Neil Young busking in Glasgow, 1976. (and the story behind it)
posted by msalt on Feb 29, 2012 - 17 comments

Where can you see jazz¹ shows,² doo-wop performances,³ a vaudevillian dance act,⁴ found object⁵ percussion duos,⁶ opera concerts,⁷ international and intergalactic folk music gigs,⁸ and a pink gorilla playing the bass⁹? All for $2.25? [more inside]
posted by jng on Jan 14, 2011 - 11 comments

The tunnel musicians of Chicago can be heard amid the roar of trains.... I recently spent three nights walking through the tunnels for a closer listen. These are the sounds, and the people I heard. [more inside]
posted by shakespeherian on Jan 25, 2010 - 14 comments

Bandstand Busking have decided to put liven up the underused bandstands of London by, well, you know, putting bands on in them. [more inside]
posted by Helga-woo on Jul 20, 2008 - 7 comments

David Juritz a leading violinist left his house with a backpack, fiddle and completely empty wallet at the start of a 60,000-mile, twenty-five-country, round-the-world busk. He is raising money for Musequality (read about some of their support efforts, like the M-Lisada Brass Band). His comment about Berlin being a terrible city for busking put me in mind of this post about Joshua Bell. You can donate here if you feel so inclined.
posted by tellurian on Aug 14, 2007 - 5 comments

The recent post about Joshua Bell was merely the tip of the Unannounced Performance iceberg, a phenomenon I've often marveled at. The Beatles famously did it in 1969 on a roof. Mos Def got arrested for it last year. REM reformed in 2005 at a wedding, something the Police did at Sting's 1992 nuptials. Sometime after midnight in Union Square NYC on Nov. 5, 2005, Arcade Fire blew a few lucky fans' minds. Bruce Springsteen jammed with a street musician in 1988. In 2000, Weezer took to the stage under the name Goat Punishment and U2 used to sneak onstage disguised as The Dalton Brothers. In 2005 it was rumored they'd played a Beatlesque rooftop gig in NYC, but you can't believe everything you hear. I could go on all night with tales of secret gigs and surprise busking sessions, but I'm sure you've got plenty of rare musical moments to share in the comments.
posted by ktoad on Apr 10, 2007 - 56 comments

What busking could teach the music industry An intelligent essay on how the music industry should adapt to the new digital realities, drawn from the author's experiences as a street (well, subway) musician. No one who could learn from it will read it, of course.
posted by mojohand on Jan 8, 2004 - 41 comments

Busker Dü: You're short of money. You're not afraid to make a fool of yourself. You have no pride. You have a musical instrument to abuse. Well - that, apparently, is easy. At least if you're a Guardian journalist. But what else can a feller do these days to drum up that old "Buddy, Can You Spare A Dime?" spirit?
posted by Carlos Quevedo on Feb 26, 2003 - 12 comments