'Takin it to the streets..'

Yesterday was Make Music New York day, a pretty cool idea in its fourth year, designed to celebrate the connection between musicians and open spaces across the city.

On Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn - outside Aunt Suzie's restaurant - in fact, I found Elissa Spencer and Samuel Stein, who together are The Great Republic of Rough and Ready. They sounded dive-bar-ishly mellow and I wanted to hear more, though maybe indoors might be more conducive. Their label describes their sound as "..lonesome, quiet and incisive. It delights in small silences."

I apologize to them for the sound quality here - the result of traffic noise and what was either a generator or air conditioner buzzing away on the sidewalk next to them, but even if this clip doesn't do them justice the folks watching, including me, were definitely appreciative.