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Last Post 1/30/2006 9:16 AM by  admin
CLUAS Opinion - Buskers
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admin
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1/30/2006 9:16 AM
    Post your comments here on the latest CLUAS Opinion piece in which CLUAS writer Aidan Curran froths at the mouth during a reflection on that social, er, phenomena: Buskers. Read it all here: http://www.cluas.com/opinion/buskers.htm Cheers eoghan
    Damien
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    1/30/2006 10:16 AM
    Wouldn't agree at all. Man and the Machine were always deadly, I've heard buskers choose more inspired covers than Hallelujah (although it enragingly common). Just ignore the s**t ones like everyone else.
    scullster
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    1/30/2006 11:36 AM
    I think I would have to agree with alot of what aidan has to say. The main reason being that I have zero time for people doing cover versions. I need songs to mean something to the artist and not have some you're a star wannabe corrupting it. What I love doing is standing up beside them to listen. They then tend to put more effort in with the hope of reward. Then I leave without giving any money. That must really piss them off guddo. I know its cruel, but my ears will recover!! Has anyone noticed the rap battles around Temple Bar recently? My God how sad are they. Dressed in adidas's latest head to toe haute couture and iced up to the last these skangers certainly dish out aural punishment. They are the single biggest threat to tourism in Temple Bar. Well maybe they aren't all bad so!!
    WhoMe
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    1/30/2006 12:22 PM
    yet another pointless moany rant on cluas that once againg doesnt really talk about Irish Music. Nevermind who wrote that, who agreed to post it up
    nerraw
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    1/30/2006 4:35 PM
    I disagree with the article. I like buskers, I might think that they are absolutely rubbish but I think the streets in Dublin are better off because of them. Brings a bit of colour to the area and occasionally you'll hear someone that is good. Completely disagree with the notion that if they were good they would be charging us to see them. As for fire eaters, what is the point of them?
    Pilchard
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    1/30/2006 6:32 PM
    i know its an opinion piece but its not very good, is it? its the kind of thing we'd call "lazy" and "uninformed" if it appeared in the Irish Indo or Irish Times. i think buskers are the scum of the earth but if i want to read a piece attacking them, i want it to be witty, catty, sharp and wonderful, this piece is just boring. sorry.
    seanc
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    1/30/2006 6:47 PM
    More pretentions from the Cluas camp I see. "I've been to Paris!""I like street theatre!""I know who Aung San Suu Kyi is!!!" Supplementary to convincing us of the authors knowledge and sophistication, the author trys to put his point across. He does so. I see his point, I understand it, but, well, I disagree with it. Now, I hate Oasis covers as much as the next man, but Buskers bring a lot of colour to the streets of dublin. These guys are (mostly) kids, and for aspiring singers, buskin is a great way of testing your mettle, and improving your skills. That way they'll be a little better when they get to the point where they're on a stage demanding payment from you. Its a tough gig, and I respect their cajones. I can ignore crap buskers. Just as easily as I can igonre the crap music being pumped outta clothes shops, or loud people, or any of the other myriad things that could annoy you when you step into the outside world. Its not hard. Give it a try. Seriously dude. relax
    Antistar
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    1/30/2006 7:12 PM
    I'm just putting this out there but might it be a good idea to give powers to the police to round up all buskers and house them indefinitely in a detention camp, like what the Bush administration are doing to terrorist suspects or any dark-skinned male with a beard in Guantanemo Bay? The buskers could then be deprogrammed by professional psychologists, preferably ex US Army personnel. The buskers would be weaned off the music of Radiohead, Oasis, Jeff Buckley and Leonard Cohen, this may involve torture but it is a very small price to play so as to never have to walk past a busker again,themselves torturing 'Halleluja' or 'Wonderwall' Next step would be a grooming and employment programme where the buskers would have their hair cut, beards/stubble shaved, showered and deloused and then forced to find work like the rest of us. Finally, orders should be given to assassinate Glen Hansard for incitement to busking offences and for generally being a Bin-Ladenesque inspirational Godhead to all potential buskers in the future. This just a suggestion.Is it feasible? If we could pressure the government enough would they be up for it. It would be interesting to get some feedback on this.
