Taking It to the Streets

The Urban Stage of Vigilante Guitarist Bruce Goldish

by Sarah Hammill

If a city is defined by its bustling streets and the streets
are, in part, defined by the people who tread them, then street
performers — who spend more hours pounding the pavement than the
average passerby — are central to a city’s identity. The service
they provide is often thankless — a couple of dollar bills in an
upturned hat ain’t much — but without our Mason B. Masons or
shadowed saxophone players, our sidewalks might be just
sidewalks.

Fortunately for us, the streets of Santa Barbara have long been
home to an ever-changing lineup of musicians and performers. Often
we don’t know their real names, instead referring to them by their
trademarks. There’s the boisterous, dreadlocked drummer who stakes
out late-night State Street. There’s the cross-dressing trumpet
player whose haunting notes have, on occasion, stopped me in my
tracks. And now, there’s the parking complex guitar player,
otherwise known as Bruce Goldish.