New Orleans

[Christopher Cool]

Another?

What do u mean another? I thought this was it. Great I'm getting an evening job at McDonalds :P Maybe I will be an exotic dancer that would be fun. Dealing with drunks not much different. Arrrg!

[worldwidese]

Tough Times

Busking spots are getting to be fewer in the Big Easy. Time was when Buskers were allowed, and Readers were not. Now the Readers have won a court case, and as long as they have a license they can set up anywhere with their tables, chairs and umbrellas, which pretty well obscure the Artists and their paintings. Money talks!

So now in Jackson Square it's like this- Artists along the fence on all 4 sides, Readers in front of them, and mimes on all 4 corners,

There are no permits or licenses available to Buskers. Supposedly they can set up around the edges of the readers in Jackson Square, But the Readers will try to run you off if you have a noisy, popular, or distracting show. Mimes and Statues are tolerated because they are silent.

Because there are so many of them, the overflow of Readers has infiltrated into Royal Street and other sidestreets, leaving very little opportunity for Buskers.

[GlassHarper]

Erosion of available venues....

Today's Times-Picayune reports that the pretty little "pocket park," Edison Place, on Bourbon St. has been turned over to commercial interests, which means we've lost one more performance venue here in New Orleans.

Although the park has long been gated and used only at Mardi Gras by a beer vendor, the relatively quiet niche in front of the gate has proved fruitful to many a robot mime, magician (Sonny Holiday, Doug Conn, Cosmo etc.), itinerant guitar player and an occasional glass player.

During winter, when it's sometimes too cold to bring the glasses out, I've enjoyed playing my hurdy gurdy here.

The only constant in this business is change, and I'm not takling about coins!

[Doctor Eric]

So is there any new word on busking in N.O.? What about the big pitch?

[CFazzone]

College life in New Orleans

I go to Tulane university, and had been hoping to do a few shows to make some beer money (not just an expression down here). This is all really too bad. I suppose I could try doing shows on campus, but I know that's doomed to failure. The only bastards who have money down here are the jackass frat boys driving their daddy's beamer...do you know, I actually saw a student driving a jaguar today? A fucking jaguar. I nearly shat myself.

But I digress. Yeah, no pitches, bad for circle shows. It's too bad, too, the city's missing out on something. Card readers and street art add a lot to the ambience, but with the city's reputation it really should have some world-class street acts. And maybe a starving college student or two.

[GlassHarper]

The circle goes 'round and 'round

Hey, CFazz...

It really is a dirty shame how, playing the salami game, the city politicos have denied us use of the most logical circle pitches in the quarter. They did it a slice at a time:

They turned over the one decent-sized Bourbon Street pitch to commercial interests -- construction continues at Edison Park and what little space is left has been taken over by card readers.

The onerous "street artists ordinance" has closed off the fence-line area around Jackson Square to any but those officially sanctioned visual artists who cowtow to the powers-that-be.

The "big pitch" to which Dr. Eric refers seems to have become the exclusive right of a couple of hip-hop tumbler troupes and woe to the interloper! A two years ago the "quality of life" officer of the NOPD 8th district told several of us that the pitch is open to all on a first-come-first-served basis and the French Market rent-a-cops do not control it and if any of us had trouble there to call him. Right! And in the mean time I've seen performers' rigs thrown into busy Decatur Street. So, if you can take being beaten up for long enough for the "quality of life" officer to arrive you'll probably win at least the battle if not the war. Valentino, the puppet guy, seems to have been successful using the pitch when the tumblers aren't around.

That said, there are still opportunities for circle shows if you are wise and professional about it. The first thing you've got to do is learn to control your crowd and reduce the size of your show.

Royal Street is still closed off as a pedestrin mall every day of the week from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (7 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays). For god's sake, though, be respectful of the merchants and DON'T LET YOUR AUDIENCE BLOCK ACCESS TO THE STORES. Several merchants have mounted a campaign to reopen Royal Street to traffic because thoughtless performers' audiences clog the street and sidewalks.

The four and five hundred blocks of Royal Street are a little less congested and should present oportunities for shows. It would seem to me that the area in front of the Supreme Court Building across from Brennan's might work, but it often is occupied by card readers and musical acts -- you just have to get there first AND CONTROL THE SIZE OF YOUR CROWD.

I've seem small circle shows pulled off on the plaza near the Natchez wharf at Toulouse Street.

So, man (or womyn as the case may be), quit snivelling and get out there and start entertaining people!