The Busker and the New Idea.

I went busking with a friend on Saturday. We played until 5:00am, and it was a lot of fun. After splitting the money, I walked away with $41 (New Zealand Dollars, approx. $30 CDN) for six and a half hours of playing. It certainly isn't the most profitable work I've done. But it was a lot of fun.

I learned some very valuable lessons while out busking. First, my song list that I have made for playing at a venue is poorly suited to the environment of busking. It's a list of microphone music. I need outside music. Also, it's all somewhat obscure music, which I like about it. But when I'm busking with someone else, if I play any Canadian music that isn't Neil Young or Terrible, nobody will recognize it. Which is fine for the people walking by, but bad for busking avec someone.

So I spent the greater part of a day looking through billboard lists for #1 hits from 1958-2009. There's a lot of crap (I'm looking at YOU, 1975!), but there's also a lot of good music. I picked just under 40 songs I want to learn, and tracked down the lyrics to them. I'm going to print them and add them to my binder. I'll make a few notes for how to play them. Next time I go busking, I'll have a better inventory.

I plan to make a full list of songs and laminate it, and see if I can make money for doing requests, or doing Acoustic Karaoke. I've had this idea for a while, but I always imagined it in a venue. Having thought about it, though, I think it works better while busking. We'll see by the weekend.