At the weekend I decided to take advantage of the nice weather where I am, so I went busking in downtown Calgary. I had never busked before and within two hours I had one crackhead steal my money, had another crackhead look at the change in front of me and laugh, saying he was doing better than me, got asked for directions to a soup kitchen by a homeless guy who must have assumed I was also homeless, had someone preach to me about Jesus and insist that I play a few tunes at her church, and they were only some of the more memorable encounters.
If all of that happened in two hours, there must be some people here with some funny stories... Anyone care to share a tale or two?
I was busking in Stuttgart in the late 70's with two other fiddle players. We had traveled around Ireland and France together and were visiting some we had met along the way.
We were downtown across from a Catholic church and it was the day that John Paul I died. The bells of the church began to ring. We thought it would end soon enough, but the bells just rang and rang and rang and rang and........
Anyway, were are about to give up when a man approached us and said he was from the university and he was giving a lecture that night on street music. He asked if we would come and "demonstate" following the lecture. He thought there might be a few marks in it for us.
So, we showed up and he introduced as as Irish musicians (?) and we played on the stage for a while. Then he asked us to go to the foyer and play as though we were busking and he suggested to the audience that they should "paper and silver" into the open case, just as they would for musicians on the street. I can't remember exactly how much we raked in that night, but it was more than a few marks.
I was playing mandolin in Salzburg one time, and doing pretty well, considering my level of skill at the time. Salzburg loves music, though, and they seemed to give me extra marks for trying. (This was in '91 or so, they still had marks then.) The best, though, was the lady who walked by - I remember, I was singing a Dylan song, "You Ain't Going Nowhere" - and she passes by me, then she stops, listens for a minute, and rummages in her shopping bag. I'll be dipped if she doesn't pull out a packet of cookies and two apples, puts them in my mandolin case, and walks on. Good cookies, too, some sort of butter biscuit.
I was busking in Antwerp one day,sawing away at an old time American tune called Lonesome John.An elderly man with a military bearing stopped to listen.When I finished he dropped a 5 euro note into the case and said that he was an ex-sailor who had been stationed in Scandinavia,and it had been years since he'd heard the Norwegian national anthem! Was it a reflection on my playing,or does the Norwegian national anthem sound like Lonesome John? By the way,they missed their chance when John Paul 1 died,they should have called his successor George Ringo 1.
So we're playing (harp, flute and low whistle) and a dad with a baby about 15 months old come over to listen. The toddler is captivated and claps when we finish. Then he points to the palm of his hand with his other index finger. The dad laughs and says, "that's baby sign language for MORE!"
while busking in galway an american tourist told his wife to take a picture of himself while putting a 5 cent coin in the fiddle case. the process took a few minutes and the woman took pictures from every angle, i was mortified.
when i was 16 (just over ten years ago...wow)
i was listening to a lot of Ravi Shankar
and i had this cheapo electric guitar where i tuned all the strings to D.
i went busking one saturday in Greenock, my home town.
i sat in an underpass and played "ragas" for a couple of hours.
i made around 5 pounds. not bad, considering i didn't have a guitar amp, and my best mate insisted on dancing to attract attention.
if you tried that nowadays, you would get stabbed.
We were dancing for a bunch of extremely elderly senior citizens - Zimmer frames all round. There was a sudden shriek from one of the girls mid-polka - one of the old codgers, in his 90s, had his hand up her skirt and was giving her bum a quick fondle. As far as I recall she didn't lose her timing....
When the second Pope John died, a girl I knew was on her way by coach to teach English in Greece. A radio was on, and the Greeks on board erupted with howls of merriment. She found out why - obviously being a bit surprised that the new Pope had died so soon (if he wasn't bumped off, as has been claimed).
Her fellow-travellers were presumably remembering the Fourth Crusade, which sacked Constantinople.
My mother believes she spoke to the future John Paul II in St. Mark's, Venice, when he was a dignitary in a procession. She asked who had written the music. His answer was "Lotti". This was easy to remember, as it happened to be the name of our dog.
