Busking Up Downtown

Walk around downtown Detroit's stadium district after a game and chances are more than a handful of street performers like Nahru Lampkin (aka Bongo man) are using a small square of sidewalk as their stage. Their skills range from trained performers like Lampkin to amateur saxophonists to the Eat Em' Up Tigers! panhandler.

Whatever their ability, these street performers serve as sort of a reverse canary in the coal mine when it comes to measuring a downtown's vibrancy. Attracted to places that already have a sizable amount of foot traffic, buskers add to the character of a place and enhance the urban experience for the people who frequent that area. What would San Francisco be without its folksie troubadours, New Orleans without curbside jazz and blues or New York City without its never-ending street theater? Seattle is so convinced of their community value that they actually hire buskers to perform in their downtown parks during summer weekends.

"They act as an attraction to any commercial venue on that corner or street," says Mike Whitty, a business professor at the University of Detroit Mercy. "They make a wonderful addition to the street scene and could probably increase the foot traffic if they kept it up long enough."

Sidewalk stars

Carl Scott doesn't make much noise during his performance, but he usually garners a bit of attention. The mime is a regular at Ferndale's Thursdays on the 9 event, regularly pulling pieces of candy out of invisible jars for kids and having whole conversations with adults without saying a word.

The sociology major, 19, at Wayne State University became a mime because he figured it's not one of those things that a lot of people do so there would be demand for it. He loves the energy and friendliness that comes with performing in a downtown. It's something more communities should encourage, he says. "It just shows that it has culture," Scott says. "The more art it has to show off, the better."

He is one of about a dozen artists performing at Thursdays on the 9, a street fair centered in downtown Ferndale that continues tonight (July 19). They range from skilled saxophone and guitar players to flamenco dancers and a drum circle. The event features a different street performer about every four or five stores, enough to keep pedestrians moving and enjoying themselves.

"We want people to wander around and see all of the stores," says Ann Steslicke, a Ferndale DDA ambassador to store owners and coordinator for Thursdays on the 9. "With street musicians you can pick the genre that you want to listen to. We also want to showcase the downtown." Which would be hard to do with a band on a stage, she adds. Such performances tend to force people to congregate near the stage, working against Ferndale's linear downtown. Street performers are not only less intrusive with regard to noise but also allow for variety.

Steslicke explains, "I like the wandering and the flow. It's welcoming and it's somewhat calming. It's diverse and somewhat folksy, not pretentious. The whole concept can only be done in a downtown."

If street performers and downtown density feed off one another, then Detroit's Greektown district has to be the most fertile area in the region for this combination. It's hard to walk fifty feet on Monroe Street without passing a street musician.

Ben Marshall, a 29-year-old guitarist from Wyandotte, will sometimes play the sidewalks of Greektown, Wyandotte or Ferndale for the exposure; using the crowds as a way to hone his performance. To Marshall it makes a lot more sense to play in front of old downtown storefronts than at suburban strip malls or shopping centers, where he'd probably get a lot of strange stares and even a ride in the local police cruiser.

"I just like it because it's around more people," Marshall says. "The vibe is very good here."

Sarah Schwartz, 29, thinks people like Marshall add to Ferdale's downtown vibe. The local title officer appreciates the performances enough to toss a buck or two into the hat but likes it most because it brings people out to the streets and gets them moving. "I love having the music around," Schwartz says. "It's upbeat. It makes you step a little bit faster and smile."

Street reps

One of Ann Arbor's biggest attractions performs on the city's humblest stage, a dark alley near the Michigan Theater on Liberty Street. Known by students, townies and tourists as Michael Jackson, this street celebrity perfects his impressive impersonation of the King of Pop.

In his normal life he is Brian Woolridge, a 35-year-old Ypsilanti resident who earns his living pushing a broom as a janitor at the nearby Meijer. But for a few hours each week he becomes a prime example of what makes Ann Arbor such a funky, eclectic town, dancing away afternoons in an alley in the downtown of a college town.

"It was an empty alley that no one was really using," Woolridge says. "I wanted to see what would happen if I started dancing there, and it turned out pretty good."

That little alley has been Woolridge's stage since 1995. The lifelong Michael Jackson fan, whose obsession led friends and family to call him Michael while growing up, occasionally ventures out to other parts of downtown during big festivals and fairs. But the alley is his home, the place where he admits, "it's kind of hard to stop" once he gets started.

Crowds of up to several dozen people stop to watch Woolridge during his shuffles and slides. At one point several city police officers pushed in to watch, leaving Woolridge wondering if he should put his hands up or keep his feet moving. The spectators are constant and often give Woolridge what he needs to keep going.

"Michael's music is emotional to me and this is how I express my emotions," Woolridge says. "When people give me a look, I play the music that reflects that back at them.

Many argue that Woolridge serves as a reflection of the Ann Arbor's reputation for cultural vibrancy. Beyond its numerous arts fairs and bustling downtown, the fact that it can nurture organic performances in its darkest alleyways suggests it must have a pretty bright spotlight to shine on its other artists, enhancing the city's reputation as a haven for creativity.

"If the community says they can go ahead, they are supporting the arts in a way," says Carman-Vian, a Royal Oak resident and performing artist who has been approached by the College of Creative Studies about teaching a performance arts class. "Then again, the opposite is true, too."

Woolridge's decade worth of performances has earned him recognition on par with local icon Shaky Jake. Shaky Jake has performed impromptu blues songs on the streets of Ann Arbor for decades, spawning records and memorabilia, such as bumper stickers that boast, "I brake for Jake!" Performers like them and a collection of others have helped turn Ann Arbor into one of Michigan's most unique and special cities.

"Shaky Jake in his own way is an immortal figure for Ann Arbor," Prof. Whitty says. "He has been an unpaid advertisement for Ann Arbor for decades."

Whitty, a follower of Richard Florida's ideas about the creative class, argues that Detroit needs to do more to capitalize on its musical and artistic assets, which he points out are "revered around the world but not fully appreciated here."

A big part of that is allowing and encouraging these artists to perform publicly and building stages for them to perform on by creating strong city centers and neighborhoods centered on density and walkability. This gives these artists and everyone else energetic communities to live in with built-in audiences that can't be had in a SUV-centered community.

"Why in the world, with Motown and house and hip hop and country and so many other musical genres where young people are getting their start, is Metro Detroit not making a case to be a showcase for music like New Orleans?" Whitty says. "For our future, music and culture could be our exports."