Busker Bloggin

Seems like the new thing on the interne t is Cat Blogging.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, is doing it.

Luckily, some others have decided to fight back and have begun Bird Blogging.

Well, as we've stated before, we here at the Countertop Chronicles believe imitation is truly the sincerest forms of flattery, as well as one of the easiest opportunities to quickly advance the state of the art. Think Gregg Easterbrook's Tuesday Morning Quaterback to Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback.

Now with that introduction we present Busker Blogging, in which the Countertop Chronicles will present to you, our dear readers, downtown D.C.'s finest Buskers.

These guys are slugging it out to make a living in the very difficult music business, playing away all night in the local bars and clubs and setting up in the early morning or during the heat of the midday to entertain commuters and dinners. Its a tough gig.

I have been a fan of Mark Francis Nickens for some time. He plays the guitar like a piano - think Stanley Jordan and Eddie Van Halen (no link for him cause he's a putz, heck I'll just link to Diamond Dave instead) - with a soothing voice. A veteran of both the D.C. punk scence AND a former member of some D.C. Go-Go Bands, he has played at both Woodstock (the modern one) and for Hillary Clinton and Mayor Tony Williams. As he tells the story, he decided to Busk full time after going out one morning and earning $20 in an hour. You can usually catch him outside the Farraguat Square metros (West and North) in the mornings and scattered around town at other times during the week.

If you run across him, say hi and throw him a couple of bucks.

Buy his CD.

Support the arts!