Adventures in Busking, vol. 2

So, lately I’ve been trying to get more into the busking gig and I’ve been going down to Santa Monica a little more often. I was down there the other day (Rachel was kind enough to go with me) and set up shop at what has become “my spot” – in the middle of the third block in between the Apple store and Victoria’s Secret.

So, I’m sitting there minding my own business playing some songs and this guy with a guitar down the street a ways starts jamming with a saxophone player. Now you haven’t heard saxophone until you’ve heard really-crap-busker-jazz-saxophone. I mean, this guy was loud as hell and was so bad that according to Rachel, and I quote, “this one old man with a can and a crazy eye stopped and said, ‘Sounds like shit!’.” So, it’s not just me.

Anyhow, they finished their song and the guy with the guitar started walking my way. I was in the middle of “Miles Away” and he walks right up to me whilst I’m playing. At first I thought there was gonna be a busker’s dual, but then I noticed the small camera crew that accompanied him and figured something more “Hollywood” was up. He asked if he could play a song with me and I replied with a hesitant, “Sure?” He then proceeded to introduce himself the way that only people with a certain sense of self-importance can.

"Have you heard of Loudon Wainwright?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, you just met him.”
“Right on.”

For those of you who don’t know, Loudon Wainwright III is a 70s singer/songwriter of some fame and perhaps better known amongst my generation as the gynecologist from “Knocked Up” and the father of singer/songwriters Rufus and Martha Wainwright.

Anyhow, he wanted to play one of my songs, so I taught him “Miles Away” and we played a shortened version of that song and then I played one of his songs with him. Turns out the cameras were for a presentation that Loudon was filming for a reality TV show that he’s hosting about one-thing-or-another. He was walking up and down the promenade with his guitar, talking to random people and playing a song or two with a few buskers. It was a lot of fun and actually brought a little business my way – sold a few CDs thanks to the Loudon association and one guy actually thought that he was my mentor.

Apparently you never know who you’re gonna run into down there and hopefully they’ll email me the video of us playing together, but I’m sure they won’t. Either way it was pretty cool.