Busking tagged posts

The Ramone- A One Man Tribute Band busks in Kabukicho, Shinjuku, Tokyo Japan It was raining and I set up in front of a shop with an extended roof. A friendly Police officer told me I was on private property but showed me a spot about 100 yards away that was public.

The Ramone- A One Man Tribute Band busks on the street in Kabukicho District, Shinjuku City, Tokyo, Japan on Sunday, Sept 24th 2023

I have not done a “gig recap” in a while because they are pretty much all the same at this point
Not that they aren’t different in their own way, it’s just that I have gotten to the point where there enough gigs for things to settle into a pattern
This was a night that was very good for me because it threw some curve balls at me

I took a last minute gig this past Saturday
It was a battle of the bands to determine who plays the Remember the Punks festival in San Antonio
I was told I was going on first (which is where I always am) but that gives me plenty of time to set things up perfectly
After getting half set up, I was told that a band was added and that they were going on before me
This made me reconsider my live setup and how complicated I have made it

I have a headphone mic cable, a gu...

Allergies and Drum Parts

I am just going to have to deal with the fact that I cannot go out and perform as The Busking The Ramone until my allergies calm down. I have tried every type of allergy medicine available and none of it works enough for me to be able to stand out on the street and sing. I need to create something with all of this time so it is time to record drum parts.The current set is the “Hits”. There are roughly 30 songs that will work on the street and 20 of them have video parts recorded for projection. My biggest problem is that they are from different sessions and have distinctly different sounding mixes and volume levels. Since I can’t leave the studio for 5 minutes without sneezing violently, I will have to just stay inside and do a marathon session of drum parts...

I have not lugged my drums down to Deep Ellum to play on the sidewalk in a while
There was a lot of construction and they tore up my corner
It was one of the few places where you could fit a drum set without obstructing the sidewalk and it was right in the middle of everything
The corner is back and the weather is getting warmer so I thought I’d take the new drumkit configuration out on the street and spend a couple of hours playing.
My biggest source of anxiety when heading out to Ellum is parking close enough to My spot
Then, there’s a chance that someone else has staked out MY spot
The keyboard guy was there for a while in my absence

The city has removed the parking meters from Elm street and I drove a lap around the area to check out parking
On my second go-round, a single spot opened...

In every new busking situaion, there is one factor you always have to consider
“Will the cops/business owners around this spot have a problem with this?”
I had eliminated this issue by scouting the location and actually asking the police if they allow busking
So, the rest of my anxieties (which turn into excuses not to make an effort) were about semantics
In this one case, the spot was Pegasus Plaza at Main & Akard in Downtown Dallas
My immediate thoughts were that it will be hard to park near that spot and it will be expensive
So, I secured all of the gear to a 2 wheel dolly and used my cymbal bag with backpack straps, drove to the Inwood DART rial station
There was no problem getting on the train and I made it to Akard station in no time
The station was only a street over so the trek was...

Street performance has become more and more of a priority
Up until last weekend, I had just played my drums on the street but last weekend, I got to bring a full elelctronic configuration
I got permission from July Alley to use their electricity
I was expecting to set up over at Kettle Art (run by the eternally cool Frank Campagna) which had a different set of parameters to consider so I didn’t plan on getting electricity to MY SPOT
I had to locate some tape at the last minute to tape down the electrical cord
Saturday I brought some rubber slip mats

This was the first time I have ever gotten to put my electronic ideas to the test and I think I did fairly well
The setup consisted of the SPDS looping pad, a Kaoss pad and the BR864 multi-track as well as the Brock Spock electric Harp guitar (...

The last few weeks have been productive
A few weeks ago, I decided to get off my ass and pull my drums out on the street in Deep Ellum
Laziness was one of the factors that kept me from doing it but the biggest one was fear of all the negative variables that were swirling in my head
Would the cops hassle me?
Would someone try to rob me or start a fight? (this is Ellum)
After getting out there and doing it, I saw that none of those fears were correct
Not only that, but I never would have thought that I could play drums for 5 to 6 hours
My recent drumming-stamina issues have been a huge issue and I succeeded in adapting my playing for the long haul
I have an idea where I want to take this and will address it in a sec

Speaking of drumming stamina issues, I have isolated two of the main causes ...

Last night’s street drumming was as lucative as the last, plus I had my own show to watch across the street
The evening started off at 7:30 pm when I showed up at “MY” spot and found a parking space about 50 yards away
SCORE!
The meter even had 40 minutes on it
Unfortunately some kid with an acoustic guitar was in “MY” spot and he was not very good
Worst version of “Last Dance with Mary Jane” I ever heard
I sat in the van and glared at him for about 15 minutes when he got up and walked away
That’s when I pounced on “MY” spot
I managed to get up and running around 8pm

Last week’s street kit was designed to be as muffled and quiet as possible because of my anxieties over police hassles
Last week’s positive cop experience gave me lisence to bring a much better sounding drumkit with a full sna...