strange places

[AJJames]

When you stop to consider how many people a year we play to and add a few years together ,a lot of us have played the equivalent of Wembley Stadium a few times, so it isn't all that surprising we get spotted here and there now and again, however here are a few circumstances that are against the laws of probability,

I was on a boat sailing on a 3 hr voyage to a fairly remote south east asian island off the tourist trail , the boat had a few europeans on it ,one recognised me from Sydney ...if that wasn't freaky enough for you..on the way back a month later someone else recognised me from melbourne...

I was heading to the south of spain from England stopping to do shows in Mont-pellier,perpignon,Barcelona,Malaga and eventually ariving at gibralta for a flight home ,when I arrived in Chester to do shows ,a couple watched my show and said they couldn't believe it was me, they had seen me in malaga(on sunday),torremelinos(on tuesday) and now chester(on saturday) in the same week,
the third is the weirdest,about 7 yrs ago, I returned to Leicester to visit my mum, I did one show, it didn't go that well ,but you know...anyway ,my mum was engaged in legal custody battles with her ex(my step-dad) over my half sister who was six at the time, my mum wanted me to go with her to a meeting with a social worker who would assess our credibility as a family , she wanted to show me off as an example of what fine children she raises, the trouble was the social worker recognised me , he was a middle aged man with a bald head ...it turned out that he'd walked through my show a week ago and I'd offered him a tupee as he walked by getting a cheap and cheesy laugh at his expense.....not exactly what my mum wanted me there for.... ..

[AJJames]

I have to add that, although I made a joke about the guy, he ended up watching the show and enjoying it once he realised that I was picking on anyone who walks through , we got on well at the meeting and he recomended to the court that my mother be awarded custody of my sister and we all lived happily ever after just like the Waltons.

[Butterfly Man]

I feel sorry for anyone who takes abuse from a performer because they are bald! How embarrassing it must be for people to be singled out that way!

So yesterday, I was down on Venice Beach asking a guy who had wind blown long hair coming out one side only of his otherwise bald head (one of those comb-over jobs gone awry) if he "needed a trim."

... it probably didn't help that I was holding a running chain saw and had my pants around my ankles ...

(true story)

[AJJames]

I was kind of hoping this thread would take off with fasinating stories about being spotted in strange places by our audiences, oh well ..I guess I'll have to keep bump starting it with my own stories ...here's a true story ..but it happened to a friend of mine ...
whilst living and street performing in Tokyo , my friend went to renew his visa ,which was obviously a visitor visa with no employment or monetry gain allowed...he went accross town miles from any pitch...but unfortunately .. the man behind the counter had seen his show ...he was refused a visa ...if you don't think that's freaky ..then I guess I'll have to remind you that their is approx. 25 million people living in Tokyo.

come on you people ....strange places where you've been recognised.
there must be loads of stories
....let's 'ave 'em

[Chance]

This story is about the exact opposite of what AJ just posted.

Last November as I was exiting Israel my bags were being searched. This in itself is not strange, because EVERYONE gets searched upon exiting the place. But my exotic-looking bits and pieces were getting the special treatment in the back room, and I was fearing that MY bits and pieces were going to be next! Knives to the shoe seams and all that stuff going on.

And just about as my screams were reaching crescendo (mainly because I am a great big cry baby and turn to jello when large drills are getting too close to my amp and speakers) a supervisor walks into the room, takes a look over at the ugly American and asks, "Didn't I see you performing in Eilat about two weeks ago?"

Ten seconds later all destruction ceases just in time to dispel the imminent aneurysm, and soon I am seated in the "harmless" section.

[Orange]

being a young and relatively inexperienced street performer, my stories are of the same vain as yours, yet WAY more lame and completely uninteresting. so, on that note...

one time, i crashed a waterfront festival in glamorous "oakville" ontario, and did a few shows until i was kicked out. the next day, in toronto, some brat teenagers recognized me from my shows the previous day. i said "hi" and then moved on... true story!

[This message has been edited by Orange (edited 05-23-2001).]

[seanbridgesbikeboy]

Dear aj,
You are a player as always i remember that story that was sparky mark wasnt it.Congratulations on becoming a father being a dad is great.Do you remember that time when we went to japan together for golden week.You left japan before me .When i came back through australia that customs guy recognized me as bike boy from hey hay its saturday.I didnt have a work visas but they let me in any ways.That was scary.Will see you in chester dude would really like to catch up with you when you gunna come home sean xx

[BFlat]

Here's one story of mine about some funny coincidence.

First, about 7 years ago, I was playing in Old-Montreal at the bottom of the hill on Place Jacques-Cartier, one very famous pitch in Montreal. Anyway, so this young American couple who were on their first date together approached me and asked me if I could play something from Gerswhin. I didn't wanna play 'Summertime' because that's too common so instead I decided to play 'Someone to watch over me'. So I played the song, the young couple gave me a few dollars and they left happily walking hand in hand.

...5 years later, one summer evening, I happened to be playing at the same spot. There was a good crowd of people around me, it was quite a busy evening. That same couple joined the crowd around me at the same time I was finishing to play a song,
and I started playing immediately "Someone to watch over me".

It's only as I was playing that song that noticed the couple, I thought they looked familiar but, you know, we see so many people it's hard to remember them all. But I saw that the two of them looked at me with this expression on their face, like they couldn't believe what was happening.

After I finished playing the song, they stepped forward to talk to me "Remember us, five years ago? We asked you to play anything by Gershwin?". Then I suddenly remembered. Well they told me that they were celebrating their 5th year together and it all started on the night I played that Gershwin song for them 7 years ago. 'Someone to watch over me' became like their favorite song. On the 2nd evening, 5 years later, this was marking the exact day of their anniversary. They were about to ask me to play the same song for them again but they didn't have too cause I began playing it just like that. And when I started playing their song, it was around the same time of the evening, at the same place, exactly 5 years later.

That is some coincidence. And it's kind of a sweet story too, no?

[Rich Potter]

Yeah, yeah, nice story, BFlat.

Blah blah blah.

How much *money* did they give you for their happiness? That's gotta be worth at least a fiver.

--Pragmatic Rich

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[BFlat]

Yeah Rich, it's worth at least a fiver, like you say.

They gave me more than that.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by Rich Potter:
Yeah, yeah, nice story, BFlat.

Blah blah blah.

How much *money* did they give you for their happiness? That's gotta be worth at least a fiver.

--Pragmatic Rich

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