Ask a Busker: Why Don't You Busk in the Rain?

Hi folks!

Since my readership is starting to increase, I've decided to post a little interactive segment in between my activist-y ranting. If this goes well and I receive emails (aside from the ones asking me to marry them or telling me I'm a jerk) I'll totally make this a regular segment to my blog that will be updated more regularly than each time something in real life pisses me off or I find evocative and feel the need to stand on a soapbox over.
Today's question is one I get a heckuva lot: Why don't you create a character with an umbrella and waterproof costumes and busk in the rain? (also under this topic is 'Why don't you busk in the winter'?)

The short answer is, well, when it's raining, as much as I'd love to perform for you, if you're not interested in staying to watch, I'm not interested in staying to perform. Since a street show is the sum of it's audience, and a street show can't *happen* without an audience, then I'm pretty much shitouttaluck.

The long answer is well, I've done it and I have conflicting feelings about it. During the winter, I admit, I enjoy going out the week before Christmas to perform for busy shoppers down at a major shopping centre in the heart of Toronto (this year, unfortunately, I will be out of the country and unable to do that!) and while freezing my butt off for few chattering smiles may very well be worth a little bit, the general public oftentimes confuse me for a desperate homeless person in need of a couple of bucks. A couple of winters ago, I was busking before the holidays, and a woman from a shelter gave me a sleeping bag. I had to chase her down to give back the bag that should have been given to somebody who really needed it. Having a great apartment with awesome roommates and heating, I can confidently say I need the sleeping bag less than a homeless person.

I find, also, when busking during inclimate weather, it's harder to keep the crowd on your side loving what you do instead of feeling sorry for you. I'm not interested in feeling sorry for myself or feeling the pangs of having a lower social standing because I'd decided to go out and perform for the poor bastards who have no choice but to go out into that weather because they have to go to work. From my perspective, I feel sorry for anyone who has to go outside when it rains and I'd love to make them smile as they dash between raindrops! Yet, that is certainly not what the majority of the public seems to think. I suppose it's that whole 'transferrence of feelings' thing we tend to have as a collective consciousness.

Lastly, of course, it's all about the almighty dollar. If you don't want to stay and watch, you aren't going to pay. And I'm not prepared to stand outside and get soaked, or have my toes fall off from the cold for a few lousy bucks.

Well, folks, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you, the general public, might have about busking in the rain.

If you have a question to send to "Ask a Busker", please email them to: kate.mior@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you!

the Ethics of Licenses for Buskers

Hi folks!

It's been a while since I've posted; had a great time in Charlottetown, PEI at the C.A.F.E conference, got embroiled in a questionable 'situation' that involved kidnapping and extortion, but, what else is new in the life of an itinerant street performer, really?

(don't worry, while the kidnapping victim WAS an endangered species, it was a plush toy).

Today, I want to talk to you all about licensing. Busking and licenses, to be exact. There seems to be a divide among buskers: those who believe in and uphold the licensing issue and those that are pissed off by it. I fall into the category of the former as opposed to the latter, generally, although there are situations in which I rather risk it and follow the credo that it is 'better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission' to stand.

In Toronto, we have several licenses that are required to play in various parts of the city. For circus and typical street acts, we can take our pick of a variety of licenses including the regular city street license, a Harbourfont Centre license, permission from the Distillery District, and of course, the highly popular license for Yonge & Dundas Square. This doesn't include the audition and licensing process required if you want to play music in TTC stations. Yup, we sure have a lot of choice in front of us!

The average regular city street license runs about $35 and covers a performer for an entire year. It would not take very long for a good busker to make that fee during a show and it's a drop in the bucket as compared to some of the ridiculous fees I've had to pay in Europe (in Salzburg, Austria a city busking permit for internationals is 14€ per week!).

Now, I've toured a lot, folks. I've toured across Canada, toured through Europe, I've been to Asia, and while legally, a lot of my gigs that brought me to those places involved contracts with the government or festival organizers I have arguably spent a LOT of time on the hard street in all sorts of cities performing for locals and tourists alike and it's allowed me to develop an informed attitude towards licensing and the whole notion of 'free art'.

