By Jodee Taylor
TRAVERSE CITY -- Think the film festival needs more cowbell?
Pull on the neck of Jim O'Keefe's banjo.
O'Keefe, who calls himself "Mr. JoJangles," is a one-man band with a banjo, a drum, cymbals, harmonica, tambourine and, yes, cowbell. His drum is attached to his right foot by a strap, the cymbals to his left foot and the cowbell to the banjo neck. What looks like a two-step shuffle actually is the band in motion.
He's one of the street performers, or buskers, who are taking to the pavement during the Traverse City Film Festival for an audience of art-lovers.
"It's a whole different atmosphere," said Hillar Bergman, a balloon artist and fiddler. "We're seeing people from all over the world. It's a crowd that's more appreciative of the arts.
"It's like Ann Arbor, Berkley, Cannes all wrapped up into one."
Bergman paid the $40 fee to the City of Traverse City for a street-performers permit and has been a regular during Cherry Festival, film festival and Friday Night Live. He leaves an open violin case for donations and says he does "OK."
Will Marsh, 21, studies in California during the school year but comes back to his hometown of Traverse City in the summers. He sat across the Jay Smith Walkway from Bergman on a sunny afternoon, playing his sitar and drawing an eclectic crowd of sometimes-mystified people.
"It's really fun to play," Marsh said. "Everyone reacts differently. The biggest fans are young children. They start dancing and their parents put a dollar in the jar."
Marsh said, "For just playing and having fun, I can make $20 in a couple hours."
Tim Boursaw, who lives on the Old Mission Peninsula, was only in his third day of being a busker. He plays at the Old Mission General Store most weekends, but had never played downtown.
"I just like to play and I like to sing," he said. He teams up with Bergman on most songs and said he's happy if he makes gas money from the crowd's donations.
Mary Forester, of Minocqua, Wis., said she always gives street performers money.
"Anywhere I go, even if I only listen for one second," she said. "I like his spirit. I like anyone's spirit."
