Traveling the children’s-entertainment circuit with lasso-swinging performer.
of WeWork and his wife, Rebekah, hired him to play at their house for their children two times a week.
Vladeck, who is 52, grew up mostly in the suburbs of New York City and as a teenager had a singular ambition: to become a singer-songwriter with American folk roots like his idol, Bob Dylan. At Columbia University, he formed his own eponymous band.auditioned once and Vladeck turned him down: “He was literally bursting with musical ideas. It was going to be too limiting for him.
“Vlad,” the friend said, “did you ever think you’ve gone as far as a quirky banjo player can?” Vladeck had to concede that maybe his friend had a point. He does not have the exhibitionistic instincts of a front man, and he is not “a masterful musician or sideman,” he told me. “I don’t know what to say. My playing is decent.” He continued working on his solo career, but “I was Sisyphus rolling the boulder up the hill,” he says.
Hopalong Andrew came to him by chance in the summer of 2012, whena friend asked him to fill in for his family-music gigs. Vladeck saw the persona in a flash. He was already a collector of vintage cowboy shirts. In addition, “I know every folk song, and I play all these instruments, and I love cowboy music.”Vladeck’s Instagram is filled with photos and videos from grateful parents. He’s had children dress as him for Halloween in a fringed jacket and boots.
Over time, the nannies have grown protective of Vladeck and, in particular, watchful for interlopers who would enjoy his shows without paying the $20 drop-in fee. In the parks, a number of the nannies have sometimes taken it upon themselves to solicit fees from the evaders — “A good initiative,” says Shakiera Roseman, who works as a DJ and takes side gigs as a nanny. The scofflaws are mostly parents, she tells me.
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