Day 7: Guest stars and such

Today, my busking was not particularly profitable (just $15 in about two and a half hours), but it was one of the more fun times I've had. My friend Julian of the band Nervous Breakdown came by and sang a few covers with me. I must have been more in-key than usual, because several people complimented me on my singing (usually it's, "you're a pretty good guitarist, but the singing....not so much"). I attribute the lack of monetary contributions to the stiff competition I was up against. Sundays are usually pretty tough, because that's when more musicians come out, and today, they were all playing extremely well. It's days like today when I wish I could arrange a jam session with all of my fellow Harvard Square musicians...

I had to stop in the middle of songs twice today to let the Harvard tour guides do their introductions (I don't like having to compete with them for top volume).

Day 6: TV, but not much money

I'm a bit late on getting this entry written - I've been working on this remix: .

Yesterday, I was filmed by my school's TV station (of which I'm an employee) while busking, as the closing act for this week's episode of Youth View Cambridge. I played a cover of 30 Seconds to Mars' "Alibi," and I'll post a link once we get it online.

Sadly, the filming was pretty much the only interesting thing that happened yesterday. I made only about $15 over two long hours - this may have to do with the homeless woman standing near me, smoking. I've discovered that when people are smoking near me, my profits go down, as people are less likely to stop and listen. The same woman also asked me to play at her coffee house in Hull, but I declined, because, first of all, it's doubtful whether the place even exists, and secondly, Hull is pretty far from Cambridge.

Overall, a pretty boring time, but still fun. Hopefully, I can start to get out more often as the weather gets warmer and drier.

Day 5: This is what they call "average"

Today was a fairly average day of busking for me. Of course, what that means is people heckling me, giving me weird looks, buying me bottles of water randomly, and giving me $20 bills.

I started right after school, and was set up by 3 PM. Right off the bat, someone (I didn't see who) gave me a $20 bill for playing "High and Dry" by Radiohead. Or at least I think that's why. It could have just been a parent who saw a kid and said "that could be my son," or it could have been someone I know. In other notes, a really nice guy bought me a bottle of water, unprompted, because he saw that I was sweating and starting to lose my voice. A couple of people heckled me, singing along mockingly when I was playing "Glycerine," by Bush, and "Day I Die," by Story of the Year (both were radio hits a while back). I've noticed it's always overly muscled college students (always guys) who do this sort of heckling, though I have no idea why that is.

Somewhere along the way, someone else gave me a $20 bill, bringing today's total to about $55 for two hours - not bad at all.

Day 4: Strange People and Dead Batteries

I performed directly after school ended today, and I didn't get very long before my brand new batteries just up and died. A very nice man watched my stuff while I bought new ones from the store across the street. Despite the 10 dollar purchase, I still made money, as some girl gave me $20 for playing "Gunslinger" by Avenged Sevenfold. Some crazy, drunk, homeless guy decided to have a shouting match with an invisible friend directly in front of me. I spent the entire five minutes of his ranting trying hard not to laugh while singing. Some other guy came over and sang (rather badly) along to "Chasing Cars," by Snow Patrol. There were lots of little kids today, which I might attribute to the fact that it was 2:30 - 5:15 on a weekday.

Overall, despite the setback of the dead batteries, I made about $30, so about $20 if you subtract the cost of the batteries. Not great, but not terrible, either.

Day 3: In which I hit the jackpot

I went out today to play in Harvard Square and found that there were already performers in all the places I usually play. After some scouting, I decided to set up in "The Pit," which is the area around the main entrance to the Harvard train/bus station. Before I even got to playing, a large group of teenagers (I think they were German, from hearing them speak) sat on the steps near where I was. Other people stopped to listen, because, well, there's loads of people there: that guy must be good! I played from about 1:30 to 3:15. I discovered that the BEST song I could possibly play to get money is "Starlight" by Muse.

Overview: Made about $55, had fun, did not get sunburned (which is unusual for me...).

Day 2: Into the Darkness

So this afternoon, I decided to go out and play in Harvard Square. It was a beautiful afternoon, and that meant two things: lots of people who were happy to give me their money, and lots of people competing with me. I inadvertently kicked a guy out who was playing acoustic guitar down the street and got drowned out (sorry dude). Some guy yelled out the last line of "Fall For You" by Secondhand Serenade (I think he was making fun of me). Then he yelled out to everyone in the vicinity that "You should give this kid money. If you don't, you're a bad person." He then left, then laughing, returned a minute later to drop some money into my bin. He said he'd return with a ten dollar bill, but he never did. A group of people liked my version of "Viva La Vida" (by Coldplay) so much that they stuck around for more. They asked me to play "Hey There Delilah," but I don't know that song. They were very disappointed. I played from 5:30 to 8 PM, and by the time I stopped, it was quite dark, and I could barely see my guitar.

Day 1

Hey, and welcome to my blog. My name is Ben Cox, and I'm a teenage street musician in Cambridge MA. Today was the first day of street performing for me this year. I set up in front of the Au Bon Pain in Harvard Square at about 1:20 this afternoon (I had school off due to Good Friday). I played until about 3:30, and made somewhere around $25. There were, as usual, some interesting and amusing people. There were a group of guys (and a couple girls who I think were with them) who made repeated requests for Green Day and Paramore songs (I did play a few of those for them, since I love both of those bands). An older fellow (I think he was in his late 60s) sat and listened for a while, and I saw him laughing every time I missed a note. However, he still came over before he left and told me I was playing great. I don't know how serious he was, but it's still nice to hear. I was directly in front of two mailboxes, so I had to pause and move in the middle of one song ("Love Remains the Same" by Gavin Rossdale) so that the mailman could empty them. Also, some woman tripped and went headlong into one of them as she was crossing the street behind me. I stopped singing and just kept playing the chords as I turned to make sure she was okay. Thankfully, she was unhurt, and I was able to continue.

Overall, I'd say this was more successful than any day of playing last year. I don't know if it was the weather, my improved playing, or just people's random generosity that made it better, but I look forward to more playing this spring and summer.

I plan to post every time I go out busking this year, though most likely I won't usually write this much.