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Topic: Played my Dobro yesterday in the street... |
Yann Obergfell
From:
Gottenhouse, France - Soon in Bloomington, Indiana
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Posted 7 Aug 2005 6:21 am |
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Hi guys,
Just wanted to share my experience. From time to time, I just love taking my guitar and play a bit in the street in Strasbourg, like a beggar would. Not that I am terribly in need, but I think of it as a test: if I can make some money, that certainly means that my playing isn't that terrible! So I took my squareneck Dobro yesterday night for the first to the street stage. First I want everybody here to be aware that I live in France, and that almost nobody has ever heard or seen a resophonic guitar. So off I went, and started playing. I'm learning songs taken from "Lookout for hope," and that's mainly what I tried to play with all the respect I had for JD. (but alas, not his talent.)
The first person who threw a penny in my battered guitar case was, surprisingly, an elderly woman. Most of the time, people are nice. A guy stopped and toalked to me and asked me if I wanted to play in his bar, but I declined: my repertroire, for the time being, isn't large enough! And I wouldn't want the pressure of a bartender behind me watching me palying and computing how much more drinks this is going to bring him. Two young men (teenagers) passed by, and stopped, and while I was playing one of them shouted at me: "How are you playing your guitar, man?" as though I was doing something sacrelegious.
Other people asked me about the instrument, so I could explain to them (that's a part I love) that this wasn't exactly a guitar, and that it had many influences: Indian, the Arab world, Spain, Hawai, Eastern Europe. A woman who was burying her maid's life, dressed up like Snow White asked me to bite in an apple and her friends took a picture of it. I met two friends and an former classmate I hadn't seen for ages. People seemed very appreciative. There was a guy who stood there for quite a while, and he went over to talk to me. He told me he was from Missouri and that he was quite surprised to hear that kind of music over here. He asked me if i could do him a favour and off I went, playing "I am a Man of Constant Sorrow" for him. He had however never heard of AKUS but he knew the song. After he left I noticed he had thrown into my case a 20€ note. Well payed for a butchered song!
The the professionnal street players came along and watched with envy the money I had made, and I decided it was time for me to pack up my stuff and get back home.
I was really surprised that people reacted so positively to that rather foreign instrument (save the Missouri guy) and playing a resonator instrument in the street is a defenitely plus volume-wise!
Hope you enjoyed my story. Please share yours. I'm always curiosu to know more! [This message was edited by Yann Obergfell on 07 August 2005 at 07:26 AM.] |
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Bryan Bradfield
From:
Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
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Posted 7 Aug 2005 7:00 am
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Yann - it sounds as if you are gaining experience, and enjoying it. That's the best kind of experience to acquire. Keep at it.
Here are my comments on busking, based on some very limited experience over 20 years, and over a reasonably wide geographical area.
In an area where people are destined for shopping (normal city street, or shopping mall), there is little to no interaction with buskers. If there is an open case for contributions, passers-by will often walk on the sidewalk or aisle-way furthest from the open case.
Where people are relaxing (tourist community, outdoor coffee shop), there is a lot of interaction. Particularly in tourist communities, there is extra discretionary money in the pocket, leisure time available, and a willingness to pay for custom-made entertainment through the requesting of tunes. In an outdoor coffee shop situation, I often notice interest, and so I focus on that table and initiate the conversation myself. This usually results in requests, and a tip after a short period of time.
Using solo dobro, I feel that I only have about 1/2 hour of material that I care to perform under scrutiny. When there is an audience, there is usually turn-over more frequently than every 1/2 hour, so I'm OK with repeating this material. When there is no audience, I take the time to rehearse tunes that aren't yet up to performance level.
The dobro is a unique enough instrument anywhere that there is almost always a curiosity about it; however, I'm glad I've got a day job! |
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Tim Tweedale
From:
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
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Posted 7 Aug 2005 10:45 pm
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Hey Yann! Good stories. I like the bit about the picture of you biting into the apple. Please provide a link to this photo!
About six years ago I would busk regularly in the passenger walkway above a city train/ferry station (Waterfront Seabus terminal). I loved the huge natural reverb of the space for acoustic lap steel guitar, and I'd sit there for three or four hours at a time playing all the David Lindley, Ben Harper, Ry Cooder and Jerry Douglas I knew, plus various improvisational wanderings of my own.
I remember lots of very interesting conversations with people who loved what I was playing, who were curious about the instrument, or just wanted someone to talk to. I remember a blind woman walking by and going 'your high E string is a little bit flat'. Teenagers who would stop and listen and groove along, old guys who'd tell me that they knew someone who knew someone who was connected somehow with someone famous (like Eric Clapton) and somehow he was going to help make me famous, and angry people who'd mutter "Get a job!" as they hurried past.
A usual session would yield around 30 or 40 bucks.
One of the best things it taught me, and one of the funnest things was when I'd try to respond to all the people I saw – the energy of the crowd – bits of dialogue I caught, mannerisms, ideosyncracies and peculiarities of individuals and groups of people walking by; I'd try to capture and incorporate it all in my improvising. I also learned that when I arrived at a particularly tasty idea, I could stay with it, vary it, extend it and go with it infinitely, or until my shoulders got tight and sore, and it was time to go home.
All this talking about busking makes me want to go do it some more now! Thanks for bringing it up. Good topic. And watch for me and my Rayco down on Commercial Drive.
-Tim |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 8 Aug 2005 3:04 am
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| 'your high E string is a little bit flat' |
Cool story.
The proceeds were as good as I used to make in a bar, and the hours and conditions are better outside. |
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CrowBear Schmitt
From:
Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France
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Posted 8 Aug 2005 5:47 am
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That's right Charlie 
better than bars
Hey Buskers !
who's the bottler ?
& why is he called that way ?
it's a small world :
back in 65 to 70 in Washington square NYC
i used to hear & see this stringbean black cat who sang real high & did'nt go unnoticed.
(David Peel was there & did'nt either...)
in 1980 while i was buskin' at the Beaubourg museum in Paris
i hear that voice - yep that one !
& there he was !
15 years later
how'd'y'a get to Paris man ?
anyway we hooked up & he sang some w: us
but
we had to cut him loose cause he did'nt trust the girl who was passin' the hat.
splittin up the kitty was an ordeal ! 
the girl was solid honest
i've met & heard some talented people from various countries playin' all kinds of instruments & Musiks in & under Paris
They were'nt all scufflers either.
Buskin' can be a lot of fun & it's a great school fer sure
great testing grounds indeed Yann
i used to play lap steel & mandobro in the Metro
it was a great sounding place once the crowd had passed
i played in some Parisian almost cathedrals & they sounded pretty heavy
it is sacred ground is'nt it ?
while busking, i got to meet all kinds of folks & found all kinds of things in my case
i even got taken down to the station !
here in France the troubadour & the minstrel still have a role to play.
Le Theatre c'est la rue - Charles Chaplin
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