Monday, September 12, 2011

Seasick Steve Busking on Haight St. in San Francisco

Just caught this today, from Seasick Steve's Facebook page:

Steve says thanks to the passerby who filmed on Haight ... This is his favorite youtube clip!
 July 25 at 11:51pm
You and 829 others like this.


http://www.facebook.com/seasicksteve?sk=wall

I was wondering why this video had over 10,000 hits.... now i know why.... (the post also had a link to this video):


it was a sunny weekend in San Francisco. April 2011. i was staying with friends on Haight St., the original home of the Summer of Love hippies in the 60s. The Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, and the adjacent Golden Gate Park, are still where the young and young-at-heart, especially those who admire the values of the 60s, go to hang out. many musicians busk on the street, and back in the day, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin lived near-by and were often around the neighborhood. George Harrison had a famous acid trip there that turned a little scary when a huge crowd started following him around.

i was just walking around when i noticed Steve sitting on the sidewalk preparing to play. i had seen a recent video of him playing at Austin's SXSW 2011 Festival (after being introduced by Jack White, who also played a couple of songs and announced that Steve was doing a record for Jack's Third Man Records).


could it be Steve sitting there on the sidewalk? i knew he was playing a show in San Francisco the following evening (posters with his picture were on polls up and down Haight St.) and his name was also written on his guitar. fortunately my camera was in my bag, so i sat down on the sidewalk and started filming.


a small crowd gathered to hear him play. a few (British) people recognized him, but the others stopped simply because he was so damned good...











he came across as the nicest guy in the world. humble, friendly... and a helluva guitar player....

super famous in England and Norway.... just starting to get his due in the U.S....

it's one of my favorite videos too... especially of the ones that i shot!

...they played a few songs, chatted with folks, and collected their earnings, saying they were off to drink a little wine....



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