Street Musicians

[Chalupa]

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/12350246.html (photo)

Suit on outdoor music is settled

Flutist arrested on the street will get $27,500. Police will be told performing is legal.

By Robert Moran

Inquirer Staff Writer

Let freedom ring in Philadelphia, and sing, and even play the flute.

The city last week settled a lawsuit filed by Felix Wilkins, a 66-year-old street musician who alleged that his civil rights were violated in March when he was arrested for playing the flute on a Center City corner.

As part of the agreement, the police commissioner is required to issue a memorandum instructing all officers "that the ability to play a musical instrument or sing in a public place and solicit funds are forms of expression that are protected by the First Amendment."

Under the settlement, anybody wishing to be tuneful must comply with the city's long-standing ordinance on when a person can "play a hand organ or other musical instrument."

Rittenhouse Square, which has been the focus of controversy over who has the right to be musically expressive, is not mentioned in the settlement.

But Paul Messing, the lawyer who filed the suit on behalf of Wilkins, a classically trained flutist, said the agreement "should have citywide application."

The city also agreed to pay Wilkins $27,500 to settle claims of damages. U.S. District Judge Juan R. Sanchez approved the settlement Thursday.

About 4 p.m. March 28, Wilkins was playing the flute at 18th and Chestnut Streets when a police officer ordered him to stop.

Wilkins showed Officer Scott Wallace a copy of the city's public music ordinance, which he always carries when he plays. Nonetheless, the officer arrested Wilkins for disorderly conduct, handcuffed him, and took him to a police station to be cited.

The case was dismissed May 7 by Municipal Court Judge Gerard Kosinski, and Messing filed the suit a week later.

Wilkins' arrest came one day after police apprehended Anthony Riley for singing in Rittenhouse Square.

The case against Riley, who was singing Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," was dismissed in July.

His arrest was part of a controversial crackdown by police on musicians and performers in Rittenhouse Square based on complaints from nearby residents.

Riley also has a lawsuit pending. Evan Shingles, his attorney, said he also believed the Wilkins settlement should apply to Rittenhouse Square. He called the crackdown on performers in the park "patently ridiculous."

City Solicitor Romulo L. Diaz Jr. did not respond to a request for comment. Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson and administrators of the Fairmount Park Commission were unavailable for comment.

Messing credited the city for agreeing to the settlement and "taking concrete steps to make sure these rights are protected."

He added: "I think at the end of the day, everybody recognizes that music is protected and that musicians are a rich cultural asset for the city."

This is not the first go-around for Messing and the government regarding street musicians. He represented Byard Lancaster, a jazz saxophone player, against the city and twice against SEPTA.

The transit agency paid Lancaster $15,000 in 2002 and an additional $18,000 in 2003. That led SEPTA to tell its police officers to leave street musicians alone.

After Philadelphia was criticized this year for its latest effort to target musicians, city lawyers tried to craft new rules, but they essentially punished performers who drew crowds - for example, barring performers who attracted more than "a handful" of people.

Those rules, Messing said, should now go by the wayside and the old regulations for organ grinders (with or without monkeys) should prevail.

Under the existing ordinance, musicians cannot play on the street between 10 p.m. and 9 a.m., near a hospital or "other institution housing sick persons," or in front of school during class or a house of worship during services.

[Chalupa]

Here's more on the back story.....

Jill Porter | Music to the ears: City changes its tune on Rittenhouse performers

Philadelphia Daily News

IT'S TIME to strike up the band.

Because the silencing of musicians and singers in Rittenhouse Square has - blessedly - come to an end.

City Solicitor Romulo Diaz Jr. settled the rancorous controversy yesterday by re-interpreting a Fairmount Park regulation to allow casual musicians to sing and play in the square, so long as the music doesn't violate noise ordinances.

It went into effect immediately, he said.

No more arrests. No more threats of arrest. No more ridiculous clampdowns on the joyful sound of music in the park.

"Wow. That's great."

So said Drew Gillis, who's been agitating against the music ban with protests, petitions and the founding of a nonprofit organization ever since his bandmate, Anthony Riley, was arrested three months ago in the square.

Riley - who I couldn't reach last night - was arrested for disorderly conduct on March 27 when a police officer told him to stop singing and he refused.

He spent the night in a roach-ridden district lockup, an outrageous turn of events that mushroomed into a huge controversy.

Police continued to rigidly enforce a park regulation that requires a permit for any "musical performance," threatening to arrest anyone who strummed a guitar in the park - even though the regulation clearly was designed to apply to large-scale concerts.

