<![CDATA[Busker Central Blogs Feed]]> http://buskercentral.com/buskers en <![CDATA[Gatecrashers cash in on WBF]]> http://buskercentral.com/buskers/blog.php?u=2&b=32&sid=48337d939a0912212d0515c9f198d772 Gatecrashers: The World Buskers Festival is being gatecrashed by street performers eager to cash in on the crowds attracted by the popular Christchurch event.

Heymoonshaker, a guitar and beatboxing act, set themselves up on a street corner yesterday afternoon to take advantage of the crowds.

"If the festival is a boat, then we are on skis behind it trying to get as much out of it as we can," gatecrashing British beatboxer Crowe said.

British travellers Crowe and guitarist Andrew Balcon met in Nelson and decided to perform in Christchurch to raise money for their world travels.

"We thought we would be able to perform in between sets in the Square, but they wouldn't let us," Balcon said.

Festival director Jodi Wright has taken a liberal approach to the busker pilot fish cruising in the wake of the festival shark.

"It is too hard to try to police them. Unless...

[ Continued ]]]> <![CDATA[SOCAN wants to charge buskers performance fees]]> http://buskercentral.com/buskers/blog.php?u=2&b=64&sid=48337d939a0912212d0515c9f198d772 (from the You've got-to-be-kidding-me Department)
One of the themes of 2009 was that collection societies around the world went nuts trying to charge for anything they possibly could while also trying to increase the rates they could charge. Even banks went wild with their hidden charges.

Remember how one collection society wanted to charge a woman because she put on music in public for her horses? Or how about the woman who worked in a grocery store who was told to stop singing while stocking the shelves or the store would have to pay a performance fee? And, of course, we had ASCAP trying to claim that ringtones were public performances, and mobile operators needed to pay up -- beyond the license fee that was already paid on the recording.

SOCAN, the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, has been no exception pushing for drastically increased rates...

[ Continued ]]]> <![CDATA[Our Founding Fathers]]> http://buskercentral.com/buskers/blog.php?u=2&b=271&sid=48337d939a0912212d0515c9f198d772 (WWW) Our Founding Fathers...who art in Heaven...
Explore the History and Cultural Impact of Street Performing in America.
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Ben Franklin on the Streets of Boston in 1718 and Patrick Henry and Sam Adams on the Revolutionary Streets are just a few that used their talents to influence the making of a nation. Street performances were a part of colonial American life as evidenced by these observations of Hanover and Williamsburg, Virginia and Boston. Nathaniel Hawthorne, anyone? Here's a history of busking in the new world.

Americana at it's finest.

Follow the link below for edification.

American Street Performing]]> <![CDATA[Key West buskers ponder fate]]> http://buskercentral.com/buskers/blog.php?u=2&b=84&sid=48337d939a0912212d0515c9f198d772 (KEY WEST) It may be lights out for buskers and street performers on Florida's popular and most southern island.
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Key West city commissioners on Tuesday approved the first reading of an ordinance that would put stricter controls on where some 220 license-holding street performers set up their act or wares on Duval Street.

Performers also would not be allowed at Mallory Square. Other restricted areas: Wall Street; in front federal, state or local government buildings; in front of churches and theaters; the Key West Bight harbor walk; the Truman Waterfront; and the Southernmost Point.]]> <![CDATA[Naked Cowboy drops out of mayor race]]> http://buskercentral.com/buskers/blog.php?u=2&b=54&sid=48337d939a0912212d0515c9f198d772 NEW YORK — The Naked Cowboy of Times Square says he's dropping out of the race for New York mayor.
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Robert "Bob" Burck is a tourist attraction known for strumming his guitar in the square while wearing only briefs and a cowboy hat.

He entered the mayoral race in July with the slogan, “Nobody has done more with less.”

But now, he says he's had enough of the red tape that goes with a mayoral run.

He says the last straw came when the city's Conflicts of Interest Board fined him $250 for failing to file a required financial disclosure form.

Mr. Burck says the only way to be taken seriously is to appear in a suit and tie.

:pointlol: "And away he goes...skidmarks and all," said a Times Squar...

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