Capitol Hill Street Drummer Joe Buckets Couldn't Beat the Law

Joe Buckets suffered legal repercussions for his street drumming. Dave Segal

If you’ve walked around The Stranger’s dreaded two-block Capitol Hill radius in recent months, you may have heard and seen the most excellent drumming of Joe Buckets (probably not his real name). This thirtysomething-ish white dude brought the funk. I’ve dropped some bills in his callused hands on many occasions—that’s how tight he is. But while out walking on my lunch break today, I noticed two signs on the sidewalk—one in front of Starbucks on Broadway and Pike and another outside of the Comet Tavern a block east—that conveyed a disturbing bit of news. If you can’t read the words in the photo, it says: “Hi I’m Joe Buckets. On Saturday Seattle Police aressted [sic] me & took my drumset 4 playing it. Fuck S.P.D.”

A call to Sergean Sean Whitcomb to get more information about the case failed to turn up anything, as the drummer's pseudonym and lack of a case number hindered progress. However, a January 30 post on Capitol Hill Seattle blog about bucket drummers disturbing neighbors with their late-night/early-morning beats suggests that the gritty percussionist likely got nabbed for violating a noise ordinance. Street musicians like Joe Buckets can keep great time, but they need to display more awareness of the actual time.