Ahhh the naked roller blading cowboy that plays guitar…
No I’m not kidding. Bonus points if you can name the city
Portland, OR?
Nah, Portland’s guy is the unipiper!
To far south, and a time zone over
Calgary?
So fucking close. Next city you’d think of after Calgary
Edmonton then.
Ding ding ding! We have a winner
Coeur d’Alene? Edit: just saw your name, I’m way off.
We had a local street person who was nicknamed Aqualung who was a fixture here from the mid 70s to the mid 00s. Fan of the local minor league team, very private person. Was a rumor that Nick Nolte studied him to prep for a part once.
Which came first, the song or the man?
We had the phone guy. He used to walk around town with a red plastic rotary phone, and occasionally tell passersby they had a call.
Then cellphones happened, and he just sort of… vanished.
It’s been a long time now, of course, but sometimes I still think of him and worry what it must have been like, being sort of outcompeted off his little self assigned ecological niche of sorts what must have felt like overnight. One day you’re the phone guy, next day everyone’s walking around with a phone on their ear, and you’re stuck with your old unplugged red rotary phone. Tragic.
Wow, that… that really makes you think. No wonder UFO nuts refuse to admit Roswell was revealed as Project Mogul in the 90s, their belief might be all they have left and if that’s somehow obsolete…
We call ours “the artist”. Older gentleman who walks around downtown always dressed completely in white linen. Sometimes he goes in somewhere for a nonalcoholic drink. Mostly he just people watches.
Is he an Ancient Greek time traveller or something? I swear, that would make for a kickass movie. “You all know the guy. Or girl. That one person in your town, or one of those people if it’s a city, in the impossible urban legend. They’re weird, possibly nice, possibly just creepy, probably mentally damaged.” montage of the other examples “This is ours. We called him the artist. Pretty mild, he just sat in coffee shops and watched people walk by. One day, though, our perception of him would change. Not just in this town, but in this timeline. This… is what happens When Worlds Divide.”
Crackhead Dan.
He started out as “dancing Dan” because of how often you could see him jamming out to something walking down the road, but he didn’t like the name. Somehow it changed to crackhead, and I haven’t heard his opinion on it.
He looks rather disheveled, leading many to wonder if he’s homeless or not. Nobody seems to know. I’ve never seen him panhandling, dumpster diving, or with anything other than a backpack.
He likes to support the city’s high school band though, goes to the football games and always goes to the band concession stand and leaves tips.
You could tell anyone any story about him and they’d just go “yeah that sounds about right”
You could tell anyone any story about him and they’d just go “yeah that sounds about right”
Should be added to the meke cause its a quintessential part of this trope lmao.
Richmond had Dirtwoman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Corker) until he passed away in 2017.
My town had Waving Save. He lived across the street from me when I was in high school.
He would walk the 5 miles to town every day most of the year. He would wave enthusiastically at every passing vehicle.
He was very pleasant but odd.
The city where I studied, had the Raven Man. He was an older guy with unkempt long hair and a long black coat that was always covered in bird shit and two live ravens tied to his coat with a long string.
Woah. Spooky. I hope the birds weren’t in pain, Ravens are corvids and basically some of the smartest and emotionally relatable birds.
Schreeuw Jezus (screaming/shouting Jesus) in Eindhoven, The Nederlands. Some guy shouting about Bible stuff and Jesus.
I was once sat at a pub by a canal on a pretty perfect summer afternoon. It was glorious weather, so all the outside tables were packed. Someone appeared opposite the pub, on the other side of the canal with an amplifier on wheels and a microphone. They set up and started speaking… But there was just a touch of wind, and they were on the other side of the canal… So other than the fact that they were probably talking about Jesus we couldn’t make out what they were saying at all. An awkward sermon for all involved.
Sounds like my man “Sneesus” at Dundas Square. “BbBEEEEELEEIVE IN THE LORD” everyday, same corner. Scaring the crap out of anyone who doesn’t know the intersection but otherwise never approaches or even gives a glance.
My town had “the cat guy” when I was growing up. A guy who would ride around town with his cat in a carrier strapped to the back of his bike. Everyone knew who he was.
Nervously looks for my city’s “guy” to see if anyone I know or could run into is on Lemmy
We have a couple of them. Bonsai Lady is my favorite. She just randomly shows in different parking lots and sets up a stand to sell her bonsai trees.
We also have the Denton Spider-Man who is a good dude who just wants to entertain kids.
We don’t talk about the conspiracy theory asshole who just takes up good parking spots to spread lies he wrote all over his car.
Lol, we had this guy in my hometown, except he didn’t wear a robe, he wore cowboy clothes with LEDs sewn into them. He was lit up like a Christmas tree.
My favorite in my city is shirtless rollerblading guitar guy. Exactly as advertised.
shrogu… can’t think of anything else ATM.
@TheMightyCanuck , is this the same guy?! It has to be.
Edmonton Alberta Canada, I doubt there are more than one Canadian shirtless rollerblading guitar guys out there. Though it would be kinda amazing if there were
Toronto had Zanta, a guy who wore red boxers, black boots and a Santa hat and did pushups on top of mailboxes and flexing while shoutting at passersby. If you knew him it was a fun spectacle but for most people he was aggressive and basically a creep.
He was mentally ill for sure, and had a pretty long sad story.
Any Zanta experts please speak up if you’d like to add more context. Pretty sure someone wrote a book or comic about the guy.
What about the singing guy?
