Four for February

Frosty

Fetcher

Ferry

Fiddler

A member of the ABC Wednesday community

Taylor Street

A favorite Valentine image from last year.

Sent today with the same best wishes

to lovers around the world.

Mugwumps

Good to see Thee Blair Street Mugwumps back in town and listen to them playing downtown today. Had not seen them since Wooden Boat Festival last September. This fun little band from Eugene, Oregon will be playing at Sirens pub on Water St. tomorrow night. You can listen to some of their good ol' music Americana here.

M is for Musik...

...as in Serendipity Musik. Discovered lovely cellist Serena Tideman recently while visiting Pike Place Market and was taken by her very moving music. You too can hear some of her work at Serendipity Musik.

More M posts can be found today at ABC Wednesday.

Fiddler on the green

We've enjoyed sunny, warmer weather in recent days and signs of the impending spring are showing everywhere. On a walk down the Taylor Street park steps yesterday we enjoyed the peaceful tunes of this musician sitting off to himself playing not for an audience, but perhaps as a rite of spring.

Mia and Joshua

Was a lovely spring-like day for getting out and enjoying the sunshine. I had the pleasure to meet Mia and her mom downtown while her big brother Joshua and friend were entertaining folks at Haller Fountain park. They live in the neighboring town of Chimacum. Little Mia was more than happy to help with the proceedings while young Joshua performed beautifully on the cello. He is trying to earn money to help pay his tuition for a summer soccer program in Austria this year. That information is displayed in his letter. The streets were busy with visitors today so we can hope he made some headway in his fund raising efforts.

Sunny side of the street

At last, a beautiful sunny day and the downtown streets were full with weekend visitors. Musicians were out too and here Dave, Mike and Kim were playin' some good ol' mountain/country tunes.

Taking a break on Water Street

With a steady dose of stormy weather continuing on this first day of winter, thought it might be nice to take a break and revisit some of the late summer/early fall scenes around town when the weather was a little more pleasant. Port Townsend has its share of street musicians entertaining folks downtown and I've posted a few over the summer. Another of those is a young fiddler named Ciaran seen here taking a break with a friend. He can often be found playing a pretty tune by himself or joined by his mom downtown along Water Street.

ABC Wednesday - I

Inventive, invigorating, interesting and just plain ol' foot-tapping fun, this group of street musicians called the Blair Street Mugwumps from Eugene, Oregon were delightful on the downtown streets during the Wooden Boat Festival. You can see some of their video clips and their schedule by clicking here.

Visit all the ABC Wednesday posts by clicking here.

Downtown Port Townsend

Late afternoon scenes taken today along Water Street.

Grand Rapids Farmers Market

We are in Grand Rapids now to attend a third graduation this year of a grandchild. Home to Port Townsend on Wednesday. It's a beautiful Saturday morning here for farmer's market. As in much of the country, spring has been a little late this year, but still plenty of good fresh produce available to take home.

Paused a moment to enjoy the music of this gentleman on violin today. Said his name is Michael. He has traveled the world and even performed in Port Townsend. Street musicians and artists everywhere touch and enrich our lives, sometimes more than we realize, as we go about our daily business.

The following is a brief video clip of Michael playing.

Jack Reid

Several weekends back we had a spot of perfect spring weather. Walking around town, I was privileged to listen in on a musician named Jack Reid. An amiable fellow with a great voice and nice touch on the guitar, Jack says when he has some free time he enjoys getting out on a nice day and playing for folks downtown. His style is folk and western and fits well with his open and approachable personality. Reminds me of some good Texas troubadours I've heard along the way.

Below is a very brief video clip of Jack singing, It's Texas Cookin' for Me.

For playing schedule, albums and bookings, check Jack's website at FolkNWestern.com.

Christopher

M is our letter for this ABC Wednesday and my choice today is the street musician, Christopher of the Wolves. Surrounded by a collection of international instruments, his exotic music is indeed original and very popular with the streams of pedestrians downtown. To listen to his beautiful serene music and learn more about the artist you can visit his website at trancevision.com .

A sudden calm

It's a good day when you come spinning around a noisy street corner downtown and are suddenly calmed by a flutist's soft tones floating on the wind. I stopped awhile and listened to the soothing music of a street musician named Daniel Walking Bear. I thought he might be playing something from R Carlos Nakai, but he said he plays mostly his own work. Between tunes, he chatted just long enough to say that he is, in essence, " ...a five fingered carbon-based unit. All the rest is speculation." What was not speculation to me were the haunting melodies I kept hearing in my head for the rest of the day. Thanks, Dan....hope to catch you again another time.

A quiet hornpipe

Cosmo, the fiddler, is a familiar street musician in Port Townsend who makes the daily rounds downtown. He's a friendly soul who says he most enjoys playing classical and Appalachian mountain tunes. On this encounter, he did a quiet hornpipe piece.