Police said they were clamping down at the request of residents of the high-rises that ring Rittenhouse Square, who complained about the noise.

Riley, who with Gillis and Robby Torres make up the band Stone Soup, is a popular street musician in the city. The band, ironically, has been booked by the Fairmount Park Commission to play at several of its summer concerts at Love Park.

Riley's followers and devotees of that kooky tradition known as the First Amendment - yes, the ACLU got involved - objected to the music ban.

When the head of the city's own Civil Affairs Unit, Capt. William Fisher, opposed the crackdown because he believed it violated freedom of speech, the city's top lawyer decided it was time to get involved.

"This story has aroused a lot of passions in the community," Diaz said.

"On the one hand, you have people who are very concerned about freedom of expression and First Amendment rights.

"On the other hand, we have residents who are equally concerned about protecting their homes and places of business."

After meeting with police and park commission representatives several weeks ago, Diaz issued a memo yesterday to Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson that draws the line between casual music-making and formal presentations.

"The fact that an individual is simply playing a musical instrument in a public space, even if the individual is accompanied by others or attracts a few onlookers," doesn't make it a performance requiring a permit, the memo says.

If the group that gathers gets large - over 50 people - police can put a stop to it since "such crowds are likely to significantly impact others' use of the Park and traffic flow."

The residents of the square would be protected by noise ordinances that prohibit sounds above a certain decibel level - in this case, 5 decibels to 10 decibels, Diaz said.

"Is this going to satisfy everybody? I'd be delusional if I thought that," Diaz said.

"I've tried to come up with a common-sense approach that hopefully allows everybody to enjoy the park in a way that doesn't interfere with the way that others enjoy the park.

"Everybody's going to have to give a little."

Wendy Rosen, president of Friends of Rittenhouse Square - which was erroneously portrayed as the villain in this conflict - said she welcomed music in the square.

"I don't know how the fingers got pointed at us; we didn't have anything to do with it," she said.

"We love music in the park."

She and others object to the panhandling that went with it, which she said may have prompted the police crackdown.

Diaz said he's going to post his memo on the city's Web site next week, to see what kind of public reaction it elicits.

It certainly restores sanity to the situation and restrains police from the ridiculously heavy-handed tactics they used to enforce an illegal silence.

Riley, however, still has one more obstacle to overcome.

The trial stemming from his arrest is scheduled for court on Tuesday - the day, ironically, before we celebrate our freedoms: July 4. *

[Chalupa]

And here's the latest proposal...

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/12409351.html

[MoGrubb]

Unfucking believable, a guy getting busted for blowing his flute on a street corner...

...The city last week settled a lawsuit filed by Felix Wilkins, a 66-year-old street musician who alleged that his civil rights were violated in March when he was arrested for playing the flute on a Center City corner.

....

At least this cloud has a silver lining.

[Free For All]

The city last week settled a lawsuit filed by Felix Wilkins, a 66-year-old street musician who alleged that his civil rights were violated in March when he was arrested for playing the flute on a Center City corner.

He was found to be in violation of the "Hubert" Laws.

[Joe G]

[paul secor]

I wish that there were street performers where I live.

[Joe G]

In downtown Lansing you'll often see a guy with a beat-up old acoustic guitar. He rarely sings; usually he just strums those open position folk chords. He's out there rain or shine, cold or heat, so I give an "A" for effort!

[alocispepraluger102]

bless their hearts, all of them.

time for aloc to listen again to joni mitchell's 'for free.'

Edited December 12, 2007 by alocispepraluger102

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

In downtown Lansing you'll often see a guy with a beat-up old acoustic guitar. He rarely sings; usually he just strums those open position folk chords. He's out there rain or shine, cold or heat, so I give an "A" for effort!

I was with a friend who was a trumpet player (now retd) with the BBC Welsh Symphony Orch when we met another musician, with whom my friend had a slight acquaintance.

"So, what are you doing?" my friend asked.

"I'm busking," the other guy said (busking is the proper English term for doing street music).

"Oh, you'll be getting more paying gigs than me, then," my friend said.

We're well endowed with buskers here. Every day, there's a guy in the arcade by the best deli in town, playing guitar and singing, mainly, sixties folk-protest songs. Another guitarist, outside the old library, playing amplified classical guitar. A lady saxophonist has disappeared lately, but I hope she'll return. And there's a trio playing Louis Jordan/skiffle style, who always draw a good crowd - and are very good at what they do.

And of course, there are visits from the world famous Colombian pan pipes quartet!!!!!

