(SEATTLE) It takes one glance any day of the week to see lots of buskers performing at Seattle, Washington's Pike Place Market. The popular and colorful water-front marketplace is alive and well.Busker Central reporters recently visited the scene and observed that street-performers were literally on every block. Pianos, guitars, saxophones, and clarinets were all making music leaving the possibility wide open for larger circle shows. Although the pitches are now permitted, some performers had been busking the market for over 10 years.

A huge tourist mecca, Pike Place Market is also home to the first Starbucks coffee shop. The line to enjoy a cup of java was well outside the door and down the block. Beside the line, a guitarist was busy performing classic rock songs and really seemed to be enjoying himself. Down...

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(PITTSBURGH) Bringing the "Weird, Wild and Wonderful" to the streets, the Busker Street Union enlivens city streets making them safer. It also gives a voice to the voiceless. Busker Street Union is a national placemaking program."We reactivate street spaces. We engage community members through performance. We do research by collecting busking guidelines around the world and we map the safe places to play. The mapping allows us to identify spaces that are protected Free Speech allowing others to use the spaces as a venue for activism. If you are looking for a safe place to play, join the union and sign up here. You’ll get tips on the best places to play and friendly business owners looking to stir up a crowd."

An interesting take on the history of busking, street stages, and busking l...

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(WWW) "AllTheRooms.com is made up of a range of travelers who have lived, worked, and partied in all areas of the planet. We research the best places and most important tips for all types of globetrotters looking to scratch their wanderlust itch.""In all our ambition and industriousness, Americans have found some interesting ways to make a dollar. Take a stroll through any of the country’s bustling downtown metropolises and you’re bound to find someone dancing, singing, fiddling, acting, magic-wielding, fire breathing, or sword swallowing their way to stardom."

Some cities include New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, Seatttle, and Venice beach.

Click the link below for some surprises.
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BRISTOL, Tenn. – The city has launched a program to encourage performers to display their talents at designated downtown spots billed as “busk stops.”

Known as “Busk Stop Central,” the program will allow performers – including jug musicians, avant-garde mimes, tap-dancers, orange jugglers, rubber-band pluckers, bongo players, Flamenco guitarists, spoken-verse poets, Austin Powers imitators, Renaissance Fair re-enactors and other artists – to legally do their thing at specified downtown locations and receive donations from passers-by.

“Busk” refers to an old English term for street performers, known as “buskers.”

A performer must apply for a free city permit to perform at one of three designated areas, all on State Street. The busk stops are marked with medallions in the sidewalk.

For details, contact the Bristol D...

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(SWITZERLAND) An interesting page at Swiss Info has many busking attractions, pictures, and related stories starting in the nation's capital with the Berne Buskers Festival.Celebrating its 12th year this summer, the three-day event featured 42 acts with 145 performers from 18 countries. Half of the acts were musical with the rest involving clowns, dancers, human statues, and other artists.

Related busking stories and pictures take us around Switzerland to Basel, Biel, and Montreux as well as podcast on what it's like to be a busker in Berne.

A reporter for Busker Central entered a Buskerfest contest in Luzern back in 1992. Unfortunately, the city was given a bad reputation when the contest was found to be "won" by a professional opera singer who had stumbled outside. Her father also happened...

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