Except for the few who play Carly Simon songs on the dulcimer, street musicians, or buskers, hardly ever qualify as public nuisances. But don’t try telling that to Metro officials, who are gleefully enforcing the stringent anti-panhandling law enacted by the D.C. Council this summer (see “Busker Don’t,” Artifacts, 8/20). The law was designed to curtail aggressive panhandling, but Metro decided that busking also constitutes begging, and has already silenced at least 10 musicians. But now Gerald McFarlin and Warren Taylor, who were arrested and fined $50 in July for playing keyboards and sax outside Metro Center, are challenging Metro’s interpretation. In a motion filed in D.C. Superior Court’s Traffic Branch Nov. 22, the duo argued that busking, because it involves the exchange of a service for money, is not panhandling, and that the statute unconstitutionally restricts free speech/song. A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 12.