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Colombian pipe buskers on this video at 4:47

(and in bits on the following two)

MG

[Peter Johnson]

I got into a verbal altercation once in Rittenhouse Square (Philadelphia) with a cop who was trying to make a string quartet (kids from the Curtis Institute, a conservatory across the street) disband. These kids were great, and had (understandably) drawn a crowd on a sunny spring Saturday morning. Cop walked through the crowd in the middle of these kids' playing and told them to pack up and leave. Nobody stepped up to the plate, so I challenged the cop--asked him "on what basis?" He couldn't answer the question, but the kids complied, packed up, and left, saying "don't worry about it--we'll just come back in an hour when he's off his shift". I was really pissed--and in retrospect, annoyed with myself that I didn't take it further. Really glad to see the result here.

[Jim Alfredson]

I got into a verbal altercation once in Rittenhouse Square (Philadelphia) with a cop who was trying to make a string quartet (kids from the Curtis Institute, a conservatory across the street) disband. These kids were great, and had (understandably) drawn a crowd on a sunny spring Saturday morning. Cop walked through the crowd in the middle of these kids' playing and told them to pack up and leave. Nobody stepped up to the plate, so I challenged the cop--asked him "on what basis?" He couldn't answer the question, but the kids complied, packed up, and left, saying "don't worry about it--we'll just come back in an hour when he's off his shift". I was really pissed--and in retrospect, annoyed with myself that I didn't take it further. Really glad to see the result here.

Jeez, what's up with that?

[Peter Johnson]

As I recall, some of the residents in the apartments bordering Rittenhouse Square starting making a stink about the music (disturbed their afternoon senior-special naps?), and leaned on the cops to try to "shut it down" under the guise of enforcing an anti-loitering ordinance.

Let the music play. Man, there was nothing like strolling through the square while listening to the cacophony of students at Curtis practicing through open windows--no doubt the kind of thing that inspired Ives!

I got into a verbal altercation once in Rittenhouse Square (Philadelphia) with a cop who was trying to make a string quartet (kids from the Curtis Institute, a conservatory across the street) disband. These kids were great, and had (understandably) drawn a crowd on a sunny spring Saturday morning. Cop walked through the crowd in the middle of these kids' playing and told them to pack up and leave. Nobody stepped up to the plate, so I challenged the cop--asked him "on what basis?" He couldn't answer the question, but the kids complied, packed up, and left, saying "don't worry about it--we'll just come back in an hour when he's off his shift". I was really pissed--and in retrospect, annoyed with myself that I didn't take it further. Really glad to see the result here.

Jeez, what's up with that?

[MoGrubb]

I got the drift that the complainants were just being paranoid assholes, that the music wasn't loud enough to disturb a fly.

[Rooster_Ties]

One nice spring afternoon earlier this year, the windows were open in the office where I work (a small not-for-profit agency). From the street below I and everyone in our office heard a solo tenor sax -- first playing Impressions, some tin-pan-alley standard (that escapes me now), then Nardis, then some Joe Henderson tune (I forget which), another standard, and finally Giant Steps. And the guy could REALLY play.

So I quickly sent an e-mail to the entire staff where I work (2nd and 3rd floors of the building), and ran around both floors and took up a collection for the guy.

Ran downstairs and caught him before he could entirely pack up for the afternoon. Gave him something like $35, named every tune he played (in order), and really freaked him out. He had no idea anybody was listening (besides an occasional passerby), let alone anyone who knew what he was playing.

[Jim Alfredson]

Did he ask you for a gig?

[Free For All]

Gave him something like $35

Of course you collected $80, right?

Just kidding, RT..................

[Jim Alfredson]

Well, he had to take his 15% cut as the talent buyer.

[Jazzmoose]

People living next to a park complaining about noise? Isn't that kind of like living next to an elementary school and complaining about kids?

[Joe G]

In downtown Lansing you'll often see a guy with a beat-up old acoustic guitar. He rarely sings; usually he just strums those open position folk chords. He's out there rain or shine, cold or heat, so I give an "A" for effort!

He's out there again today, in the midst of a blinding snowstorm. I took a ten spot out of my wallet - just had to talk to the guy. Well... he's coherant and friendly and has a positive attitude, but something's not quite right. Told me of his dream to go to Nashville (I'm thinking yes, it's much warmer on the streets there!), and the fact that he's only had one lesson (that much is clear). Then he started talking Bible, which brought out the strangest statement: "I'm absolutely sure that I'm right where God wants me to be." Whoa. Most people in his position - strumming a guitar for change in a snowstorm - would think that God had forsaken them.

Came away from that encounter with mixed emotions.