The Walkman Guy. Generally found roaming the OSU area, he is always wearing a Walkman and frequently sings along to whatever he’s listening to, in an EXTREMELY LOUD VOICE. He is partial to Pat Benatar and once treated a six-block area around Lane and High to his rendition of “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”.
The Guy in a Hurry. Skinny blond-haired guy who wears a blazer. Is always smoking a cigarette and walking briskly up and down High Street, looking as though he is late for an important meeting. I used to think he was just a really busy guy, the first 40 times I saw him.
The Man Who Believes He’s Nat King Cole. Circulates through several subway stations between 103rd and 116th Streets, on the 1/9 line in Manhattan. Sings; his roster includes “The Girl from Ipanema,” “Unforgettable,” and when the season comes, the song about chestnuts on an open fire, “The Christmas Song” I think. The thing is, he has this really odd, clipped way of phrasing when he sings and it can really grate on you some days. Other times, it’s sort of pleasant. I think he may simply be a street performer, because he seems to trade off with the guitar guys.
Well, Washington DC also has Korean hymn singing guy This guy is Korean, 30 or 40 something. He gets on the metro train, sings a hymn, then gets off at the next stop.
Growing up in Chattanooga, TN, we had Dan “The Man” Martino. He stood on various corners around town with anti-abortion signs-these signs happened to have pictures of aborted fetuses on them. I have to say that I found it thoroughly disgusting.
I can’t think of any off the top of my head here in Atlanta, though I’m sure they’re around.
Street Preacher Paisley: Fairly ordinary street preacher, except that he drives an old blue car completely covered in flourescent hand-painted paisley designs.
Cole (his real name): Big plaid, leather, and spike studded punk guy. Sounds just like Chris Farley. Claims to be from Manchester, England. Often rides the city bus where he loudly proclaims his views on how the liberals are screwing up the country, how he’s a nationalist “but not a national socialist”, and how English girls are easier.
Orange Juice Man: I’ve never seen him, but he is said to be the brother of a guy I went to high school with. Allegedly overdoes on LSD and now believes he is a container of orange juice. He is said to live in constant fear of spilling. As I have heard reports of other Orange Juice Men in cities from Milwaukee to Orlando, this would appear to be an unusually common delusion. I am personally am inclined to believe that OJM is an urban legend.
In Clearwater, there was a guy we called Fast Eddie. He was an old guy, maybe near 70, who would walk along East Bay Drive and you could see he was always talking to himself, but we were never sure about what. Then one day my brother saw him in a local tavern, and the mystery was solved. He apparently lost it when his wife passed away, and was still cursing her for leaving him. Just drank his beer and cussed her out, along the lines of “you bitch, you whore, why did you leave me…” Very sad.
When I worked in downtown Cincinnati there was a guy who I saw one day riding the bus in bib overalls, construction boots and hardhat, steel lunch pail but his shirt was a clown shirt, with attend broad stripes and ruffles around his neck and sleeves. At first I thought he had done the get up for some costume party, but multiple sightings later heard that he just rides the Metro buses all day.
Argh! One morning, when I was in the habit of taking Metro to work, I got Hymn Singing Guy when he got on the Yellow Line at Eisenhower Ave. He got off at the next stop. I transferred to the Blue Line at Pentagon, and not only did he get on my train there, he got in my car. It must have been Two-For One Day or something. Cripes.
In Palos Verdes we had the guy on the bike. He had Down’s syndrome and would sit on the side of PV Drive East on his bike wearing big yellow headphones, and sometimes he had a flag too. Every day, all day he would just sit there, straddling the bike, and watch the cars go by. Sometimes he would wave. He was totally harmless, we always assumed he lived with his family in the area.
Probably the most distinguished looney around here is the Berri-UQAM Beard Guy. He’s this astoundingly large individual with an immensely long beard which he has bound together with cord to make a long rope; he hangs out on the orange-line platform of the Berri-UQAM metro station in an open shirt and strikes up conversations with people. I’ve not had the, um, pleasure.
The Devil Man of Prague hangs out on the Charles Bridge, selling his self-portraits. He wears a pair of horns on his head and does paintings of himself with his tongue hanging out. He tried to talk me in to buying a portrait when I was there, but I just kind of brushed it off; kind of regret not buying one now, just as a conversation piece. Can’t say for sure if he can still be found there or not, but I imagine if he’s still alive, he’s still out there on the bridge.
Montreal has a guy like that as well-- he gets his feet up around his ears, and takes a full minute to cross the street.
The area around Philip square is also home to the Harmonica Lady. She’s been playing daily for at least ten years, but all she does is move the harmonica to the left, then the right, and back again. Wree-whroo, whree-whroo- for 8 hours a day.
I always look at her and think if she had bothered to learn a tune she’d be a virtuoso.
Vancouver has the pin guys. This pair hangs out around Granville Island, holding the one newspaper article written about their cause back in '95, trying to convince people to give them old pins (you know, like Olympics fans go nuts for). The pair then supposedly teach homeless youth how to make jewelry.
