Seen a Rogue on the loose? Get in touch with our Roguemeister: JOHN SCHRAG jschrag@wweek.com (503) 243-2122 FAX: (503) 243-1115 Downtown merchants and street musicians compete for the same customers--free-spending aesthetes who applaud a bit of flair. The buskers claim there's enough money to go around--but Nordstrom has recently gone to the Roguish length of claiming sidewalk ownership. John Caravello has played his flute on streets from Portugal to Portland during the past 25 years; he says that no business has been as hard on him as Nordy's. "I've never been hassled in any city like I've been hassled here," says the 54-year-old Brooklyn native. According to Allen Graf, a lawyer who represents Caravello, security guards repeatedly shooed Caravello away from his perch under the Nordstrom overhang on the sidewalk of Southwest Morrison Street, telling him the sidewalk belonged to the store. Graf, who has crusaded on behalf of street musicians for six years, took particular exception to the notion that Nordstrom controls the pavement under its roof overhang. Citing city maps, Graf informed the retailer that it had no authority to sweep the streets of roving minstrels and demanded a $200 reimbursement for Caravello's lost income. In a letter to Graf, Nordstrom's Susie Fenberg conceded Caravello had a right to toot his flute, provided he observed applicable noise and safety laws. She offered him $25 for his pain. Last week, Caravello says, Nordstrom summoned police, who told him he would be arrested if he continued to lean against Nordstrom's exterior wall. "I play for three or four hours at time and get tired," Caravello says. "But calling the cops is pure harassment." Nordstrom spokesman John Bailey says the company called the cops because Caravello verbally abused two employees. Graf scoffs at that explanation: "He's out there doing a service, so they should just fuck off."