Continuing our countdown of the Top 10 Ways to Make Downtown Denver Better… we need better street performers. Downtown Denver’s street performers seem to generally consist of a few people with legitimate musical talent, and many others who could be outplayed by a sixth grader.
I’m sure you’ve heard them many times: the solo musician squeaking and squawking on some instrument, struggling to play a seemingly simple, yet unrecognizable song consisting of nothing but quarter notes. I suppose these hard economic times drive some people to do things they normally wouldn’t do, like playing a musical instrument in public even though they’re not very good at it. I don’t fault them for trying, but when you hear a good musician playing out on the street, it can be an uplifting, engaging experience that contributes to the intrigue and appeal of the Downtown environment.
I’d like to see the city and/or the Partnership recruit, as they have done in the past, small performing groups and other talented musicians and artists to perform on Downtown’s streets and in Downtown’s parks and plazas. But instead of concentrating those efforts around the holidays or on key summer weekends, it would be nice to have them around on a regular basis throughout the year—sort of like a low-intensity, ongoing buskerfest. Such things create a casual but festive ambiance to Downtown’s streets and reinforce the fact that Downtown is not just anyplace, but a one-of-a-kind place in our city.
This topic of street performers reminds me of two experiences I had in the Portlands—Maine and Oregon—during business trips to those cities in 2007. In Portland, Maine, a small public square in the heart of Downtown was hosting a weekly farmer’s market. But hanging out nearby were these guys:
I don’t know if they were hired by the city or the market organizers, or if they were just opportunists, but they were good and they really made the setting and the experience memorable. Then in Portland, Oregon, I was walking through the shady, delightful North Park Blocks area in the Pearl District on a Saturday afternoon and spotted a man on a park bench unpacking a violin from its case. He started to play so I pulled up a patch of grass nearby and listened. He was exceptionally talented and proceeded through a number of intense classical pieces, all from memory. Over the course of an hour, a crowd of perhaps thirty people gathered around, enjoying the free concert. He wasn’t even asking for money. After he finished, I thanked him and inquired about his obvious talent. He said he plays professionally for an orchestra in North Carolina and was on vacation in Portland and just felt like practicing out in the park. I was glad he did.
Anyway, walking this afternoon from Civic Center back to LoDo after a meeting, I came across four different street performers along the 16th Street Mall. The first guy was singing and playing a guitar. He was OK. I’ve heard much worse. Then there was the ventriloquist. I hung around nearby for a few minutes, but he and his dummy never performed. I think he was waiting for a crowd to gather first, but no one stopped since he wasn’t doing anything. The third guy was playing the flute, and he was quite good and was really getting into it. The fourth act I came across was the best. It was a combo, one guy playing a banjo, the other guy playing a mandolin. They were very talented and sounded great together. I gave them a couple of bucks. So, today was a pretty good day for street performers on the Mall, I’m happy to report.
But some days are better than others. As Downtown Denver improves, so too will the quality of our street performers, I hope.
