Ken has played the streets and squares since 1989. He recorded most of his work while being on the road. He started out by playing covers, but this gradually changed into playing his own compositions, while whirling around and jumping all over the squares of Europe.
He played throughout of Europe, but he has a preference for Antwerp in Belgium, Holland, Luzern in Swiss, and Dublin in Ireland.
During this time he recorded ‘Atomic Bomb Babies, and ‘On The Road'(later released as ‘Freeway’)
You can listen to some recordings at the ‘download‘ section .
He did not go unnoticed in the media as well because of his exuberant attitude, an attitude not much found in streetmusicians, which mostly play on save and try to please the crowd, while Ken mainly tries to amuse. He appeared regularly in the newspapers, including ‘The Gazette van Antwerpen’and the local Luzern papers.
He also was able to open up as solo act on some of the bigger stages in Belgium, like the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels which is among the most prestigious in Belgium.
At the AB he opened for The Pogues and Billy Bragg.
In 1996 he started to integrate his songs in a play named Tightrope, and organised open readings in Antwerp, Belgium, from which a group of performers were gathered.
The first try-outs were held by the end of 1998, the full version of the play lasted 6 hours.
A 2 hour version of he play was performed at the 1999 New York International Fringe Festival, where some of the original performers mixed with a local NY crew.
In the summer of 2003 Ken wanted to retire from playing the streets and wanted to document his street act so he followed the Rolling Stones tour in Europe, and played for the people lining up to get into the stadia. He filmed the tour and made a rockumentary “The Opening Act” which could also be called “Swan Song” which can be seen on The Opening Act section.
Ken has taken his fair share of abuse over the years participating in demonstrations against the Vietnam war , nuclear power , and racial and economic injustice, as well as for the legalisation of marijuana. Most recently he filmed & produced a short clip of the 2020 protests in Washington Square in NYC against the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Elijah McClain.
REVIEWS
“After an astonished audience applauded for Ken Post, an American bard living in Antwerp, Billy Bragg began….”
Het nieuwsblad March 23, 1992, Belgium
Maybe all wasn’t meant to be perfect. Maybe Ken Post’s intent, like poet Arthur Rimbaud’s, is the very “derangement of all the senses”. I believe that is the case. And I believe Mr. Post is successful in this brave endeavor. With Ken Post and his passionate cast, ‘Say A Prayer For NYC’.
Theaterreview from Fringe festival about Tightrope, August 29, 1999
Post moves among the crowd like a real ballet dancer. He simultaneously sings loudly while he accompanies himself on his guitar. With light, frivolous dance steps and the serious expression on his face, Ken is definitely different from the cliche picture of the rough and tough rock star.
With his combination dance performance, Ken Post is for now unique in the world of street theatre.
Gazet van Antwerpen Aug. 1998
This man fears nothing. Alone on the stage ,with just his guitar, he plays intensely, subtle and colorfully(Quote: “Fetzig, fein und farbig“).Those who have heard his infamous and not always very seriously meant rap interpretations of Beatles and Stones hits certainly would have remembered them. Those who have seen will have known what kind of condensed mass of eccentricity and humor await them.
LNN Oct 1992
“This letter is to thank you for sharing your gift of the CDs-your tribute to Officer John Perry with us. What a moving memorial to the courageous lives lost on Sept.11. Rest assured that your recordings were distributed to firehouses and among the many firefighters and officers who visit our offices every day, as well as firefighters from across the country and around the world that have come here since last September to share their support.”
From the Uniformed Firefighters Association Scholarship Fund about ‘Beyond the call of Duty’.
The single ‘Beyond’ got the “Heatseeker” award .
“Woody Allen meets Woody Guthrie” – Dave Robertson
Unburied artifact-Guy Cannistra – San Francisco
“Unburied relic of a time when troubadours had more influence than newscasters. Sage of madness, seer of much and storyteller par excellence. His life has been a sojourn into the realm of infinite shading and mind bending brilliance.
His energy boundless, his mastery of language and phrasing both unique and bewitching, he stands to suffer the possible fate of those few who choose to feel completely. Everyone should hear him. He is a link between our misunderstood past and our unspoken future.
More powerful than a thirty minute sitcom, able to leap tall metaphors with a single slip of the tongue.
Look, up on the stage, it’s ……………………Ken Post”
Panorama/De post – September 1990
Ken Post’s band ‘Atomic Bomb’ Babies was selected as a semi-finalists in the Musician magazine’s “1990 Best unsigned band contest”. ‘Baseball & Rock & Roll’, one of the songs submitted to the contest, was played all seasons at the home games of the Oklahoma City 89ers.