College Research paper

[Juggalicious]

AS we all know college is a waste of money- we should just be able to shell out 120,000 dollars and get the diploma without having to actually go to any classes- since they dont teach you anything. ok so I have to write a paper in my research writing class on anythign having to do with culture - so Im doing mine on the lives on street performers - heres an excerp:
" Not everyone can use the word adventure to describe a day. There are millions of people in today’s working class that can’t use that title. The definition of an adventure as stated by dictionary.com is “to take a risk”. These are the people that don’t take risks; they take the easy way out by getting that job in a cubicle. The problem is many of these people don’t enjoy the cubicle. In fact, “Business experts claim that 90% of all Americans hate their jobs”(Homisak). This is a problem, more people should enjoy their jobs. They should not look at their hobby as just a hobby, they should look at it as a their job. In fact (need to find a statistic on the income of someone that does their hobby as their job). The lifestyle of choice is obvious. Why have a job that you don’t enjoy and if you are making enough money doing what you do enjoy then why not do it? The choice seems simple, but to many Americans it is not. Today’s society has given the image of the hobby as work a bad name. Artists of today, specifically street performers, are able to live the American dream just as well as the person with the normal job."

So what I need to know is anything anyone can tell me at all about street performances- what its like for ur life- does it work well? woudl it work well with a marriage/ with kids? Is income comparable to other professions that you might have in place of street performance. Basically any lame question you can come up with that would relate to that previous paragraph would be an amazing help.

Thanks,
Alex

[Butterfly Man]

Take my life ...please

Alex,
You've come to the right place ... but could you be a little more specific (and perhaps inspirational) with your line of questioning ...


"what its like for ur life- does it work well?"
"woudl it work well with a marriage/ with kids?"
"Is income comparable to other professions that you might have in place of street performance."


... I'm no Ed Stander but if you want me to invest my time and energy on this you need to light a fire under my tired, old self absorbed ass.

And just so we know ... have you done your research (book wise)?

[Juggalicious]

I have done some research - Ive gotten books on the creative class- specifically "the rise of the creative class" and this other book - I can't remmeber what its called- but its around here somewhere. Anyways- I have books on the creative class but nothing really on street performing- any suggestions?

[worldwidese]

Books To Read

Quote from Stitches in Educational Material Thread- Routledge has published a book Radical Street Performance: An International Anthology (Routledge: 1998). It is a vast and inclusive anthology of street performance defined by the most exhaustive terms. It, too, is an anthology, giving respect to performance as a living art form. A citation as opposed to a reiteration of the form.

An easy to read and informative book to read if you can trace a copy is "Pass The Hat" Covers the New York, New Orleans and other scenes. Can't remember who wrote it. It was a woman.

[GlassHarper]

Ed Stander?

Butterfly Man wrote: "... I'm no Ed Stander but if you want me to invest my time and energy on this you need to light a fire under my tired, old self absorbed ass."

Hey, B.M. -- Ed Stander is a virtuoso glass musician living, last I knew, near Delmar, NY. It appears he doesn't try to communicate with newbie glass musicians (I've only been at this for 14 years). What can you tell me about him? Is he tired and self-absorbed?

[GlassHarper]

Busking Books

Hey, Jugg --

"Passing the Hat, Street Performers in America," by Patricia J. Campbell, photographs by Alice Belkin. Delacort Press, NY: 1981.

Dated, but thorough exposition of the major street performance venues in the U.S. with extensive recognition of the individuals involved, including Robert (Butterfly Man) Nelson and many other names familiar, even today, to the busking cognoscenti (is that a word?).

There's a wonderful chapter entitled "Working the Street" and discussion of the inherent hassles. Get it through interlibrary loan or by tracking Patty down -- last I knew she had a box of remaindered books that she needed to offload to reclaim storage space. One way or another get it -- it will answer all of your questions about how things were 23 years ago!

There also was an English publication from the early 80's that detailed several hundred years of European busking. I think it was entitled, simply, "The Buskers," but I can't find my 14-year-old notes for the author or publisher. It included this wonderful verse by British eccentric and busker Alan Young c. 1970:

A bird sang in the forest
And flew from tree to tree,
Careless songs of nothing
High and low and free.

Over hills and down by streams
And following the breeze
In summer he would warm himself
In winter he would freeze
But as the seasons come and go
And the songs went high and low
He sang them as he pleased.

Does that answer your question about motivation, not to mention remuneration?

[pablo]

"Passing the Hat"

This book is available at www.amazon.com and www.half.com.