Minor hijack-- this doesn’t quite fit the thread. Apologies in advance.
Paris, France.
The city’s too big to really get to know the serial loonies, but one guy I’ve seen came immediately to mind when I saw this thread. I was in the middle of the city in a fairly touristy neighborhood sitting outside at a café when a very drunk man stumbling around in the middle of the street lights a torch, grabs a bottle of clear liquid, puts the liquid in his mouth and proceeds to blow flames. Huge freakin’ fireballs. He was naked from the waist up, couldn’t walk straight and I could not figure out how he managed to not burn himself. He came over to ask for change after the “show” and he reeked of gasoline-- he managed to explain in very slurred French that you couldn’t do this trick with anything but good ole gasoline. He then proceeded to walk (stumble) about 50 meters away before repeating the show. Apparently he’s a regular in the neighborhood. Not necessarily crazy, but definitely an odd sight in the normally flame-free streets of Paris…
you want to see odd … you see almost any street preformer you want to including various political groups
and some of them have been there for years
like robot man … this is a tall black guy that acts like one of the old robots you see at the fairs and such he even does the robot sounds
or chainsaw juggling comedy man … hes a student that does wise ass comedy while juggling chain saws and such
i dont know since the busineses made a stink about them not having business liscences and they passed a law that said you had to have one
wring, I know who you’re talking about! I served him once when I was volunteering at the Lansing Rescue Mission. He was a nice, quiet guy who just grabbed his plate and sat down - I remember him because I thought his policeman’s hat was adorable.
On the MSU campus we have Ernie the Can Man, who rides around on his bike decorated with garbage bags, looking for pop cans in the trash. He looks really scrubby and you’d thinkhe was homeless, but I recently learned he lives with his wife in a nice house just outside of East Lansing, and this is the job he’s paid to do on campus.
We also have Guy Who Hands Out Incense, who’s a chubby, bearded Arab guy who’ll give you incense for a few dollars and speak to you about all things mystic. Rumor has it he’s collecting the money for underpriviliged children in Afghanistan.
Columbia, MO has a cowboy guy, a black man in his 50’s/60’s who wears a cowboy hat, and waves and dances all the time. Completely harmless, but is ALWAYS out somewhere dancing by the side of the rode, waving at traffic.
Haverhill, MA: “Radio Joe” walked around downtown holding a transistor radio to his left ear and his right arm fully raised pointing and laughing at people driving or walking by.
Palm Springs, CA: The unnamed lady who would approach you for money, and if she didn’t she would get mad and start kicking your car.
Fitchburg, MA: “Evita” The older lady who walked around singing “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” then yelling “YOU KEEP YOUR DISTANCE!!!”
Boston, MA: “The Cigarette-Smoking Lady” I saw her several times in T stations - she would take one drag on a cig then toss it and light another one. and another. Saw her twice, both times she got on the same car and harangued people who told her not to smoke…everybody was a “fcking ahole”
Hey, I saw him on my one and only visit to Montreal in November - we were changing trains and he approached my girlfriend! He simply walked up to her and said “Bon Jour” - she glared an icy stare at him and he just turned and walked away.
New Orleans has plenty of these characters – I’m surprised they haven’t been mentioned yet.
The Duck Lady - an onery old lady who’d squat in front of various French Quarter businesses. She kept a few ducks as pets, and they’d follow her around on her strolls. She is, IIRC, recently deceased.
The Bean Lady - this old lady used to walk the downtown area handing “lucky beans” (dried butter beans) to tourists and office workers on the street. She was a multi-millionaire, and is also deceased.
The Silver Man - thin black fellow, who actually holds a license as a French Quarter street performer. He is very careful about not being seen out of his performance garb: silver body paint head-to-toe and skin-tight silver clothing. A sight to see on the bus line when he’s on his way to and from home. Several other French Quarter street performers have ripped Silver Man’s gig off (there is now a Golden Man, for example).
Football Guy - this guy plays football with himself on the median of a major intersection downtown. He’s a tall, athletic black man in his 30s. He looks likes he could play. Dressed in gym shorts & a muscle shirt, this guy hikes the ball to himself, throws the ball high into the air, and runs “pass patterns” underneath the ball he’s just thrown. He repeats this show for hours on end.
Hulk Hogan Look-alike - this guy looks like Hulk Hogan in the face and hairstyle, but is much smaller (though still muscular). Regardless of the weather, he wears the same yellow & black Spandex bodysuit day in and day out. He mainly just walks the streets of downtown muttering to himself. He walks with an unusual, deliberate high-striding gait.
He’s an endearing character that hangs around the clubs/bars in the Adams Morgan section of Washington, DC, and does just what his name implies - gives out compliments. I’ve only seen him once, but friends see him on a regular basis - he’s an older black man, presumably homeless, who dishes out compliments to women of all shape and stature all night long. Harmless, as far as I know.
