local American elections, at best a paranoid/schizophrenic approach to individual civic involvement in federal affairs. 

Another problem with busking is that street-performance often gets confused with panhandling, particularly in areas with large vagrant populations. St. Petersburg Florida has a special provision in its Code of Ordinances that clarifies the difference between panhandling and busking.  “The term ‘panhandling’ shall not include the act of passively standing or sitting, performing music, or singing with a sign or other indication that a donation is being sought but without any vocal request other than a response to an inquiry by another person,” reads Sections 20-79 on panhandling.  Don’t ask, don’t tell” … in other words.


* * *


Down in the tunnels
trying to make it pay.”
– Mark Knopfler


* * *

Street performers realize they’re not welcome everywhere they play, but more than a few American cities – particularly those with vibrant tourist seasons – actively encourage buskers on their streets, although not all of these performances are musical offerings. Some cities – San Diego, San Francisco, Boulder, Baltimore and Key West in particular – attract performers more attuned to circus than music. Here’s a list of American cities with wildly divergent approaches to performers on their streets:

In New Orleans buskers can be found all over town, but the best players gravitate around Rue Royale in The French Quarter. The Jazz National Park has no trees but offers a multitude of free concerts featuring the massive panoply of Crescent City players. NOLA’s seasonal al fresco festivals include: Jazzfest, Essencefest, Wanderfest, Ponderosa Stomp, Bayou Boogaloo, Buku Music + Arts, Voodoo Music Experience, Satchmo Summerfest, French Quarter Festival and various Mardi Gras celebrations.  Music and Culture Coalition of New Orleans (MaCCNO) ithe driving force thatcoordinates communication among musicians, businesses and law enforcement. 

Nashville – The Music City – has an active busker scene centered around Broadway in downtown where players run the gambit from country to jazz with lots of blues and bluegrass bands too. While Nashville’s fabled Music Row has become a dwindled resource, the Tennessee city still attracts the South’s finest pickers. 

Louisville – located in the heart of bluegrass country – considers busking a “free speech” issue, as long as players don’t appear to be “panhandlers”. The Louisville Busking Association offers a directory of local street musicians, while Kentucky’s regional planning agency helps musicians locate suitable performance venues throughout the state. In June, Louisville celebrates the international holiday, Fete de la Musique, which augments the city’s The Republic Bank First Friday outdoor music program downtown

Asheville, North Carolina actively encourages busking at several locations around town including the Grove Arcade, Pack Square and the Flat Iron Statue. The Appalachian city was recently featured in the documentary “Buskin Blues”. 

Cleveland City Council wrestled with a street-performance ordinance in 2019 after Maurice “Sax Man” Reedus, Jr. was cited for performing on downtown streets after theater and sporting events. Advocating the ordinance, councilman Joe Cimperman said “Let the Sax Man continue what he does … I think what he’s doing is pure Cleveland. We need more street musicians.”  It should be noted thatCleveland is home of the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, although The Forest City no longer hosts the Indians. 

Miami has a privately-funded Buskerfest working hard to promote its Make Music Miami event. The one-day festival is meant to accent Miami’s diverse musical styles at participating bars, parks, restaurants and libraries – although Miami’s sweltering climate adds to the difficulty of day-timestreet performance in South Florida. 

Key West has its Sunset celebration every evening at Mallory Square and that show is a daily circus sideshow, with few scattered musicians. Local “Conchs” prefer their outdoor music on patios association with restaurants and food centers. Key West is small enough that your ears can guide you to the nearest band!

New York’s subway system offeran endless echo chamber to musicians panning for spare change atvarious stations along the linesThat was not always the case as the practice was discouraged until The Beatnik Riot of 1961.  Above ground, buskers can be found in Central Park, Times Square and Washington Square where folk music blossomed around Bleecker and MacDougal

Boston’s Common, Harvard Square and Faneuil Hall are local busker hotspots, most of them catering the a student crowd rather than tourists. As a college town, Cambridge has a long and proud coffeehouse tradition that has fed music in the streets for half a century. 