Let's face it; busking is a fringe industry. We live on the outskirts of typical 9-to-5 culture, generally we are transient folks, or at the very least have a lifestyle that is conducive to living transiently, and as such, the industry attracts a lot of people who have a general disregard for the Way Things Work. And that's fine: I'm all for circumventing the law, but, you gotta KNOW the law to circumvent it. I strongly disagree with the notion of circumventing law that has a rational reason for it's inception. Busking licenses and the regulation of buskers, to me, is rational. It keeps the professionals on the streets and the kids who went to Burning Man once and didn't bother to learn about fire safety first OFF the streets. It protects us buskers, and keeps us doing what we do best. Personally, I'm all for providing a C.V and demo-tapes of your work to local municipalities, not so keen on auditions but understand the importance of them. That way we know the person entertaining us on the giant unicycle isn't going to fall and hurt himself along with his audience participant. In Covent Garden, performers require insurance to play. It.just.makes.sense. Even on the hard street, a license will protect each busker; we have a legal distance to keep separated, noise level requirements so everyone can be heard, and bylaw officers that yes, can HELP us (as much as they annoy us sometimes): for example, if some dickbag shows up while I'm performing and sets up shop beside me, I can ask them to wait until I'm finished, and, if they fail to comply, I can call bylaw who will be down at the pitch quickly to resolve the situation for everyone. It protects everyone involved. Admittedly, sometimes the bylaw officers flagrantly sweep areas and ticket regular performers for ridiculous and contrived offenses ('blocking traffic flow' is a classic one, if the officer is having a bad day), but in my personal experiences, I've had few negative ones compared to positive. And hey, if I feel like I've been treated unjustly, I'll just take it to court, where I'm likely to win anyway.

Lots of buskers argue that busking represents freedom and refuse to get licenses on principle. I can agree with that statment when I'm touring through Europe and I'm not going to be in a city long enough to make use of a week-long, or month long permit, but, if you're living in Toronto and making use of your OHIP, and contributing to society, COME ON. Grow the fuck up, already! As I said earlier, the city license is $35. We're not talking $500 here. We're talking a nomial fee that you can make in the first TEN MINUTES of performing (if you're good. And I'm sorry, if you can't make your license back in at least a day, get another fucking job). Personally, I refuse to obtain the Yonge & Dundas license. The cost is ridiculous compared to the amount of scheduled time a performer is ALLOWED to perform. It doesn't make sense to me. If I'm going to pay a hundred bucks for my license, I better be able to play any time. It's about getting a license that works for you.

Free pitches are becoming a rarity. In Ottawa, there's some shit going down at the Byward Market, which, as far as I know, may very well be the last free pitch in Canada. For those of you who have never worked it, the pitch is pretty much performer-run, probably the best example of a performer-run space I've had the chance of experiencing: a draw happens every day for shows, and everyone takes turns sharing the spot. This is a rarity on a hard street pitch, as far as I am concerned. Regardless, the market has created a licensing program for performers there, but failed to allow the main pitch on George St. to be included on the roster of designated pitch areas. Internationals will still get licenses fairly easily, but what does it matter if they can't do shows on what has been the main pitch for many, many years? This sucks, definitely, but the only way to fight this situation is legally, not by continuing to get tickets and getting arrested. Personally, I don't mind having to pay a license, but I DO mind not being able to perform on a spot that has been used for years by performers. I do believe that cities should consult performers while planning their busking spaces, and if they don't, I don't mind spending my winters in court fighting a bylaw if it means I get a better summer out of the deal. While a space may work from an urban-planning standpoint, it may not work for performers. Governments should have an open dialogue with it's city's buskers. And from my experiences performing in Canada, most do; Harbourfront in Toronto is super for taking consideration of the opinions of other buskers.

