My first thought when I found out I was going to Buskerfest was…What the hell is a Buskerfest?
I needed some answers so I hopped on the google machine and here is what I learned: Busking is the practice of performing in public places for tips and gratuities. People engaging in this practice are called buskers.
Not satisfied with my findings I looked up the website of the people putting on this mysterious event www.summerandmusic.com and what I found had me intrigued. The idea was to have local bands placed all over a festival in the East Village Arts District in Long Beach, local businesses would hand out wooden nickels to fest goers who could then give them to the busking bands. The band with the most wooden nickels would win the chance to open up for Cold War Kids at the end of the night. The real kicker was that there would be no electricity so bands would have to come up with creative solutions to be heard.
On the day of the fest I arrived around 6pm and got to catch Cold War Kids finishing up their sound check. I was then greeted by my fellow crew members Stephen and Frank and after a few hugs and kisses we decided to check out the place and get to work.
The night was beautiful and the set up made for fun wandering with bands set up on five stages squared around four blocks. Local businesses had food and drinks and the atmosphere was quite inviting.
Frank found a great spot for the truck right by stage D where we caught short sets by the soothing Marika Dahling and the soulful TwiLite Company. Next up Forcefield On a great band and good friends, who dressed as old timesy ice cream men to help us sling cream. There was a pretty large crowd assembled around the truck and when Forcefield On began to play we started giving out ice cream. We were absolutely bombarded by sweet toothed fans who completely cleaned out the truck before the first song was over.
With nothing left to give out we thought we were done spreading joy, that is until Jesse from Forcefield On opened up a box of free cds and t-shirts to give to the crowd.
Once all the merchandise and ice cream was in the hands and mouths of the happy crowd we closed up the truck.
And the winner is….
Once all the tokens were counted the winners were local favorites Pawn Shop Kings a fun band who apparently dream of a world where pawn shops are monarchies. In at a close second: Forcefield On who are a band worth checking out.
Thank you Buskerfest for a lovely night, and some great music.
