Who has come from the farthest reaches of the world
(universe)?
Just because I'm curious, I try to keep track of the
audience members that have traveled the furthest from Maui to hang
out with us...
So far, we've got (Maybe I'll save a few categories -
US / World / Solar-system / ...) :
World:
Tim from Perth, Australia! - 6842
miles (still the winner)
Continental US:
Renata and Richard, from Huntsville, Alabama -
4312 miles (now, these great folks know how to do 'vacation',
congrats on 15th Anniversary, and best wishes for many more!)
Ken and his gracious wife (didn't get her
name!) from Illinois & Kapalua - 4238 miles (you guys
made my day)
Ongoing Stories and Insights from my adventure:
Just do it!
So, to anyone going "I could do that..." or "I wonder if
I could do that?", or "I'd like to do that..." with respect to
performing... Just do it. I mean, you certainly have to get your
ducks lined up - and I really did practice and work at it before I
went live! - since you want to be comfortable and competent if
it's going to be fun... But don't wait. If practicing is fun (vs
work), then you're onto something good.
In comparing notes with my mentors and peers, the only difference
between us and 'them' is that we conjured enough energy to
practice, and enough courage to go public. Lots of good stuff
online, especially this site I found after I had started my
journey: The Pro Gig Academy - a free community where
you can trade experiences and ask questions from folks somewhere
along the same path you might be on, etc. You can pay the site
sponsor for one-on-one sessions and subscribe to his more pro
site, but the community is free and the information is priceless.
Playing for my Mom's 85th birthday!
How cool is it that my brother from the mainland came to
visit my mom on the Big-Isle for her 85th birthday, and they both
came over to stay with us for her "funderful" event! I was able to
play some fun songs, and even do a duet with my amazing daughter, on
mom's special day over at Paia Bay Coffee
& Bar! What a treat for us all. The family was there
as well and some music and a nice brunch made for a wonderful day!
That it all came together the way it did was amazing and a gift from
the Gods and the Universe.
Passing Thoughts On... Performance Stages:
A stage is an interesting mechanism - a meme of sorts, like a
person in medical scrubs implies a doctor- presence on a real
performance stage (raised, lights, etc.), even a small one, tends to
imply a kind of promise of worthiness and a separation
from the observers in the area. To stand on a stage as if to
perform, implies a certain level of skill and performance
*seriousness*, and, well, that's not really me. "Smiling and a bit
Sloppy" would be more a more accurate framing... I guess I like the
notion of chilling with folks, rather than performing for folks. or
something.
Late-to-the-game, lover of music, but not professionally trained at
all, I certainly can't promise anything beyond an amateur's
performance, but that doesn't mean we can't have some fun and make
some listen-worthy noise out there, right? So, I learn songs,
practice a bunch, and say "Let's do this!", and hope y'all will join
me with some smiles and maybe some good (or ?) harmonies! Getting up
on a stage seems separate and presumptuous, where jamming on the
street - literally at that level - seems more engaging, regardless
the level of skill involved.
So, when considering the implications of a stage, I'm hesitant to
disappoint, by committing to that implied social contract of "Look
at me up here, I'm worth looking at.", when my style is "Check this
out, hang out and jam or chill with us if you like it!"
The one thing that a pub/cafe stage context does facilitate is
continuity, and sound optimization. Being able to present a good
sound experience and cater to folks that wish to settle-in for the
sharing of the music does offer a different experience for the
participants (both players and observers), verses a busy street
corner with no seats, moving traffic, noise, weather, etc. That
said, if you can compel folks to pause for a moment or two to stop
and watch, in spite of the distractions and non-optimal context,
you've got it going!
Passing Thoughts On... On Passers-by,
on the street:
I've noticed, when busking on the street, that in flow of the
street, the folks most likely to stop and take in a moment of my
music are parents with kids, and older folks - and notably,
both tend to share a bit (it's especially precious when the mom or
dad give a wee tot something to trundle over with and drop in the
tip jar).
