On Friday evening, towards dusk, on the northeast corner of the courthouse square, Kid Kazooey was tickling the keys of a console piano and Ross Martinie Eiler was brushing out the rhythm on a snare drum.

Playing a set a bit earlier was Eiler’s trio, Martini’s Boogie Three, which adds a saxophone to the mix

I take it as an unmistakable sign that the pandemic is waning: Busking near the corner of Walnut and 6th in downtown Bloomington has returned. I can hear it from my apartment a half block east on 6th Street.

Earlier in the week, two young men, one on banjo and the other on guitar, launched into their rendition of “Folsom Prison Blues.” It’s the Johnny Cash tune that starts: “I hear the train a comin’, it’s rolling round the bend / And I ain’t seen the sunshine since I don’t know when.” Continue reading “Column: “Every song’s a piano tune!”” →