A pictorial toast to street performers

There's a funny story (OK, perhaps only slightly funny) to the genesis of today's post. I'll try to make it brief. 

While working at my online site at SmugMug.com, I was organizing a gallery involving street performers I'd photographed in the past. It had not occurred to me until doing this work on the gallery that I photographed a flute player in Savannah twice -- and four years apart. And each time, he was performing on the riverwalk along River Street. 

The first time was on Feb. 1, 2018 (see photo leading off the post). He was wearing a red, black, gray and white checkered long-sleeve shirt, light blue jeans and a small fedora with a feather on top. I'm sure I came across him while doing a walk-around the riverwalk area that day.

The next time was on March 30, 2022 (see photo above), and I spied him not far from where the Savannah River cruise ship, The Georgia Queen, was docking after Lee Ann and I had been on a leisurely trip along the river close to where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. We were still on the cruiser when I took this photo. This time, the musician was wearing a white shirt, gray pants and a ship captain's hat. 

Interestingly, each time I photographed him, I happened to catch him looking my way at least once in my pictures. (see first two photos below). Nevertheless, it did not occur to me in 2022 that I had seen this guy on the 2018 visit. That lightning bolt struck Tuesday of this week as I was organizing the aforementioned street performers photo gallery, a link to which you'll find in this sentence. 

I figured that while relating this story, I'd go ahead an offer some more photos from the street performances gallery here. So below are some other shots. Most, I might add, were taken in Savannah, where there are quite a few such performers at various spots along the riverwalk. 

The fellow above and below I remember only by his first name, Mike, even though he told me his full name at the time I took these photos in October 2011. I even did a post about him ... in 2013, two years after the fact! I encountered him while doing a photo shoot along Mass Ave in Indianapolis. As the 2013 post mentions, Mike told me at the time he was leaving for Europe the next day. I've always wondered what became of him ... 

   

We're back in Savannah for the next few performers. I did not catch any of their names, unfortunately. But the guys in the photo above, below and second and third photos below all were stationed at some point along the riverwalk. I came upon the guy above on March 7, 2017, which coincided with my first-ever visit to Savannah. The next two performers, very animated in their a cappella delivery, were photographed Feb. 1, 2018, the same day I first photographed the flute player in the lead-off photo. 

The horn player above and below I came across in Savannah's Forsyth Square, the largest (by far) of the city’s almost two dozen neighborhood one-block parks, or squares. The photo date was Dec. 14, 2017. On that same date, in one of the smaller neighborhood squares, I came across a saxophone player dressed as Santa entertaining a young boy and his mother (second and third photos below). 

Above: This performer I came across in Savannah on the far western end of the riverwalk on April 1, 2022. 

Above and below: We briefly leave music in order to transition to painting with this guy, who is bundled up on a cold autumn day, Nov. 16, 2018, to be exact. He was demonstrating his craft in one of one-block neighborhood squares in Savannah. The bottom photo is a cropped version of the one above.

Above and below: Still in Savannah for these shots, again in Forsyth Square, but on March 29, 2022. 

Above and below: The last performer in this post was another sax player, this time on the pier at Waterfront Park in Charleston, S.C. I came across him on March 10, 2017. We stopped in Charleston after leaving Savannah that month before returning to North Carolina.