    Unicron
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    1/30/2006 7:37 PM
    I liked that Rocky fella who played the keyboard guitar thing, surely we can set our differences aside and agree on one thing, David McSavage is an unfunny c**t.
    Binokular
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    1/30/2006 8:38 PM
    quote:
    Originally posted by Damien Go back to Russia you hippy...
    *scratches head* huh? Maybe I'm getting too old and the brain cells are slowly dying but more and more cluas posts like this are going straight over my head. You guys are all so post-post-post-modern. Nuts to that, I'm off to figure how to implement Windows 2003 Server group policy, it's less head wrecking.
    Damien
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    1/31/2006 10:20 AM
    We should all just agree to continue ignoring buskers, McSavage in particular.
    Mully
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    1/31/2006 10:32 AM
    quote:
    Originally posted by Damien
    Go back to Russia
    From the Simpsons. Lisa turns vegetarian, & is horrified when Homer organises a huge Barbeque. So she offers a Veggie Alternative, Gespacho Soup. Barnie asks what it is, & when he hears its cold Tomato Soup, he laughs at her & tells her to go back to Russia.
    Damien
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    1/31/2006 10:35 AM
    Ace!
    seanc
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    1/31/2006 5:29 PM
    What happened to my post's? Just curious.
    jmc105
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    1/31/2006 6:20 PM
    i did a fair bit of busking in my youth - not a guitar in sight mind you - and in defense of the endless stream of covers that can indeed wreck your (radio)head, drive you up the (wonder)wall, cause more pain than a (mojo) pin under a fingernail etc, buskers will always play whatever makes money. so really, it's not their fault. personally i think buskers are fine, good ones can be great, bad ones painful, but on the whole there's nothing wrong with a bit of live music on the streets. and i'll never forget the blind dude who 'played don't think twice it's alright' on request for me on winthrop street... people who work near the top busking spots might disagree, but they're not really doing any harm, and if you don't like them, keep walking and keep your money in your pocket. and yes, i know, there's really no excuse for my atrocious punmanship, but i read an article about neologisms today and it spoke, in a breathy voice, to my baser insticts... by the way, what do people think of record companies hiring buskers to play "walk the line" as a part of a promotional campaign for the new movie/cd? link here - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2003838,00.html
    ctrlaltdelete
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    1/31/2006 8:02 PM
    quote:
    by the way, what do people think of record companies hiring buskers to play "walk the line" as a part of a promotional campaign for the new movie/cd? link here - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2003838,00.html
    heard a busker playing it the other day in dublin. never saw him before either. and he was doing a pretty good version. didn't suspect any sort of stealth marketing ploy, just thought the guy being enterprising.
    Archie
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    1/31/2006 9:04 PM
    There is one defense to be made on behalf of buskers: that dude on Grafton St who plays an acoustic as a lap steel guitar. I've never seen anyone play slide like that.
    Binokular
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    1/31/2006 9:05 PM
    quote:
    Originally posted by Mully
    quote:
    Originally posted by Damien
    Go back to Russia
    From the Simpsons. Lisa turns vegetarian, & is horrified when Homer organises a huge Barbeque. So she offers a Veggie Alternative, Gespacho Soup. Barnie asks what it is, & when he hears its cold Tomato Soup, he laughs at her & tells her to go back to Russia.
