May 06 2008
Street Musician Day in Vilnius
May 3rd was Street Musician Day in Lithuania. Our friends from Laimikis were in Vilnius snapping up many great photos of authentic street style.
Reasons why I like this photo:
- Vilnius looks like such a cool place. The capital city of Lithuania, it was host about 1000 street musicians in that city alone. The closest thing we have here in Pennsylvania is Musikfest in Bethlehem, PA, but over the years that has turned something much more commercial.
- I like the pianist’s scarf and her red bag with the hoop handle sitting on the ground behind her.
- The band in the photo reminds me of Fuzzi Puddle, the band that rehearses right here under my home office, in our basement, twice a week.
Watch Once
The New York Times has an article entitled “Life Imitating Film.” Here’s what they said about the stars, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, as it relates to Oscar Fashion.
A few days before they were to perform their nominated song “Falling Slowly” at the Academy Awards, the two musicians — who went from on-screen pair to real-life couple — borrowed a car and drove to Amoeba Music on Sunset Boulevard. They were besieged by fans. “ ‘Once’ was so authentic,” a young man said enthusiastically.
Mr. Hansard, the 37-year-old frontman of the Dublin rock band the Frames, gave an aw-shucks smile.
Ms. Irglova, a 19-year-old singer and pianist of Czech descent, stood to the side, fiddling with a locket she was wearing. Both performers were looking forward to rebelling against the formal dress code at the Oscars.
“I don’t own a suit, so I just bought one,” said Mr. Hansard, whose curly hair looked as if someone had taken an eggbeater to it. “But I’m not going to wear black tie. I’m going to be meself. They’re not going to kick me out!”
Ms. Irglova said, “For me to wear a night gown …”
“A what?” Mr. Hansard interrupted.
“An evening gown,” she said, correcting herself.
“No,” he said with a laugh. “I like it. Let’s both go in our pajamas.”
thanks for linking laimikis -
it’s great to be a part of sounding cocktail!
your choices are wonderful as usual - that red bag
is just fantastic and though i haven’t seen “Once” yet,
the shots and dialogues seem so coZy.
what instrument do you play?
I liked “Once”….. especially the theme song “Falling Slowly” which won the Oscar this year for Best Song. And, I play the piano… But I’m curious. What do you mean by “sounding cocktail?”
i mean, your post is made of things,
connected with music, so it’s sounding,
and as so many nice things mixed in it, so it’s a cocktail
sorry for my english.
ps.
i used to play piano too - many years ago,
eh, that’s the instrument you can’t take with you
on the streets, though it would be great to find a
piano performance somewhere in the city during
that music day.
Aha - that’s what I thought you meant by ’sound cocktail’. I think your English is very good and I wish I knew some Lithuanian. (That was my father’s first language.)
I just read that Vilnius is the European Capital of Culture 2009!
I loved ‘Once’ too. A friend lent me the DVD saying I have to watch it because it’s about a street performer (and I am one, too). The scene where the busker runs after a guy who stole money from his bag rang very true - I had that happen to me, too, and it ended the same way as in the movie. From there on the movie kept growing on me as it went on.
Street Musician Day - wow. The closest thing we have to it in NYC is the ‘Make Music NY Day’. On this day musicians who are not street musicians get a permit to play outdoors.
All the best,
Saw Lady
http://www.SawLady.com/blog
Gosh, it’s always nice to hear from such interesting people! I highly recommend SawLady’s blog. Be sure to click to hear her music!