Today I was walking down Southbank from the Royal Festival Hall to the Tate Modern, then on the Millennium Bridge I was arrested by the sound of music. I stopped to see where it was coming from and was amazed to see a guy up to his knees in the river singing at a microphone, also in the river.
I think over half the people watching were curious as to whether he would electrocute himself! His songs were great, especially the one about his favourite pen, in which he laments that now he has to get pens from factories instead of geese and in which he says he will go on holiday to a pen factory and stay in a hotel. Another great song is one where he says he goes to his local shop to buy something, when he sees that there is only tins of peas and spaghetti left, and there's a huge queue for them. Why is there such a queue? The credit crunch is the culprit.
The highlight of his songs, were the bits between lyrics when he was just strumming his electric guitar and wiggling his hips like crazy, creating great ripples in the water around him. It was also exciting to see what happened whenever a wave drew near - would it reach his amp on shore...?
The busker had a great way of attracting money for his music. On the stony shore he had placed a cloth with his name Flame Proof Moth on top of different coloured circles, like a bulls eye. So people could throw money for the music or simply to see how good their aim was!
The musician himself, with his wetsuit over a shirt and a pair of cheeky sunglasses, cut an impressive quirky image. His folky, speech like singing, with the tone of a ballad and hilarious falsettos is very distinctive and unique.
London never ceases to amaze me with such unique events occurring when you least expect them. I hope to see Flame Proof Moth again soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment