Market for buskers

Katie on the Celtic harp

Busking and biking through Britain

The street market's an ideal place for buskers. Took time off from running a garden stall at Ludlow last Sunday to play for an hour down by the church.
Quite honestly it was a struggle. Some days the music flows like honey. Others it's more like lumpy porridge.
But I did bump into the delightful Katie Pritchard, come up from the Wye Valley to busk for a bit with her Celtic harp.
And I also met this guy (Dan? From Berwick?) briefly. He paused just long enough for a photo and to explain that he's valiantly busking and biking his way down Britain.

Geocaching the busker

My hour and a half in Ludlow lacked spontaneity. Reason? My self-recorded iPod backup tracks kept repeating. Like the needle stuck in the groove of an old 78.

Took 13-year fellow busker Michael (right) to sort it out. Thanks Michael.
He was wowing the crowds at the Foodie Fest. Twenty months on the ukulele and he's doing brilliantly.

Handed over my pitch to the delightful David and Andrea Jackman (below), that's guitar and flute. Wonder how they got on?
And wonder if, like me, they found themselves suddenly confronted by a serious audience of blokes of a certain age, staring just over my shoulder. Looks like there's a geo-cache somewhere round here.

Spanish busker

The Guardian newspaper (April 28) illustrated its story on Spanish unemployment with this picture, captioned: 
"Of Spain's 47 million inhabitants, only 17.4 million are in work."

Is the old feller on his accordion supposed to be in work?
Or out of it?
Or just amusing passers-by with a tune before he goes back to work at his local Santander?

I think we should be told.

Here we go...

Taking a break from the Book In Progress to go busking in Monmouth.
So much to remember: Roland amp, lead, reed, and sax, to name the bare essentials.
I forgot the neck strap one time, and boldly played on - it's only a light weight soprano sax. My shoulder pained me for the next six months.
The twenty-five or so songs are lodged somewhere in the back of my brain. They usually spring to mind the moment the back track begins.
On the rare occasion when my musical memory deserts me, I'm glad the street audience hears only some thirty seconds of chaos.
Nervous? Always. Here we go...

Liverpool tightens its grip

New sites for busking in Liverpool revealed by city council (MAP)

Read More http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/in-the-mix/2012/03/16/new-sites-for-busking-in-liverpool-revealed-by-city-council-map-100252-30548721/#ixzz1qUkBTJmi

Good news? Or not? The Liverpool Echo reveals that buskers must pay a £20 registration fee before busking. 

And we can expect to have to take out Public Liability insurance in case there's a legal action by a passer-by who trips over your bag.

Is discretion the better part of valour?

Is it better to be out there and risking it? Or to tootle away discreetly from a distance?
I like to tuck myself away in Monmouth, down the accoustically excellent passageway that leads to the Co-op, dog food and pasty shops. I suspect the money outside Waitrose would be better tho.
I took the discretionary course this Saturday, the first warm session since last year. And it was good. Sometimes I struggle to remember my children's names, but when it comes to playing along to any of my 23 back tracks from Blues in F (Effin' Blues) to El Ceilo Canto, it just rolls along.
No, the money was not brilliant, but the music rolled.
Umm. Nice.

The organ grinder's fate

Victorian cartoonist John Leech's take on dealing with undesirable street musicians. Much the same fate could be in store for Liverpool's buskers as the City Council considers plans to regulate street music.
Now, how do those words "regulate" and "music" go together?