Curt Chandler, Post-Gazette Ali Parham attracts the attention of a young Steelers fan (above) and shares a laugh with another group (below) while busking before the Steelers game on the North Shore below the Roberto Clemente Bridge. Click photos for larger images. Ali Parham discusses busking before Steelers games and plays the flute. Listen in.

Terrible Towels, black and gold hardhats, tailgating and the unique soundtrack of of Steelers football returned to the North Shore yesterday.

As rush hour waned, fans seemed to converge on Heinz Field from all directions to see the Steelers open the preseason against the Philadelphia Eagles. A steady stream walked across the Fort Duquesne and Roberto Clemente bridges from Downtown. Others arrived by boat from the South Side. One fan, whose car ran out of gas, was pushed the final hundred yards into a parking lot by eager volunteers clad in black and gold.

The sound track for the evening was provided by buskers, drummers and middle-aged rockers.

As fans walked across the Roberto Clemente Bridge and turned west to follow the Allegheny River towards Heinz Field, they encountered Ali Parham of Wilkinsburg. He was performing everything from children's songs to beebop jazz on his flute, playing to the crowd and collecting coins and bills in a plastic bucket.

Parham is a fixture at "Ali's Theater," better known as the corner of 18th Street and Penn Avenue in the Strip District, every Saturday morning.

Parham said that when he was a kid, he caught a Roberto Clemente home run ball. He likes to busk in the shadow of the bridge named for the Pirates Hall of Famer as he works the Steelers crowd.

He slips from tune to tune, varying the style and volume to catch the attention of passersby, slipping in the occasional Dizzie Gillespie riff for himself and more familiar tunes if the crowd's attention begins to wane.

Curt Chandler, Post-Gazette Sandy McNeal, of the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh, fronts Project Percussion as they play outside Heinz Field. Behind him is Diane Bowser, of Slippery Rock. Click photo for larger image. Sandy McNeal describes the Percussion Project and its role with the Steelers. Listen in.

A short distance downstream and just above the river boat landing area, the Killer Moose band never missed a beat as an eager fan started dancing with the lead singer. The woman, who might have been a little tipsy, suddenly abandoned dancing and skipped from microphone to microphone across the stage trying to sing along with the band. The crowd was spared the impromptu karaoke as the sound man, without missing a beat, killed the power to each microphone, just as the woman started to sing.

The crowd was more sedate next to the stadium, gathering quietly to listen to the frenetic beat of Project Percussion, the official Steelers drum line. The group filled a street just east of the stadium, pounding out their beat with congas, traditional marching band drums and cymbals. The crowd chanted along to the familiar strains of "here we go Steelers, here we go ..."

At Gate A a female security guard following their beat broke into dance between pat-down searches of fans as the crowd flowed through the turnstiles and headed into Heinz Field.