Mar
12
San Francisco street artists and rock & roll singers
Categories California, Culture, Photography, Street Photography
I have had several posts on San Francisco street musicians, from saxophone players, to keyboard players to the more popular pop singers. One of the rock and roll groups that I most photographed is the Jimmy Hendrix followers Experience This.
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Henri is the main vocal artist while Rob (not in the picture) plays the drums and the percussion. The group entertains a large crowd of tourists and city dwellers almost every weekend near the Union Square. There are several images of this group in the Project section of photoduniya.com
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The image was taken with a wide angle lens on hand held Nikon D200 with fill flash set at -1 ev.
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“It’s a shame that it takes the world to recognize a hometown artist before the folks at home” It taste better when someone else says it’s alright before you make it at home. It would be nice for a change to see life long residents also get a piece of that action. Something to that effect was spoken by Herb Cane in his column about me Big Bones getting one of 4 invitations to perform at the San Francisco blues Festival in 1991 along with touring Europe as the San Francisco Blues festival in Europe. My shows are and were the highlights of each event. My performance include article that accompanying those major events. There are other articles that tried to help spark some interest in my life with a platform The San Francisco (Examiner or Chronicle, SF weekly)I even recorded an album called The Best Of the San Francisco street performers (1987) Hyde street studio’s.
What I’m trying to say is your research is flawed if it is research, to the point that it’s painful. Your allowed to have artist freedom so use it. If not by picture, by name. Mention the best and the worst or the unique and other contributors recognizing both or one could tip the balance and take one of us off the streets.
Why support the drug addict street performers and the non-drug addicts like me a poor blues man trying to keep his family feed with the only skills I possess, playing the Harmonica and singing storytelling and writing. I became a street artist to double my odds at success. But the genre, the economy, the factory issued performers directed me to being a street artist caught up the economic nose dive. I am a life long resident with a family playing between the rain too. It’s so romantic to think this is a life’s destination, to play between the rain drops and play for people that think begging and street performing are at the same level. think about it, your income slows the clubs close or they change formats, to karaoke or air guitar.
So times dictated my return to my roots to keep ones dream alive. I’m currently in Holland doing a combination of Busking and venue performances. I’ve received positive critic’s and Euro too.
why don’t you do better than this if this is your quest,to expose the much deserving street artist with the skills to make the transition to venues. San Francisco’s is getting a bad reputation because there is a lot of opposition to Buskers. So the police hassle you regular people ignore you because, just because. through more examples of contributors that grace an unrecognized invisible legion of street performers in Bart, Fisherman’s wharf, cable car turn around union square (THAT’S WHERE YOU FOUND THAT EAR PIERCING ASSAULT) that you can hear from your plush home in Pacific Heights. No wonder you’d think they’d tell you where to go to avoid being interrupted while performing. I know you can’t make everyone happy with a featured article but I’m sure those guys would be happy to see this article if they had a computer:=(. I’m sure you would be feeling different If you hadn’t been drinking, you wouldn’t want to hear it unless it’s was Saturday night and your in the theatre district you’ve had much to much to drink or smoke or both and you see a chance to make your miserable weekend by performing on the streets with people that obviously have major hearing problems, or a stadium for those knock of miniature Marshall amps would be cool. If your going to do some good do it, and quit massaging yourself for this wonder less article on SF’s best street artist, this is a farce. We are not all parodies some of us are actually quite good and some are great and a few are unique. We all are doing the best we can under these tough circumstances holding on to that thread of a childhood promise to ourselves, to stay on the job until it’s done. We keep on putting on shoes one at a time so perfecting one note at a time inching closer to that one song, your best one. That might last 20-25 minutes or so you’ll be gone before that’s over, back on the hunt. You’ve heard the best the be dazzler on a Saturday night a reveler from Concord or somewhere on the Bart line. try looking at other street performers on Monday you might find your calling by becoming one of us the legion of the anonymous performers that these travelers avoid unless the brochures or the connoisseur say it’s cool. Visitors to this city see and embraces the myth that we are an integral part of these cities beautiful images and they take that warm feeling home with them one street performer at a time. It reminds me of the anology of the person that says your bad child is really misunderstood and is the loveliest child in the world, because they don’t have to take that child home with them with that attitude. If you saw Mick jagger on the street as a musician would you take him to get a hot meal and a hotel at the fairmont with room service and your sister to serve Hell yes! he’s mick jagger hehehehehe.