I was walking around town the other day with an old busker friend of mine and we started talking how few buskers there were. It was a beautiful sunny day out, it was Sunday, and there was nobody playing, singing, strumming, or dancing. We started asking around and we heard about the “busking police”. That’s where this article was born. And this is something you should know.
First, even though busking permits could not be bought (until yesterday), ticketing for not having a permit was still in full force. Get this, in the city’s uber-obnoxiousness most of the busking centres have been hit by such strict permit-penalties that, even though the city has been on strike for the last 80+ days, the community policing representatives are still ticketing buskers upwards of $2000. Last but not least, here’s a link to a busker in New York who will surprise you. Also, and this is another kicker, note that on most of the popular spots for busking (say in Granville Island, Robson St., or Granville), an effort has been made to remove the buskers. They are presumed to be disturbing the peace, they are presumed to be causing a ruckus, and causing the interruption of business for those bars who rely and count on a steady flow of business coming in to get wasted. Do you feel anything about this? Do you have anything to add? Have you ever played for people before and been fine or fined?
Now, heretofore, here are a few facts to think about. What is a “busker”. S/he’s a street performer, that is all. Some people think it’s illegal to pay a busker. That’s not true. Some people think it’s unacceptable, for some reason. Yet they don’t have any real tangible reasons to think this, and remain mute. So, this is an invitation to discuss one of the oldest professions in the world. This is an ancient profession. I say ancient, because busking has been first reported in our history books at around 462 BCE in ancient Rome, when the Law of the Twelve Tables made it a crime to sing about or make parodies of the government or its officials in public places; the penalty being death. Today, of course, we’ve got another word to substitute the risk of death: it’s called a permit. And, thank goodness, on some days you can get away without one, or can you?
Let this only be the first article on this topic. Help us continue the project to legitimize one of he oldest jobs in the world.
Useful links:
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busking
** http://funandmagic.com/decision.pdf,
*** http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002250762_busker23m.html,
**** http://www.communityinterest.org/backgrounders/panhandling.htm
PICTURE CREDIT: Darren Lum’s photostream
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