Last year, a busker who only knew how to play two songs -- Oasis' hit "Wonderwall" and Don McLean's classic "American Pie" -- was arrested.
According to the Telegraph, the guitar player was hauled off by British police after he threatened a pub landlord who had pleaded with him to learn how to play something else.
Well, that's certainly not going to happen to Collective Cadenza (known as 'cdza') -- the classical music buskers who have created a "fun and democratic way" for street musicians to interact with their audience.
The 'Human Jukebox,' as the project has been called, features members of the music collective busking with a violin, a double bass and a saxophone. As their name implies, the "human jukebox" plays songs on demand -- ensuring that their audience never gets bored.
Audience members are encouraged to "request" songs by putting money into jars -- each marked with the name of a composer, performer or musical style. Whether it's Bach, Michael Jackson or Lady Gaga, it seems the cdza virtuosos can do it all.
For a few months now, cdza has been making waves on the interwebs with their creative and comedic YouTube videos.
From the "History of Lyrics That Aren't Lyrics," which -- of course -- had no lyrics and the "History of Whistling," featuring their resident whistler Eric Rivera, cdza has dazzled and tickled with their tongue-in-cheek musical numbers.
The brainchild of TED talker and Boing Boing collaborator Joe Sabia and a couple of his talented young friends, cdza sees the coming together of many young musicians -- many of whom hail from acclaimed music schools like Juilliard.
"Essentially, the vision of putting Juilliard-trained, virtuoso, NYC-based, early 20-something musicians into one-take, medley driven musical experiments. Their talent is amazing, and videos like these will hopefully provide a new platform for audience discovery," Sabia told Boing Boing earlier this year.