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Doug Clark: Call out for all would-be buskers for Street Music Week

Monday noon will kick off the 13th annual Spokane Street Music Week, and the stars appear to be gloriously aligned.

And by stars I mean those local TV meteorologists.

In an unprecedented display of Doppler solidarity, our perky weather seers have been forecasting sunshine and lollipops for the coming week, which is a rare and wondrous thing to hear.

Could it be true?

Over the years, my street music compadres and I have endured everything from unexpected gales to apocalyptic typhoons.

For a stretch, the unofficial Street Music Week theme song was “Rain” by the Beatles – first verse only.

So, it truly would be some kind of wonderful to experience actual summerlike weather during the second full week of June.

Which brings me to the point. And that is if you’ve never experienced the joys of Street Music Week, this is the year for feeling groovy.

Street Music Week takes place during the noon hours Monday through Friday on the sidewalks of downtown Spokane and our historic Garland District.

Plus, for the second year, downtown Coeur d’Alene will have musicians and others performing, too.

It’s all to raise money for Second Harvest food bank, of course, which brings me to yet another good reason to soak it all in.

Barring a sudden epidemic of cheapskatitis, we will pass $100,000 in food bank donations since the event began as a solo act in 2002.

This is your chance to be a part of history.

And not just for donors. There’s still time to dust off your inner rock star and get involved.

Whether you’re pro or amateur doesn’t matter.

Just show up a little before noon at the designated check-in locations. I always set up camp next to Starbucks near Main and Post. Garland buskers should go outside the Gathering House, kitty corner from the Milk Bottle. Outside the Art Spirit Gallery is the Lake City place to be.

Buskers will receive an ID badge (to keep) and a red collection bucket. Then find a location to perform until 1 p.m. and bring back whatever donations came in.

It’s so easy.

In the past several weeks, I’ve heard from dozens of good-hearted performers who plan to get involved.

Dave Liezen, for example, sings with a 10-member madrigal group that performs in the “garb of Henry VIII’s time.”

Second verse, same as the first.

Brenda Beaulieu is a member of “Ukestra,” a group of ukulele players who hope to play two days.

And I can’t wait to meet Tony Johnson, an “accomplished strawflutist” who says he “can play anything from ‘Happy Birthday’ to John Coltrane.”

Many of our cool acts are returning, too, like the Spokane Horn Club, a group of talented French horn players.

Ditto Mike Green, a longtime friend and talented juggler from the Silver Valley.

“I cut my busking teeth at this event with my juggling exhibition four years ago,” Green wrote in an email to me.

“… And this past winter, I traveled across wide waters to continue. With help from my Street Music Week experience, I was given tangerines on La Rambla in Barcelona. I gave the snake charmers, monkey handlers and fortune tellers a run for their money in Marrakesh.”

Wonder if he took the train from Casablanca going south?

No doubt about it, Street Music Week gets more intriguing every year.

Doug Clark is a columnist for The Spokesman-Review. He can be reached at (509) 459-5432 or by email at dougc@spokesman.com.

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