The bulk of the middle-age professionals tend to walk by as if unaware
of me or the music at all. It's interesting, and I have some
ideas on why, but I'll discuss those later, after more observation.
That said, far too often I was 'that guy' too. Wisdom and the-like
come slowly to likes of me.
Passing Thoughts On... On Busking, as
a 'thing to do':
What is busking, and what is the average person's
perception of a practiced street performer?
Obviously, a person with a tip jar, simply attracting attention by
being a spectacle of some sort (yelling, singing in an unpracticed
manner, flailing around physically with no apparent practiced skill,
etc.) isn't what I would call a 'practiced' street performer. I'm
talking about folks that can do things that most of us can't; the
ones that add novelty and perhaps even some artistic value to our
social context and environment.
Is busking, a job? Certainly, for some. There are many who follow
the seasonal festival circuits, appearing in crowded venues in
multiple cities, plying their trades to the widest possible
audience, out of live for their craft, but just as likely to collect
tips and donations for their lively-hood. I would guess in Europe,
fully 75% of 'professional' street entertainers do so as their only
form of income. It's the other 25% that I find interesting and that
I relate to. The underlying motivation is a 'want' to be involved,
to share something, to impress or at least engage, to gather social
status in some art-form that they've worked to become
'out-of-average' in some manner. It's arguably a mix of
attention/status-seeking and artistic sharing, the ratio of each
depending entirely on the performer.
Is busking a form of begging? I think not. Performing a practiced
skill for tips defines the purest sense of a voluntary
'service-for-a-fee' relationship, and is hardly without risk. Any
exchage is purely voluntary. In contrast, begging can be described
as passively hoping for sympathy with a collection bucket. To my
thinking, tips are a reward, donations are a gift to/for a cause,
and charity is pure sharing. It's more than semantic that you can
tip a street acrobat, but not a beggar.
Does busking indicate the best one can do in this world? Perhaps for
some, but I think not for most... I theorize that the biggest appeal
of busking is the freedom it *represents*, even if that's more than
the real freedom it may actually offer. That a street performer can
go anywhere people are gathered and instantly simply entertain them
in a manner that suits the performer's own style, defines the notion
of anti-bureaucracy at its purest. Kind of a "Sidewalk art vs the
Louvre" thing. Which art form is really 'better' and which is more
likely to be seen and shared?
I see busking (at least most busking) as a noble and intentional
avocation, done by choice, by folks that simply don't have an
interest, or the ability, to participate within the constraints of
the zillions of more efficient employer/employee relationships that
define the usual workplace. Street performers have to show up
too. They do it mostly on their terms, but they usually have
to be in place when the people are milling. The big
difference is whether they are showing up at the factory
assembly-line at 7:30AM, or on the crowded town square at 3:30PM...
rain or shine...
As goes with the farmer and the gypsy, each having its own
dis-positional forces at work - I don't believe it's as much of a
choice as most folks would likely assume.
Other Notes...
All of this inspiration recently converged to somehow expose,
somewhere deep in me, a latent obsession with doing that - yeah, me,
busking on the street (a bucket-list kind of thing? Oh, and
"what will the neighbors think?", etc.). But, I just wanted
to, no, needed to... do
that... And I don't see it as solicitation as much as
performing in the most brutally honest of markets - the street!
Nobody has to stop, nobody has to tip... If they do, there's no
doubt that the player *earned* it. Solid! So, I did it - I went out
and played for passers-by on a busy street-corner in Paia, Maui. It
went well. Folks seemed to like it. It was fun. I want to do it
more.
What next - directions/themes/???:
Right now, I see myself as a street busker at heart - a
"honky-tonk-guitarist" kinda thing rather than something more
accomplished or serious. Casual chillin' seems more natural and
fun... no stress, or something. I'm playing on my terms right now,
and thinking about branching out more formally, but the ad hoc mode
is a lot of fun, so we'll see where it goes!
more to come!
--danno - "You've Heard Verse!"