Street Music Week: Friday, June 18th in Downtown, Spokane!
Finally, it was nice in Spokane on Friday for Street Music Week! We tried to go three times this week but it was raining. We stopped by the bank to get singles, and also ran into our first artist of the hour, a male and female who were very sweet and played “Worry Man Blues” for us on the corner of Lincoln and Riverside. We were on a mission to see as many bands as we could in an hour and donate in each of their buckets for 2nd Harvest, so we quickly moved on to a trio of an adult and two adorable kids on electric guitars on riverside. They got smart and put an amp in their truck so they could shred loud and clear!
In front of P.F. Changs there were two gentlemen on acoustic guitars and signing that were having a blast. I loved how one of them created an amp out of a real Camel’s Cig pack! We also caught the PJAMERS outside of Red Robin on Post, I love their coats, attitudes, and variety of instruments! In between Starbucks and Main we got to see Doug Clark who is the man behind this event and is the singer in the Trailer Park Girls. Doug played his Funeral Song for us and then our Mayor came out to sing a duet with Doug. They sang a modified version of “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. The lyrics included “…she’s the mayor of our town and she won’t back down…. Keep Doug Clark from draggin me down.” It was really fun and everyone got into it.
Outside of Anderson & Emami we got a little harmonica action from two gentlemen and a lady which is always fun to listen too! On our way over to Madeleines we got to hear a cover of “Feelin’ Alright” from three guys who had it going on. After that we got to hear a little classic music from two older gentlemen playing clarinets outside of Jigsaw. It was really fun afterwards one of them said “whew, a lot of work for an old man.” Our ears caught on to the vocals of the Tremble Clefs “Parkinson Resource Center” singing nicely outside of Macy’s on Main & Wall wearing all red. Caught a little mandolin from a lady outside of T-Mobile, a singer-songwriter outside of Talbots, and three high school kids playing “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” by Death Cab for Cutie. Also a gentleman who had shakers attached to his shows as he and his buddy made very funny jokes and played a tune for us outside of Boo Radleys.
Caught the Sax Guy on Howard and Main, a girl and her guitar across the street from him, and a gentleman outside the Chase building. I want every lunch hour to be like this! It was so great to see all ages play music and donate their time and music to Second Harvest! Not only the age difference in the musicians but the people taking the time to stop and listen. Such a great way to share music and to support and help out our community. It was a beautiful day with beautiful music and a lunch hour well spent. As Doug Clark said “it all goes to the food bank so donate heavy!” See you there next year!
Photos courtesy of Matt Auclair.