The Adventures of Sandman and Thunderdrum
“You do it because there’s nothing else you can do. What else would I do? I’m a busker.”
It’s called “The City of the Arts”, but buskers are a rare sight in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
It was during the Triad Music Festival that I ran into two buskers in downtown Winston, the only street performance I saw at the whole festival.
Adrian and Julian, who go by “The Adventures of Sandman and Thunderdrum”, spend up to sixteen hours a day on the streets of Winston-Salem.
“We’re out here to remind Winston that it is the City of the Arts,” Julian told me.
It’s not difficult to find artists in our town. We’re home to a prominent art school (UNC School of the Arts), most bars host live music several nights a week and Trade St. is wall to wall art galleries. But most of us have to support our own art with day jobs, and few artists in Winston find a way to make full time work out of their art. Buskers may be rare, but when they show up in our town, they’re a welcome reminder that we should all be more focused on what really makes us artists.
Winston has a small but determined arts scene, and buskers like Adrian and Julian are on the front lines of the fight to expand and nurture that scene. Talented guys like these are rare, and appreciated.
More of Jack Pennington’s work on his Youtube Channel, and his website, tellchange.com (like this little gem):