Subway Duo Lisa Housman and Dave Falk
Lisa Housman and Dave Falk make up the folk band, “Sweet Wednesday”. I found Lisa playing solo in the Park Street subway station the other day. She was supportive of the compiliation CD idea and said she’d heard of a similar project that was done in New York City recently. She seemed to be a fan of the compilation CD in general as a way to get people exposed to new music.
She had a 14 track CD, “Wherever You Go” for sale which I picked up (It sure feels good when you know more than a few pennies actually go to the artist.) She very kindly allowed me to post a song here. So here is track 1, “Mid-Morning Rain” (4 MB MP3)
Lisa and Dave are also the most web savvy buskers I’ve met so far. They are hip with the Internets. You can find out more about them and their work, including additional song samples, on their numerous web sites:
Bucket Drummer Jermaine Carter
I found Jermaine Carter playing percussion on plastic buckets, pots, and an oven rack in Boston Common. He told me his old equipment disappeared so he pulled together this assortment from an ally and was raising money to buy some better stuff.
Jermaine also tells me he was featured on a video game. Apparently ESPN filmed him after the Red Sox won the World Series.
Here is a 3 minute 38 second live recording of Jermaine playing percussion. (3.3 MB MP3)
Boston Busker Aaron Burnett
The second street musician (or busker as Pam has taught me) I came across in Boston was Aaron Burnett. Aaron was playing his saxophone on a street near Boston common. He is a junior at the Berklee School of Music.
Like Augusto, Aaron was very friendly and generous. He tried to wait paitently for me to attempt to explain my project. He also allowed me to record some of his sounds and provide the sample here.
This audio contains street sounds here and there, which I’m still up in the air whether add or ditract from the music.
Aaron Burnett playing saxophone (2.6 MB MP3)
According to Aaron, he recently recorded some music with a bassist, but has yet to get the final product. Hopefully I’ll get to post some more of his work in the future.
Street Music – Augusto Garces
I hit the street last Friday to seek out street musicians, try to explain to them my idea of compiling a CD of Boston street music, and see what their reaction was.
My first stop was Downtown Crossing where I found a friendly guitarist named Augusto Garces. While I failed to clearly explain my idea (it isn’t even clear in my head), Augusto was interested and very cooperative. He was also a good salesman. He sold me the CD that he created with his son Kevin who plays the drums.
Augusto was so nice, that he’s given me permission to post one of his songs here. So here is track 9: Y Que siga La Rumba (4 MB MP3) Augusto on Guitar. Kevin on Percussion. J. Russel on Piano.
Street Musicians Compilation Album
Just about every day I pass at least one street musician during my commute. They range from a homeless guy pitifully blowing on a recorder, to a guitarist with a professial looking CD for sale and a website. They are all interesting in their own way, but I’m always in a hurry to catch a train.
For the past few weeks I’ve been thinking about these musicians and a project sprung to mind. Why not compile a bunch of songs performed by these street musicians, make an album, sell it on CD Baby, iTunes Music Store, etc. and give any profits back to the musicians. Maybe even collect interviews of the muscians and tell their story.
After asking around and doing a few web searches, I haven’t found any similar project. However, I’m very far from the music scene, so I’m sure someone must have tried something like this. If anyone has seen a similar project, please chime in.
