I have seen buskers before in the real world, but most of the images which come to mind at the word are cinematic. Dim, often green hued scenes from movies or TV shows set in places I've never been: train and subway stations in cities like Chicago and New York.

I was not thinking of these images or people as I began my trek from Chicago's O'Hare airport to downtown via the CTA, but as I ran across them they became integral bits of my experience of Chicago, and on my flight out of O'Hare later that day, I ended up making notes about the ones I came across.

Walking to the CTA station in the O'Hare airport there was an older white lady playing a strange, multi-bodied stringed instrument with a bow. It looked like something from a Picasso painting, and between my rush to get to the train and my surprise at the appearance of the instrument, I paid no attention at all to what it sounded like.
When I got off the train at a stop putting me closest to the Chicago Art Institute, there was a Polynesian man playing old time Americana on a guitar - This Land Was Made For You And Me, or some such. He had a capo on the first frets, his guitar case opened at his feet, and no one paying any attention.
At a beautiful plaza downtown, about a block from the train station, while people in suits were taking their lunch breaks and a group of tourists received instruction about one of the many large sculptures I saw installed in such spaces, an African American man played the saxophone to an audience of one Hispanic woman. He was accompanied by a prerecorded instrumental track on a nice boombox as the lady recorded the performance on her phone. An oddly private performance in the midst of such communal, almost tidal, activity.
Looking for a place to grab lunch, I came across a dentally challenged caucasian man sitting on the side walk outside a pharmacy playing AC/DC on an old, barely functional tape deck. He sang along, loudly, passionately, and poorly, while shaking a styrofoam cup of change to the beat. It was difficult to tell if he were busking, begging, or simply having a wonderful day.