Sometimes, however, governments don't pay attention to performers and do their own thing. It may suck at the time, but unless you invest your time in fighting it from the inside out, sometimes y'gotta suck it up and look at it in a different way. I've heard the argument about fighting a 'fascist government' as a reason for not getting a license. Let me tell you folks something: people who say shit like that don't have a fucking clue, and I advise them to get off their fucking lazy asses and go traveling. I've bought licenses in cities in Europe where a right-leaning government is in power, and have had military police shut me down, RIP UP the licenses I bought, cuff me and cart me out of town on the next train. Now THAT, folks, is bullshit. It sucked. But do you know what I did? I got on the train and got off at the next city and set up shop there. I was a guest in their country, taking advantage of their economy, who gave me the right to complain about mistreatment? Remember: as a busker, if you're not claiming your busking earnings on your taxes (which, as a disclaimer, I would *highly* reccommend you do if you are legally a resident), you are taking advantage of an economy. Who gives you the right to complain about mistreatment, really? You're already doing something illegal. And if you don't believe in supporting a societal structure in the city you're living in, cut up your health card, unlearn everything you were taught in public school then, you ungrateful piece of shit. I may be generalizing here, but, having met a lot of people, it always makes me laugh to hear this argument because, many folks whom I've met that have this attitude come from a privileged background (to a certain degree) and thinking this way is a luxury for them.

And lastly, if you STILL don't support the notion of getting a license after what I've had to say, then go work the festival circut where you don't have to worry. At least then you get billing and are treated well by festival organizers. There's a lot of festivals out there, many abroad that take care of work visas and all that for you, too.

Permits and there for a reason. It helps us and it helps you. It allows us to perform in a designated area and protects you from some yahoo who doesn't know how to use his juggling machetes. Admittedly, there are kinks to the system: auditioning regulars over and over again is annoying, ticketing performers for minor infractions is stupid, and creating designated pitches that don't work for performers' needs is retarded, but in the end, it's so that everyone can play in the sandbox nicely.

And if you have a problem with it, don't go and get yourself arrested, for godssakes. That just prevents you from traveling and wastes your money and time. Go fight the laws in the courts.

Nuit Blanche: Art and Money

Hi everyone!

This post is going to be a bit different from the usual resume I generally write here. I've decided I have a blog for a reason and a website that is being overhauled so I can update it myself, which makes using this blog as a means of updating what gigs I do kinda redundant.

And, while busking during Nuit Blanche in Toronto, I started to form a post in my head that was later spurred on by a couple of people emailing me this pretty awesome blog post written by Amanda Palmer, entitled, "Why I am Not Afraid to Take your Money", as well as recent conversations I've been having with fellow street performer Chalkmaster Dave about making money as artists.

First of all, let's talk about Nuit Blanche. I'm by *no way* against events such as Nuit Blanche. Why would I be against the idea of bringing art and culture to the masses and making it unpretentious (for the most part) and accessible? That's awesome! As a street performer, that's what I do! I am, however, totally and COMPLETELY against the idea of free art. This will lead me into a rant about what I think art is, and, maybe I should go into that rant to contextualize for you all where I'm coming from.

Okay, so what is art? To me, it's a business. Period. Now, it's a great business, where ideas and execution come together to create something amazing, it can change the world, sure, but, at the bottom line it's still a business.

The idea of art being all about sacrifice and ideas and totally useless and the Artist As The Divine Being was fabricated in the 19th century, during the Romantic era. Artists needed to break away from the patron and decided to create their own biblical myth in order to do so. And it worked; patrons went away, art was consumed by the masses and everyone was autonomous and happy. However, people took it further and decided that art was no longer a business, but a lifestyle choice. Excuse me!? A lifestyle choice?

I'm sorry, but I work hard at my craft. And for somebody to turn around and call themselves an artist when they don't spend every day improving their craft in some way just doesn't make sense to me. I don't change a light bulb and go around calling myself an electrician. You don't work as a waiter and call yourself an artist. It's as simple as that. Trust me, folks. I'm not a divine being. I'm not a genius. I'm not a mythical beast like unicorns or Jesus. I'm an adult who took art very seriously and has worked hard to build a career for myself.

Anyway, before I digress too much, that's what art is to me, that's what it is in the context of this post.

The danger of promoting free art is the danger of promoting the well-established idea that experiencing art is entitled to people. This is where business comes in. Now, I love being an artist. I love doing what I do for a living. While I don't consider myself lucky (seriously, if anybody works hard at what they love, it will pay off in the end) so much as happy that I'm dedicated to my work, in the end, I probably wouldn't be doing it if I didn't earn a comfortable living from it. Yes, that's right. As much as I love to create new and interesting things, give something to people to cherish, if I didn't make money, I wouldn't do it. Why? Because it's not profitable. Oh, and just so you know, I failed miserably at the business end for a long time. I still do, sometimes. I am not inherently a business-man. I had to learn it. Just like I had to learn how to play piano, or learn how to mime.

