Life (and Racism) in Music- Takin' it to the Streets

A long time ago, in what, at this point, seems like another lifetime (it actually was), I was a street musician.

One of the best summers of my life.

I was 19 years old (with ways just like a baby child) and in college. I had no money. I had no real gig. I had no real experience. I was underage (although I'd been working the clubs since I was 18).

I wasn't really that good yet, either.

Just like everybody, in the beginning.

I knew this guy who was (is) a saxophone player. Beau Barry is (was) his name. We had a mutual friend who was a blues singer, L.C. Walker (RIP), and had done a few cheap-0 gigs together, as was the case most of the time in those days.

Meaning cheap-o gigs.

Beau supplemented his career (supported it, really) by performing on the street (sure beats selling drugs. Or junk bonds.) Or at Wrigley Field. Or in the subway on the platform. Essentially, he would go wherever there was likely to be large groups of people. That makes, uh, sense, right?

(It sure beats selling drugs. Or junk bonds.)

Large groups of people.

At some point in our relationship, he suggested I join him. He said that it was very good for your chops. Lot's of playing.

Pretty decent dough (you haven't lived till you've brought home $200 worth of quarters) too.

However, ahem ahem, it would take roughly 4-6 hours to make that kind of coin (get it? Coin? I slay me sometimes.) Also, it was a sax/drums duo, so it was very unusual. No bass. No chordal instruments. New territory for both of us, frankly.

In order to play for 4-6 hours, you need a lot of stamina, perseverance, and patience. You also need material. Any working musician knows that a large repertoire requires a lot of practicing and learning. Since we were playing 4-6 hours, and doing the cheap-o gigs, that didn't leave much time for practicing. Meaning on our own time in a room by ourselves. So where do you practice?

While you're on the street, working, of course.

Look, a street musician's audience is mostly transient. Kind of like a prostitute (but without the nasty diseases.) They walk up to you, they may or may not stop to listen, they may or may not drop a ducket in the bucket. Sometimes (and for Beau and me it was often, because we kicked ass, after a while) people would eagerly gather around and we'd have an actual crowd. That was always a ton of fun. People of all ages, races, religions, creeds, and colors. Exactly what you would expect in a major, supposedly international, city (that's really where this is going. Patience.)

The people, however, DO move on sooner, rather than later.

Even when they dig it.

The point is that there is a point where you run out of material. So what do you do? You play tunes many times a day. You play it over and over, tweaking and refining it. The musical freedom you are allowed on the street is like nowhere else. No band leader, no club owner, no booking agency to pay off, nothing like that. You're not even asked to draw your audience.

The ultimate DIY (read: the American Way.)

And it's music, the one true international language. If people like it, they pay. Or not. It's not a requirement. If people don't like it, they don't pay. Or maybe they do anyways (like I said, the American Way.)

We kept playing our limited-yet-growing material over and over. We're better off for having done that.

We were also required, as street performers still are, to purchase a license (the city ALWAYS gets her cut). So the city, one would assume, considers this a legitimate line of work, right?

Yeah, right.

In the Sun-Times last week, Chicago Alderman Brendan Reilly (42nd) introduced an ordinance in the City Council to curtail the already very-limited freedom of street musicians. He's claimed that, "Street performer noise comes up at literally every condo association I address."

"Imagine a boom-boom-boom for six hours outside your window. If you're trying to work, it sounds as if they're playing their instruments in your office. And it's tremendously disruptive . . . on residents."

Condo associations.

Trust fund babies.

Credit card hippies.

Investment bankers.

Chicago is allegedly an international city. So they say, anyways. The Mayor has been selling us out to obtain the 2016 Olympics to solidify that fact (we'll be right up there with Lillehammer, Norway, no doubt.)

One of the things that defines an international city is a fairly large population. Meaning a lot of people.

Meaning a lot of noise.

If you want peace and quiet and space and alienation from the rest of society, then you move to the country.

Or the suburbs.

You DON'T move into a downtown condo on Michigan Ave. That makes you just as annoying as the people who move next door to the airport and then complain that there is too much air traffic.

The good Alderman also cites the "criminal element" of street performers, particularly and specifically, the "bucket boys."

You know who they are. The kids who play drums on plastic buckets. Kind of like a drum corps for a college football team. Just less formal. They're (for the most part, anyways) pretty good, too. Believe it or not, it is a talent and a skill to play the same rhythms with the same stick patterns (including the twirling of the sticks and other show-biz tricks) among a group of people.

Besides, with the domination of American Idol, and things like that in our society, how can any form of musical entertainment not be considered legit?

"There is a criminal element. Some crews use their performance merely as a distraction to lure unsuspecting tourists. And there are people in those crews who are tasked with reaching into people's shopping bags, purses or wallets to make off with their valuables," Reilly said, noting some drummers have "lengthy criminal records."

Ok, point taken. Sometimes the (often quality) performance is a ruse in order to accomplish a bigger scam.

Are you listening AIG? Or Enron? Or the Investment Banking Industry? Or Bernie Madoff? Or George W. Bush?

Or Mayor "I razed Meigs Field in the middle of night under the cover of darkness with no witnesses or the press. So what?" Daley and the rest of the Chicago City Council?

Did I mention that the Bucket Boys are generally young black kids?

So it goes...