While playing in a subway stop in Munich less than a year ago a bum walked up, opened a half liter bottle of beer, put it in my hand, clinked his bottle against mine and walked on.
busking is a frame of mind and, if i may quote 'Fear is the mindkiller".... i'll never forget... once, a woman came up to me with her blind 8 year-old son to ask if he could touch the pipes as i played them, he was that beguiled by the music - no marks or yen or pound could ever buy that!!
I was in Newcastle once and a group of panpipers showed up with a complete PA system so we had to move on as we could even hear ourslves think! I personally think busking should be acoustic only but there you go...
I had an acquaintance who nearly went doolally busking.
He had a pitch at the bottom of the escalators playing alto sax at some touristy place in central London (Piccadilly/ Marble Arch/ Trafalgar Square or similar).
He continually played two things: Yakety Sax by Boots Randolph (better known as the music from the Benny Hill Show where the comedian used to run around speeded up after bald men or semi-naked women) and the solo bit from Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty (played originally, of course, by Bob Holness of Blockbusters).
He said that due to the ever moving audience, nobody ever heard more than ten seconds of any tune and that everyone in the world (of which there would be a fair representation in the touristy bits of London) recognized those two pieces of repertoire instantly, especially the Benny Hill t’ing which was always more popular with the colonials than the natives. He arrived at these choices by trial and error and measured it by the monetary income. But by the end of a three hour sesh, he was a bit frazzled.
Mind you he made a packet. When it’s busy about a hundred people a minute come past and if only two of them bung a pound coin in your case you're amassing about £100 an hour! Possibly worth going bonkers for!!!
I busked in York in the last miners strike - they were just opening the Jorvic centre so I had a good pitch.
I encouraged some schoolkids to play trumpets and things (who weren't very good) early on until I arrived then I gave them £5 for keeping my spot.
I earned more dosh than working underground.
Busking is fun,you get a chance to practice,you make some money and you meet all kinds of fellow musicians.I've had people booking me for gigs a couple of times,joined a band,played fiddle ona gig with an awful Hank Williams impersonator, once a Russian Balalaika quartet were on thier way to Antwerp Central Station and wanted to take me to Switzerland with them.I would recommend busking to anyone.
Hey C-Man! Sorry I missed you. I did see a woman playing didgeridoo and drumming on a plastic 20l pail on Monday. She was quite good, and made the pail sound like a competent djembe/bongo team, with backup shaker on the leg. It was a class act.
I've always found busking in Calgary to be a dismal exercise, as people here have a hard time differentiating between musicians and beggars (so do many of the beggars).
Yhaalhouse, it wasn't Bob Holness on the Baker Street solo......see my email. That's an urban myth.
But two friends of mine did it as an interlude at a session a while ago - octave mandola backing and hurdy-gurdy playing the solo.....
PS I went through all the procedures to be an accredited London Underground busker, but it took so long to get through the process that I had lost all impetus to actually do it by the time I was accepted. There was original application, about a nine months or more wait, then an audition in a redundant pedestrian tunnel at some station, then another wait for your results, THEN, finally, you had to have your police records checked, just in case you had a criminal record.
And, when you are finally OK'ed, then you have to book your pitches, every fortnight, all at the same time so there's a rush, and the guy with the speed-dialling gets the best pitches and times. Also, everything else I do comes in randomly, so what do I do if I get a proper gig ?
In the end I couldn't be bothered.
I was told after busking that while I was playing, 4 girls came up to me and lifted up their shirts to flash their tits at me, but I'm sorry to say I didn't see them because I was concentrating on the fiddle with my eyes closed... I have since learned not to take the fiddle so seriously!!
That's municipal governance gone mad. Who listened to your audition? I imagine a bunch of London bureaucrats standing around in a big circle carefully evaluating your playing, but I'm sure it wasn't like that, was it?
Gzeg, I've been racking my brains trying to think how you know me... Of all the musicians I've met here in Calgary I don't think any of them play the flute and so I can only assume we must have met at the Water Valley festival...
And yes, busking in Calgary is not the best - I did all my research on where I could legally busk and headed down to Eau Claire - it seemed like a good bet. Within an hour I had security guards gang up on me and ask me to leave.
I think I'll go back to Eau Claire on Saturday and see how long I can play before security comes after me again The whistle should make a good weapon anyway...