Baltimore and its visitors enjoy a lively circus busker scene at Harborplace, centered in the city’s Inner Harbor. A curated schedule of performers also occupy the amphitheater throughout spring and summer. 

Boulder’s Pearl Street Pedestrian and Twenty Ninth Street malls are open for permitted buskers, but the college town also enjoys an active spring-to-fall outdoor musical menus with Dairy Arts Center Back Porch Series, Midday Music Meditation at the Boulder Public Library and Chautauqua Meadow Music for families as well as the Arts In The Park series at Glen Huntington Bandshell. 

Denver does little to encourage downtown busking – especially after its Business Improvement District partnered with the Performing Arts Complex to limit street performance. Although“permitted” musicians must observe rules enforcing one-hour sets and restricting decibel levels, police cannot effectively enforce what are private-property rules on the streets. Buskers are also encouraged by Colorado’s strong spirit of individual rights; and the Union Station Buskerfest has become an annual weekend event downtown.

Portland has ordinances preventing buskers from playing in city parks but permits are not required and the best spots are located around Pioneer Courthouse Square. Some street musicians report being hassled by private security and Portland seems to be one town that needs little effort toattract street trouble. 

Seattle dropped its anti-busker laws in 1974 when local hero Jim Page went to city council and appealed to their civic senses. Pike Place Market now has an active scene with lots of passing tourists, but Seattle shines with its annual Northwest Folklife Festival, which draws enough musicians to fill a dozen stages. 

San Francisco’s busking scene centers around Ghirardelli Square, Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf – the City’s tourist spots and it is heavily populated with mimes, poets, gymnasts, crackpots and clowns. Visiting buskers tend to work the street in the Mid-Market area. Local musicians prefer indoor venues given the City’s constant fog and wind, but Outside LandsHardly Strictly Bluegrassand other festivals maintain a half-century tradition of free music in Golden Gate Park. 

San Diego’s Seaport Village hosts a Spring Busker Festival which is one of America’s largest outdoor offerings, but a wide variety of al fresco performers are there most days to entertain cruise ship passengers and other tourists.

Los Angeles attracts “stars” of all sorts and some of them show up on Hollywood Boulevard, Venice Beach, Santa Monica Pier, LA Metro and other locations around the megalopolis, but buskers in Tinseltown need to be on their toes regarding tight competition for those lucrative street spots where success is just around the corner.

Santa Cruz, California celebrates its local traditions with musical-sawyer Tom Scribner’s bronzesculpture downtown, but actual musicians playing those streets need to jump through hoops set up by the city’s Street Performer Permit.  It’s a popular walking town where performance space islimited; and  “busted buskers” make headlines.

Chicago tries its best to discourage busking by forcing musicians to apply in person at Room 800, City Hall, at the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection: Business Assistance Center. In other words, Second City assumes musicians are a “business” just like any storefront – under the classification “street performer”. The street-performance license is $100 for two years. It’s all codified under Municipal Code of Chicago 2013: 4-244-et seq.  Licensed buskers may perform at four CTA stations: Jackson/State, Washington/State, Jackson/Dearborn, and Washington/Dearborn. All these regs have forced Chicago buskers to organize and actively remain vigilant

Atlanta also has a reputation as being somewhat difficult for street performers, particularly after a pair of 2013 incidents which led to a citywide panhandling ordinance meant to discourage busking in MARTA, the public transit system.  It prohibits amplification but allows tips, and restricts performing within 15 feet of a business entrance. Buskers are welcome in Metro Atlanta at Decatur Square, Atlantic Station, Little Five Points, Piedmont Park, and the Woodruff Park pavilion.

Memphis acknowledges its deep-rooted musical traditions – including BB King, Elvis, Justin Timberlake, Beale Street blues joints and Sun Studios – on its impressive Springboard Exchange for musicians and other public artists. Downtown Memphis Commission supports busking with help from the National Endowment from the Arts and offers an annual Main Street Busking Challenge as well as the Beale Street Music Festival.