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photo credit: Richard A. Chapman/Sun-Times

5 Reasons Chicago Should Not Have the Olympics

The IOC just finished their whirlwind tour of Chicago.

The red carpet was rolled out for them, they were wined and dined, and they were Oprah-fied. By most accounts, this last weekend could be defined as a top-notch sales job.

I mean, Oprah! She's not even really a Chicagoan, and yet...

Ok, the list of 5, as promised.

1. First and foremost, Chicago is broke. The potholes on the city streets are as rampant as ragweed during a typical Chicago spring. Construction projects have been halted (Spire, anyone? Love the hole.) Even the Chicago Police (lack of backbone notwithstanding) held a demonstration on Day 1 of the IOC visit to demand better wages.

If cops are demonstrating, it MUST be serious.

Or French. Paris, after all, lost the 2012 bid to the Brits mainly because of strikes, protests, and demonstrations during that IOC visit a few years back.

2. Traffic is a daily issue in this city. It's pretty bad, at best, and more often than not, it's horrible. The Kennedy and Eisenhower expressways are too small for a metro area of 9 million people (3 lanes in each direction on both these highways? Poor urban planning, and hardly accommodating). Lake Shore Drive has the eternal logjam from the Michigan Ave. exit on the north side, all the way down to Soldier Field, home to the NFL's Chicago Bears. Primarily, the games will be south of the football spacecraft (which by the way, is too small for the opening and closing ceremonies), as will the Olympic Village. So how will people get that far south? And if the bulk of attendees for the games are from places other than Chicago (they will be, you know?), how will they travel to the south side. CTA? Doubtful. Maybe our bike-happy dictator, I mean Mayor Daley, will buy thousands of 2-wheelers for our guests. He can pay for them with parking meter money, perhaps. Oh, wait...

I guess we'll be having red-light cameras at just about EVERY intersection now (last year's revenue from the cameras was a staggering $44 million, and currently there are only a few hundred of them in Chicago)

3. I'm pretty sure that public support is far lower than the mayor or the IOC would like to acknowledge. Personally, I have yet to talk to one single person who supports having the Olympic teat in Chicago. Not one (well, OK, there was 1, but he doesn't count and shall remain unidentified). Now, there are a few businesses that have the "We Back the Bid" signs in their windows, but they are all major corporations/political donors. Places like Walgreens and BP.

Drugs and fuel.

Hmmmm. I suppose I can stop right there.

4. Chicago is broke. Oh, wait...

5. How can we actually trust the people in charge? You, know, the mayor and all of his cronies and hacks. Corruption is rampant. Not only within city government, but at the state and county level as well (like you didn't know that). Make no mistake. The State of Illinois, as well as C(r)ook County, has a vested interest in securing the games. Those involved in these upper levels of government want the money, I mean games, just as much as Richie and the boys.

These so called leaders lack the foresight for what is really needed. Soldier Field, as I said, is too small for the Olympics. So that means that we'll have to build a stadium (did I mention Chicago's broke?) As most Chicagoans will no doubt remember, it took FOREVER to reach an agreement to, ultimately, have Soldier Field refurbished. There was squabbling within the City Council as to whether or not the stadium would be re-done or if a new one would be built. But where would it be built? More importantly, who gets the contracts? Back and forth, back and forth.

It took YEARS.

Really, Chicago should have built a domed stadium on the lakefront. But that opportunity was blown. Did the mayor not have Olympic dreams those short few years ago? A state-of-the-art dome would have been large enough to accommodate the Olympics. Plus it would give Chicago things that Soldier Field, still, cannot EVER accommodate. Things like the NCAA Final Four (which was held, this year, in Ford Field in Detroit, home of the NFL's Lions), or, gasp, the Super Bowl.

Now THAT, would generate some serious revenue. More than just once, too.

The lack of foresight on this one is just plain stupid and selfish. They were smug and full of hubris and self-interest.

Do we really want "those guys" running THIS particular show?

Of course, we elected them, so us regular folk must share some of the blame.

So it goes...

Short Burst Series- Olympics 2016

The IOC (International Olympic Committee) is hitting town this weekend for a little "performance review" of our fair city.

Ok, our not-necessarily-fair city.

The 13-member panel, according to today's Sun-Times, will "examine everything from proposed sporting venues to the city's public transit system to the financing for the city's $4.8 billion bid."

In my neighborhood, which is Roscoe Village on the North Side, it looks like a war-zone with all of the potholes that the city hasn't fixed yet. There are literally thousands of them. There are also numerous empty storefronts/condos/houses available (sale or lease) that nobody can seem to afford. Lot's and lot's and lot's of apartments are currently for rent with the prices dropping by the hour (you still think you'll get 5 grand for your place during the games?)

The IOC panelists, none of whom are from the States (lucky), will stay at the swanky Fairmont hotel, downtown. They'll be sampling the uber-fine cuisine from 3 of the city's top chefs. And then, to finish it off, there will be some sort of "cultural event" at the now-$18-a-pop Art Institute.

They'll be here for 6 glorious days, seeing the city's best and brightest facade (kinda like homeland security- all show, no substance), doing things most Chicagoans don't or can't do.

And you know, you KNOW, that we, the taxpayers, will certainly and inevitably foot the $4.8 billion bill at the end of the day.

So it goes...