    Ah right, thanks. Went right over my head that one. SeanC I don't know what happened your posts, I didn't delete them anyway, unless I deleted something accidentally. Apologies if that turns out to be the case. Maybe Eoghan can shed some light?
    admin
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    1/31/2006 9:27 PM
    <nothing to do with busking> Censor overlord here did go on a deletion spree 'cause the whole thread got extraordinarily drifted off-topic somehow and was turning into a 'this-comedian-is-crap-oh-no-he's-not' riff or something like that, can't remember. But it was nothing to be with music, and certainly nada to do with Buskers. So, alas, my tolerance of off-topic rants is obviously on the serious decline. There do be the, er, mystery solved. And listen if, you want to start a rant about my authoritarian zero-tolerance on this front, feel free to do so. Just do it in a new thread. Purleese. eoghan. </nothing to do with busking>
    admin
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    1/31/2006 10:03 PM
    quote:
    Originally posted by jmc105
    i did a fair bit of busking in my youth....
    ...and yes, i know, there's really no excuse for my atrocious punmanship, but ...
    Busking in one's youth and puns? All in the same thread? Oh gawd, it dug up some memories. Time to come clean. I have to admit to crimes on many levels here. When I was in college myself and three mates used to busk every Saturday on Grafton street, Henry street and the GPO Arcade. And we called ourselves (wait for it…) The Buzz Kings (boom boom) Have to say though that it was a revelation the first time we went out with our set of covers (Chuck Berry, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, the Stones and even – can’t believe I’m sharing this - John Cougar Mellencamp’s ‘Jack and Diane’). Anyway it was revelation because we made an absolute packet that first day, even after we’d divided it 4 ways on the 51 bus back to the ‘Dalkin. We were loaded. After that we hardly missed a Saturday in town. We even once managed to bag a headline gig in the Buttery in TCD. Had to play our (stuffed with covers) setlist twice cuz it was only about 45 minutes long. Jaysus, this is all coming back to me now. One final thing: For the record may I have to confirm that all this took place before ‘Wonderwall’ was ever recorded. So I’m spared accusations at least on that front. eoghan
    seanc
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    1/31/2006 11:19 PM
    quote:
    <nothing to do with busking> Censor overlord here did go on a deletion spree 'cause the whole thread got extraordinarily drifted off-topic somehow and was turning into a 'this-comedian-is-crap-oh-no-he's-not' riff or something like that, can't remember. But it was nothing to be with music, and certainly nada to do with Buskers. So, alas, my tolerance of off-topic rants is obviously on the serious decline. There do be the, er, mystery solved. And listen if, you want to start a rant about my authoritarian zero-tolerance on this front, feel free to do so. Just do it in a new thread. Purleese. eoghan. </nothing to do with busking>
    Cool. The hijacking of threads was me point anyway. Delete this post too once you've read it if ya wanna.
    Dromed
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    2/1/2006 9:48 AM
    quote:
    Originally posted by Archie
    There is one defense to be made on behalf of buskers: that dude on Grafton St who plays an acoustic as a lap steel guitar. I've never seen anyone play slide like that.
    Is that the guy that wears the cowboys hat and boots? He's a legend!! He seems to turn up randomly every now and then to play - he looks like he's been plucked straight out of a David Lynch film and dropped on Grafton Street. Looks like an interesting character alright.
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    2/1/2006 11:17 AM
    quote:
    Originally posted by Dromed
    quote:
    Originally posted by Archie
    There is one defense to be made on behalf of buskers: that dude on Grafton St who plays an acoustic as a lap steel guitar. I've never seen anyone play slide like that.
    Is that the guy that wears the cowboys hat and boots? He's a legend!! He seems to turn up randomly every now and then to play - he looks like he's been plucked straight out of a David Lynch film and dropped on Grafton Street. Looks like an interesting character alright.
    Yeah, he's been there for years. He looks a wreck, but man can he play the geetaar.
    melvin cokane
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    2/1/2006 12:42 PM
    yeah that guy is somethin else........ anyone know why hansard has been randomly busking over the last two weeks on grafton street with tv cameras? work near there and have seen this three times i think.... Oh yeah and buskers are grand, it adds atmosphere to the street, yer man should quit moaning.......jaysus......
    nerraw
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    2/1/2006 3:01 PM
    quote:
    Originally posted by melvin cokane Oh yeah and buskers are grand, it adds atmosphere to the street, yer man should quit moaning.......jaysus......
