Street Performing/Busking

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Got a few people asking me in a thread and in DM about my experiences as a busker in Boston.

To the first person - nope, I never played country-western music and I'm not familiar with that St. Olav song. The closest to CW music I ever performed was the Ballad of Jesse James, and some fingerpicking and backup vocals with a band that played a lot of Appalachian folk music.

To the second person - I started playing in the Boston Commons while I was in college, in 1981. I was so excited to earn my first $10 I closed my case and walked across the the Ritz and got myself a cheeseburger for dinner before returning to the dorms for the day. I think I'd played two hours that afternoon. Minimum wage was $3.35, so all things being equal, I did pretty well for my first attempt. Once I started playing in the subways and Harvard Square though, I averaged around $10/hour. Minimum wage was still $3.35 so I was basically making bank. Had two other part-time jobs. I lived well those years and earned every cent. I played two doors away from Tracy Chapman's usual spot and saw her often (though we didn't hang out, she was shy, introverted, and career-driven while attending Tufts University).

I continued playing throughout college and three years after, moving back to Connecticut in the late 1980's. There was a 3-month hiatus when I had a moped accident and broke most of the left side of my body, but I was playing in the subways again, while using a friend's shillelagh to walk and getting personal training and physical therapy for six months after being released from the hospital.

To the person who DMed me - I'd say mostly "soft rock" and folk music. John Prine, Fleetwood Mac, Jorma, CSNY, stuff like that. 6-string acoustic and voice. I'm a solid contralto although I have semi-decent control over my head voice in a non-falsetto mezzo-soprano.

[tophcfa]

Got a few people asking me in a thread and in DM about my experiences as a busker in Boston.

To the first person - nope, I never played country-western music and I'm not familiar with that St. Olav song. The closest to CW music I ever performed was the Ballad of Jesse James, and some fingerpicking and backup vocals with a band that played a lot of Appalachian folk music.

To the second person - I started playing in the Boston Commons while I was in college, in 1981. I was so excited to earn my first $10 I closed my case and walked across the the Ritz and got myself a cheeseburger for dinner before returning to the dorms for the day. I think I'd played two hours that afternoon. Minimum wage was $3.35, so all things being equal, I did pretty well for my first attempt. Once I started playing in the subways and Harvard Square though, I averaged around $10/hour. Minimum wage was still $3.35 so I was basically making bank. Had two other part-time jobs. I lived well those years and earned every cent. I played two doors away from Tracy Chapman's usual spot and saw her often (though we didn't hang out, she was shy, introverted, and career-driven while attending Tufts University).

I continued playing throughout college and three years after, moving back to Connecticut in the late 1980's. There was a 3-month hiatus when I had a moped accident and broke most of the left side of my body, but I was playing in the subways again, while using a friend's shillelagh to walk and getting personal training and physical therapy for six months after being released from the hospital.

To the person who DMed me - I'd say mostly "soft rock" and folk music. John Prine, Fleetwood Mac, Jorma, CSNY, stuff like that. 6-string acoustic and voice. I'm a solid contralto although I have semi-decent control over my head voice in a non-falsetto mezzo-soprano.

It’s a small world, there is a possibility you might know my younger sister. She did the street performing gig at Harvard Square in Cambridge in the early 80’s. She was a folk singer and put out a couple of CD’s. Joni Mitchell was her idol. She had a decent local following, but never made the national scene. It was her passion before she became a mother of twins and gave up on the music career dream. She is now in her mid sixties and her son is a cancer doctor at Mass General Brigham, and her daughter is a mathematical genius crunching the statistical probabilities of various green energy possibilities. It’s very interesting how things sometimes work out in this world.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

It’s a small world, there is a possibility you might know my younger sister. She did the street performing gig at Harvard Square in Cambridge in the early 80’s. She was a folk singer and put out a couple of CD’s. Joni Mitchell was her idol. She had a decent local following, but never made the national scene. It was her passion before she became a mother of twins and gave up on the music career dream. She is now in her mid sixties and her son is a cancer doctor at Mass General Brigham, and her daughter is a mathematical genius crunching the statistical probabilities of various green energy possibilities. It’s very interesting how things sometimes work out in this world.

If she ever sang with a group who jokingly called themselves The Dead Cowboys who often performed in the foyer of the Coop, then I probably do know her. See if she remembers Michael Sullivan (guitar/singer), Mickey (big black bass player who often wore a colorful motorcycle helmet), or Siobhan (flute).