The Three Best Street Performers In Chicago
By Staff in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 20, 2013 4:00PM
Depending on one's constitution, the musicians, actors and artists who make a living entertaining scores of passers-by on Chicago's streets and subways, and at summer festivals and cultural events, are either a welcome sign of urban life or another reason to move to the suburbs.
We fall in the former category here at Chicagoist. We love the migratory patterns of the Bucket Boys; the slow robotic dance steps of the silver-painted living statues along Michigan Avenue; the cute elderly Korean couple that occasionally plays classical music at the Jackson Blue Line station. That there's even a street performer scene in Chicago is a miracle, given the walls of red tape they need to cut through in order to obtain a license to pursue their craft.
With spring (technically) here and summer rounding the corner, we've selected three buskers to follow wherever they set up shop in Chicago.
After nine hours in an office every day the last thing I want to do is stand in a cramped tunnel and listen to an amateur saxophonist’s rendition of “Careless Whisper.” It makes me feel like this. I will spend uninterrupted lengths of time watching the Puppet Bike when it's out and about. I’m all too familiar with the cast of worn animal-shaped hand puppets. Don’t usually hand out money to buskers? Watching a tiny mouse-shaped puppet scurry down to the bottom of the puppet box to collect the dollar bill that you’ve just deposited: totally worth it. Day after day I look out my office window, down Michigan Avenue, waiting for warm weather to (finally) return. Until then, we’ll long for you, Puppet Bike. — Katie Karpowicz
Maxwell Street Lexy stands out like a sore thumb among the taco stands, produce carts and other vendors of questionable import that litter the New Maxwell Street Market on Sundays. Then she starts moving to a Latin beat and her hips bring the tips. Lexy has claimed the corner of Desplaines and Polk as her turf at the market since 2008 and her dance moves add a touch of electricity to the market's normal proceedings. — Chuck Sudo
I first came across the Adrian and Mark Duet in the Jackson Red Line station one super bleak winter afternoon. While in a sour mood, I was overtaken by the sheer talent of guitarist Adrian Davis, working with acid jazz themes on a loop, and the incredible sounds drummer Mark Johnson was coaxing from a snare drum, a cymbal, and a bucket. Finding that kind of talent in an unexpected place is always mind-blowing, but I didn't expect to part with a couple of bucks and a few very cathartic tears. These two also just played their first show at the House of Blues with a full band. While I couldn't be in attendance, I can only imagine their excitement and talent was barely contained by the huge venue, in the same way the subway can't hold these two back. Without a doubt, they're worth missing your train. — Lorna Juett