Michael Stack, a 13-year Pearl Street busking veteran, sits down for a rest between songs on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colorado, on Sept. 10, 2026. (Photo by Josh Loehr)
Life as a pearl street performer
By Josh Loehr
Lined with high-end retail stores, Michelin-star restaurants and $14 cocktail bars, Boulder, Colorado’s Pearl Street Mall has buzzed with commercial activity since 1977.
The mall’s street performers, often called buskers, provide the soundtrack to this buzz. Outside of stores selling 12 ounces of honey for $30 and ski jackets for $1,200, far less economically profitable buskers focus on bringing spirit and paying bills.
“Busking has always been a part of my life whether I knew it or not,” said performer Joel De La Vega.
Vega began drumming at age 4 in his family’s gospel band. At 17, Vega and his family were visiting San Francisco when he heard a bass saxophonist playing on the street corner. Right then and there, he thought, “I’m gonna do that.”
Vega began his career in Austin, Texas, where he shrugged off death threats and dodged beer bottles, but now he plays in Boulder.
“I am so much more blessed and grateful to play here, to play to kids and families,” said Vega.
He has been playing on Pearl Street for over 12 years with a drum kit made of broken water bottles, abandoned license plates, flasks and assorted trash.
“There is a lot of money here; I have had record days … especially with how generous people are here,” said Vega.
He stays on Pearl Street and skips over other Boulder neighborhoods to avoid “taking money out of the college kids’ pockets.”
Because Vega’s drum kit is in a perpetual state of artistic evolution, he believes he is too. By incorporating new items into his kit.
“There are never-ending avenues for new sounds,” he said.
Michael Stack, another Pearl Street musical veteran, started his career by playing guitar in the Chicago subway.
He stayed in Chicago for 25 years, but came to Boulder 13 years ago because “the Rocky Mountains are better than the subway.”
Stack is now eyeing the end of his time as a street musician.
“I have made it my life’s work to do this for a living. I pay my rent and my bills doing this, but I’m getting old, and I’m exhausted,” he said.
In contrast to Vega and Stack’s veteran musical performances stands 17-year-old artist Emerson Beckham.
Beckham views street performance as incredibly important, and wishes people would take the time to “stop and listen … it really brings life to so many places.”
Beckham brings life to Pearl Street with his 90-second caricature drawings.
“I’m here almost every day, and it gets a little easier every time,” he said. “I’d rather be doing this than sitting on my phone all day.”
Beckham dreams of directing films. For the last three summers, his caricatures have paid for his plane tickets to Ireland, where he attends a film study program.
“I’m awesome, so I think that helps,” said Beckham.
