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NOTE: We have moved to Journalimage.com from Feb 2008. Please visit us on the new site & update your bookmarks.

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The weekend prior to Presidents Day, while New York city, like the rest of the country was busy rushing from store to store buying as many items on sale as possible, a few young people were out on the chilly streets in Broadway trying to make a difference to the almost 50 thousand homeless, one person at a time.

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All they asked for was a dollar. But the busy shoppers were even more keen to escape the fright of being asked for a donation. Albeit, changes could be brought by a few and rejoiced by all.

To add to the whole act of a desperate crook, they even went ahead and wrote obnoxious statement on Craig. No wonder they had no reference to what they were writing. Here is a link to Craig’s image on the post on Music Nation – http://mnmedia.musicnation.com/Blog/2008/080124/oldmanclarinet.jpg

Here is the  original post on my blog, made on15th August 2007.

http://nonphotographer.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/san-francisco-street-artists-clarinet-by-craig/

I could think of the people behind this website of Musicnation.com to be no less than cheap and have no respect for either the music or the musician. Here is the post I am referring to – http://musicnation.musicnation.com/blog/2008/02/street-musicians-part-ii & the last image on that post is that of Craig.

They don’t realize that we could easily make a watermark on these images. However, we do not do that so that the readers get to see the image at its best!

We are on the second day of our cross country winter drive, from California on the West US coast, to New York in the East US coast. It is a total distance of about 3,000 miles, with a minor diversion to Jackson, WY. Here is our planned route for the drive.

Driving Route from California to New York @ photoduniya.com

We have crossed California into Reno, NV on Day 1 and we’ve reached Salt Lake City, UT on Day 2. As I write, it is snowing here and more is to come tomorrow morning as we head out north to Jackson, WY.

Since our hotels have not been booked in advance, we are checking in at any location as fits the situation and the time. I shall elaborate the drive later, but wanted to keep my readers posted on my trip and the location.

Day 1 in Reno, NV in winter on New Year 2008 eve @ photoduniya.com

With all the snow and the glitter around, Reno was all set to bring in the new year 2008 with the great festivity and color. It started to snow in the evening and the winds brought the wind chill to single digits. While we move on our drive, we wish Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to all my readers!

Craig with his Clarinet and Saxophone is not new to my readers. I have now known him for about three or four months now. This is the first time where I found Craig in completely different color! More sombre and more serious in his black attire.

Craig on the Clarinet @ photoduniya.com

A few of these images will be uploaded on the Projects section of Photoduniya.com.

The musicians who I have been meeting and photographing for the last one year has more to think of than just music. Playing on the streets and attracting the law keepers is in itself a big challenge. While normally the policemen do not prevent the musicians from playing, it is not so legal to earn money like that. In a way, that act becomes very similar to peddling or hawking, and hence illegal.

Playing within a private property is not allowed. And music which requires electrical boom boxes raise the sound level and hence has its own restrictions.

Think of it. Right in front of Macy’s, where thousands are shopping shoes and fancy clothes for hundreds of dollars, and a musician playing for four hours could make about a hundred dollar if he is very lucky! What a shame! Over and above that, the paid private security also flexes their muscles whenever they can.

Good news! Early this month, the San Francisco Port Authority acknowledged the Street Musicians and plans to certify them to play, entertain and sell their work on streets. You could read more on the San Francisco Street Musician’s Guild page. The detailed plan is now being worked upon by the authorities and the musician’s representatives.

Bright colors, loud music and beer were the instruments behind the upbeat mood of the 34th Annual Castro Street Fair held on October 7 2007. Photographed here is Laura, who was born in the beautiful land of Kashmir but then traveled all over finally to settle down in San Francisco. She now works for a charity that helps kids and toddlers and thrives on the brightness of the colors.

Castro Street Fair @ photoduniya.com

The image was taken on hand held Nikon D200 on Lexar pro media card. A few of these images will be uploaded on the Projects section of Photoduniya.com.

Update: San Francisco Street Artists (0507-001) on Photoduniya.com

Lei plays a variation of the traditional Chinese Suona, a shorter version for the high pitched notes, popularly called the Haidi (or sea-flute). The Suona, also known as laba, is a wind instrument with particularly discrete notes, designed and used to mimic numerous birds’ music.

Lei playing the Suona @ photoduniya.com

Lei carries 2 of these instruments with him, one for the high and one for the graver notes. That apart, he also plays the Ehru, an extremely common 2 stringed instrument, passed onto the modern musicians from the early Chinese cultures.