Abby........the spoon lady....26 degrees North.
Abby Roach is 'The Spoon Lady'.
An eccentric, toothless, tattooed, barefoot character who used to be a homeless tramp travelling all over America by hopping freight trains.
She is no dummy and is quite bright and very interesting. After quitting the 'Hobo' lifestyle she travelled for a while in a bright green mini school bus. Now, I understand she has bought a small house in Winchester, Kansas and still travels to perform on the streets.
She prefers to be toothless and barefoot and is definitely no dummy and has legislated for buskers rights in several East coast cities.
In Europe, busking, playing music or entertaining on the street has always been a tradition and are a feature of just about any town or village. Street organs and musicians, usually from Western Europe are common. Even a South American Peruvian flute group was seen in Arnhem for many years. In the states the 'Karens,' and other crazy forkers want to shut them down and run them out of town.
She plays in a pair of bib overalls and patchwork clothes and that is part of her schtick.
Here is a couple of links to just many YouTube videos.
She has been shut down because of the pandemic, but is a popular guest on podcasts and is being encouraged to write a book.
Abby fell into street performance and spoon playing when she was backpacking around the country, she said. During that time she became “obsessed with folk rhythm and culture and the stories surrounding.”
“I lugged around notebooks of handwritten stories and random digital cameras. I hitchhiked and rode freight trains around all 48 of the main states, figuring it out as I went,” she said. “Playing spoons seemed like the best way to fund myself around the country.”
A fellow traveler taught her how to hold the spoons and run them down her fingers, but the rest, she picked up on her own over the years, she said.
Born in Wichita, Kan., in 1981, Abby eventually found herself in Asheville, N.C.
“Asheville has always been a mecca for arts and culture,” she said. “Street performing in Asheville is a special thing — and the street performance scene is massively rich here.”
Abby is also the acting president of the Asheville Buskers Collective, an organization formed in 2014 to help promote and keep street performing legal in the Asheville area.
“My name is Abby and I’m a spoon player,” she said. “I’m not fancy, I’ve just learned to puff my chest out a bit.”
Currently, Abby performs with Chris Rodrigues, a one-man band and street performer who also resides in Asheville.
“We both enjoy playing in various venues, but mostly enjoy street performing. It grounds you, reminds you why you are playing music,” she said. “Playing music on the street creates opportunities for folks to experience things that they perhaps otherwise wouldn’t, such as a professional spoon player, a one-man band, a human statue, or other performances and genres of music outside of the everyday realm of the everyday person.”
Working as a street performer teaches you to become a sharp people watcher, she said.
“The reactions we receive are varied and entertaining,”she said. “Children dancing, people of all ages and walks of life, artists and art lovers all gather around — creating a moment of community — on the sidewalk.”
Abby says when the crowds on the street are full, it can feel very similar to being “wrapped in energy, protected in your own little world.”
“I use the bells at my feet to ‘talk’ to the crowd and I love to make funny faces,” she said. “I have the best job ever.”
Titbits:-
Google her for more info
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