My first busk was for a bet.
Two young travellers used to sing outside Dunne Stores on Eyre Square in Galway, singing/yelling favourites like Galway Shawl and that C&W gem "Oh Lord it's hard to be humble".
So a friend bet two of us that we wouldn't sit in their spot and sing for an hour, including at least five renditions of "Oh lord..." .
We made three quid on the bet, two quid each in the hat, and I learned "She Moved Through the Fair" from my companion.
It all made up for the hassle the youngsters gave us - "Dat's our pitch - feck off!" I think mostly they were bewildered by us!
Not only did Bob Holness famously play the sax solo on Gerry O'Rafferty's Baker Street and a founder member of Dire Straits (bass player), he also played lead guitar on Layla by Derek & the Dominoes and was the person singing in the campy falsetto on the live version of R U Lonesome Tonight when Elvis Presley starts losing it to giggles and laughter.
Definitely the best busking story is about a piper who I play with who,a good few years ago was busking on Grafton street, Dublin, with a cheap half set of pipes and amongst the few standing around was an american nun who came over to talk.
Apparently her grandfather played 'that instrument' and after some conversation she asked his name. Both were amazed to find out that he had the same name, as did her father.
Anyway, about a year later a registered parcel arrived from the states containing a full set of Taylor pipes, which he still plays, on the top of the stock is a silver engraved plate which says "Made For ### ### (his name) by Taylor 1896. . . .And they still sound great!
I always found that dressing really smartly when busking is a good plan as people then think you're a hard-up music student or something rather than a beggar.
Some years ago I had a guy arrive to learn accordion. He told me that he wasn't interested in scales etc but could I teach him one or two old tunes. He requested an old irish tune called A Mother's Love's a Blessing and The Wild Colonial Boy. Over a number of lessons I taught him both tunes in key C. Over the Christmas period I came across him busking in my local town, where he played the two tunes all day and made over €100. He told me that one woman gave him a €20 note for playing A Mother's love's a Blessing. He eventually headed for London, so if you come across a guy playing those two tunes in Covent Garden tell him he owes me for his last lesson.
How well should I dress? Last time I was cleanly shaven and wearing a check shirt and jeans, which I thought looked reasonably respectable. I always figured if I dressed up too much nobody would give me any money...
Well, if you're not dressed like a bum and obviously begging, you must be a respectable musician. Someone I used to know (who was otherwise a complete wazzock) had this idea that a successful performance contained a "plea of sincerity" that subconciously told the audience that the musician was honestly doing his best, and could be trusted. The unbuttoned shirt or loose tie, for example, or Dennis Cahill's backwards cloth cap. I have no idea whether there's anything to this concept, but it's worth keeping in mind.
Another friend who used to busk found out that when she went out with her harp and dressed very formally, she made much more money than when wearing street clothes. (She was an attractive woman in either case...) Maybe the clothes are a declaration that "this is a musical performance" and not begging?
Busking anecdotes, anyone?
Busking anecdotes, anyone?
At the weekend I decided to take advantage of the nice weather where I am, so I went busking in downtown Calgary. I had never busked before and within two hours I had one crackhead steal my money, had another crackhead look at the change in front of me and laugh, saying he was doing better than me, got asked for directions to a soup kitchen by a homeless guy who must have assumed I was also homeless, had someone preach to me about Jesus and insist that I play a few tunes at her church, and they were only some of the more memorable encounters.
If all of that happened in two hours, there must be some people here with some funny stories... Anyone care to share a tale or two?
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by Pat Mustard
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
... yeah! PPlenty:
)
Came back to the carpark once after an okay busk feeling good to find a big orange defect sticker on my car ...
(Does that count?
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by Clear Drops
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
I was busking in Stuttgart in the late 70's with two other fiddle players. We had traveled around Ireland and France together and were visiting some we had met along the way.
We were downtown across from a Catholic church and it was the day that John Paul I died. The bells of the church began to ring. We thought it would end soon enough, but the bells just rang and rang and rang and rang and........
Anyway, were are about to give up when a man approached us and said he was from the university and he was giving a lecture that night on street music. He asked if we would come and "demonstate" following the lecture. He thought there might be a few marks in it for us.