    Must've getting barred from Whelans
    Mully
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    2/3/2006 9:00 AM
    From Todays Irish Times. Buskers want official recognition to set them apart from beggars who are pretending to play music, writes Róisín Ingle. In Johnson's Court, a lane off Grafton Street in Dublin, a young girl sits with an accordion on her knee. It's just after lunchtime on Friday and there are a few coins in the plastic container at her feet. The notes from her instrument are monotonous, her fingers moving clumsily across the keyboard. The girl doesn't turn heads. Why should she? She's just another busker in a city famous for buskers waiting for the rain to stop. That is not how Maire Ní Bheaglaoich sees it. Wearing fingerless gloves and carrying a backpack filled with busking paraphernalia, the traditional musician brings me for a coffee around the corner to explain. Café Bell, in the cobbled courtyard behind St Teresa's church on Clarendon Street, is popular with buskers. "You get to know the places you can go where they don't mind taking change," she says. It's a cosy cafe with a piano at one end of the room and a "bishop's special" advertised on a chalk board menu above the counter. She's been busking for 20 years. "We are part of the culture," she says. "People like to go down Grafton Street and hear the music, it brings a smile to their faces, it lifts the heart." Since last March though, she says, people like the girl on Johnson's Court having been making life "impossible" for buskers. "It's a racket," she says. "There are around eight of them being sent out with instruments they can't play. Their attitude toward us is aggressive. We want the public - who probably think they are real buskers - to know what is happening. They should be stopped from bringing their instruments into town and abusing the music." Some of the buskers are so concerned about the issue that last November six of the 15 full-time Dublin buskers met community gardaí and Jane Boushell of the Musicians Union of Ireland (MUI), a branch of Siptu. Ní Bheaglaoich says beggars have always posed a problem for buskers but that the "latest scam is devious. Child beggars are being sent out by adults to make money. They don't have a melody between them and they are aggressive toward the musicians, driving three buskers off the street in the past few years. It's a racket and we need a strategy." When asked this week about the legal position of buskers, a spokesman for the Garda press office is clear. "Asking for money is illegal, it doesn't matter if you are playing an instrument at the time or not," he says. "We are aware that it is part of the culture but our job is to uphold the law." However, according to Boushell, at the meeting in Liberty Hall two gardaí from Pearse Street were open about the fact that they work in co-operation with buskers to ensure music amplifiers are not too loud and that their audiences do not create an obstruction. The musicians said they wanted to join the union so that their abilities would be recognised. Holding a union card, it was hoped, would distinguish them from beggars when complaints were made by shop owners. "At the meeting the gardaí were very positive about busking, saying it added to the atmosphere on Grafton Street," says Boushell. "The way we left it was that the gardaí were going to talk to their superiors about recognising musicians holding union cards. We are still waiting for them to get back to us." In Britain, the situation couldn't be more different to our "yes, it's illegal but we turn a blind eye" approach. "Our vagrancy laws distinguish between buskers and beggars," says Gill Short of Nottingham City Council, which is gearing up to hold X-Factor style auditions for buskers to combat the phenomenon of beggars masquerading as buskers. "Busking or street entertainment is legal, begging is not. Busking is about entertainment. Of course buskers want money for what they are doing but then they are providing a service for that money. The reason we are holding auditions for buskers," adds Short, "is so that we can distinguish between the beggar with the penny whistle and the skilled entertainer who enhances the atmosphere in the city." IT'S SATURDAY morning, the rain falling steadily as Andrew Clarke takes up his usual spot under an awning in Temple Bar. He gets there at 9.30am to bag the pitch but won't start playing until noon, when the nearby food market starts to get busy. At his feet his two dogs - Scallywag and Rascal - are sleeping. "On a good day you can make around €25-€30 an hour," he says. "It has paid for the kids' judo classes and drama lessons." He does around two hours a day, six days a week. He acknowledges that the idea of regulating busking