How to Busk Like A Badass

Coast to Mother Fu**ing Coast!

Merry Christmas!

Over the course of 2013, I had been in a host of places around the US and while recording content for other Guitar Voyager videos, I also was piecing together this one.

Now why and the hell would I do something like that? Who cares?

The point is that I did it and a lot of my friends joined in so you should watch.

Creep on the Street in Portland

The attached was shot on whim while Nick, Patrick, Little Joey and I were slumming around the streets of Portland killing time before our flight which had been delayed by 12 hours.

The best part is when I belts out a note so loud the kid sitting in the background runs away.

This video was the inspiration behind Guitar Voyager and a screenshot can be seen on the front page of Guitar Gate - https://www.guitargate.com/

BAD Camp - Berkley CA

October came and it was time to head out to the Bay Area- Home of Sourdough bread, Negativland, several serial killers and BAD camp (aka Bay Area Drupal Camp) Since I have been known to worship at the throne of the open source gods, I was ecstatic when both of my video blog worlds collided and I was able to feature Drupal developers in the native environment and a kick ass song by David Bowie.

Despite how it may look in the video, I may have been one of the only people in Berkeley not stoned off his ass.

What is that Drop thingie seen in a lot of the videos?

In many of the videos, you'll notice that a smiley face drop image is lurking in the transitions and on some of the clothes worn by me, Patrick and other random folks.

It's the icon for Drupal,

Drupal is an open source content management system that I, Patrick, Nick, Little Joey, Triangle Man Robert and many others work with to build exciting websites for big government projects (not healthcare.gov, you bastards)

At the time of this writing, Drupal features prominently in my life as does the community of volunteers that surround it.

Dallas TX, The State Fair of Texas!

Texas!

I traveled to Dallas Texas to attend a wedding and brought along my trusty folding guitar to the State Fair of Texas! I was eagerly anticipating meeting up with my long time friend James, but was bitterly disappointed when I realized that James had about as much rhythm as rock bouncing around inside a washing machine.

Luckily my sister-in-law Ali stepped up at the last second and saved the day!

Highlights of this video include Big Tex and the man in the yellow shirt.

Swapping a Shirt - North Bethesda MD

As Guitar Voyager began gaining an audience, the manufacture of the Voyage-Air Guitar took notice and offered to send a polo shirt for me to wear in the videos.

While this was much appreciated and anticipated, when the shirt came in the mail it turned out to be waaaaaaayyyy to big (something not easily accomplished considering my already enormous size).

So I got drunk, mowed the lawn and mulled over exactly what to do with this oversized shirt.

What's the deal with triangle man?

During the summer of 2013, I convinced my boss Robert to come on out to a Guitar Voyager shoot and help out behind the camera. I was looking to squeeze as many people as possible into the nowhere man video that I begged and pleaded with Robert ( I even got on my knees) to be in the video.

"Let me get you playing the triangle, man" I said. Since Robert often did things to get me to shut the hell up he acquiesced to my demands and played the triangle one time.

He then turned to me and said, "I've managed to avoid being in You tube videos all these years" and chuckled.

Lunch Hour - North Bethesda MD

Things were getting out of control! I was having so much fun annoying strangers and shocking coworkers that he decided to bring my Voyage-Air guitar to work one day and surprise Patrick by playing his favorite song "What's Up?" by the 4 Non-Blondes, a one hit wonder group from the 90s that seems to lives in everyone's memory. Our friend Chuck made his first appearance in this video.

Northern Virginia and DC

As I began pondering what the hell he was going to do with this new found hobby, I set out to make a video around the Washington Monument while it was being renovated due to the damage of the 2011 earthquake.. Friends Ed and Jarret were around so he figured what the hell, bring em out... The dark video was not as impressive as I thought it would be and the audio quality ( as well as the playing) was kinda terrible. During take two, I brought out Mark from the Mandoleers and my boss at the time Robert Laszlo to see if I couldn't get better video.

Times Square - NYC

Damn it was hot in NYC over the weekend.I went up to NYC with friends Nick, Patrick, Little Joey and Heather and sweat my balls off while making a spectacle of myself in Times Square. I played this guitar too.

One of the challenges was the humidity Aside form the unbelievable things done to my hair, playing was also a lot more difficult. By the end of the night, the guitar strings were so wet with sweat and the dank air that they were slippery. Even the next morning when Heather and I were hanging out in front of the Peep Show place, the guitar still felt really weird to play.

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