So, we showed up and he introduced as as Irish musicians (?) and we played on the stage for a while. Then he asked us to go to the foyer and play as though we were busking and he suggested to the audience that they should "paper and silver" into the open case, just as they would for musicians on the street. I can't remember exactly how much we raked in that night, but it was more than a few marks.
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by John Culhane
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
I was playing mandolin in Salzburg one time, and doing pretty well, considering my level of skill at the time. Salzburg loves music, though, and they seemed to give me extra marks for trying. (This was in '91 or so, they still had marks then.) The best, though, was the lady who walked by - I remember, I was singing a Dylan song, "You Ain't Going Nowhere" - and she passes by me, then she stops, listens for a minute, and rummages in her shopping bag. I'll be dipped if she doesn't pull out a packet of cookies and two apples, puts them in my mandolin case, and walks on. Good cookies, too, some sort of butter biscuit.
There's a better story than mine, though, from the Washington Post a while back:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
I was busking in Antwerp one day,sawing away at an old time American tune called Lonesome John.An elderly man with a military bearing stopped to listen.When I finished he dropped a 5 euro note into the case and said that he was an ex-sailor who had been stationed in Scandinavia,and it had been years since he'd heard the Norwegian national anthem! Was it a reflection on my playing,or does the Norwegian national anthem sound like Lonesome John? By the way,they missed their chance when John Paul 1 died,they should have called his successor George Ringo 1.
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by dafydd
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
Fascinating article - wow, though, don't american journalists waffle a lot??!
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by Mark Harmer
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
So we're playing (harp, flute and low whistle) and a dad with a baby about 15 months old come over to listen. The toddler is captivated and claps when we finish. Then he points to the palm of his hand with his other index finger. The dad laughs and says, "that's baby sign language for MORE!"
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by buttons 'n' whistles
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
while busking in galway an american tourist told his wife to take a picture of himself while putting a 5 cent coin in the fiddle case. the process took a few minutes and the woman took pictures from every angle, i was mortified.
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by justabloke
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
when i was 16 (just over ten years ago...wow)
i was listening to a lot of Ravi Shankar
and i had this cheapo electric guitar where i tuned all the strings to D.
i went busking one saturday in Greenock, my home town.
i sat in an underpass and played "ragas" for a couple of hours.
i made around 5 pounds. not bad, considering i didn't have a guitar amp, and my best mate insisted on dancing to attract attention.
if you tried that nowadays, you would get stabbed.
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by DubChieftain
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
We were dancing for a bunch of extremely elderly senior citizens - Zimmer frames all round. There was a sudden shriek from one of the girls mid-polka - one of the old codgers, in his 90s, had his hand up her skirt and was giving her bum a quick fondle. As far as I recall she didn't lose her timing....
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by zepherin
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
When the second Pope John died, a girl I knew was on her way by coach to teach English in Greece. A radio was on, and the Greeks on board erupted with howls of merriment. She found out why - obviously being a bit surprised that the new Pope had died so soon (if he wasn't bumped off, as has been claimed).
Her fellow-travellers were presumably remembering the Fourth Crusade, which sacked Constantinople.
My mother believes she spoke to the future John Paul II in St. Mark's, Venice, when he was a dignitary in a procession. She asked who had written the music. His answer was "Lotti". This was easy to remember, as it happened to be the name of our dog.
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by nicholas
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
(I've got my Pope names mixed up. I mean, above, the one who lasted a very short time and died in late 1978.)
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by nicholas
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
Jon Kiparsky, Salzburg is in Austria, the last time we had marks was during WWII. I take it you got Schillinge
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by TMB
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
While playing in a subway stop in Munich less than a year ago a bum walked up, opened a half liter bottle of beer, put it in my hand, clinked his bottle against mine and walked on.
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by Munichg
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
I've always been afraid to busk. These anecdotes only tend to reinforce my phobia.
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by pbassnote
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
busking is a frame of mind and, if i may quote 'Fear is the mindkiller".... i'll never forget... once, a woman came up to me with her blind 8 year-old son to ask if he could touch the pipes as i played them, he was that beguiled by the music - no marks or yen or pound could ever buy that!!
