Blog Archives
Vancouver Busker shut down.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/HQlbxDgnmk0
I first heard Un-1 (Mark Stokes) a free-style rapper and Van City busker a couple of years ago when I was strolling around Granville Street with my boy. He was so good that I went around the block and came back to hear him again.
He’s loud and charming and engaging and exactly the kind of performer that would get under the skin of anybody looking for ‘trouble-makers’.
I don’t know the details, but it looks like Un-1 started free-styling the wrong police officer and as you can hear in this Voicemail to Mark, they closed him down. Please have a look at this and decide if you think he needs and deserves your support.
I think he does.
Of course he’s a ‘trouble-maker’. He’s an artist. I hope I’ll be good enough to be a ‘trouble-maker’ one day.
Busking on Granville
I just discovered the Busking on Granville page on Facebook.
“A group for those interested in Busking on Granville Street and contributing to an interesting and dynamic atmosphere. This group is a place where you can come to discuss busking, learn more about Granville, ask questions, and find resources. You may use this place to post gig opportunities for buskers, but unfortunately it is not meant for promotion of events or perfomances unrelated to Granville Street busking.”
Check it out if it interests you.
Eden and Them
A couple of posts ago I wrote about Eden Cheung, Vancouver Busker, local n’er do well and one of the many artists included in a fascinating video adventure: The Busking Project.
They’ve just posted a lovely trailer of sorts that highlights the people they’ve met and the places they’ve visited over the last year or so.
Enjoy.
ps… yes, I will be pilfering their other videos to bolster my post count.
Eden + Me!
A couple of weekends ago, my son Hector and I were on Granville Island for an adventure and we heard the distant sound of a whip cracking!
That could only mean one thing: Eden Cheung was performing somewhere nearby.
I’ve known Eden for a few years now, the first encounter was one where he attempted an ESP experiment on me for real. At least, I hope it was for real because it didn’t go well. We had mutual friends and when Wes Barker and I were performing together we ran into him quite often performing his Cups and Balls act. It was pretty good… a lot of Gazzo in style and content with a few original bits and a couple of standard tricks.
Then, late this summer, my buddy Travis returned from his fringe tour and asked me if I had seen Eden lately. I hadn’t. Travis saw Eden several times while they were both touring around and Trav was blown away with how Eden’s show had progressed. Somehow, over the last eight or so months, Eden had ‘found it’ and I had to see him. I was skeptical.
Hec and I arrived to a full-sized crowd, and two or three video cameras trained on Eden as he started his show. Travis was right. It was great. There was still that cocky Gazzo swagger but it was all Eden. All his bits were artfully put together, so many clever touches– even more clever if one knew about the psychology of audience management and busking. I’m glad there was a camera crew there to capture it. Travis was right. He was great.
Of course now you want to grab your coat and catch this act. And yes, you can often catch Eden on Granville Island, however, at the moment he’s performing in New Zealand and we’ll have to wait ’til he gets back.
Oh, interestingly, the camera crew that day was from The Busking Project, here’s the link.
Labouring.
With several other gigs coming down the pike I know there will be fewer opportunities to get out on the street over the next couple of months. So I decided that despite yesterday’s fiasco of a busker in search of a pitch, I would hit Granville Island today and take whatever pitch was left.
I lucked out with both parking and pitch as I Kojak’d a spot very near the Island Plaza. I was disappointed to see Trix bent over his equipment– but he was taking it down. His set was done and the pitch was wide open for the next hour.
There are good days and bad days… which soon become divided into Good good days, Bad good day, Good bad days and Bad bad days.
With the havoc of the heat and inconveniently ‘helpful’ seating, and tight crowds it wasn’t a great day. Plus I was breaking in one new bit which despite a glorious mind movie and a number of valiant efforts is simply not going to work.
But the gasps that came from that family as the broken glass crunched under my foot at the end of my last show…
Very sweet.
Street performers in Vegas.
Hard times for street performers down in Vegas– however some interesting fall-out from several free-speech rulings.
Nevada’s woeful economy has inspired dozens of jobless and underemployed men and women to dress up like celebrities, movie characters and cartoon heroes in pursuit of a buck. In the past year, fat and fit Elvises, as well as would-be Homer Simpsons, Mad Hatters and Batmen, have set up shop on bustling sidewalks across this city of vice and excess, offering tourists the chance to pose for a snapshot with someone who kind of looks famous.
Read the full article here.
Tag Team Busking.
Vancouver busker and card-man Andrew Musgrave posted a great and eloquent essay on the benefits of Tag Team Busking.
I wrote a couple of days ago about a serendipitous event where Rick Mearns (perhaps intentionally, perhaps by accident) helped me build a crowd whilst busking, and he was, unknown to me at the time, a professional magician. Whether he was aware of it or not, he fulfilled the role perfectly, and it got me thinking about codifying some stuff that could be really helpful for anybody looking to work as a street performing magician. Again, I’m no expert, but some of these things strike me as so self-apparent that they’re practically axiomatic.
Read the whole article here.
The only thing I’d add to Andrew’s great list is the motivation that a busking partner provides to actually get you to the pitch. A gentle kick in the pants on a hot day like this for example.
Festival Street Shows versus Busking
This past Saturday was probably the hottest day so far this summer… and I couldn’t bare to put on my vest, hat and tie and hit the streets… but that didn’t stop me from heading out to watch somebody else sweating it up while performing magic outside.
So I headed to Langley for it’s Arts Alive Street Festival to watch my magic-buddy, Wes Barker perform.
Some people wonder what the difference is between busking and street performing, say, at Festival… the answer is about $100/hr… kidding… depending on the performer the dollars can vary considerably but there are other factors.
A busker’s job is, in Cellini’s words: “Getting them to stop. Getting them to say… and getting them to pay.” That’s not the case with a festival.
A festival is a destination and by definition people have arrived to see or do something. They’re pre-primed to stop and watch something, they’re not on their way to the store, an appointment, a movie or a friend’s place– they’ve come, at least partly, to see you!
Getting them to pay isn’t an issue either… usually, though not always, performers are hired by the organizers to provide the entertainment… and tips, although welcome, are not expected.
Which leaves the ‘getting them to stay’ part… and on a hot day with the sweat trickling down behind your ears and down your neck, it’s still the toughest job.
Wes was a great host, he made sure everyone was welcome, that they had a good time– and got rid of them before any of them noticed the heat… and that’s not an easy job when you’re inside a strait jack and the pavement is soft beneath your feet. It almost made me feel bad for not performing myself that afternoon…
… almost.
