My name is Steven Bacon and I make my living as a subway performer street performer in Boston.

I've been using Fishman pickups and amps for the past 10 years. I'm currently saving up for the new improved Rare Earth Blend, which I think is the best system available. I intend to use the mic for my quiet gigs, magnet for playing in the subway, on the street, with the band or using effects and blend for anything in between.

My Story

A recent independently produced movie has given me great inspiration and the much needed strength to keep on keeping on. The movie is called "ONCE" and stars Irish singer songwriter Glen Hansard (lead singer of The Frames), as a down and out street performer, with big dreams (sound familiar?). Glen costars with songwriter Marketa Irglova who plays the nontraditional love interest with hopes and dreams of her own.

One of the many amazing things about this movie is that the stars, Glen and Marketa, wrote and performed all the music in the movie. Although this movie only had a budget of $150,000, Glen and Marketa went on to win an Oscar for best song in a movie (for Falling Slowly), and a Grammy as well (all in 2008).

So how do I fit in with all this? Well, when I heard they were coming to town (Boston, Agannis Areana, 9-19-08), I bought tickets and when the day of the concert came (last Friday) I set up my street performing gear outside of the arena and proceeded to play all day in hopes of meeting Glen and Marketa.

After about 3 hours of playing I met a kindred spirit named Peter Olson. He had met Glen at a previous show and wished me well with my adventure. Soon after, the arena security staff politely kicked me off the premises, since it's against policy to have street performers on BU property. They were cool and said, "We don't care if we hear you, it's just the policy of where you are... Why don't you go across the street and no one will bother you." I gotta say that's the most pleasant getting kicked out experience i've had to date! I was thinking about just packing up and leaving, but I decided to keep soldiering on, so I found a condemned shop with garbage bags covering the windows and set up outside of there, thinking I would be safe for a few hours here.

About 10 minutes later, I'm singing and playing with my eyes closed and when I open them I see Glen and Marketa Standing in front of me with big smiles and kind eyes. Glen throws me a tip, we talk about busking, I blabber incoherently about how much of an inspiration he is to me and tell him I have tickets to the show. Glen and I shake hands and he asks if I'll have all my gear inside the show and then says, "We'll see you inside!" And I say, "I'll see you inside, but you probably won't see me!" We both laugh. It turns out that Peter Olson, who I had just met in the previous hour, ran into Glen and Marketa and sent them my direction. Peter also followed them and took pictures with his iPhone of our encounter. Afterwards Peter said if I hadn't moved (aka gotten kicked out), Glen and Marketa probably wouldn't have found me.

So I play for a few more hours, and I'm on cloud 9... (it's now been 5 or 6 hours of busking....can't feel hands, gotta pee, losing my voice, ... all the usual stuff.) Finally it's time to see Glen and Marketa perform so, my wife and I head off to see the show.

My wife is pretty concerned they won't let me in with all my gear because she went and checked while I was playing and saw the list of non-allowed items, and I had about half of them (like large bags, metal poles aka my mic stand etc...). I have a feeling they'll let us in so off we go to find out.

When we get to the entrance, the security guard gives me what I think is a --great, another one of these guys-- looks. Instead of showing me the door, he pauses and says, "Oh hey, are you the guy who's been playing outside? Is that a Martin guitar you were playing? I play one too... you sound great! Yeah... This guy is alright, let him in." So, no problem getting in and I've got a new friend to boot.

We finally manage to get to our seats in the dark, no small feat with all my gear, and we enjoy Patty Griffin's opening set.

Next, Glen and Marketa come on with Glen's band the Frames. They are astounding, amazing, mind blowing, beautiful, inspiring, original, soulful, full of depth and raw talent. They play some of their big hits (including Falling Slowly) and then everyone leaves the stage except for Glen. He plays a solo song and then says: "So, we were walking around Boston today and we met this busker. He was fantastic... I think his name was Steven.... now everyone please be quiet for a second.... Steven are you here?"

"Yeah.. I'm here!" I stand up and lift my guitar high over my head like an Olympic weight lifter (caught up in the moment, I was...). The crowd begins to cheer and Glen says, "LET'S HAVE A REAL BUSKER UP ON THE STAGE! STEVEN COME UP AND SING US A SONG!"

I think this was the point were I my heart stopped beating and I began to choke on my giant pretzel...

So, the crowd keeps cheering and I run up to the stage. I make eye contact with about a zillion people on the way who are as caught up in the moment as I am. The guards let me on stage... and there's Glen to great me with a warm smile. I hug Glen and the crowd cheers. Glen says, "Hey, do you want to use my guitar, it's already plugged in?" Side note, this is the guitar Glen played in the movie, and it's famous.... I dream about that guitar... Do I want to play it? Yeah, I want to play it! I want to marry it and raise saplings together... I want to fight crime with it... I want to take it to the zoo, take it to the movies, knit sweaters for it , paint it's picture, and celebrate Arbor Day with it... (Ok I'll stop there). Of course Glen knows how exciting playing his guitar would be for me, and it's another kind and thoughtful gesture on his part.

Fumbling through my guitar case...

To Be Continued...