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by pipewatcher
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
I was in Newcastle once and a group of panpipers showed up with a complete PA system so we had to move on as we could even hear ourslves think! I personally think busking should be acoustic only but there you go...
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by snowyowl
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
I had an acquaintance who nearly went doolally busking.
He had a pitch at the bottom of the escalators playing alto sax at some touristy place in central London (Piccadilly/ Marble Arch/ Trafalgar Square or similar).
He continually played two things: Yakety Sax by Boots Randolph (better known as the music from the Benny Hill Show where the comedian used to run around speeded up after bald men or semi-naked women) and the solo bit from Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty (played originally, of course, by Bob Holness of Blockbusters).
He said that due to the ever moving audience, nobody ever heard more than ten seconds of any tune and that everyone in the world (of which there would be a fair representation in the touristy bits of London) recognized those two pieces of repertoire instantly, especially the Benny Hill t’ing which was always more popular with the colonials than the natives. He arrived at these choices by trial and error and measured it by the monetary income. But by the end of a three hour sesh, he was a bit frazzled.
Mind you he made a packet. When it’s busy about a hundred people a minute come past and if only two of them bung a pound coin in your case you're amassing about £100 an hour! Possibly worth going bonkers for!!!
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by yhaalhouse
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
I busked in York in the last miners strike - they were just opening the Jorvic centre so I had a good pitch.
I encouraged some schoolkids to play trumpets and things (who weren't very good) early on until I arrived then I gave them £5 for keeping my spot.
I earned more dosh than working underground.
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by geoffwright
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
There was the agnostic piper who when asked whether or not he knew the '10 Commandments' replied "hum a few bars and I may remember the tune"
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by zippydw
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
Busking is fun,you get a chance to practice,you make some money and you meet all kinds of fellow musicians.I've had people booking me for gigs a couple of times,joined a band,played fiddle ona gig with an awful Hank Williams impersonator, once a Russian Balalaika quartet were on thier way to Antwerp Central Station and wanted to take me to Switzerland with them.I would recommend busking to anyone.
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by dafydd
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
Hey C-Man! Sorry I missed you. I did see a woman playing didgeridoo and drumming on a plastic 20l pail on Monday. She was quite good, and made the pail sound like a competent djembe/bongo team, with backup shaker on the leg. It was a class act.
I've always found busking in Calgary to be a dismal exercise, as people here have a hard time differentiating between musicians and beggars (so do many of the beggars).
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by Gzeg
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
Yhaalhouse, it wasn't Bob Holness on the Baker Street solo......see my email. That's an urban myth.
But two friends of mine did it as an interlude at a session a while ago - octave mandola backing and hurdy-gurdy playing the solo.....
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
PS I went through all the procedures to be an accredited London Underground busker, but it took so long to get through the process that I had lost all impetus to actually do it by the time I was accepted. There was original application, about a nine months or more wait, then an audition in a redundant pedestrian tunnel at some station, then another wait for your results, THEN, finally, you had to have your police records checked, just in case you had a criminal record.
And, when you are finally OK'ed, then you have to book your pitches, every fortnight, all at the same time so there's a rush, and the guy with the speed-dialling gets the best pitches and times. Also, everything else I do comes in randomly, so what do I do if I get a proper gig ?
In the end I couldn't be bothered.
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
I was told after busking that while I was playing, 4 girls came up to me and lifted up their shirts to flash their tits at me, but I'm sorry to say I didn't see them because I was concentrating on the fiddle with my eyes closed... I have since learned not to take the fiddle so seriously!!
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by fedorastain
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
That's municipal governance gone mad. Who listened to your audition? I imagine a bunch of London bureaucrats standing around in a big circle carefully evaluating your playing, but I'm sure it wasn't like that, was it?
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by zepherin
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
Fedora - What tune were you playing?! Does it work like that all the time?
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by zepherin
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
Gzeg, I've been racking my brains trying to think how you know me... Of all the musicians I've met here in Calgary I don't think any of them play the flute and so I can only assume we must have met at the Water Valley festival...
The whistle should make a good weapon anyway...
