I try to support every street musician I can , I have heard some great music and fun music and they always find the best places to play where the acoustics are great so welcome to the board .
steven shelton
Welcome Torchnwire! Maybe you can educate those of us who have never done it to the business of busking. When I visited Nashville a couple years ago, I met a mando busker playing an F5, doing Monroe tunes, right in front of Gruhns store on a sunday. I asked him if I could join him on guitar and he said to go get it. We picked all kinds of instrumentals, did some singing, and saw a few greenbacks go into his case. I didn't want any of it, it was his gig. He did have a problem with another busker who set up about 25 feet away on the corner. He carefully put his F5 into the case, walked down to the corner, and went ballistic on the guy, yelling at him that he was too close to the spot we were picking. I think they may have run into each other before and it finally came to a head. How do you secure a spot...do you have to get there real early or something? Or is there respect among the buskers where you pick?
Back in NYC and had dinner and a great hang with Marc last night. We had a huge pile of soup dumplings at the fabulous Shanghai Gourmet on 23 Pell Street in Chinatown, one of my favorite places, devoid of the silly crowd of tourists eating the same not nearly as good dumplings down the street at Joe's Shanghai.
Dan Beimborn is rumored to be roaming the streets nearby. Trouble surely awaits this weekend.
I was on subway line #7 11 days after your first meeting. ....just saying.
New York City is a wonderful place to get dinner. An endless variety of the best of the best at every dollar level.
Bon Appetit Scott!
Scott
Music and food in the City - bien entendu!
But Amsterdam was always good for grieving
And London never fails to leave me blue
And Paris never was my kinda town
So I walked around with the Ft. Worth Blues
Cool story. Are you on YouTube yet?
Long live buskers!
"Those who know don't have the words to tell, and the ones with the words don't know so well." - Bruce Cockburn
Rest in peace, Marc Oreans.
Information on him here.
Lost touch with him after a couple of trips to Queens, just received a note from a fellow member that read my initial post that Marc had left the building and moved on to his next station in life. I was completely unaware that at one time he was apparently a pretty big deal in another music genre around Boston. He was just a character living a pretty hard life from my observation. I enjoyed meeting him by sheer chance and shared a few meals with him for a couple of years after that initial time but hadn't seen or talked to him for probably 5 years.
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A few places I dined with Marc.
Phayul - Tibetan, in Jackson Heights, right off the #7 line upstairs
My favorite xialongbao joint in Chinatown at 23 Pell Street that's no more. Dam cell phone store now.
Thailand’s Center Point in Woodside, Queens. Fantastic food.
Some trendy Chinese joint for dumplings in Williamsburg the first night we met. Don't remember the name.
I always paid, and it was pretty clear he was dam hungry every time. I was happy to. The life of a street musician is no bed or roses, and now, pretty much doesn't exist. I know Queens and NYC like the back of my hand, odd for a guy from Eastern Kansas. Used to go 3-4 times a year for a week or more. Now I'm wondering if I'll ever see it again. Strange times we are in, indeed. Just talking out loud to myself.
Mandolin Cafe - Since 1995
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So sorry, Scott, for the loss of your friend and NYC dining companion. It just underscores for me to treasure the times I have with folks I know and love.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Don't ya love happy endings?!! Well done, Scott...and nice to meet you Tortchnwire!
Sorry to hear about this. I am living in Brooklyn now, though currently in Vermont. I am pretty sure the dinning scene in NYC will come back. It will be different but it will come back
So sorry to hear about Marc's passing.
It's an interesting topic that hits home. I was introduced to busking in 1975, and did it heavily throughout my 20s, and occasionally since. I always liked to have a guitar and mando but for logistical reasons most often went with mando only.
Over the years I fell in with others and we became somewhat of a fixture on the Victoria, BC waterfront. Those were great days, before auditions, licences etc. were required. See link below (depths of political incorrectness), it's me on guitar. We traveled a lot, playing different styles in clubs and bars too, but nothing ever came close to the fun and rewards of playing for tourists and locals on a west coast summer evening.
Now 66 and still working full time, I plan to do a lot of busking when the day job concludes.
https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...ke+smoke+smoke
Looking back, the good memories outnumber the bad by about 10-1.
Last edited by JimmyVic; Jul-01-2020 at 7:19pm.
Um...he passed away.
https://pitchfork.com/news/marc-orle...-man-has-died/
Charley
A bunch of stuff with four strings
Sorry to hear this.
Last edited by lowtone2; Jul-02-2020 at 1:01pm.
It appears to me that Marc lived life on his own terms and was, no doubt averse to compromise. He strikes me as
a shining example of courage lived everyday. We should all be so courageous.
JimmyVic,I now have a #1 fave version of "Smoke,Smoke,Smoke. That was a smokin rendition with everyone contributing
so well. The keyboard player really surprised me from out of nowhere took a sweet break. Please let us know where, when
you resume busking. Canada is on my bucket list.
The Scots don't leave out the ' e ' in whisky, the Americans add a sperfluous one.
Dave H
Eastman 615 mandola
2011 Weber Bitteroot A5
2012 Weber Bitteroot F5
Eastman MD 915V
Gibson F9
2016 Capek ' Bob ' standard scale tenor banjo
Ibanez Artist 5 string
2001 Paul Shippey oval hole
A beautiful story with a sad end. Took me off to this touching tribute which may be of interest:
https://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing...s/marc-orleans
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