Ladies were loving the trio Hooch Dog the other day. I was loving them but only because they were playing in the subway. Their busking rate of dollar aquisition was 2 dollars per minute during the short time I observed them. They had about a dozen white female art school types enthralled it seemed on the Brooklyn-bound side of the L-Train platform at 6th Avenue. Just to get a handle on how large their target demographic is at that station, consider this: that's the subway stop for Parsons, Pratt-Manhattan, The New School AND (sort of) NYU!
I gave a buck too, not for the twin saxophones but for the great drumming. Dude was definitely making the most of his one snare + one high-hat kit. How does Hooch Dog sound? In the subway they had the crowd on it's feet, rocking out with some simple, driving riffs. On record (stream Hooch Dog here free or buy for a buck) they are more tuneful. They compared well to my only reference point in this genre, is that other drum and sax trio, Bazooka, long gone.
Have you seen this video series on NYC buskers? so much fun: http://vimeo.com/channels/pocketchange
Posted by: Dave | January 05, 2011 at 10:27 PM