by I_Like_Plants » Wed 18 Jul 2007, 17:10:10
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', '
')I'm always suspicious of panhandlers, since I knew a few people in my youth who made literally hundreds, and in some cases more than a thousand dollars a week doing so, when there was absolutely no reason they couldn't work. Not that I could blame them too much for the choice; at least they weren't peddling drugs.
Oh, I almost went off on you, was going to say busker DO work for their money! I guess in some perverse way panhandlers do too, but I'm sorry if you can stand there and panhandle, you can recite poetry, sing a little, play a harmonica, something.
I was told the santa cruz busker's code by one of the "elders" once, you don't put a sign in your case saying you need money, not even for lessons, you don't beg, etc. You play.
I do give to buskers, and may well, in fact hope, I put in some busking time myself. You see, it would be a drag to draw draw draw all the time, and who knows, drawing may not be any better than working a job. Playing music is just plain fun though, it's a true hobby. There are some things I just have to try while I can.
By the way if you're in San Francisco besides the Maritime Museum, various street performers, a walk down to the end of Pier 39, and various other free activities, I advise prawns'n'chips at the outdoor cafe part of Tarantino's, which is $8, and a visit to Lark In The Morning, which is a music shop like you've never seen. Lutes, sitars, penny whistles, glass flutes, the Maui Xaphoon, cimbaloms, you name it. Some of the stuff is expensive but they've tried to keep everything as affordable as possible. Run for profit and probably laughing their way to the bank, but it's almost like, if you're homeless, you can at least take your begging change in there and get something. Play that, and get a bit more and get something better.
I was tempted by a "guitar ukulele", basically a thing the size of a tenor uke but strung and tuned as a guitar, for $50. I decided not to, for now anyway, but with the addition of decent tuner machines, that could be a very decent instrument. The "maui xaphoon" intrigues me too, except that apparently the fingering isn't like anything else and the time would be better spent working on clarinet or something.
I was intrigued as always by the poor quality of the work of, and general hangdog demeanor of the street artists there. A guy and I had quite a talk about this on the train coming back. We decided that the good ones would go on to find better venues.
If I ever end up being a street artist up there, I'll be the one wearing a beret and carrying my colored chalks on a palette, and being entertaining for a change. I'd probably have all the work I could handle.