Street performers enliven Old Pueblo
Musicians enjoy stepping onto a sidewalk stage, cutting loose
By Gerald M. Gay
ggay@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.28.2006
"Well, me and my gal we went Downtown
Sail away, ladies, sail away
Went to buy a ten-dollar gown
Sail away, ladies, sail away"
A small crowd forms on North Fourth Avenue as two guys in beat-up old hats begin playing their vintage instruments.
The traditional Americana tune is given a vigorous workout by Phoenix Michael and Stuart Oliver, whose stage is the sidewalk in front of the Food Conspiracy Co-op.
As the afternoon sun beats down on Oliver, wearing a plaid button-down, and Michael, with his vintage handlebar mustache, people can't help but stop and listen.
A pregnant mother looks on as her two girls spin like tops to Oliver's double duty on the mandolin and harmonica.
Two tweens stand off to the corner of the audience transfixed on every note and movement, while a college student in khakis and a striped orange T-shirt stomps his foot with the beat.
"It's like making the streets light up with music," says Michael. "It turns walking down the street into a very different experience."
Welcome to the wide world of street performing, or busking, Old Pueblo-style.
Tucson's North Fourth Avenue shopping district has long been the place to be for street musicians.
The foot traffic from shoppers, folks in the neighborhood and students from the University of Arizona makes it a perfect atmosphere for musicians to have their voices heard. It's the closest thing we've got to venues like Venice Beach or the subway platforms of New York City.
In a few weeks, Fourth Avenue will be consumed with Tucson's annual explosion of ghoulish street theater, the All Souls Procession.
The breathtaking event, inspired by Mexico's celebration of the Day of the Dead, is a massive free-for-all that will draw thousands of people to the Downtown area on Nov. 5.
In the meantime, plenty of street performers are in action on Fourth Avenue on any given day. The number of performers, whose abilities range from masterful to barely tolerable, can double or triple on weekends, especially now that the weather is cooler.
It was here on Fourth Avenue that Oliver — a transplant from Georgia whose nickname is Dusty Squirrelfisher — first met "Fiddlin' Phoenix," who was playing with the Ramblin' Ales at the time.
Said Oliver: "I was walking down Fourth on New Year's Eve, just checking out the street musicians. I came across the Ales, and they seemed like real nice folks. They had an extra mandolin sitting there, and they said I could jump on. We ended up doing a whole set."
The two have since honed their craft as a duo, the Dusty Buskers. They try to perform every Friday and Saturday afternoon, when there are plenty of people out and about but fewer of the unsavory types than at night.
Their chosen performance time also keeps the musicians free of conflict from their real jobs. Michael works as a teaching parent at the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, and Oliver is a sound technician and booking manager for the Hut on Fourth.
With the duo earning an average of $20-$30 a night performing on the street, full time jobs are a must.
"It is like we are paid to practice music on Fourth Avenue," Michael said. "We like to make bills, but that is not our primary objective. We like the attention and giving people something to do down here other than shop and eat."
0 Comments on this story
