New Year's Busking

Today, New Year's Day, I realized that it was warm enough to go and play, so I ventured through the melting snow to Harvard Square. I played in front of Au Bon Pain for about 3 hours, and made more than $65, which is (I believe) the most I've ever made. $40 of that came from one teenage tourist who I'm not entirely sure knew how generous he was being. I jammed out with a homeless guy who offered to play some rhythm guitar and have me solo over it - I didn't play all that well, but it was nice to actually play with another musician for a change.

Overall, it was probably the most fun I've had performing, ever - little competition, lots of tourists, and a well-rested voice. I doubt I'll be able to play again until the end of winter, so I'll get back to blogging then.

Foreign coins and such

The other day, I decided to take the huge pile of change I had accumulated over the year and bring it to the Coinstar machine at the store down the street. I discovered I had more than $50 in change, but more interestingly, I had quite a bit of foreign change. From the ordinary (Canadian quarters) to weirder and less common currencies like the Chilean Peso and Turkish Lira, there was a great diversity of change in my bin. This, I think, attests to the diversity of the tourist population of Harvard Square - I get tourists from all over the world hearing my music.

Day 24: Fighting a losing battle

Yesterday, I performed in Harvard Square for what was probably the last time this year, as the weather gets colder. It was 70+ degrees yesterday afternoon, but strong winds created quite the problem for me - I lost a dollar to the wind, and several times I had to adjust my equipment, which was repeatedly shifted by strong, swirling winds. I had moderate audiences at times, but most were teenagers, and so I made just $1. I also had to spend $10 for batteries as I had left mine at home, so I lost money on this particular performance. I had a great time, though, trying out some new songs from the album I'm currently working on, which will be due out on Belgian Man Records in June or July.

I have noticed recently as I've been singing in our school's choir (I'm a bass) that my higher range has dropped off significantly. I have lost about an octave off the top of my voice over the last two months, and it's frustrating to not be able to sing the same songs I used to without mangling them beyond repair.

After two years of performing, I am finally getting comfortable putting myself out there and singing publicly. It is certainly not a typical activity for a high school student, but I feel like I have become one of the regulars, part of a family of Cambridge street performers. Even when I have angered some of the others by playing too loudly, they have never been anything but helpful and respectful to me, and I feel that it's great that we have that sort of community despite frequently being in direct competition for donations.

Day 23: Fail, Fail, and More Fail

I really had some terrible luck on Wednesday when I decided to try performing in Harvard Square again...I first managed to forget my capo, which is essential for several songs, at home. Then, I discovered that every single one of my usual spots were taken, mostly by people with no busking license. I ended up sitting on top of a ledge about 10 feet up across from Hidden Sweets. My high-up perch made me essentially invisible to passers-by, who gave me just $2 over 2 hours.

However, there were a few interesting things. First of all, I was surprised to see Ray Magliozzi of the NPR show "Car Talk" sitting at a table outside a nearby cafe, listening. I've been a fan of his show since I was just a little kid, so I was pretty excited to see him there, though I didn't say anything to him. Also, a woman was sitting nearby with a (very cute) baby for a while. Every time I stopped singing, the baby started crying. It was very surreal to hear every pause filled with crying.

A good friend who has been in a couple of unsuccessful bands with me just got his busking license, so we may start playing together, probably doing just instrumental jams due to his lack of an amp.

Day 22: Protesters and hobos

Yesterday, after a disastrous audition for the Music Performance Club at school (basically, our school's unofficial rock band), I played in front of Au Bon Pain for about 2 hours. My time was cut short, however, by a group of protesters angry about the firing of a professor (I think) from Harvard. They decided to set up about 30 feet away from me. As soon as I realized this, I tried to find a police officer, because by setting up so close to me and with their absurdly huge loudspeaker setup, they were violating Cambridge street performing and noise ordinances left and right. However, as soon as they showed up, all of the Cambridge cops nearby seemed to disappear, for whatever reason. In the end, I had to crank my amp far beyond the legal limit, and so I decided to play songs to annoy the protesters. Mostly, I went for songs with lines like "Open your eyes," in the hopes that maybe they might notice my plight, but to no avail. With my voice faltering, I was left with no course but to pull out the deadliest weapon in my arsenal: The RickRoll. If you don't know what that is, you should probably go look it up for a full explanation, but basically, it consists of singing a particular Rick Astley song to unsuspecting people.

In other funny things, a possibly drunken homeless man stood next to me for most of my set, laughing every time I sung just about anything. As one might imagine, this is rather disconcerting, especially when coupled with loud chants about justice.

On the whole, the day was quite amusing, though I made nearly nothing and left feeling rather angry at the protesters, who didn't seem to notice at all that I was 30 feet away and screaming my lungs out.

Day 21: Falling apart

Yesterday, I screamed myself hoarse over 2+ hours - I already had a cold, and singing lots was not helping. In any case, I certainly had a good time, though due to a lack of space, I had to play way down the street where there are fewer pedestrians. The employees at the store I was across from seemed rather unamused that I was singing right into their door, but they didn't ask me to move (not that they had the legal right to do so). I had my permit checked by someone from the Cambridge Arts Council, which was nice, because it let me know that someone was checking to make sure that other people without permits weren't taking my spots.

I only made about $15, but that seems to be the norm at this time of year - no tourists.

Day 20: Singing without a voice

I've been struggling with a sore throat for the last week or so, but I decided to go play in Harvard Square yesterday anyhow. As could be expected, I became extremely hoarse about halfway through, but I just played a couple of less demanding songs and rested, then went right back to the really tough stuff. As a result, I mangled a couple of notes, and I can't really sing right now, but I had fun. I made almost no money, however - probably due to the fact that school is now in session and all the tourists are gone.

I've been working on some new material, including some really challenging songs by Radiohead, that I hope to start playing in a few weeks. I've been trying to play more popular music recently, but I really dislike most of the popular songs I know, so now I have to learn a lot of new songs. My setlist is actually going to have to be cut to fewer songs than I know how to play soon.