My friend Leland and I have been busking on Boulder, Colorado's pedestrian Pearl Street Mall, since 1984. We cover a mix of folk, rock, singer-songwriter stuff, and a lot of unexpected things, including Beatles and Jackson 5 songs. We avoid really obvious choices like Grateful Dead and Dan Fogelberg. The last few years we've been playing as a four-piece with lots of harmonies, mandolin and percussion thrown in – we’re amateurs with spirit.
Anyway, one year Leland and I were bashing away and playing the oldie "Just Like Romeo and Juliet," and lo and behold, walking past us was Doug Sahm, the Texas music legend, with a woman at his side. He was booked for a Denver area performance the next night. Sahm dropped a $5 bill in my case and looked back and smiled at us while we played.
The next March, Leland and I attended the SXSW music conference in Austin (we were both working rock critics at the time and attended SXSW almost every year for 12 years). When we walked past the auditorium where the Texas Music Awards were about to start, Sahm and some friends were having a smoke outside a side door. Sahm looked at Leland and me and cried out -- "Hey! I know you guys -- I saw you play last year! You guys were great!"
It made our trip that year. Hell, it made our next summer playing on the Pearl Street Mall, too. Rest in peace, Doug!
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 10
-
-
Jim Swan's "None-Too-Great Hits" now on iTunes
I'm in love with a group called Poi Dog Pondering and two of the concerts I have been to, with them headlining, I was lucky enough to chill out and have a beer with several members of the band, including Frank Orrall. What a treat that was.