A Vacationing Performer
Two weeks without a post, how sad. It certainly wasn’t for a lack of material but rather a lack of available time and a friend needing help. Things seems to have settled down and I’m going to do my best to have these ready to go a few weeks in advance so that I can miss a week here or there.
Through the air, thick with the smell of salt water and carnival foods, comes the rhythmic sounds of wooden drum sticks banging on plastic buckets. On the side of the Boardwalk in Ocean City, MD, behind a crowd of 10 or 15 people sits a young man atop a long board skateboard with a mix of plastic and metal buckets of varying sizes turned upside down. Fourteen year old Ryan Nash takes time out of his vacation to the beach to come down to the boardwalk and earn a few bucks playing the bucket drums for the town’s tourists. In an effort to earn some pocket change and money to put towards his college expenses, he spends about an hour a day creating possessive rhythmic beats that will have your foot stomping. Every year Ryan takes approximately $500 of the money he’s earned throughout the summer and deposits it to put towards his upcoming college expenses.
Ryan is in his fourth year performing on the boardwalk but has been invovled in music for much longer. He plays in a number of musical groups including the Paul Green School of Rock. He started busking when another bucket drummer on the boardwalk told him, “you can make a lot of money doing this.” Seizing an opportunity to put his talents to work for himself, Ryan applied for a permit from the city and now performs when his family comes down for vacation.
