When I was at Escape from Alcatrz some dude had this piece of a bush that he held in front of him. he would crouch down on the sidewalk then spring out and yell at people, scaring the tar out of them.
My man got me bad, I nearly shat myself.
For those of you guys who have done Alcatraz, were you ever set upon by the Bush-man of Alcatraz? I mean, it is only a matter of time before some dude hauls off and clocks the guy.
Annoying. But entertaining. Having fallen victim I figured I earned the right to enjoy the twisted humor on subsequent victims.
On a more constructive note, is the fella who stacks up the rocks across from the Chocolate sign- that big Ghirardelli sign? That guy is cool.
I was there about 5 years ago. I watched him for about 10 minutes and laughed my ass off. It was so entertaining I dropped $5 in his bucket. I’d bet in the 10 minutes I watched him he made well over $25. He might be the smartest bum on the planet.
This guy got me really good once. Never again. I run down the wharf quite a bit. The first time I was jogging along, minding my own business and bam he nails me. I screeched like a 12 year old girl and jumped about 10 feet. My reaction made a crowd of like 12 tourist very happy. I was really pissed at first but you have to let it go or you end up looking like the jerk.
Now whenever I’m in the area I watch for him and have seen him get quite a few other people. Its pretty funny.
I’ve seen the rock guy work as well. Really incredible what he does. There is a short video called rivers and tides that is about an artist named Andy Goldsworthy in Alaska or somewhere who does the same sort of stuff but on a huge scale. Pretty cool.
Also saw a guy on Las Ramblas in Barcelona one time that did the same thing as the “bush man of Alcatraz” but dressed in a full gorilla costume. People would stand around and watch him scare the hell out of tourists, jumping out from behind bushes, etc pounding his chest and screaming. He’d collect a few bucks from the crowd, go drink it up in a bar, and come back out to do it again.
Had a college fraternity buddy that was a kung fu blackbelt of some sort. one night some pledges tried to kidnap him by pouncing on him from some bushes. A broken jaw and crushed knee later (the pledges) he finally figured out it was a pledge trick.
Yeah, he got me two years ago when I was heading over there to meet my cousins from Enn Zed and I should known better because I’ve seen his act too many times.
But I have fond memories of the street “performers” that have flocked to the area since I was a kid. I used to really like the Human Jukebox. He was this guy in an artfully painted and decorated cardboard box and you could put a dime in the box and he’d do a song on a harmonica or a kazoo or something.
Too much. Between SF and Berzerkley I get more than my fill of local color.
