(SHREWSBURY) What started as a tribute to busker Ben Bebbington by his family and friends has swelled to event with over 40 musical acts. Ben was tragically killed in a senseless murder by two teenagers in September of 2012.Made up of over 200 people who filled the town with a carnival atmosphere, Happy Days in Shrewsbury took place in the town’s beautiful medieval centre. Raising over £10,000, it was a celebration of community, music and talent all in glorious sunshine. It also raised awareness and funds for The Shrewsbury Ark - a charity that had supported Ben in recent years and meant a huge amount to him.

A known busker within the town, Ben was an excellent musician and would often play his guitar in some late great impromptu jams. Other muses would join him after-hours and perform standards and original so...

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(WWW) Most people think that fame is instant - namely that through a fluke, fame comes to performers overnight. Far from the truth, it turns out that fame usually comes only after years and years of dedicated performing.Some start out in very different themes before becoming famous. Who knew a fire eater would become James Bond or a mime become an Academy Award winner? One famous performer actually got deported from Spain for sleeping on the streets. Another got his nickname the "Beale Street Blues Boy". Can you guess who?

A closer look at fame reveals startling inconsistencies in perceptions of success. A famous comedian starts off playing banjo for lucky passers-by. Another star begins playing piano at age six. Just who will make it and who won't is written in the stars (no pun intended). Such is life.

Let's...

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(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...

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With bits and pieces from Bob Dylan, the Old Crow Medicine Show has gathered a following in the contemporary musical landscape. A repertoire of songs ended up in a street-corner string band with frontman Ketch Secor leading the way. From a Dylan snippet, the song "Wagon Wheel" attracted the attention of Coldplay and an album was to follow.

Bob Dylan was to lend another lyrical scrap to their next noticable song "Sweet Amarillo" which enabled "the Crows" to officially join the Nashville scene in the hallowed Grand Ole Opry. They also received accolades from the Americana Music Awards as "Trailblazers".

The album "Remedy" topped the iTunes Country Albums chart with an old-time string band template. With "Remedy", the Old Crow Medicine Show has established...

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(WWW) It's Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Carnival around the world. Try not to get hit in the head with a coconut when yelling "Throw me something, mister!".

'Songs in the streets of life: Celebrating the long history of buskers in New Orleans' is an lengthy article showcasing New Orlean's busking & street performing. New Orleans, LouisianA (NOLA) has been around for over 300 years in the "new world". It's history is both enlightening and pitch dark so we'll focus on performance.

The famous French Quarter makes New Orleans second to none when it comes to busking and street performing.

Jackson Square and Royal street are the two main areas of performing. One street north is Bourbon which is out of the question for most buskers. It has an open-container policy...the first in the US....

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