Musicians try performing on downtown streets Saturday nights

Saturday night in downtown Cape Girardeau was typically noisy, with the sounds of people and live bands.

On the other side of the floodwall it was quiet. Well, almost.

The concrete divider knocked out the hustle and bustle of downtown, and all that was left was the sound of the river and acoustic rock music.

The Hobo Symphony, a circle of street musicians in their 20s, began its Saturday night guitar-harmonica-bongo jams over a week ago.

"It's a nice, peaceful setting," said Charles Burton, the group's resident harmonica player and one of the founders of the symphony. "It's just us and the river and whoever decides to stop by."

Burton moved to Cape Girardeau about a month ago to get away from his hometown of Bloomfield, Mo. He decided to give up on working a conventional job and try to pursue artistic ventures such as painting, sculpting and perfecting the harmonica.

When he came to Cape Girardeau, he met up with a high school friend from Bloomfield, Travis DiGonia. The two thought it might be fun to play street music, and the Hobo Symphony was formed, with DiGonia on bongo drums.

"All the other musicians play in the bars and at parties," Burton said. "We just wanted to start from the ground up, as simple as we could. It's a grass-roots sort of thing. And it's also a good way to practice our playing."

Burton then recruited other musicians to fill out the sound of the street ensemble.

"We just switch around instruments whenever we want," DiGonia said. "If somebody has a jam they want to play on guitar, then they just pick it up and we go. It's very open and free, with no set structure."

Last weekend, the symphony stuck to the sidewalk on Main Street, instead of starting at the river.

"We had one guy try to pick a fight with us last time," DiGonia said. "He was belligerent and called us dirty hippies, but I just kept playing. We also had a couple of people join along with us, picking up guitars and jamming."

DiGonia said that anyone is welcome to jam with the group. "If somebody walks by and they like it, they can just sit and listen or they can pick up an instrument and jam along," he said.

At the waterfront Saturday, a few people walked by and lingered for a few minutes, clapping when the symphony finished a jam. Some dropped change in the five-gallon bucket Burton brought along for contributions.

Mix of river and street

"People don't have to give us money," Burton said. "They can just sit and listen if they like it. We don't do it for money, just for fun. Anything we make is just a bonus."

After about an hour at the river, a few musicians got restless. They were ready to go to the street, where the people were.

"I like to get a mix of the river and the street," DiGonia said. "It's real calm and chilled out down here, but the street's cool because that's where the action is."

They packed up their instruments and headed to the corner of Broadway and Main, setting up in front of the Buckner Brewing Co.

The sight of the musicians drew a reaction from most people who drove or walked by. Some passing motorists bobbed their heads or smiled, while others stared or scowled.

Groups of pedestrians stopped and lingered now and then, some giving money. Some stayed longer than others, like Kat Pope of Cape Girardeau, who danced on the sidewalk while the Symphony jammed out to an unplugged medley of songs that featured Kiss' "I Want to Rock and Roll All Night" and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama."

"There needs to be more of this in Cape," Pope said. "I'm about to move to Boulder, Colo., where this stuff is everywhere. I love this kind of thing, I think it's just great."

DiGonia said the Hobo Symphony will continue its performances every Saturday night. "We're going to try to get more instruments into the jam, too," he said. "It's a good way to spend a Saturday night, and at least some people like it."

msanders@semissourian.com

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