Your piping busking stories

[Joseph E. Smith]

I was once told "thank you for stopping" by a cross looking elderly woman. It happened shortly after this photo was taken...



... my dog didn't even stick up for me.

[Richard Katz]

And here is Paddy busking waiting for his pal Katzy Boy to join him so he can make a bit o dosh

So, does this mean that Paddy wants to busk with me? I bet he makes a whole lot more money without me!

Most money I made busking was on the streets of Menocino, California during a music festival. One half hour equaled $50.00 and that paid for dinner.

Cheers! Richard

[misterpatrick]

When I play and people start talking to me while I'm playing, I end up staring at them with a blank look on my face. Every time I start to talk things fall apart. My wife thinks it's hilarious to do little dances or otherwise make me laugh when I'm trying to practice.

[buzzer]

In pre ceasefire Belfast I once saw a very old woman hobbling over, and what seemed like a long time to get to me- I thought to myself 'aww that poor old woman coming all this way to give me money, when she got to me she stared me in the eye and said 'fenian f---er', hilarious!!!.

James Galway once give me a fiver and told me to put it under my bottom G.

Slow airs are best played when busking

[PJ]

The best way to avoid being interrupted is to close your eyes! Of course, it's also the best way to get robbed.

[Uilliam]

1997 Celtic had just lifted the title I was doing a bit of busking in Glasgow and was moved on by the Polis eventually ending up at Glasgow Cross, which, as it turned oot, was a gift thankye Mr.Plod.

Hordes of fans where streaming doon the Road making their way ti the City Centre.

I was asked to play the Fields of Athenry..
OK no probs...money started coming...played another tune ..nothing...played the Fields of Athenry again..more money...Played another tune nothing.
Someone came up and asked me to play the Fields of Athenry ..
I told him I had just played it.. he said play it again so I did ..
again and again and again til I was sick of it.

At one point a beggar came up to me and asked for some dosh I told him to take some frae the wee pile in front o me and aff he went wi a smile.

After 1 hour ma heed was pounding and I was beginning to wish that someone should have ploughed up the Feckin Fields o Athenry long ago and turned it into a car park so I called it a day.
I loaded the small change into ma jeans and noticed that they were slipping doon o'er ma hips.
So hamewards trudged the lonely piper,humming Mozarts' Clarinet Concerto 1st Movement by way of a change and to stop me going insane
Hame to bed.
Next morn I counted the dosh..£160 yes folks that wis when it wis $2 dollars to the £.
I hour + £160 in 1997
Oh how I love the haunting strains and melodic movement of that wonderfully evocative air The Greenback Fields of Athenry.
Uilliam


Addendum The Fields of Athenry is the Celtic Football Club Anthem & Greenbacks is slang for Dollars

[PJ]

Addendum The Fields of Athenry is the Celtic Football Club Anthem & Greenbacks is slang for Dollars

Thanks for clearing that up Uilliam. Now can you translate the following terms:

Polis
turned oot
thankye
doon the Road
ti the City Centre
no probs
some dosh
take some frae the wee pile
aff he went wi a smile
ma heed
Feckin Fields o Athenry
slipping doon o'er ma hips
hamewards
Hame to bed.
that wis when it wis

[buskerSean]

firstly, let's read http://joeblade.com/2005/04/25/residents-of-oxford/
!!

and watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvc_B7zS1UM ·

google this little story if you want a laugh.

I used to busk a lot (no!), let Heath's story be a warning to anyone who doesn't move pitches now and then.

My personal favourites are,

i - being asked for the time for the 'next train to Leeds' while busking in Kings Cross Underground.
ii- My dog savaging a passing by hound, while I played 'Lament for the dead fox' (yes)
iii- selling CD's for a tenner each, then finding out in the evening they were all blank (sorry)
iv - having loads of rich Oxford residents walk past, then a homeless couple from Northumberland give me a £1 drop and then stop and chatted about pipes and pipng for ages!
v - Meeting Larry Rooney in Oxford Cornmarket and him playing a few tunes on my pipes for me and the passing crowd.
vi - how many radge gadgets came up in the middle of 'colonel frazer' and asked 'is that the Northumbrian squeezbox'! expecting me to launch into fluid conversation mid triplet!

