“Hey there!” David Pollack hollers into the microphone in the direction of a passing cyclist, halfway through his acoustic set. “Nice day for a ride!” he shouts before slipping back into an Elvis Costello cover.
The moment unfolds in front of a laid-back crowd on Rainbow Road at SE 28th and Ankeny where the nonprofit Curbside Serenade kicked off “Kernside Serenade,” a slate of pop-up shows featuring local musicians, held every third Sunday through October.
It’s one of several free outdoor music series the organization hosts in public parks and pedestrian plazas across the city. Along with Kernside Serenade, Curbside’s impressive slate of programming also includes weekly Mount Tabor Mondays, Thursday at the Park each week at Laurelhurst, weekly Sundays at Director Park, and performances every first Saturday at St. Johns Farmers Market.
Pollack, a Curbside cofounder, is emphatic that their shows remain all-ages, donation-based, and publicly accessible. “The magic of these shows is that you stumble upon them,” Pollack says. “The performance is a part of the city environment.”
Rooted in the tradition of street performance and busking, Curbside Serenade was sparked in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown. Downtown crowds disappeared, and Johnny Franco—born João Vitor Gariani Franco—a working busker at SW 6th and Morrison, had to shift his approach. Franco, also known as The Professional Entertainer, pivoted his craft to a private serenading service.
“I had the image of the classic romantic serenade. Very Shakespearean and nostalgic,” Franco recalls. “It was perfect for those times because it would be approved by the CDC and was distanced enough.”
Johnny and his bandmate, Domênico Gariani Franco—professionally known as Johnny’s Real Brother Dom—pitched the idea on Instagram and quickly received a handful of serenade requests from Portlanders hungry for live music. The pair partnered with Pollack to expand the serenades and recruit a local lineup of crooners for hire. Curbside Serenade performed over 200 serenades in 2020, Pollack later leading the charge for the organization to gain 501(c)3 nonprofit status in 2024.
“There was never a plan to make this a big thing,” Johnny Franco waxes. “There was an amazed look on our faces, like ‘People are really into these serenades. OK, we’ll keep doing it, I guess.’” Though the Francos now perform their heartfelt and whimsical onstage act for audiences along the west coast, they still channel the sincerity of those early duets.
Thursday at the Park began as a pandemic-era serenade in Laurelhurst, when Portland musician Aaron Peterson booked Johnny & Dom for a casual evening croon. “Johnny likes being part of the city aesthetic,” Peterson reflects. “He’s part of the movement of the city.”
One Thursday serenade led to another, and the gigs on the grass evolved into weekly community hootenannies alongside the Francos. Peterson and other musicians joined the happenings in the park—a few even went on to join the brothers’ band Johnny Franco & His Real Brother Dom—while passersby kicked back and set up blankets on the lawn.
Franco describes the early park shows as a form of “joy resilience” in the shadow of the pandemic. “People were being close to one another again,” he recalls. “It made sense to make them dance.”
Curbside’s sixth season in Laurelhurst Park launches Thursday, July 2 at 6pm. The Curbside crew—consisting almost entirely of volunteers—will set up and tear down a DIY music venue from scratch in the park each week.
The Thursday night series now features a sound system, lighting design, two stages, and performances from a slew of musicians and comedians. Since the early serenades, Thursday at the Park has drawn hundreds of regular attendees and showcased Portland mainstays like John Craigie and Ural Thomas & the Pain.
“It’s a whole circus in the park!” Johnny says of the current iteration. “I’m proud to tell you that I can’t fit everything in my van anymore.” Indeed, the Curbside squad needs more than one vehicle to transport the many handmade performance props, including an AstroTurf garden stage on wheels for the weekly dog show. “We didn’t used to be able to open up a whole variety show as we do now,” Dom notes, who handles booking for the Laurelhurst shows.
Curbside Serenade’s programming includes an evolving partnership with Portland Clean & Safe, who teamed to put on last year’s Buskathon downtown as well as an upcoming jazz-focused Sunday series in Director Park called Checkmates & Chill, which kicks off June 14 at 12pm.
Curbside also landed a nomination for a 2026 Joey Pope Award from the Portland Parks Foundation, recognizing individuals and organizations that promote innovation and accessibility in Portland’s public spaces.
To keep up with Portland’s recurring demand for free and accessible live music, Curbside Serenade is hosting an original film screening and fundraiser at Tomorrow Theater on Wednesday, May 6 at 7pm. The short film, produced by Johnny and Dom, documents the push to deliver the biggest season yet.
Curbside Serenade is built on the moments where passersby become part of the music. Johnny, who moved from São Paulo in 2018, traces his evolution as a community troubadour back to formative connections with onlookers turned friends.
One of those connections is with Will “Birdman” Wilson, a streetside stranger who resonated with Franco’s act, later becoming a volunteer at the Laurelhurst shows. Affectionately known for looking after the pigeons downtown, Birdman has been a fixture since the Franco brothers’ early days in town.
Wilson passed away from cancer in early April, and Franco is dedicating the upcoming Laurelhurst season to his departed friend. “The streets of Portland really embraced me,” Franco describes. “Will was one of the totems of that expedition.” Wilson lives on in the lyrics and music video for Ones and Pennies, Franco’s ode to the Portland community that brought him in.
Wilson and Franco’s friendship, spontaneous and genuine, echoes the organic connection within the street performances Curbside Serenade curates. “There is so much belonging in being a busker,” Franco reflects, having coined his act as “a journey to belonging” for both listener and performer.
Curbside Serenade invites Portlanders into a musical place of belonging through free and accessible live shows, and that’s something worth stumbling upon.
