St Augustine, FL

[Isabella]

We will be doing a show in the plaza in St Augustine, Florida this Sunday - two shows, noon and 2:30, on a hat-pass legal pitch though the show is sponsored.

If you're in the area, stop on by - there's been a lot of history with performers and city, and the climate may end up shifting. I'd love to hear from anyone who is interested in (in the long view) performing here, either in a festival or as a street busker/circle show.

[The Amazing Beaumanz]

St. George St.

Was arrested there along with Jeff Mason and some others on St. George Street several years ago for doing shows. As far as I'm concerned, the city blew it's chance.

[jeep caillouet]

nope

Sorry but I worked there a few years back. Didn't like it then probably wouldn't like it now. Jeff Mason said it best "see ya".I refuse to whore my talent for those people. In fact a boycott of your event would be in order!

[The Amazing Beaumanz]

here ya go jeep

found tgis on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_xhHPJSoIw&feature=related

[jeep caillouet]

Jeff Mason

I first met Jeff in New Orleans in the late '70's. He wore black dress pants ,white shirt, and wing tip shoes. He was about 14 years old and playing very traditional dixieland jazz in Jackson square by himself. A few years later I saw him again this time he was sitting down playing a drum set with his feet, and banjo. The next time I saw him he had returned from somewhere over seas had this one man band thing on his back, but was playing guitar tuned down 2 or 3 steps, and rock and roll music. Wow, what a sight to see and hear.The last time I talked to him he was doing construction work up north somewhere.Of the 35 years or so that I've performed in the street I know of no one that has fought city hall any harder for the right to free speech and expression than him.The city government and people of St. Augustine basically thumbed their nose at him till he finally went away. Sorry but I can't use my talents to help those greedy people promote there little town in any way. St. Augustine 's people trashed our constitutionally rights ,so I thumb my nose to them. Dallas thanks for the utube clip. your friend...

[The Amazing Beaumanz]

looks like y'all did a great job

http://staugustine.com/stories/011408/news_19.shtml

[jeep caillouet]

ya missed the point

It's always good when you do good .and I am glad as well as Dallas and others that you did good But you didn't work st. George street did ya? It seems you girls did a paid gig. Not plain oh busking. When you guys worked Key West seems I remember you'll worked a paid gig as well over at the Hilton. I just wonder did they run any street musicians off to make room for ya?

[jeep caillouet]

arrested

Hey Dallas what's the story on you getting arrested there?

[The Amazing Beaumanz]

Well...

I first went to St. Augustine in 1997 (I think it was). Jeff was doin' the one man band infront of The Columbia Rest. His wife was a silver statue, and there were ALOT of other performers, palm frond weavers, artists, etc.

Jeff told me to go in that little park across from him and I performed for a day there.

The next day, I went just down from Jeff, infront of the jewelry store where St. George gets wider. The building behind me was vacant and owned by the Spanish still.

Part way through my first show, with a huge crowd of children(St. George is a Mecca for field trips for those who don't know) the police, nearly stepping on children, told me that,"St. Augustine's been burnt to the ground twice, and you're not gonna be the cause of the third, we have a no"no open flame" ordinance here "and told me to stop. Back then I used to carry ALL my props around, so I said, " No problem officer, I don't have to do fire!"

Then it happened. I turned around and right infront of my eyes was a big sign that said" Come visit downtown St. Augustine by CANDLELIGHT. Tours 6:30-8:30"

After seeing this, with out thinking, I turned around and said, " Excuse me officer, isn't a candle and open flame???

The crowd of school kids proceeded laugh loudly and boo them.

The guy then wanted to throw me against the wall but the presence of kids might have detoured them.

He arrested me infront of the audience, then when we got to the jail, they released me. no charges filed. Told me to never come back!!! I did.

Couple of years later, when they banned everyone from St. George St., they first made the mistake of listing what they had banned from performing musicians, mimes, magicians, etc

They forgot to say juggler!! Can you say Loop-hole.

My friend Ray performed there from two years, every day under that loop-hole and I would come and kill them with kindness.

[Isabella]

I understand that there have been a lot of bad feelings between the City of St Augustine and the street performers. I am aware of a lot of the history, but was not part of it and can't speak to what happened to other people. I recognize that some people in this community feel ill-treated, and my goal here is not to minimize that, but to help relations between the performers and the city get better.

There are some citizens of St Augustine who would like to bring back street performers. It will likely be a long, slow process, in which the city tries to balance the needs of the performers to be in good, high-traffic areas with the merchants' need for traffic flow on St George, and everyone's need to keep down the panhandling quotient, which as people rightly identify here (on pnet) is difficult - because of the First Amendment, banning panhandlers from a certain area means banning legitimate performers. Whether you agree with banning street performers from St George itself or not, it's a law, it stood up to a challenge in federal court, and it's not going to change any time soon. It's up to you whether you prefer to keep fighting, walk away, or find a way around. So far, my (limited) experience here has been that there are people willing to meet me if I walk around.

We were offered the chance to pass the hat, and did perform in a hat pass legal area (the newspaper article is wrong on that count, and the City Attorney spoke at the next council meeting to clarify that point), but a local business was excited about partnering with us, and chose to pay us and have our show be a gift to the city.

As a circle show, I would never want to perform on St George whether it was legal or not - it's not a good pitch for us, as we would block all traffic in both directions and there isn't enough room for us to set up our aerial rig and have an audience at the same time.

Our show was well-received, well-attended by both walk-up and invited traffic including city officials, and not to toot our own horn, but we created a buzz about "hey, we should get more street performers, we miss them." We were well-paid, well-fed, well-housed and well-treated, and while I can't look into the heart of every city official, we felt welcomed by the ones we met. We made the front page of the paper and we plan to return.

I'll be posting here about some specific opportunities that are coming up, and I hope some of you will want to be involved. If not, that's certainly your call, and I don't blame you for feeling burned by past experiences.

[Isabella]

PS - We worked an empty space in the Plaza, and there were no other performers in the park at that time - it doesn't get enough traffic to be a good spot for a small act. There was a guy with a harmonica across the street, and I saw a guitar player later that night in the park.

And yes, in Key West, we worked the Hilton Pier and not Mallory Square - it was our first time there, and we needed the pay and (more importantly) the subsidized housing to make the trip practical.

We don't do a lot of "plain ol' busking" in America, because it's difficult to "pick up your stuff and move along" when you have a 24 foot tripod rig. It's important to us to be in a legal, spacious spot that wants us there, because setting up the rig is enough hassle that we don't want to get kicked off, and between the rig and the crowd, we are never inconspicuous.

YMMV.

[Juggalicious]

Project Dynamite will come - but only if we get hotdogs and lemonade on the house.

[Isabella]

Damn, all they had was champagne brunch with crab claws, mini creme brulee and a waffle station. But I'll see what I can do...

[Juggalicious]

let me get this straight.... mini creme brulee !!!! as in MINI CREME BRULEE... this sounds AWESOME. in other news I keep thinking I'm going to run into Kim because she keeps -almost- visiting the L.A. area but then never does. perhaps when she does finally get here duncan and I will stow away in her luggage and she can take us to Florida with you.

[USA BREAK DANCERS]

I worked that pitch before and ran into the same problems Dallas and many other performers had run into in the past.
It seems The city of St. Augustine is wising up and understands the value in having Street performers in there city.
I think we should do the same. We should wise up and not work there unless they pay us and pay for all the Hotels, travel and food, Quality food not hot dogs.


Make them pay!!!
Julio " Klown" Santiago