Some of you reading may ask, "but does economy compromise artistic integrity?!" sure. Just like economy compromises the integrity of a variety of industries (look at the medical industry, for example). But you know what: you can work within the context of financial reality and make it work. Just how big of a deal is this integrity thing, anyway? To me, it sounds like something said by people who are afraid of success. I stand behind my work, personally. I think what I do is both artistic and subversive, as well as entertaining and profitable. You can merge the two, people. You can do it. Quite frankly, I think art is supposed to reach the widest demographic possible, and if you create work that is alienating and reaches only a certain demographic, you fail. Miserably. Art should be for everyone, not everyone who went to university. I don't need to quote Dostoevsky to prove I'm intelligent, or legitimize my work.

Here's an example of making things work realistically: Chalkmaster Dave is trying to get out of chalk and into painting. His work is stellar. He's not a fan of 3-D art at all. He believes 3-D chalk art is a gimmick as bad as a one-trick living statue. But, this year, Chalkmaster has decided to start producing 3-D art at festivals. Why? Because it's profitable. Fest organizers clamour for that kind of thing. They can't get enough of it. Now, Dave sure isn't going to do your typical fare with it, no doubt. He's a gifted artist and brilliant person and he's going to make it work with what he loves to draw: Batman. (and seriously, if anybody reading this honestly wants to push the 'Batman isn't artistic!' angle with me... have you READ any of the Dark Knight comics??) And he's not compromising himself terribly. Making 3-D art enables him to ask for more money, which means, he will improve the quality of his life and his family's life. Oh, and guess what. He's going to use some of that money to make paintings so he can eventually make money from his paintings instead of chalk art.

On the topic of having the audacity to ask for money...

Amanda Palmer's entry was emailed to me by a friend who said I should look at it, since it was talking about something I yammer on about all the time: why artists shouldn't be afraid to ask for money. Amanda Palmer used to be a street performer (in fact, she used to perform my very type of act), and her entry totally smacks of a street performer mentality. And that's a good thing. The one thing I've always admired about my industry is the total and completely ballsy way in which we approach our survival. It's also the most honest form of employment: who else gives you their product and THEN asks you how much you think they are worth? Answer: no one other than street performers.

I could go on about some of the misconceptions I've had over the years street performing: people from shelters handing me sleeping bags, suited business-types who act scammed when they see me go home with my boyfriend, I've even had people recognize me in fancy restaurants and ask where my shame is for dining at an expensive place, when they saw me at Yonge and Dundas performing earlier in the day. What the hell is wrong with that? I'm not like that panhandler who's going to inevitably spend your two bucks on some cheap booze. I'm funneling that money into new shows, my rent, and yes, sometimes a night out for some steak! I get angry and passionate, folks, because I find this whole idea so absurd. What is so wrong with me paying my rent on time?

I work hard. Arguably a lot harder than some folks at a desk job, who were hired by an employer, have all their benefits taken care of, all they need to concern themselves with is the task at hand for the day (generally given to them by somebody else). I have to book myself gigs, I have to train, I have to do all my own bookkeeping, my own promotion, build my own contacts... luckily, I work with some rather fine agents who take care of a lot of that work for me, but ultimately I am completely accountable for my own success or failure. Admittedly, my career-choice is even a bit unstable: I've been assaulted, stolen from, almost arrested, shut-down, had turf-wars...That kind of reality is hard stuff! My fan-base keeps me grounded. They are my paycheck. I am so grateful for the regular folks who know my name and make a donation every single day, and for the folks who write me emails or posts on the facebook fan page discussion forum. It's humbling.

But. It's also business.
And I never confuse the two. It's a bizarre career choice to some, I'm sure, but it's my own, and I'm entitled to make it work for myself. If you don't agree with me, then don't support my work. It's as simple as that. But if you do agree, know that your support goes a long way and maybe one day I actually will produce a piece of art that moves that large demographic of people to a satisfactory degree to some art academic with pretentions for Higher Ah-rt. But you know what? It will have probably taken money to get to that point.

I'll let you know when I get there.

Ottawa Super Ex!

