busker-hopping

stine and i decided to check out this year's busker fest in downtown and turn it into a night by grabbing some grub at the sleepless (very tasty veggie moussaka) before heading to confederation basin. well, just as we're crossing king st. on our way out of the goat i spy, out of the corner of my eye, mr. mayor, harvey rosen striding by. he's all decked out in a blue two-piece with some odd hat (we tried to remember afterward what kind it was and decided it kind of looked like a straw hat, but definitely wasn't a straw hat...). i elbowed stine to let her know who was passing (she being somewhat still new to k-town) and just as i did harvey strode by and lifted a fat stogie to his mouth and blew out a puff. it looked kind of funny - especially with that elusive hat. anyway, upon reaching the other side of the road mr. mayor takes the cigar, looks around a sec, and then places it in the crook of one of the branches of a tree on the corner. very odd... we kept walking, trying not to bring any undue attention to us, so i didn't get to see if harvey left the cigar there because he knew he couldn't bring it with him to wherever he was going or what not.

anyway, it was definitely interesting.

off to the buskers. there were quite a few people amassed in confed basin and all along ontario street. we checked out a performer for a minute before deciding it wasn't really our bag and hit the info tent to get a schedule. sched in hand we set out to catch this halifax outfit called squid - basically a stomp-themed celtic group - all percussion with a bagpipe thrown in. the piper did a few tricks like cartwheeling with the pipes which was neat (not a true scosman if that's what you were wondering). they were selling a dvd of their performance in dartmouth (4 nights! 2 sold out!!), or giving it out with a 20 dollar "investment" as they called it as they were hoping to stage their show across canada (and internationally) with the proceeds they rack up from buskering. good luck boys!

then it was off to see a group of breakdancers from the bronx - usa breakdancers. weak name, cool trio (although their trainer(?) didn't do much but make jokes about his girth around the middle). they was flipping out big time, like ninjas! the most impressive aspect of it was the balancing though - they could contort themselves in wild ways that must've just driven the ladies wild.

part two in a bit...