Playing (and dancing) in the streets

In Portland, a warm, clear Sunday afternoon is something to celebrate. When the clouds part, there is no shortage of roller-bladers, dog-walkers, bicyclists, tourists, leashed children and good old weekenders out to soak up the sun. There is also no shortage of street musicians to serenade them as they make their way through the west side.

From xylophones to bagpipes to a one-man band with a Dobro guitar, a walk downtown is filled with music that—more often than not—is so enthusiastic it propels your good mood into something great.  Sometimes, if you’re lucky, one of these quirky musical outfits is so strong it compels you to stop moving, sit down and listen.

Playing music in the street spans a spectrum of possibility. It can be impromptu or well-planned and rehearsed. Some performers are career musicians, with CDs and cassette tapes of their studio recordings on display at their feet.

Others are relieving stress for an hour or two or interested in meeting new people while they play requests. Some are homeless and half-heartedly playing for money to live on. Then there are the street musicians that simply love to perform for the public and have made busking—playing music for tips—a way of life, spending long spans of their day playing for commuters and shoppers downtown. Kirk Reeves, the 53-year-old trumpeter with Mickey Mouse ears and a white tuxedo, immediately comes to mind.

For an easy tour of our city’s busking scene, start in the South Park Blocks. Portland State’s quad is a fine place for the casual performer to play and it’s not unusual to find a student practicing cello or guitar in the shade of the poplar and elm trees.

Further north, outside of the Portland Art Museum, you may find the sweet and haunting music of Adrienne Hatkin. Hatkin’s soulful vocals, combined with the sounds of her vintage accordion and powder-blue portable xylophone, make music powerful enough to draw you from a block or two away. A fixture on the Portland busking scene since 2006, Hatkin often plays with her keyboardist fiancée Paul Seely (together, the duo comprise the band Autopilot Is For Lovers) and can usually be found in the Park Blocks or on 28th and East Burnside.

Across from Pioneer Courthouse Square, in front of the federal judicial building, you can find Alonzo—a tall man with a tall yellow electric bike—leaning against the wrought-iron fence, killing time until he’s ready to play his viola. Alonzo’s been playing at this location for years and if you catch him performing a classical sonata it just might make your afternoon.

Farther down Southwest Morrison is prime busking real estate, alongside the mall’s entrance and directly in front of the MAX stop. With any luck, here you’ll meet the charming guitarist Richard Pham. A nursing student playing strictly for stress relief, Pham is all smiles while he plays from his repertoire of classic pop songs, most notably Ray Charles’ “Hallelujah I Love Her So” (his personal favorite) and the Beatles’ “You’re Gonna Lose That Girl.”

Along the waterfront, there is always an array of performers. You may stumble across a high school band practicing barefoot in the grass, a band of marching Scotsmen with bagpipes, a forlorn violinist leaning against a lamppost or a fun-loving harmonica player rocking out percussion on the esplanade’s metal grates.

Towards the end of the park, under the Burnside Bridge, you can expect to find one of Portland’s busking legends. Known to many as “the one-man band,” Zacharias has been performing on the streets of San Francisco, Brussels, Osaka, Tokyo and Portland for close to 20 years. For the last five years, he’s been stationed across from the elephant ear vendor at the Portland Saturday Market. Outfitted with a harmonica, a tambourine, a kick drum, a pair of hi-hat cymbals and an electric Dobro guitar decorated with palm trees, Zacharias plays a mix of bluesy originals and crowd-pleasing covers like Mack Rice’s “Mustang Sally” and Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” Engaging and loopy, Zacharias is an all-out entertainer with talent to boot.

This is not an exhaustive profile of Portland’s street musicians, though downtown offers the highest concentration of buskers in the most walkable setting. On the next sunny Sunday afternoon, take a stroll and take it in—listening to live music on the street is a pleasure far beyond your iPod.