More Adventures in Busking

Just got back from about 2-1/2 hours of busking in Central Park. My take? $26.50. I guess this activity earns me something like minimum wage (though no tax is withheld). But for me it's not really work--it's fun and good practice.

This time I took a spot that I have seen a friend of mine use in the past. Near the Delacourt Theatre, at the southwest corner of the great lawn. This is another spot with a lot of foot traffic, where three paths come together. There is a cobblestone area next to the path, which makes a great "stage".

My rough estimate is that 95% of the people passing by simply ignore me. The other 5% either nod, say something or give some money. Actually, it's much more unusual for someone to say something than for someone to give money. As I said in the previous post, some people show no sign that they are even listening to music, then discretely drop a dollar into the hat. If 5% of the people give an average of 50 cents each, then if 100 people pass each hour, I'll make $2.50. If 1000 people pass each hour, I'll make $25. So having a spot with lots of traffic is key.

As usual, kids love music, even toddlers in strollers. Some persuade their parents to stop. Sometimes a parent will try to get a kid interested in the music. Most of the kids are interested, once they stop paying attention to the squirrels, or whatever else is distracting them.

A couple of people sat on nearby benches and listened for a while. One older gentlemen, after listening for about 20 minutes, came over and said "You're GOOD." That felt nice. It made up for the two yuppies who walked by talking on cell phones while allowing their dogs to sniff at my money. (I chased one dog off by acting like I was going to kick him. Next time I may kick the owner instead)

I shattered another pick, this time in the second or third song. But I had plenty of replacements this time. I also shattered one in Washington Square Park last weekend. Most guitar players break strings, but I break picks instead. Today I played my Ovation guitar, just to get used to it. I will probably use it for a gig next week, because it plugs in. My main guitar, a Martin, sounds MUCH better. The Ovation was slipping out of tune a little bit, which the Martin does very rarely. It makes sense; if I sold the Martin, I would have enough money to buy ten Ovations.

If I busk every weekend for the next year, and save all the money, I should have enough for another Martin, or maybe a Taylor.

Songs I can remember playing:

Streets of Laredo
Weary Blues from Waiting
Peaceful Easy Feeling
My Buckets Got a Hole in it
When the Saints Go Marching In
Cheating Heart
I'll Fly Away
Heartaches by the Number
Hey Good Lookin'
Blue Ridge Mountain Blues
Like a Rolling Stone
On the Road Again
Don't Think Twice
King of the Road
She Ain't Goin' Nowhere
My Hometown
Murshin Durkin
The Bottle Let Me Down
Folsom Prison Blues
Working Man Blues

Adventures in Busking

So I decided to do some actual busking today in Central Park. It was about 55 degrees, with a low autumn sun. Many of the trees are bare now, and there are leaves and acorns lying everywhere. There is still plenty of color though, and I saw a few spectacular autumn trees.

The one other time I made some money in Central Park on purpose I sat on a bench near the row boat pond and played some songs with my case open in front of me, on a late summer afternoon in 2008. I got a couple of contributions, and 1 guy who sat down and listened for a long time. That was a pretty low key form of busking.

This time I decided I wanted to find a fairly busy spot, stand up, make noise, and make it clear that I was entertaining for cash. I found a very pretty spot on top of a hill near the statue of a Polish guy on a horse. There was a lot of foot traffic there, but no benches or other seating place. I found a nice spot on the edge of the path. I put on my guitar, and the strap slipped off the back. I fixed the strap, stood up and started to play. I did Bob Dylan's Dont Think Twice. Then I put out my hat in front of me and put a couple of dollars in it. Some guy walking a bicycle almost ran my hat over, but swerved at the last minute. I decided that it would be better to stand back on the grass, and put the hat out in front of me so that it was right at the edge of the path. Also I stood back a few feet from the hat, so that people could slip in money discretely, without coming "up on stage". It made me a little nervous to leave my money out in the open like that, but no one tried anything the whole time.

I did Blue Ridge Mountain Blues and got my first contribution from a 3-year-old girl. Very often young kids are mesmerized by street musicians, and they get their parents to stop, and then their parents give the kid money to give to the musician. I got some other contributions, and made a total of $12.50. I didn't play for very long, probably about an hour. But I was playing the whole time. I kind of decided that I would try to just keep going. A couple of times I had a hard time thinking of what song to do next. In that case I would just repeat a verse of the song I was doing, until something occurred to me.

I think my spot was pretty good because there was a lot of foot traffic, but it was not so great for attracting a crowd. It was not a narrow path--this was a pretty wide area, like a little plaza near the convergence of 3 paths. But there were no benches or other place to sit and relax. I think next time I would like to find a similar place with benches nearby. My longest most devoted audience was a young Japanese couple with a toddler, probably less then 2 years old. They stayed for 2 songs, gave me some money, and the toddler started to cry a little when they carried her away. But over half of my contributions came from people who were just walking by, some of whom didn't even seem to notice me, until they swerved to put a dollar in the hat. I'm afraid some of these people gave me money more out of charity than out of appreciation. But who am I to question another's motives? If it gives him pleasure to give me a dollar, I'm happy to take it!

What finally stopped me after an hour was that my pick broke. This never happens when I'm playing at home. It has happened to me once or twice in Washington Square Park. I think it happens from trying to play as loud as possible, especially when I'm doing a bassline. At home I don't feel the need to hit the strings so hard in order to project. Normally I carry about 3 picks in my pocket, but for some unknown reason I only had one. When the pick broke, only 1 corner broke off, so I started playing with the other unbroken corner. Two songs later, what remained of the pick split in two, and that's where it ended today.


(these are the songs I remember playing--I probably forgot 1 or 2)
My Bucket's Got a Hole in it
Omaha
Dukes of Hazzard Theme
Hey Good Looking
Don't Think Twice
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Blue Ridge Mountain Blues
Folsom Prison Blues
Lost Highway
Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain
On the Road Again
Heartaches by the Number
Cheating Heart
The Bottle Let Me Down

Some Songs

Here are a few songs I have been attempting lately:

My Home Town (Springsteen)
Tom Russell : Blue Wing, US Steel, Gallo del Cielo, Veterans Day
Pub on the Crossroads (Off Dubliners CD)
Hava Nagila
Early Morning Rain (Gordon Lightfoot?)
Summer Wages, Ian Tyson
American Pie, Don McClean
Guy Clark: Build Me a Boat, That Old Time Feeling
David Francy, Banks of the Seaway
I’m 18, Alice Cooper
San Antonio Rose, Bob Wills
Colorado, Flying Burrito Brothers
Grateful Dead: Bertha, Tennessee Jed
Tequila Sunrise, The Eagles
My Old School, Steely Dan