I thought I would share this video clip of one of my busking experiences.  A picture is worth a thousand words and a moving picture is well...worth probably a million words maybe?  Wishful thinking probably, but that's OK.  The message is good. Positive.  Loving.  You will hear it.  The friendship.  The warmth. Communication that is universal.  Compassionate music.  Spontaneously performed and delivered to the general public. Catching people during their hustle-bustle and helping them slow down for a quick moment.  A shared, in-the-moment experience.

So all that warm fuzziness aside, here is an example of what I do when I collaborate with a friend and busk in San Francisco.  The acoustics of the railway stations are pretty nice.  Some stations, like in the Mission for example, have outstanding acoustics.  I see this type of acoustic-friendly concrete construction in some modern university recital halls and for some reason they applied some of the same principles when building these alcoves where the escalators and stairs bring people to and from the underground railway.  

This is an original song of my friend Jody Moore who I am seen performing with in this clip. His song, "Just What It Is" is featured on a soon to be released album that his band Soundpire(who formerly called themselves Updraft), have been working on for the past 5 years. Members of the Sam Bush Band and the Allison Krauss Band are featured on this debut effort by my good friends.  This is how I first became friends with Jody.  His band mate Deva Blanchard and I had made friends in Asheville, North Carolina and not long after I was invited by Deva to join his band in Nashville, Tennessee for a week of recording at Sound Stage Studios.  One week turned into 3 different weeks spent in Nashville back in the summer of 2004.  I've been great friends with those guys ever since.

I hope you enjoy the video clip.  I think it has a pretty sweet touch to it.  I can hear the good vibes.  I can also hear the overhead intercom at the train station, but jokingly I just call that the Pink Floyd effect.  We play through it and I have to admit that I like the edge it gives the recordings. Gives it that urban feel.  Some sort of authentication of the subway station experience.  I document a lot of sessions with straight audio recordings using my Macbook plopped down next to the old fiddle case.  You can hear the change clanking as it hits the case.

Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Zen of Busking.  More soon as I continue my musical journey as a full-time professional busker in the greatest city in America.  Fly high friends.