Austin Walkin’ Cane (known to is friends as Auggie) is a Delta blues musician. His clever stage name stems from his use of a cane for a decade of his life. Auggie said that he was born with an arteriovenous malformation which caused him to need to use a cane by the time he was 16 years old. Auggie jokingly said, “I went and ruined the nickname by getting a prosthetic leg in 1996. The amputation was my choice. Crazy. I have no regrets. It was probably the best thing for me at the time, mentally & physically. I don’t need a cane anymore, but I kept the name.”
For @austinwalkincane , the pandemic has not been too tough. Though all venues were shut down and he had no prospective gigs on the horizon, he was optimistic. Early in the pandemic, a friend of Auggie’s reached out, asking if he had an interest in performing at a less traditional type of venue. That venue was a Dairy Queen parking lot. The dining room was closed, giving customers the opportunity to hear live music while they enjoyed their ice cream outside.
Although the scenario might seem strange, Auggie said he loved it and might be doing it again this summer.
He would set up in the North Ridgeville Dairy Queen parking lot nearly every week (weather permitting) throughout the summer and fall. During one of Auggie’s “DQ gigs”, a man asked if he took requests. Auggie happily performed the gentleman’s request. The man took his wife’s hand and danced with her while Auggie sang Stand by Me. “It was something special I will never forget,” said Auggie. “I created a moment for them, and for me. For a few minutes it didn’t even feel like we were in a pandemic.”