Buskers of TrekBBS, unite! But stay out of my space!

[CaptainStoner]

Greetings, people.

Are any of you into busking? That is, street performance, generally for change and dollar bills.
I had what for me was an all-time high busking last night, in a hoppin' city nearby, where I made (and I can't believe this) $230 in 3 hours. Even without the C-note a man had his son give me, I still topped my previous record by $60. Phat night.

Any fellow gypsy bards? Street performers of any kind?

 

[Pingfah]

Yeah I used to busk when I was younger, but I don't do it anymore.

We used to get up really early and get into Birmingham city centre before the first trains full of office workers and retail workers arrived and sit in the subways playing guitar, this was the early 90s so we played a lot of Bon Jovi songs and things like that. We'd make quite a lot off each train load of people that came through as they all had their change rattling round from their morning coffees and newspapers, then we'd pack up once we'd made a hundred quid or so and go to the pub for the rest of the day.

It was fun, we were always getting into trouble with the tramps who didn't like us stealing their begging turf and we had to pack up and scarper quick sometimes

 

[Zulu Romeo]

We used to sing in a very small madrigal choir on the streets for charity every Christmas. It was fun, especially as no-one had a pitch pipe and we all had to rely on our varying degrees of perfect pitch to stay in tune.

 

[barnaclelapse]

I've always wanted to, but I've never had a chance, which is kind of amazing considering the kind of people I've been around and the strange circumstances I often find myself in while on the road.

 

[CaptainStoner]

It was fun, we were always getting into trouble with the tramps who didn't like us stealing their begging turf and we had to pack up and scarper quick sometimes

I had some of those adventures also, in Florida. Down there, the police made no distinction between panhandlers and street performers. In fact they were more hostile to the street performers than the beggars. In New York City, the subway platforms are good, I've done those a few times.

We used to sing in a very small madrigal choir on the streets for charity every Christmas. It was fun, especially as no-one had a pitch pipe and we all had to rely on our varying degrees of perfect pitch to stay in tune.

Did that also. A' wassailing. A rather pagan root of it ~

I've always wanted to, but I've never had a chance, which is kind of amazing considering the kind of people I've been around and the strange circumstances I often find myself in while on the road.

I had a guy tip me $20 to play my guitar (had a small busking amp also), because he'd always wanted to. I told him he didn't need to give me the $20, but he did.

In Austin Texas, the city is friendly to buskers like NYC is. Austin was where I heard the phrase "power hour" in relation to busking, referring to around 9-11pm. I played from 9-midnight last night. I think if I'd started around 7pm, I could have possibly even reached $300. Crazy.

 

[think]

I have been paid not to play music on the street but was going to try to do the art selling thing on the street at some point even with this computer job going on well...

in jersey we have to pay for a spot somewhere to sell/perform I just bought a spot to read the tarot for a day at a festival should be some fun there.

 

[CaptainStoner]

I have been paid not to play music on the street but was going to try to do the art selling thing on the street at some point even with this computer job going on well...

in jersey we have to pay for a spot somewhere to sell/perform I just bought a spot to read the tarot for a day at a festival should be some fun there.

That's good stuff, though I'm not sure about the being played not to play.
I did have one really negative energy person last night, that walked by and said without facing me, "You fucking suck," to which I replied, "Thank you," and then he said, "Blow me".
Well, I'm not so much into that, personally. I could have kept it going, but why bother?

 

[think]

I have been paid not to play music on the street but was going to try to do the art selling thing on the street at some point even with this computer job going on well...

in jersey we have to pay for a spot somewhere to sell/perform I just bought a spot to read the tarot for a day at a festival should be some fun there.

That's good stuff, though I'm not sure about the being played not to play.
I did have one really negative energy person last night, that walked by and said without facing me, "You fucking suck," to which I replied, "Thank you," and then he said, "Blow me".
Well, I'm not so much into that, personally. I could have kept it going, but why bother?

excellent attitude there guess that is important when dealing directly with the public.