And yes, busking in Calgary is not the best - I did all my research on where I could legally busk and headed down to Eau Claire - it seemed like a good bet. Within an hour I had security guards gang up on me and ask me to leave.
I think I'll go back to Eau Claire on Saturday and see how long I can play before security comes after me again
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by Pat Mustard
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
Clogsteping-Oh you know just one of those old choice wife tunes... one of the good ones!!!#$%^&*(
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by fedorastain
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
Roving Bachelor maybe?
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by zepherin
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
Sure, gets the girls to do things they wouldn't dare to every time... the roving bachelor
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by fedorastain
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
My first busk was for a bet.
Two young travellers used to sing outside Dunne Stores on Eyre Square in Galway, singing/yelling favourites like Galway Shawl and that C&W gem "Oh Lord it's hard to be humble".
So a friend bet two of us that we wouldn't sit in their spot and sing for an hour, including at least five renditions of "Oh lord..." .
We made three quid on the bet, two quid each in the hat, and I learned "She Moved Through the Fair" from my companion.
It all made up for the hassle the youngsters gave us - "Dat's our pitch - feck off!" I think mostly they were bewildered by us!
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by RockyRoader
The fabulous multi-talents of Bob Holness...
Not only did Bob Holness famously play the sax solo on Gerry O'Rafferty's Baker Street and a founder member of Dire Straits (bass player), he also played lead guitar on Layla by Derek & the Dominoes and was the person singing in the campy falsetto on the live version of R U Lonesome Tonight when Elvis Presley starts losing it to giggles and laughter.
I'LL HAVE AN E BOB.
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by yhaalhouse
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
Dear Penthouse...
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by jwvansteenwyk
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
Definitely the best busking story is about a piper who I play with who,a good few years ago was busking on Grafton street, Dublin, with a cheap half set of pipes and amongst the few standing around was an american nun who came over to talk.
Apparently her grandfather played 'that instrument' and after some conversation she asked his name. Both were amazed to find out that he had the same name, as did her father.
Anyway, about a year later a registered parcel arrived from the states containing a full set of Taylor pipes, which he still plays, on the top of the stock is a silver engraved plate which says "Made For ### ### (his name) by Taylor 1896. . . .And they still sound great!
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by banjoburger
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
I always found that dressing really smartly when busking is a good plan as people then think you're a hard-up music student or something rather than a beggar.
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by SineadE
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
That's true,I discovered early on that you make more money if you're well dressed.
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by dafydd
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
Some years ago I had a guy arrive to learn accordion. He told me that he wasn't interested in scales etc but could I teach him one or two old tunes. He requested an old irish tune called A Mother's Love's a Blessing and The Wild Colonial Boy. Over a number of lessons I taught him both tunes in key C. Over the Christmas period I came across him busking in my local town, where he played the two tunes all day and made over €100. He told me that one woman gave him a €20 note for playing A Mother's love's a Blessing. He eventually headed for London, so if you come across a guy playing those two tunes in Covent Garden tell him he owes me for his last lesson.
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by Free Reed
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
How well should I dress? Last time I was cleanly shaven and wearing a check shirt and jeans, which I thought looked reasonably respectable. I always figured if I dressed up too much nobody would give me any money...
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by Pat Mustard
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
How well? I haven't busked for a couple of years now,but I made more money when I had a suit on.I don't know why that was,does anyone have any ideas?
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by dafydd
Re: Busking anecdotes, anyone?
dafydd, was it a birthday suit?
Well, if you're not dressed like a bum and obviously begging, you must be a respectable musician. Someone I used to know (who was otherwise a complete wazzock) had this idea that a successful performance contained a "plea of sincerity" that subconciously told the audience that the musician was honestly doing his best, and could be trusted. The unbuttoned shirt or loose tie, for example, or Dennis Cahill's backwards cloth cap. I have no idea whether there's anything to this concept, but it's worth keeping in mind.
Another friend who used to busk found out that when she went out with her harp and dressed very formally, she made much more money than when wearing street clothes. (She was an attractive woman in either case...) Maybe the clothes are a declaration that "this is a musical performance" and not begging?
# Posted on September 24th 2008 by Gzeg