Joined: 22 May 2007 Posts: 2655 Location: Anacortes, WA
Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2019 10:27 am Post subject:
1jazzyalex wrote:
If I play at the "old spag" these days I'd be right by some outdoor seating areas ...
There's a new busker in town, Gabriel, who plays violin and is very good. He has a deal with a wine bar on a street that crosses 1st called "Paseo de San Antonio" where he gets tips plus they pay him, apparently. He's worth it.
Joined: 11 Mar 2002 Posts: 2158 Location: Little Elm, TX
Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2019 10:53 am Post subject:
When I was doing a cruise gig back in the mid-'80s we stopped in Victoria, B.C. There were buskers all over the place. Apparently all one had to do was get a permit. They didn't have to prove they could play. Some of them were amazing--there was a "one-man-band" guy who drew huge crowds with his bicycle-powered pump organ-shack-on-wheels with various horns attached. Lots of guitarists and small combos. There was even a guy leaning against a car with his tenor just practicing scales--he wasn't very good, but his case was open for tips (and it was empty). _________________ Bryan Fields
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1991 Bach LR180 ML 37S
1999 Getzen Eterna 700S
1977 Getzen Eterna 895S Flugelhorn
1969 Getzen Capri cornet
1995 UMI Benge 4PSP piccolo trumpet
Warburton and Stomvi Flex mouthpieces
Joined: 13 Jun 2016 Posts: 569 Location: San Jose, CA
Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2019 1:00 pm Post subject:
I've actually seen that video before. Guy's playing a pretty cheap electric, the kind you see hanging on the wall at guitar stores, that is shaped kinda like a dollar sign no kidding. He's amplified and pretty loud and I wonder how he did overall, outside the few minutes of the video because I imagine him getting run off.
He's got the gumption to get out and do it though, and with his volume, he might still do well just off of Wal-Mart property, where the cars go out. It works for beggars!
Gabriel plays non-amplified but with backing tracks off of his smart phone linked to a bluetooth speaker. One of his pet themes is to pull up some Santana and jam along to that and it sounds pretty good.
I am now the proud owner of a used Yamaha 200AD that I just picked up in mountain view. I'd originally planned to take it across the street and busk with it right away, but it was just about 3 hours from when I left my shop to where I bought it, and I just wanted to get safely home with it. _________________ Yamaha 8335LA with Blessing 3C, 5C, Schilke 11A4A
Joined: 13 Jun 2016 Posts: 569 Location: San Jose, CA
Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2019 8:31 pm Post subject:
That's him all right! He plays *really* well, can give lessons, play your wedding and won't embarrass you, etc.
If you want to take lessons from him, he's big on the "String Builder" series of books.
I've got my new(??) Yamaha all taken apart and soaking for a good cleaning right now. _________________ Yamaha 8335LA with Blessing 3C, 5C, Schilke 11A4A
Joined: 13 Jun 2016 Posts: 569 Location: San Jose, CA
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 5:46 am Post subject:
I've been putting in some work with my "new" Yamaha 2000AD, one actually made in Japan which I feel might make up for the odd dents and dings, and working on that elusive 2nd octave from C in the staff to high C.
And before the weather got crazy cold and I got sick, I had some adventures.
First, I actually got to play under that bridge here in San Jose with the glowing blue donuts, as the crowd/herd were leaving a Sharks game. Feh. Someone knocked my bike over and I only made $8 in the half-hour I put up with it. Plus, if the space under the bridge "amplifies" your trumpet, it also amplifies the noise of all the cars and just makes things thoroughly unpleasant. According to a guy nicknamed "trumpetman" who always has a pet rabbit with him and usually plays there after Sharks games, he can have it.
After picking my bike up and packing my horn up, I adjourned to the Old Spag., but it wasn't really happening. The area's got construction going on and that space was kind of dead. But, moving up the sidewalk to where there's an iron gate and people lining up to go into a bar called the Wagon Wheel or something like that, I did pretty well.
The next day was Veteran's Day, and I figured I'd get a couple of hours in anyway, so I went down there and it was dead. One of those "Has the neutron bomb been used?" nights in lively ol' San Jose.
So I figured it's as good a night to get kicked out of there as any, and went over to Whole Foods and busked there. And it was really, really good. Tips overall for the hour were the "good" and one guy supplied the "really really" in the form of a $100 bill.
I've been back there since, so far always in the hour or two before closing, and it's gone well. Then it got cold, I got *a* cold, and so on.
Buskers are getting rare in San Jose. There Leroy and his sax, Surf Guitar Dude in the San Pedro Square area but he's leaving for Portland. Gabriel and his violin but I've not seen him for a while now. The last time I saw/heard Rabbit Trumpet Guy he was under the bridge with the hockey herd thundering by him, and all he was doing was trying to out-honk the car horns playing that doodly-doot-dee-doo thing they play at baseball games before the pitch.
It's kind of nice in a way there being less competition, but there aren't nearly the buskers there was several years ago. Maybe they got jobs or left the state or something. _________________ Yamaha 8335LA with Blessing 3C, 5C, Schilke 11A4A
Joined: 22 May 2007 Posts: 2655 Location: Anacortes, WA
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 7:25 am Post subject:
Nice to see there is still the old gang playing out there. The Old Wagon restaurant and bar was always my favorite bar for happy hour. Chris the bartender would literally have our drinks started as soon as we talked in the door.
I used to live across the street from Whole Foods. That area is pretty affluent and it's good to hear that they are willing to support live music.
Nice to hear you are still out there, Alex. Keep on busking!! _________________ Richard
Joined: 13 Jun 2016 Posts: 569 Location: San Jose, CA
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 1:41 am Post subject:
I believe I've hit a sweet spot with Whole Foods on the Alameda there. First, WF allows getting cash back and frankly I use them as an ATM all the time.
Secondly, it's the sort of crowd that goes to Whole Foods, naturally, which means they're also into things like NPR, snippets of Miles Davis, trumpet in general, etc.
Also, for competition I have a really awful Gypsy guy with an accordion, a beggar or two, and an annoying old guy collecting signatures for petitions.
By busking only in the evening, I'm getting people who are done with work, and the mood is far different - by then the aforementioned competition has gone for the day too.
It's just just affluence; I've busked in even more affluent areas and generally the most affluent the more tight with their money. It's the working class that are your best friends when you're out on the street.
But the true affluent are having the butler go out and do their shopping. Who I'm playing to are actually working class. They appreciate someone putting in some work because they believe in the myth that hard work == success. Trumpet takes some work, so I'm halfway to their hearts right there. Add in that I don't utterly suck, and that gets me the rest of the way there. _________________ Yamaha 8335LA with Blessing 3C, 5C, Schilke 11A4A
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