[Uilliam]

Addendum The Fields of Athenry is the Celtic Football Club Anthem & Greenbacks is slang for Dollars

Thanks for clearing that up Uilliam. Now can you translate the following terms:

Polis
turned oot
thankye
doon the Road
ti the City Centre
no probs
some dosh
take some frae the wee pile
aff he went wi a smile
ma heed
Feckin Fields o Athenry
slipping doon o'er ma hips
hamewards
Hame to bed.
that wis when it wis

I havnae a clue, I am insane don't ya know (well ma Doctor thinks so but whit does he know?)
Uilliam

[BigDavy]

I havnae a clue, I am insane don't ya know (well ma Doctor thinks so but whit does he know?)
Uilliam

Maybe the Doc is not so glaikit as he looks.

David

[Uilliam]

Maybe the Doc is not so glaikit as he looks.

Dasvid[/quote]

And how do ye know what he looks like? Hmmmm
Dave there is a whole gang of us frae the Thursday sesh going busking if'n the weather is good on Sunday @11am ootside Borders Bookshop Buchanan St.Glasgow.should be a hoot if'n your interested.
Uilliam

[TheSilverSpear]

<rant>

"vi - how many radge gadgets came up in the middle of 'colonel frazer' and asked 'is that the Northumbrian squeezbox'! expecting me to launch into fluid conversation mid triplet!"

I bloody well hate it when people do that! Was at a session this past Wednesday and the flute player was faffing about, trying to start a tune. I was faffing as well, trying to lock onto him which was difficult at best as he was sorting out some timing issues. While this was going on, this woman standing behind me, with the flattest American Midwest accent, ever, asked me, "Are those bagpipes?" I ignored her, as I was trying to play this tune and she proceeded to say, with that escalating intensity in her tone of voice (as only Americans can do), "Excuse me, are those bagpipes? Excuse me! Excuse me!!" Finally I tried to say, "I can't talk and play" but she couldn't really hear it, so the banjo player repeated what I said. Undaunted, she asked, "And are those bagpipes?" At which point the flute player gave up on the set. Then crazy American tourist asked, "Can I take a picture of the pipes?" I let her take a picture of the chanter, but not before saying something along the lines of, "This better not end up on bloody YouTube."

I can do surly well.

</rant>

[BigDavy]

Hi SS

I thought it was those idiots using the partition as a drum that were getting up your nose. I didn't see the obnoxious tourist

David

[TheSilverSpear]

Oh, aye. They were. I kept turning around and giving the Glare of Death but that had no effect.

I think we need signs: "The pub furniture is not a drum."

[Brazenkane]

* apologies to those who read this post earlier. There were certainly many difficult to understand sentences. I used my dictation program and neglected to proofread it what I wrote.*
---------------------------

For the first time I went to a place called Lincoln Rd. which located at the famous South Beach area in Miami. It's not what you would call the "strip." I guess you could say it's a little bit more tame, but certainly not devoid of the many beautiful faces and bodies you might see on television representing Miami/South Beach.

Needless to say, it was very hot (temperature, folks). The humidity was perhaps 30% higher than what it is in my room. I went out equipped with a concert set, wooden regulator reeds, Tim Britton's wooden dowel/cane tongues, and a cane chanter reed. It didn't take too long before the heat/humidity combination took its toll on the drones. The next to go was the chanter reed which became weak (insert all things related to weak reeds). In addition, the amplitude of the general outdoor sound made my concert set appear quiet.

I'm sure many busking experts and non-experts alike, would agree that the volume of pipes in doors and outdoors are significantly two different things.

In retrospect, I should've of used the brass bodied/wooden tongued reeds... and perhaps a wooden chanter reed the next time I go out....IF I ever go out to SoBe (South Beach) again!

The flute and concertina faired quite well. I chose the pitch of those two instruments to be in Eb, knowing that they would be heard better.

I made $8 and virtually nobody paid attention (seven people, one of them giving me two dollars!), once again affirming what I have learned while gigging in this city; tthe majority of Miami's constituents and many of the tourists that come here, have zero interest in anything culturally Irish.

oh well... what Miami does have to offer when busking, besides limited parking on the beach?

Unnaturally large portions of eye-candy! Is it possible to develop a "sweet-eye?"