Hey everyone!
I am back in Toronto for the time being. The summer ended on a great high note with an awesome time at the Ottawa SuperEx. A great team of people working, wonderful crowds and a real steady gig! Met some wonderful and colourful new people, and reconnected with old friends. I even spent some time working the street in the Byward Market, which is one of my favourite pitches in the country. I love Ottawans and am always looking forward to going back whenever I can.

After the Ex, I took a self-imposed holiday away from the internet and it felt so great! I actually got out and had an AMAZING Labour Day weekend busking at Harbourfront in Toronto, and got a chance to see some friends who will be leaving shortly, going back to various countries or cities to hunker down for the winter.

This upcoming weekend I will be working the Taste of the Kingsway street closure. The season is ending and while there are the bittersweet emotions attached, I feel contented for having a busy and full summer behind me. Now it's time to hunker down myself and work on new and exciting projects for the next upcoming year!

Saint John, St. John's...

Hi folks!

I just got back from my tour out East; Saint John's Buskers on the Boardwalk, and St. John's Buskerfest in Newfoundland. I ate a lot of seafood, smelled the salty sea air and had some amazing adventures that included jumping across the top of the cars of an old timey train. Scratch one more thing off the list of things to do before I die. Nope, the yard dogs weren't chasing me, but there'll be time for that I reckon!

Had a wonderful time performing in some great fests, met some wonderful people, got some great press and gave some AMAZING shows. Thanks to everyone who came out to the fests in New Brunswick and Newfoundland, you guys were amazing and totally rocked!

I'm going to invest in a better computer so I can keep a log of my adventures on the road; since I drove up to both gigs, a lot of fun was had. The Cowguys wrote a great blog entry regarding our trip home from New Brunswick, if'n you wanna read it...

Newfoundland was wonderful. I drove up with Chalkmaster Dave and we had a grand old time taking the ferry across the Atlantic Ocean and spending 20 hrs in a car together. I'm pleased to announce that not only did we make it through the trip without any problems, but we actually enjoyed each other's company and worked well even under pressure! Way to go us!!
We even had some time along the way to take pictures and goof around.

I get so much inspiration on the road and have been writing things down and am looking forward to a productive winter of new stuff up and coming once I get finished with my summer touring season. Not that I want it to hurry up, I'm enjoying every minute of it!! :D

Alright, well, I should get going. Next adventure is in Ottawa, for the Super Ex! It should be an awesomely grand ol' time!

I leave you now with a shot from on the road: hitchin' a ride on the train to get to the NFLD ferry...

Muskoka SummerFest, Windsor International Buskerfest, fest fest fest...

Well, I left Toronto last week and haven't been back much since, and don't expect to be home much in the near future, it seems! This is the part where the tourin' starts.

Last weekend I was in beautiful sunny Muskoka for the annual Muskoka Summerfest, an awesome festival in the heart of Bracebridge right on lake Muskoka. The crowds were great, the atmosphere was fantastic and overall a really fun time.

This weekend I'm off to the Windsor International Buskerfest, which is sure to be a real fun time. I'm looking forward to seeing some awesome folks again and meeting some new people. I will definitely be updated this journal between now and the fest to let you all know how it goes!

Currently, I'm at home cutting together a demo-reel! I'm amazed I've been working this long without one! I've gotten some footage together and will be shooting some more in the near future, but as it stands, I want something up ASAP and the footage I have currently is really good. It's coming along nicely, although, it's pretty obvious why I don't work in film full-time; editing takes me forever because I have zero interest in sitting at a computer for hours on end. I'd much rather be entertaining crowds. Ha ha.

Next week I'll be road trippin' with the Cow Guys to New Brunswick! I love out East! I can't wait to eat more oysters!

Canada Day

Hi everyone!

Hope you all had a great Canada Day. I sure did!
This year, I was lucky enough to have the day off from gigs to check out the busking on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. I'd never been to Ottawa for our national holiday and found it to be an amazing experience. The crowds were friendly, amazingly patriotic and very enthusiastic. I gave some wonderful performances and the audiences really loved my act!

Something to look forward to in August when I will be back for the Super Ex!

This weekend I'm in Toronto, working at the Harbourfront pitch. Next weekend is the Muskoka Summerfest! It is sure to be a blast. Looking forward to performing with Errheads again. They are brilliant.