Takin' it to the Streets
Three hues on a wide spectrum --Richard Cuccaro
Let it Slide…
In the sallow light of a dim overhead fluorescent bulb and the diffused sunlight from the stairs
to the street, a man sits just inside the mouth of the belly of the beast that rumbles beneath the
streets of Greenwich Village.
The metal slide on his left hand runs crisply up the neck of his resophonic guitar. The strings
sigh, cry, and howl in response.
He has more than just a passing aquaintance with the old laughing lady in the bottle. Out on the
edges of the world of comfort, through the heat of summer and the chill of winter, beyond the
confines of the polite middle class, Alex Sisti plies his trade.
Originally from Seattle, his musical education started very early. As he recalled, "My mother
had '3000 record albums' from the blues to Benny Goodman." The Texas Swing of Bob Wills
was one genre he remembered making an impact. He can still see her singing while she made
breakfast. She was always either singing or playing records.
Alex was fascinated by the guitar of the man who lived across the street. As a youngster, watching
him play, he'd fascinatedly touch the guitar. Eventually, he wound up getting his first lessons here
in return for raking leaves and taking out the garbage.
His mother bought him his first guitar when he was eleven years old. He'd wanted guns… toy guns
and a cowboy hat. Mom, thinking , "Uh-uh, no guns… cowboys play guitar and sing, too…" so Alex
got a guitar and a cowboy hat.
Lessons for nothin' and guitars for free
In his early teens, Alex inadvertently developed a what might be considered a quasi-criminal racket
to become a better guitar player and amass a large collection of instruments. He'd accept his non-
musically inclined friends' offers to take their guitar lessons for them. Then…when their guitars were
deemed useless, lying under beds or in closets, he'd take them off their hands, often for nothing.
In some cases a small payment was required. Alex states: "I once traded a nickel bag of weed for a
$125. Gibson! In those days a $125. Gibson was a good guitar! [editor's note: he's right, I owned one].
He added: "By the time I was sixteen, I had twenty to twenty-five guitars!" Eventually, his father
demanded to know where he got the guitars from, or the money to buy them. Alex answered
truthfully (to a point): "They gave 'em to me!
As you might expect, there are a few highway miles logged by Alex and his guitars. Without a driver's
license, he's been all through Canada, crossed the United States six times, been in 110 cities, and gone
halfway through Europe, busking all the way. He says, "There were times when I wished I had a car
so I could've slept in it." He adds: " I've been in some shady hotels …sometimes with some shady women."
Alex has been staying in New York off and on since "1988 or '89, close as I can remember." He's lived
here steadily for the last two-and-a-half years.
I asked him who his major influences have been. While giving props to the master, Bob Dylan, he
predominately lists blues players, inluding Robert Johnson, Bukka White, B.B. King, Johnny Winter, and
John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, whose ranks have included Eric Clapton, Peter Greene, and Mick Taylor.
He says, "I could go on and on…" and for good measure throws in Wilson Pickett, Mountain, Elvis Costello
and John Cougar Mellencamp [or whatever he's going by these days].
Although I refer to him as Alex, he says he's had a lot of knicknames, which he's collected over the years
and which he prefers. When he was younger, if a friend called out to him, using "Alex." he'd ignore them
until they used one of them. The favorite seems to be just "X." He also mentioned "S'nookie." He said, "I got
that one in a whorehouse in China."
Stop by and say hello and don't forget to throw a little something in the kitty, because, not so incidentally,
he's pretty damn good.
Guitar strings aren't free.
Phillip Roebuck, One Man Band Union Square
He's impossible to miss. The banjo rings like a clarion on amphetamines and the drum/tamborine apparatus
strapped to his back responds to the pounding of his feet via the cables from his shoes reaching upward and
back. The rythmn is is insistent and urgent, pulling the listener in to "come and see what's happening here."
This is the Phillip Roebuck one-man-band show. Originally from Pungo, Virginia, about 20 miles south of
Virginia Beach, you can hear the southern drawl as he pounds out traditional songs like "Liza Jane" and
"Cripple Creek."
His father was a country/folk singer/songwriter from a family with 12 siblings, and everyone
played something. One of them, an uncle was into the blues, specifically, Robert Johnson, and it influenced
Phillip in that direction early on.
Most of his friends, he says, were into Van Halen, but he leaned toward the singer/songwriter genre.
He was 12 years old when his dad taught him guitar. At 13, he took up drums and started a band with three
cousins, calling themselves "The Hollowbodies." They had a two-record contract with A&M, but things didn't
pan out and they split up last year.
Phillip goes out busking four days per week and sometimes more, all year 'round. He says that Union Square
is his major "hang," but he also plays Times Square and the Chelsea Flea Market. The subway stops he prefers
are Union Square, Times Square, and the Bedford stop on the "L" line. He's been a part of "Music Under New York.,"
sponsored by MTA Arts for Transit, but says, not surprisingly, that he likes it better outdoors.
He says that playing regular gigs is strictly supplemental at this point but he does play in a group called "Brooklyn
Browngrass" which performs at the Stinger Club at 241 Grand Street in Brooklyn every Monday. The group consists
of fiddle, banjo, dobro, upright bass and percussion.
He's lived in New York for eight years, and now has a wife and two very young children, one a newborn. By chance
I got to to see his wife and children when she stopped by to meet him as he finished up for the day. Phillip and his
family then posed for the picture above. With responsibilities like this, it's easy to see why he's driven to work as
hard as he does at what he does best.
Scott Severin and Allan Chapman - Weekenders in Washington Square Park
Anyone seeking an audience for his or her performance abilities can readily find one in Washington Square Park
on any weekend. This usually occurs in or around the perpetually dry fountain in the center of this history-laden
leafy expanse in the heart of Greenwich Village.
Jugglers, stand-up comedians, sword swallowers, dancers, gymnasts, daredevil skaters and fire-eaters have all done
their thing in front of cheering throngs here.
Then there are the musicians. Banjoes and guitars have made their presence felt for decades, most notably in the early
to mid 50s' when folk music was played by people like Tom Paley of the New Lost City Ramblers and the blind
Reverend Gary Davis. It was here that folk legend Dave Van Ronk came to learn from them.
Today, local musicians and those who need to cross rivers, with their day jobs still intact, come into the city and head
for the park to display their skills.
One such duo -- with friends joining them on occasion -- is Scott Severin (on the left in the photo above) and Allan Chapman.
Allan has been coming here from Mahwah, New Jersey to play for seven years. Scott, who originally lived in the neighborhood,
has been playing here for ten years. He would say only that he lives in a "suburb of New York City." He met Allen here and
they've been musical partners ever since. Both are good guitarists and use vocal and string harmonies to play covers of pop songs.
Allen took guitar lessons starting at age 7 for two or three years. He was influenced by 70's rock and soul and counts Led
Zeppelin and Aerosmith as early favorites. His current likes include roots rock such as the Black Crowes, but other folk/rock
staples such as Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Tim Buckley and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young still remain favorites.
Scott says that his dad was an opera aficionado, but being a civil rights activist, had records by Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, and
Peter, Paul and Mary. In his infancy, Scott crawled up to the TV to watch Johnny Cash. He started playing guitar at age 14
and had lessons "here and there."
His tastes, like most of us, included the Beatles and the Stones. However, his influences also include early blues artists such as
Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie McTell, Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Little Milton, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf,
among many others.
Today his likes include Moby and Radiohead.
And…the high that comes from playing music in front of a crowd of people on a sunny day in a world-famous landmark park.
So, drop by, take a detour around the marijuana salesmen, and enjoy the music and the vibes.