is "difficult". "It's up to the gardaí's discretion at the moment - if the busking is causing an obstruction then they will move you on. There are also issues about using amplifiers, whether they should be used during the day and how high the levels should be allowed to go. The standard of busking is quite high at the moment but the new generation haven't learnt to sing without a microphone; they'll learn as they go along." Is the idea of regulating buskers realistic? "We want regulation, but we want to regulate ourselves, which is why we are trying to encourage people to join the MUI," he says. He is not keen on the idea of permits along the lines of those that will be issued to buskers in Nottingham who pass the upcoming auditions. "If you start introducing permits then a lot of people will disappear because they will lose their benefits. A lot of buskers are living on the margins of society. Any regulations will lead eventually to buskers having to declare their earnings, which would make life difficult for some people," he says. He would hate people to think that people like him and Ní Bheaglaoich are trying to make artistic judgments about other buskers. "We don't want to be an exclusive club but we would encourage people to go to music classes, it's better than just sitting there pretending to play. We have spent years learning to do what we do." Despite what the Garda says, he believes there is a legal difference between buskers and beggars. "The legal difference is that we are not asking people for money, we are just playing our songs and if people want to come up to us and give us money, that is their choice." He starts playing his guitar. Some Chinese girls throw coins as he sings, his voice, low and rich, warming up the cold day. Former busker Liam O'Maonlai spent a few years working the streets of Dublin in the 1980s, both alone with his tin whistle and then as a member of the Fabulous Benzini Brothers, who became the Hothouse Flowers. "It's a very uncomplicated life," he says. "You are not spoilt on the street. You play your music and if people like it they pay. If they don't like it they don't pay. It's clean money. The street is a place where everything happens. In Ireland these days, everything is regulated and as a result everything is dry and dull." He feels that to clamp down on people who clearly can't play their instruments goes against the spirit of street entertainment. "In busking there have always been people you would think, 'well they could do that a bit better' and there have always been people who are just hustling. I can understand people getting annoyed, but at the same time it's just their way of making a living." O'Maonlai says he was impressed when a few years ago some Traveller boys started trying to earn money through busking rather than begging. "Two of the guys had harmonicas and the third just jigged around a bit singing. They were chancing their arms but they were creating something quite extraordinary." Niall, a busker in his 30s who plays bluegrass music on Grafton Street, feels the same. "When I started busking I could hardly play, everything I learnt was on the street," he says. "I think it is morally wrong to point the finger at someone on the street trying to make money. Some buskers feel they are victims or heroes but it's hard to take the moral high ground about people who are in dire circumstances." "The street community is like every other community," says O'Maonlai. "Everyone has their own angle. The conventional life some of us live is only one strand of life, it's not the only way. In Africa or India people are allowed to co-exist in all the different ways of life. In Ireland the other ways of life are often hidden." The girl on Johnson's Court is not hidden but when you hunker down to talk to her, she looks as though she wishes the ground would swallow her up. Where are you from? "Romania," she says, looking down the street anxiously. Do you like playing the accordian? "I am not good, I only know one song." What is the song called? There is a long pause. "Romania," she replies. The girl gets more agitated with each question and says her mother will be back soon, explaining "the queue is very long in McDonalds". Shouldn't she be in school? "Maybe I should," she says, before picking up her chair and her container and making as though to go home. A few minutes later she is back, playing the same three notes outside the church, eyes downcast. Hustling, busking or just getting by? It depends on who you ask. Tomorrow in the Magazine: Louise East meets one-time Grafton Street buskers Rodrigo y Gabriela
    Damien
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    2/3/2006 10:25 AM
    Wow, buskers are nazis. I'm going to punch the next one I see.
