I really enjoy living in a metropolitan area. Sure, I don’t really live ‘in’ the city, but I’m close enough to it that I can romp around and marvel at the sites and sounds.
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/3010228[/vimeo]
These guys aren’t in DC. They’re a group formed by eight brothers + one friend and they’re called ‘Hypnotic Brass’ They’re originally from Chicago but have relocated to NY. There they play subways, parks, street corners and actual venues with doors. They’ve got a nice groove going to them and if there’s any possibility of catching them live I wouldn’t hesitate to catch them.
Now, I will say that larger metropolitan areas probably have a better street performer scene. So far, I’ve been able to catch acapella groups, bucket drummers, saxaphonists, a brass band, a trombonist, and a trompetist. I’ve even been lucky to see violinists, a guy playing guitar with his dog and his cat, and the old man playing the Erhu.
Hey, it sure beats getting hit up for change by homeless people.
In NYC you can add ‘musical saw players’ to the list of musicians in the subway 🙂 One of them, the ‘Saw Lady’ tells what happens when she plays in the subway in her blog http://www.sawlady.com/blog You get a perspective from the other side – we watch the musicians, but they watch us 🙂
Musical saw players?! THAT WOULD FRIGGIN’ RULE! I sort of miss taking the metro and seeing some of the street performers. I would regularly give the old man playing the ehru a dollar and he would smile and bow at me and I would reciprocate. A few other times, in the same station, I would sit with the guy who had the dog and the cat. I’d buy him a sandwhich or a burger and we’d just gab for a while.
Now that you point out that they watch us I’ll be sure that my pants are zipped or nothing is hanging out of my nose!
I always get those people who stand around and pretend they’re statues 🙁 I did get to see Shibaten (http://www.myspace.com/shibaten)in Toronto. That was very entertaining! I’m sure you’d like it since it is a mix of two of your favorite instruments, the didgeridoo and drums!