Ice Cream Man

August 29th marked the return of Summer and Music’s annual BuskerFest—and my first time working the truck. Which means I didn’t actually see much at all of the bands playing—only heard the slightly muffled sounds of already stripped-down sets by such acts as So Many Wizards and We Barbarians—and what I did see, I saw through a teensy window. (Amazed my head didn’t get stuck.) Still, when I finally did break from slinging so I could watch—full disclosure—my dear old friend Jenny Stockdale showcase some sweet folk tunes (and a Gillian Welch cover!) from a rented flat-bed (which actually made a darling stage) it didn’t take much more than a glance up and down the East Village’s streets to pick up on what BuskerFest was putting down: a memorable evening of performances by some of Long Beach’s finest bands and musicians, all within the confines of what continues to be my favorite neighborhood in this city despite its ho-hum reputation. The soulful and sad (or so he sings) Korey Dane—who writes depressing songs the way TNT repeats Law & Order re-runs, which is to say often and without fail—won the “busking” portion of the evening—we handed wooden coins to the acts we liked the best, cute right?—which was followed by main-stage performances by a sex-mined Jay Buchanan (takes a lotta confidence to work “post-coital” into your lyrics), the ever-excellent Crystal Antlers and Delta Spirit, whom we missed because it was late, we wanted beer—and hey, someone has to make sure Bessie gets home safe.