Busking 101: How to Be a (Successful) Street Musician

Street musicians are something we come across all the time when walking through a city. Whether ragged and homeless looking or polished and professional, or anything in between, Richmond has its own slew of street musicians, or buskers. But playing music on the street with a bucket or guitar case open doesn’t guarantee success. What Read more about Busking 101: How to Be a (Successful) Street Musician[…]

Samantha Pearl shown here performing at Crossroads in Richmond.

THE PEARL

WALKING CARY STREET in Richmond, I’ve met a number of street musicians, who generally range in skill from primitive (homeless guy with ukulele) to moderately talented performers on guitar, banjo, fiddle, trumpet, clarinet, and harmonica. Samantha Pearl is in a different category altogether. She too plays on the sidewalk with her guitar case open for Read more about THE PEARL[…]

“DON’T CALL US HOMELESS.”

NATHAN AND TERESA have no permanent residence, no mailing address. Their sleeping locations vary night to night. They are, no doubt, house-less. But Nathan, a lanky man with long dreadlocks, a worn face and dirt-stained hands, and Teresa, a tattoo-covered woman with huge ear gauges who had not showered in days, reject the H-word that society Read more about “DON’T CALL US HOMELESS.”[…]