First Annual Street Musician's Festival in St. Louis

He goes by the name of Raven Hawk. He's a short Black man with dreads and a pork pie hat and dark sunglasses. I saw him play at the Pagan Music Festival at Focal Point, a local venue here in Maplewood, Missouri. The man was multi-talented. He played the Djiembe drum, did Tibetan throat singing, and blew a powerful jazz saxophone. The combination made for an entertaining evening.

Raven Hawk is also a street musician. That means the pork pie hat comes off and is set on the street to collect coins and dollar bills from people who pass by. There are a few entertainment districts here in St. Louis where you can watch street musicians play. One notable one is down on the Delmar Loop in University City. At any given time there usually will be a couple of musicians playing to add ambiance to the collection of stores, nightclubs, and sidewalk cafe's that can be found there.

But the street musicians here in St. Louis haven't been without controversy. Some local businesses have complained about the musicians playing outside of their establishments. A few have tried to ban the musicians completely. One such petition was circulated in the Delmar Loop area recently. There used to be a loose collection of drummers that met there every Sunday, but they have been noticeably absent lately.

Dogtown is the Irish section of St. Louis. There are a number of notable Irish bars in Dogtown. One of them is Seamus McDaniel's, known for its St. Patrick's Day celebration. Another thing that Dogtown is noted for is its collection of diverse street musicians. And now this independent lot has become organized.

According to the Riverfront Times: "On September 11, the 1200 -1300 block of Tamm Avenue will host The First Annual Dogtown Street Musician's Festival. The festival will be dedicated to the late Lucille Liston, musician and mother of Danny Liston. Danny, of Mama's Pride fame, used to own Seamus McDaniel's restaurant and pub in Dogtown."

The annual event will be a forum for street musicians and will reflect the rich musical heritage of Dogtown. Although a few of the street musicians that have performed in Dogtown have gone on to receive national attention, most of them are just ordinary people who enjoy playing music. Some of them make their living playing on the street.

I will be looking forward to attending the first annual Street Musician's Festival in September and I hope to see Raven Hawk there to catch an encore performance.

Source: http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/atoz/2010/07/dogtown_street_musicians_festival_september_11_2010_busker_st_louis.php