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I created this article, so I want to say why I think this person is notable. First, he absolutely fails WP:Band. He has not been signed by a major label. Although his CDs are sometimes available on Amazon, they are not why he's well-known.

However, I think he is notable not for his music, but as a sort of New York attraction or icon. He has been written about by the New York Times, New York Post, and apparently is fairly well-known by people in the city. When he was ordered to unplug in 2000, the New York Times considered it significant enough to write an article, and people felt strongly enough about it to write letters to the editor. So he does seem to be fairly well-known.

In that regard, he is like The Naked Cowboy or other well-known New York performers - known more because he is a cultural attraction than because of the actual music. (Though I will say that I like his music - it's just not really why he's famous). As I see it, that differentiates him from the piles of autobiographical junk you see on here from "bands" and "artists" who are known only by their friends and who will fade off the scene in a few months or years.

I'd say he's well enough known to be notable, but since he's known more as an "icon" than as a musician, there's not much objective evidence of notability (such as record sales) other than the press coverage. Please let me know if you disagree. --TheOtherBob 17:57, 27 September 2006 (UTC) (edited --TheOtherBob 18:08, 27 September 2006 (UTC))Reply

Someone's added "citation needed" and "weasel word" tags, so I added some cites and removed the tags. I believe everything comes from a series of NY Times articles - but I don't have a NY Times Select membership to go back and add the cites. Does anyone have such a membership? If so, could you check the articles from July 28, 2003, May 15, 2000, and June 15, 1992? A reprint of the July 28 one appears on http://www.theguitarsite.com/news/news_detail.asp?ID=36, so I've used that for now - but a direct cite would be better. (I also don't have a citation for the attendance / New York icon thing - it seems like the Times had said that, but I can't access it to tell.) --TheOtherBob 18:58, 6 April 2007 (UTC)Reply

I've just added the free URLs for the New York Times articles, now that the New York Times has opened up their archives from 1987. I also removed the last remaining "citation needed" tag as I wasn't sure what it was doing there. Graham87 15:58, 8 June 2008 (UTC)Reply

Tone of this article has changed to be less encyclopedic

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It's not quite at the point where it needs warning templates, but it's become more and more promotional in nature. I also noticed that User:Noregretsever is one of the primary contributors, but has not edited any other articles. dm (talk) 02:47, 14 May 2010 (UTC)Reply