Doug Clark: Psychedelic flashbacks, bucket thieves on camera and other highlights from Street Music Week

The future of Street Music Week tracked me down Wednesday inside the Red Robin restaurant. I was grabbing a late lunch when he stuck one of our red collection buckets under my nose.

I couldn’t help but notice that the receptacle was filled with an impressive number of bills.

The future of Street Music Week then asked me if I wanted to know how much he’d collected for Second Harvest food bank while rocking during the noon hour on the sidewalk outside River Park Square.

“$126.56,” announced Blake Busch, when I nodded in the affirmative.

Busch is a 12-year-old sixth-grader at Horizon Middle School. Except when he picks up his Fender Stratocaster, that is.

Then he becomes an old soul with wise fingers, and …

ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!

We momentarily interrupt today’s coverage of the 15th annual Street Music Week with an update on the bike rider who stole a bucket of food bank donations on Monday from a family of gospel bluegrass musicians.

To paraphrase the late Allen Funt:

“Smile, punk, you’re on Candid Camera.”

No kidding. A security camera outside the Chase Bank building at 601 W. Main Ave. recorded the pilfering as it happened.

The Spokesman-Review

Talk about being caught red-bucket handed. With this sort evidence, I’m hoping the biker’s identity will surface. The police can take it from there.

Members of the Wyrick family figured they had $100 in their bucket when it was snatched.

Street Music Week, which continues during the noon hours through Friday, puts volunteer entertainers on sidewalks in the downtown, the historic Garland District and in Coeur d’Alene to raise money to help feed the hungry.

Special thanks go to Jim Lyons, my pal and street music amigo. He contacted Jon Chandler, the 601 Building’s chief engineer, who was good enough to locate the exact moment from the security footage and give Lyons a DVD copy.

Let’s hope that some sort of justice prevails.

Now back to Blake Busch. This kid has real talent and crazy love for those old guitar-driven rock bands like Van Halen, AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses.

Busch already has his own band, as well. The Pineapple Bagel Conception, he calls it.

That sounds like something out of my Psychedelic Sixties generation.

Speaking of psychedelic flashbacks to another dimension, Joe Shogan made good on his vow to confront a microphone on Wednesday at my spot near Starbucks.

He then sang that early punk classic from The Sonics, “The Witch.”

The former Spokane City Council president deserves a lot of credit for bravery as well as a Gong Show-worthy performance.

Not to be outdone, Ben Stuckart, Spokane’s current council president, and Councilwoman Karen Stratton appeared shortly after Shogan’s departure. They sang a spirited yet highly free-form version of the Sonny and Cher chestnut, “I Got You Babe.”

The musical bar will certainly be raised Thursday when Peter Rivera, former lead singer of Rare Earth, comes again to the Starbucks location.

And don’t miss the special free celebration Thursday night (7-9 p.m.) at the Garland Theater. There will be some great live acts as well as a reprise of “The Witch” by Shogan.

On Friday, Tim Lorentz will be downtown during the noon hour to give rides in his famed boat car for $100 donations to Second Harvest.

Hearing about this once-in-a-lifetime offer, one veteran street minstrel asked me if Lorentz would take him over the roaring Spokane Falls for an extra fifty.

This seems like a good enough place to drop anchor.

See you at Street Music Week.