St. Louis repealed its over-broad street performer ordinance in 2013, after a concerted effort byvolunteer accountants/attorneys, the ACLU and St. Louis Street Performers United coordinated efforts to eliminate city licensing of buskers.  Players must adhere to voluntary best practices guidelines which also outline best venues as well.

Detroit – Motown! – continues to celebrate its musical heritage with an open approach to busking. Nearby Imlay City has a two-day Michigan Busker Festival on Father’s Day weekend. That event caters to families with parades, 5K run, beer tent, petting zoo, eating contests and other Midwestern activities. 

Pittsburgh also celebrates a wide-open attitude toward busking – particularly at The Public Market, Squirrel Hill, Mount Washington, Monongahela South Side and the Roberto Clemente Bridge. Although its street-performer community is small, Pittsburgh celebrates its Sax Guy, Violin Lady and The Squirrel Hillbillies. 

Philadelphia – home of free-speech hero Ben Franklin – has an active busker scene that is well documented on the Buskers of Philly blog, originally started by a Philadelphia Daily News intern who began to document the downtown busker scene with his camera. The great photojournalism is matched by in-depth expanded captions. Every serious busking city deserves such a graphically enriched public service.

Cincinnati has a Facebook-based Street Stage Project for buskers that coordinates efforts of local groups ArtsWave, 3CDC and Cincinnati Music Accelerator – which promotes living wages for street artists. This pilot program began in 2019. Clearly this city is committed to street performers as a necessary driver of local economic development. It also helps that Kentucky is just across the river. 

Minneapolis has also committed itself to buskers fueling downtown improvement with its Street Show Artists United. That program was set up as a non-profit dedicated to local social justice organizations. Street Show has its own curated lineup of performance and has a large YouTube presence.

Milwaukee recently created The Jumpst(art) Downtown Busker Festival which created paid opportunities for family-friendly performers to occupy Sculpture Milwaukee locations in East Town, Westown and the Historic Third Ward. Tips not included in the $100-per-performance stipend. 

Kansas City has its strong jazz heritage – hometown of Charlie Parker, stomping ground for Count Basie, Joe Turner and Hot Lips Page. So its no accident that town’s City Market has been known as a busker incubator not exclusively limited to musicians. Stilt-walkers, dancers and various circus acts are also actively encouraged. 

Houston, not unlike Chicago, does its best to discourage buskers, with a city ordinance limiting performances everywhere in town except for the city’s theater district, a considerable streetscape of 17 square blocks.  Property owners within that area must also give permission for the performance. With its oppressive humid heat, Houston’s climate further prohibits any kind of street practice. However local accordionist Tony Barilla has sued the city in federal district court for violating his First Amendment rights so things could change in Space City.

Dallas is not shy about supporting The Arts, but Big D does not have a reputation for drawing buskers to its streets.  That has begun to change after a non-profit organization promoting a diversity of performers sprouted up while the city developed its massive theater/museum/arts district. The group intends to pay performers, if enough interest develops. 

Then there’s the special situation at the state capitol, Austin – through it’s City Hall – offers a curated “Street Performance Program” which curates a single downtown location (500 West Second Street) on Saturdays in spring and fall. While that seems limited, Austin appears to be the only local government to interrupt its regular City Council meetings with live interludes featuring local musicians. Furthermore, the Second Street performers are paid and unamplified busking is officially OK in Austin City Parks. These efforts are managed through City of Austin’s totally unique Music & Entertainment branch of its Economic Development Department. 


* * *

FURTHERMORE



Passing the Hat: Street Performers in America” by Patricia J. Campbell and Alice Belkin. (1981) New York: Delacorte Press.

24 videos by one man on his attempts to busk on the streets of America.

Brief interview with Barnabus Jones: 
3:30