Police Interview Bucket Drummer At Gallery Place

Describing the pounding inarticulate noise he makes as “playing” is most charitable of you.

Just be thankful you haven’t been visited by the “midnight preacher” yet.

hey! remember the singing blind man with the cigar box in front of the old riggs bank at 9th and F? now, HE was loud.

Meh. Just admit you don’t like black people playing drums in public. I don’t think anybody would have a problem if he were a hot Asian woman in a cocktail dress playing Mozart on the viola.

I miss the buskers in the London tube. At least some of them were talented. All DC has are bucketboys and the occasional brass quartet at Dupont and the wandering mariachi flute guys.

Considering a non-amplified viola would produce less than 10% of the volume of our bucket drummer – you’re probably right.

The issue is that DC street performers have a volume problem. It’s either off or too loud.

at 601 M St NW is the world headquarters of The United House of Prayer for All People. they have a marching band that reherses frequently and can be heard at times blocks away. they play New Orleans type music but with a yankee twist.

Folks,

I live nearby – I don’t think the performer plays after midnight.

I also don’t think a person exercising his rights (this is America, last time I checked) deserved to be assaulted.

Deal with this the American way, people. Elect an ANC representative that cares, get the attention of City Council and change the District regulations.

The drummer has not been recently heard after midnight because the residents that live above the metro stop have evidently been effective in calling 311 after 10:30pm to get the police to get him to stop. Although, that doesn’t stop him from trying for a few minutes late at night.

Of course, that doesn’t help the residents who stand at the 70 & circulator bus stops during the day.

I like the drummer because the guys who play on the buckets and other “trash” are part of DC tradition. Anybody who’s been around this town for a long time can tell you that those guys used to be a lot more common than they are today. Plus, that’s a go go beat he’s drumming out — DC’s hometown music.

I sympathize with your not wanting somebody to play until midnight. He should stop at ten or so.

But if you didn’t want to live in the city, why did you move to the city?

Well 10 or so isn’t actually the law and if he’s playing loudly past the time allowed by law, then he deserves to get busted. It’s fine and dandy for you to say don’t live in the city when it’s noisy, but he’s not beating on a freaking bucket at 1am under your bedroom window. City or not, it’s against the law.

I don’t think an irate pedestrian should have cut him, unless of course he was attacking or abusing said pedestrian, but that doesn’t mean people who want to be loud can do so whenever and wherever they want, city residents or otherwise.

And that goes for that damn preacher guy too with his megaphone. I live in the city for the fun and convenience…but I also pay way too much damn money for those luxuries to not get to sleep soundly in my own apartment when I want to. He’s welcome to beat and preach or whatever all damned day but at night, time for quiet.

I don’t know if this is the same bucket drummer that sometimes sets up shop outside the metro center station (at the corner of 13th and G), but I can tell you that working in the office building above him gets very trying at times. I’m an urban dweller and ambient noise is nothing new to me. But hearing the incessant drumming while trying to concentrate generally ends up giving me a headache.

$1000 says GP Living moves back to Reston within the next 18 months.

“$1000 says GP Living moves back to Reston within the next 18 months.”

Oh please.

So I guess there is no such thing as an unreasonable level of noise in a city? Give me a break. I’ve lived in cities all my life. There IS a type of noise that infringes on one’s quality of life and should be limited and reasonable — not late at night or so loud people can’t work.

I think you are all missing the point here. This man got slashed with a knife. Irregardless of if his music is a nuisance to you, the fact that a person would attack another for something so trivial has to disturb you. Are you all so callous that in your drive to “remake” the neighborhood you are willing to tolerate violence like this?

You’re missing the point of the discussion which has nothing to do with the knife. What do we know about that, we have no details.

Let’s not assume the music/noise is the reason there was a fight/slashing (whatever it was).

Well, that’s the thing about living in a vibrant neighborhood. You can’t switch the vibrancy off light a light switch.

I think it’s a riot that you have people moving into condos on 17th Street in Adams Morgan and they’re shocked, shocked to hear noise coming from nightclubs. Same with those who move into condos above K Street in Georgetown and complain that there’s, like, this noisy freeway in their backyard and try and get it torn down. These people could move to a farm and complain that everything smells like manure.

BINGO monkeyrotica. some of the new people what to turn Gallery Place into Reston Town Center.

Monkeyrotica and Richard,

Nice high horse. But, who do you think is responsible for all of the money flowing into the city? I don’t see street performers and bucket drummers paying income tax. I don’t think the city’s administration wants the $$ leaving to move to out to Reston. The fact is that the District has been too lenient for too long with people making it difficult to live downtown. For people who want to be loud in public, there are laws that protect those rights–just like there are laws that tell them when they need to chill so the hard working citizens can get their sleep.

BTW, those people running the nightclubs in Adams Morgan need to bring their properties up to sound and fire code. That’s part of doing business. This city is full of cheapskate small business owners who disobey laws and always cry poor – all you need to do is look at the district’s cab drivers and their 1975 jalopies. Out.

Riiiight… those darn fools from the suberbs just don’t know how to live in a city.

So you old timers want to keep any and all noise, probably hate the new condos and I suppose, miss the “edgy” crime.

Something tells me you don’t even live in PQ/chinatown/east end…

“I like the drummer because the guys who play on the buckets and other “trash” are part of DC tradition. “

That’s ridiculous. Those bucket “drummers” were all over the downtown area when it was run-down, devoid of retail, and filthy. To me, they symbolize the bad old days of Marion Barry, the crack crime wave, etc. Living in a city doesn’t automatically mean you’re stuck in a George Pelecanos novel.

You all have GOT to be kidding!

The man was assaulted. Hope they catch whoever did it.

As for the noise, you all seem to be very up-in-arms about one guy drumming. However, where are the posts on the front page about illegal construction, illegal unloading into storefronts between 1 and 5 AM, illegal sidewalk cleaning at all hours?

It’s interesting that this allegedly free-thinking resident blogger focuses repeatedly on the black individuals in the neighborhood bothering him and “other residents” but NEVER talks a bad word about the outrageously uncoopoerative and illegal antics of commercial residents in the neighborhood. Anyone being paid off? Or paid for?

A quick update to this article: The man got cut over a dispute related to the man’s girlfriend.

So does that mean we can only complain if the violator is white? Or rich? Or a corporation? Oh, but what if the corporation is black-owned? Can we complain then? Or would you still cry “racism”? It’s all so confusing!! But seriously – sometimes it’s not always about race.

You want to be a muckraker of the corporate crimes, please dish. I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m an equal opportunity complainer.

As was previously stated, it is unfortunate that the guy plays his drum so late at night, but have any of you complaining on this forum ever asked him in person to tone it down? You’d be surprised at what can be accomplished with a little tact (without the assistance of 311). Also, go-go drummers are an integral part of DC’c culture, go-go being one of it’s only remaining unique musical forms. So when you talk about vibrancy of a neighborhood, you have to take the good with the bad. If you’re looking for a sleepy neighborhood convenient to the city, please move to Bethesda. As much as you may hate the vibrant, relentlessly energetic street drummer, you must realize that he is the heart of the city.

Anon: Again, yes, the individual has been spoken to on several occasions, several steps have been taken to get him to stop, and the last step probably has been permanently successful. Calling 311 was only mildly successful. The neighborhood was plenty vibrant before the drummer decided to set up shop on our corner and bring violence into our neighborhood.

Don’t worry, this blog isn’t one of those forums where people complain about things without doing anything about them.