Refusing to have his patriotism questioned, the performer known as Jango places a small American flag in his guitar case before sitting down to play. He’s the last performer auditioning at the 2008 Harborplace Street Performer auditions. Using a karaoke machine for his acoustics, Jango played a two song set with his guitar and harmonica.
It’s a sunny Saturday afternoon in March and the Harborplace Amphitheater stands are filled with people. An 8 foot table covered by a blue plastic table cloth is setup at the foot of the amphitheater. Three judges sit patiently with clipboards in hand ready to make notes about each of the entertainers preparing to perform.
For the past 20 years, the Harborplace has auditioned street entertainers to perform and attract visitors to one of their three venues: the Harborplace Amphitheater, the US Constellation dock, or the Bicentennial Pier. The auditions this year featured seven talented performers who performed in the hopes of being regularly scheduled at one of the organization’s venues.
Darion, or “Big D”, from the NYC Players was the first performer of the day. He let loose with a percussional symphony atop buckets that set a high standard for the other performers to follow. Darion sat on an overturned bucket with two buckets in front of him, one upside down between his legs and a second one right-side up to his right. The bucket between his legs was lifted by his feet to change the pitch, that is until he put a hole in the bottom of it. This minor inconvenience did not stop a pro like Darion and he simply inverted the other bucket and used one drum for the rest of the show. Two children from the crowd (a brother and sister) were chosen to perform an 80′s style break-”dance off”. The encouragement of the crowd and Darion’s interaction with the kids provided huge laughs and a great time was had by many in attendance.
Ray’s days typically involve 12 hours of ballooning for Baltimore’s tourists and visitors. During peak tourist season, Ray will go through 1,500 2″x60″ balloons in a typical day. He works the gig full time starting in the spring and running through New Years Eve. Now a days, Ray doesn’t have to do many private shows, focusing instead on his street act. He does reserve two dates for the Policeman’s bull and oyster roast and the World Trade Center’s New Years Eve party.
His interaction with the crowd is top notch and he has a few quick quips that he uses to bring that extra smile to the face of a patron. He’s great with kids and adults but prefers working the bar crowd where he gets to perform some of his blue material.
Standing at the bottom of the Harborplace Amphitheater stood a thin man with a contorted balloon concoction upon his head. To his right stood a champagne bucket half filled with bills and in front of him stood a line of people anxiously awaiting their turn to request an inflated-latex sculpture. Ray Collier is a balloon bender that has been working Baltimore’s Inner Harbor for 18 years.
Ray told me that for the first few years he operated without a permit because the city wouldn’t give him an audition. He would work the harbor until they got tired of him and would throw him out, always to return the next day to sculpt again. Ray even spent 18 hours in city lock up for failing to comply with officers when he was asked to leave and came back later in the day. He raised the money for the $50 fine by receiving tips for his balloon creations. Now that he has his license, he performs freely in the harbor and draws quite a crowd with his creations.
On your next visit to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, look for the man with the crazy balloon hat and drop a few bucks in his champagne bucket and I bet he’ll bend you up something nice.