    Una
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    2/3/2006 7:26 PM
    that is some f**ked up s**t. Any other evidence of it happening in Dublin?
    Binokular
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    2/3/2006 9:45 PM
    Last time I was in the London Underground (the subway, not the trendy music scene) about a a year ago, they even have specially designated "busking points" and a strict timetable. Each busker only gets a one or two hour slot. Due to the limited slots, only the best musicians and performers are allowed perform so you get everything from your traditional acoustic strummer to opera singers and carribean music. Don't get me wrong, a lot of this stuff is amazing, but it all seems a bit forced and politically correct in the way that whoever is in charge seems over-keen to reflect the citys ethnic diversity. Still it beats the previous situation where there was strictly no music whatsover, but a bit of unpredictability is nice. One of the best and worst things about Ireland is that it has always existed in a state of gentle anarchy. Something that's gradually disapearring these days as people seem to be getting more uptight. Kinda sad in a way. Random busking is just part of that "gentle anarchy"
    Nomington
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    2/7/2006 4:49 AM
    To me, buskers just interfere with what I am listening to on my headphones while I'm walking by, thus forcing me to turn up the volume. They are bad for the health one might say. Although, I was in New York in January and there was this cool guy playing in the subway station at Times Square, he had a one man band thing going on with his guitar and harmonica and drums and it was just excellent. Playing mostly originals too.
    oscar
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    2/8/2006 12:04 PM
    Most of these opinions make me sick. You really make youselves look like a bunch of pampered mummy's boys/girls. I'd say most of you never found yourself with no money and no food. Musicians dont want to busk. It's better to play music than to be hungry. And of course most buskers are going to roll out the hits thats what they'll get paid for. I've traveled and busked to feed myself, i met alot of other buskers -some who made magic music and- all of whom had an incredible kindness of spirit - something you wouldn't find in this discussion.
    Mully
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    2/13/2006 5:18 PM
    quote:
    Originally posted by melvin cokane
    anyone know why hansard has been randomly busking over the last two weeks on grafton street with tv cameras? work near there and have seen this three times i think....
    Just found this. http://www.hybridmagazine.com/music/1205/framesinterview.shtml GH: I'm going to make a fool of myself in January… I'm going to act again. HM: Are you? GH: Yeah. Me and a few friends, very small time, we're making a film about a busker. And I'm going to play the busker. He's basically a guy who is in his early thirties, he's kind of disillusioned, but he's good, you know. He has something. He has some songs… and his girlfriend's gone away … And myself and Damien Rice are writing all the songs for it. And basically he meets this Eastern European girl who's selling this magazine, and she somehow inspires him to get off his ass and to get into the studio and make a record and basically go see his girlfriend in London… to get her back with these songs that he's been writing because she's been floored by these tunes he's been writing. It's a very simple story… but we're going to start shooting in January. The script is really good, I'm really happy with it.
    Archie
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    2/13/2006 6:51 PM
    quote:
    Originally posted by oscar
    Most of these opinions make me sick. You really make youselves look like a bunch of pampered mummy's boys/girls. I'd say most of you never found yourself with no money and no food. Musicians dont want to busk. It's better to play music than to be hungry. And of course most buskers are going to roll out the hits thats what they'll get paid for. I've traveled and busked to feed myself, i met alot of other buskers -some who made magic music and- all of whom had an incredible kindness of spirit - something you wouldn't find in this discussion.
    Ouch! Fair point though.
    cormac
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    7/10/2006 2:29 PM
    I've done a lot of busking (many years ago now) and stuff like Wonderwall and Fields of Athenry is what people pay up for. When I started out I played mostly clarinet but it was when I moved over to the guitar and the singalong tunes (and started playing at closing time) that I made money. The drunken crowds don't give a flying f**k about your artistic sensitivities, they just want to have fun. Get over it (p.s. You know what I hate? Moaners)


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