Sun shines on Street Music opener

Day one of our 10th annual Spokane Street Music Week had it all: warm weather, about 50 performers and gobs of generous donors to help put us on the road to reaching our goal of a record $10,000 in donations to Second Harvest food bank.

The event continues all week during the noon hours on the downtown sidewalks of Spokane. Come on down or check us out at our website, www.streetmusicweek.com.

Monday we were also blessed by the musical stylings of the mayor himself, David Condon.

But talk about dirty tricks.

I’ve been around politicians a long time, but what Condon did was lower than low.

He showed up at 12:30 p.m. at my spot near Starbucks (across from Pottery Barn) and brought with him his wife and their cute kids and some of their cute little friends or cousins or whatever.

I didn’t get all the names and relationships.

The point is that nothing neutralizes my smart aleck proclivities like being surrounded by charming children.

Did I mention how cute they were?

Condon also brought along a package of percussion instruments. He passed them around to all the wee ones, who banged and clanged and danced while my buddy Joe Brasch and I played a spirited version of Tom T. Hall’s less-than-flattering tribute to the Lilac City, the “Spokane Motel Blues.”

Contrary to expectations, however, Condon pawned his much-anticipated cowbell off on one of the kiddies.

The mayor instead shook some sort of wooden device, which couldn’t be heard and required even less skill to play than the aforementioned cowbell.

But we all had wild fun.

Not only did the mayor say nice things about Spokane Street Music Week, but his fan club showed up to toss a lot of green bills into our red collection bucket.

There are definite benefits to having a Republican in office.

Please, don’t call. I know the mayor’s job is supposedly nonpartisan.

And I’m Elvis’ love child.

What a great day to play music outside.

Remember last year? The weather was more depressing than the Chicago murder rate.

Wind. Rain. Cold …

I was afraid my fingers would stick to my guitar strings like that poor kid’s tongue did to the flagpole in “A Christmas Story.”

According to our meteorological experts, we supposedly have this weather condition called El Sombrero to thank.

I really don’t care what it’s called as long as the rain stays off the good-hearted participants who entertained at various sidewalk locations all throughout the downtown.

That’s what Spokane Street Music Week is all about.

There were representatives of the Spokane Accordion Club and some characters from the library who call themselves the Dewey Decibels. On one corner the River City Cloggers, well, clogged hard.

A contingent of great bluegrass players showed up.

I can’t wait to see what today brings.

And don’t forget our special event Wednesday night.

The Bing is the place to be (7-9 p.m.) for a debut showing of “Sing for Their Supper,” a documentary about Spokane Street Music Week.

Prior to the movie, Peter Rivera, former lead singer for “Rare Earth,” will perform “Get Ready” and some of his other monster hits. Admission is free, although a collection will be taken for the food bank.

Before signing off, I want to thank the City Council for once again legitimizing Spokane Street Music Week via official proclamation.

Every year we get one, but the proclamation I received Monday night will be cherished more than all the other proclamations combined.

That’s because it was handwritten (or should I say hand-scrawled) two minutes prior to reading by council President Ben Stuckart.

The explanation for this is that Monday night’s Council meeting was held in the gymnasium at the West Central Community Center.

This supposedly was a planned Town Hall meeting, although I suspect the City Council chambers is probably being fumigated for lice.

Whatever. As I walked into the gym, Stuckart met me at the doorway with a look of deep remorse scrunching his face.

The real Street Music Week proclamation, he told me, had been accidentally left back at City Hall.

But showing true leadership skills, Stuckart decided to write a substitute proclamation.

The only problem, he admitted, was that he was somewhat unsure of the proper form.

No problem, instructed Jim Lyons, my street music under-czar.

“You just have to have a lot of whereases.”

Stuckart really took this advice to heart. In fact, when he read the new proclamation shortly after the flag salute, every other word out of his mouth seemed to be “whereas.”

I wish I had been taking notes. That way I could give you an accurate whereas count.

Unfortunately, I was too busy holding my sides and laughing.

I do remember Stuckart saying something like, “And whereas Mayor Condon played music today on the street …”

I almost wet myself.

Eventually, Stuckart ran out of whereases. He handed me my new proclamation which he had scrawled on the back of a meeting agenda.

To my amazement, it contained only fragments of what the council president actually ad libbed during the reading.

And I quote:

“Proclamat. Whereas, 10th Annual Spokane Street Music Week.

“Whereas, Celebrate.

“Whereas, Raises $ 2nd Harvest Goal $10,000.”

I definitely have to get this framed.

So thank you council President Stuckart. On behalf of Spokane Street Music Week, I would like to make you an honorary busker and invite you to come down and rock out with us this week.

We can always use a guy who can improvise.