Shutter On The Street

Taking advantage of the clear skys and warm sunshine we’ve been experiencing lately, I took a trip downtown to get some practice shooting for the project. Many people were visiting the local bars since it was St. Patrick’s Day weekend and where there are people gathered en masse, there are street performers waiting to entertain and pick up tips.

Taking advantage of the holiday, this lad delivered a wee bit o’ the Irish heritage to the pedestrian traffic by way of the bagpipes. His delivery was simple but effective; he stood on the sidewalk with his case opened before him and just played. As he played “Amazing Grace”, the dollars dripped into his case from passers by.

Across the street a sign spinner twirled his giant arrow above his head and behind his back. Sign spinners are a new form of performer that I discovered this year during a trip out to San Diego.  I was thrilled to see them in Baltimore when I returned. They are usually young persons hired to energetically spin signs directing traffic to new store openings or real estate opportunities. Many of them are full of enthusiasm and dance and wave as they rock out to their iPods. I will be looking to discover more about this new urban medium over the coming months.

Over at the Inner Harbor Gallery Amphitheatre, a juggler by the name of “Bert The Nerd” had drawn a large crowd of on lookers with his juggling shenanigans (sorry, I couldn’t help it, the word fit well with the St. Patrick’s theme). Bert The Nerd ended his show by juggling three lit torches atop a 6 foot giraffe unicycle (a giraffe unicycle is one with a chain, or one where the crank arms are not attached directly to the axle). A unique item about Bert was that he had created his own comic book that he was giving away for donations of $10 or more. The comic book supposedly told the story of how he turned the anger he was feeling from having $1,000 worth of gear stolen from his car into creative energy and created the comic book. He encouraged the kids in the crowd to turn their anger and frustration into something creative and positive. I thought it was a great moral and $10 is not a bad price for a 20 minute show and a comic book.

On the way back to the car, I passed a soulful gentleman playing his busted guitar atop a milk crate. He sang in front of a rather large cardboard box to collect his tips. His lackluster guitar had no impact on the passionate hymns that he sung. As I approached him, he stopped mid song and said, “I’ve got the perfect song for you.” I liked that he personalized his performance and he liked that I dropped a few bucks in his box.

Until next time…