San Francisco’s ‘Bucket Man’ has Died at Age 64
Whether you recognize the name “Bucket Man’ or not, you’ll definitely recognize what he sounded like. For decades Larry “The Bucket Man” Hunt played drums, buckets, pots, and frying pans downtown San Francisco, usually near the Powell Street Bart entrances, you know, where the Westfield Centre, Bart station, and the cable car turnaround form a triangle of tourism traffic…
Larry appeared on “America’s Got Talent” and in the Will Smith movie, “Pursuit of Happyness.” He’s originally from Kansas but has been busking in the Bay since the 1980’s, there have been dozens of impromptu interviews and documentaries made about him and countless social media posts about his drumming over the years.
He even added a fire show to his act, where he’d light his drumsticks on fire and lick the flame. Sometimes he played with a bass player, sometimes with a traditional set of drums, and sometimes with a dozen or so 5-gallon buckets, but rain or shine Larry was out on there hustling.
Busking is hard work. On the streets you can get your equipment or your tips jacked, you can have the cops called on you repeatedly, often you have to compete for prime locations with other buskers and vendors, and you get fucked with in every imaginable way, it’s a hard life.
At one point so many store owners complained about his drum playing that the cops arrested Larry, and while in jail he lost his apartment, and was homeless for two months, before a fellow musician put him up at their place and got him back on his feet.
Reporter Nora Mishanec interviewed a friend of Larry’s this week, Brian Compton, a fellow street musician and bassist that Larry played with over the years, starting on the UC Berkeley Campus and then downtown SF. Compton said friends were organizing a memorial service at the end of the month that would incorporate the pots and drums that Hunt was famous for.
Chronicle columnist Heather Knight did a story and podcast recently about SF buskers coming back after COVID quieted the streets, she mused that Larry and other street performers are “The underrated heartbeat of S.F.”
Larry ‘The Bucket Man’ Hunt passed away this week at age 64, the SF coroners did not release a cause of death but they confirmed it.
So next time you see a drummer working an SF sidewalk, throw them a fiver and tell them “this one’s for Larry”.
RIP Bucketman, your rhythms will be missed.
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3 Comments
Hello I currently work at the building Larry Hunt resided at and I can say that everyone in the building including staff and residents are devastated by the sudden passing of Larry🙏❤️
My heart breaks to heat of Larry’s passing. At only 64 too! When I got my first “big break” working at the Handlery near the corner of Powell St. & Geary St., Larry was the soundtrack to my daily hustle of lifting bags for tips as a bellman. I always made it a point to stop and give him a dap, ask how he was doing and throw him a few dollars from my day’s take. Sometimes I would stand there for 10-15 minutes and watch him work his musical magic in awe. They had just filmed ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ a year or so before I started and he had a candid picture of himself with Will Smith that he taped with pride to the back of his drum kit and never got tired of taking about his experience on set. When I saw the movie, I even screamed out “there’s Larry!!!”. Such an amazing man. Certain guests would complain about his being a “nuisance” but they were obviously out-of-towners. And that Jimi Hendrix-esque funk band he would play with sometimes could really slay! So, so sad to hear about this. When he was forced to move down to Powell St. BART, I felt it was never the same. Definitely pouring one out for Larry later today at dusk when his unique talents would start playing the soundtrack of my work day. RIP Larry!
My heart breaks to heat of Larry’s passing. At only 64 too! When I got my first “big break” working at the Handlery near the corner of Powell St. & Geary St., Larry was the soundtrack to my daily hustle of lifting bags for tips as a bellman. I always made it a point to stop and give him a dap, ask how he was doing and throw him a few dollars from my day’s take. Sometimes I would stand there for 10-15 minutes and watch him work his musical magic in awe. They had just filmed ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ a year or so before I started and he had a candid picture of himself with Will Smith that he taped with pride to the back of his drum kit and never got tired of taking about his experience on set. When I saw the movie, I even screamed out “there’s Larry!!!”. Such an amazing man. Certain guests would complain about his being a “nuisance” but they were obviously out-of-towners. And that Jimi Hendrix-esque funk band he would play with sometimes could really slay! So, so sad to hear about this. When he was forced to move down to Powell St. BART, I felt it was never the same. Definitely pouring one out for Larry later today at dusk when his unique talents would start playing the mid-way thru my work day. Seems like we’re losing more and more of the uniqueness that makes SF what it
it is. RIP Larry!