What do you call 'street performers'?

[gsdx]

Up here in Canada, we call them buskers. (You know, the people who play instruments, do mime, juggle, etc. for entertaining the passers-by and passing out the hat for a few coins.) In fact we have Buskerfests all the time. There is a huge one going on in Toronto this weekend.

A few years ago, I mentioned the word 'buskers' in another forum and most Americans didn't know what I was talking about.

So, I was wondering if you have buskers where you live and what name they go by?

 

[gsdx]

Well, you got the toe-tapping down pat.

 

[spooger]

we have quite a few street performers in new Orleans , especially in the French Quarter....

we just call them street dancers, or street musicians, etc......

if i called somebody a busker....he'd probably try to busk me in my face...lol...

 

[douseiai]

hobos with a job

 

[gsdx]

hobos with a job

Well, it's better than sitting on the street holding out a tin can to everyone. I support buskers (if they're good and, particularly, if they're cute), but I never support beggers who ask me for 'spare change'.

 

[TaigaStar]

I just call them street performers, or "[insert musical instrument of choice] players". I guess having been raised in NY, I've become immune to their existence.

 

[gsdx]

We have one older guy who, for years, has taken a spot on a bench almost every day. He sits there with a small bongo drum between his legs and taps at it so lightly you can barely hear it when you walk past him. He doesn't bother people, and I've never heard him speak, but he pulls in enough coins to buy himself a pack of smokes and dinner for the night.

I've seen the beat police move the panhandlers along, but whenever they get to this guy, they simply walk by and let him be. He's almost a fixture downtown now, almost like the tower clock. People miss him when he isn't there on his bench.

Oh, yeah. A few years ago, he took up the harmonica, but all he could do was breath in one note and breath out a different note. He couldn't play it. That lasted about a day and a half. It was back to the bongo after that.

 

[TaigaStar]

On the subway, there are these two guys from Mexico and they come into the car dressed like mariachi (I know I spelled that wrong) and they play this tiny guitar and sing... thank God for iPods.

 

[douseiai]

Well, it's better than sitting on the street holding out a tin can to everyone. I support buskers (if they're good and, particularly, if they're cute), but I never support beggers who ask me for 'spare change'.

it is... i will generally toss them some change if i have some... i just like callin them hobos with jobs... dont really know why

 

[gsdx]

it is... i will generally toss them some change if i have some... i just like callin them hobos with jobs... dont really know why

Many of the buskers here are quite well-dressed, actually. I don't know about other places, but here, the beggers often dress themselves in the crappiest clothes they can find. At least the buskers are clean.

I don't mind paying for entertainment at all, especially if it is entertaining. Not all play instruments. Not all sing. Some shouldn't be singing.

Still, I'd rather drop a few coins into a guitar case than into a tin cup when the holder of the cup is yapping on a cell phone.

Note to panhandlers: If you're going to beg for money, stay off the damned cell phone!!

 

[gsdx]

People pay more attention to you and give you more cash if you make a bit of an effort.

It might have been worth the effort to fly to England if the singer had been dressed in tails and you wore the ballgown. I would have tossed a Toonie into your hat for that.

 

[Andreus]

what do I call them?

pan handlers with a gimmick

 

[blackbeltninja]

On the subway, there are these two guys from Mexico and they come into the car dressed like mariachi (I know I spelled that wrong) and they play this tiny guitar and sing... thank God for iPods.

My last day in NY last year, riding the subway A train to JFK, we had a Mexican band and then a magician who did some crazy stuff with a top hat and a dove and all sorts of stuff. It was excellent entertainment and he was really really slick with his sleight of hand. Makes old David Blaine look like a washed-up hack.

-d-

 

[gsdx]

Makes old David Blaine look like a washed-up hack.

-d-

Ummm. When was David Blaine not a washed-up hack?

I watched about 2 minutes of one of his 'specials' on television and turned it off. Couldn't stand the guy.

 

[gsdx]

They're registered with the city council, pay their taxes like the rest of us and make a comfortable living from the tourists.

Busking is actually encouraged in Canada, and the buskers are usually quite respectful of other people. They never ask for change except, perhaps, to pass the hat around, and thank everyone who drops in a coin or two.

Like I said earlier, we hold 'buskerfests' here. Hundreds of buskers gather in one place and entertain for a weekend. Sort of like an Octoberfest without the beer.

 

[blackbeltninja]

Ummm. When was David Blaine not a washed-up hack?

I watched about 2 minutes of one of his 'specials' on television and turned it off. Couldn't stand the guy.

Well... in the 3rd world we get everyting much later than you guys do. In our eyes he's still that guy who levitates as long as the camera stays above his feet...

-d-

 

[justsimon]

We have a lot of buskers in my town. I call them buskers or street musicians.

 

[BiMike]

In London Underground stations where for years the police used to move 'buskers' on they now have to be registered and allocated specific spots at which they can perform. It is seen as part of the street scene now for tourists! Some sound great with the acoustics of the subway tunnels! Think some have become professionals!

 

[Ramindra]

In Australia, they are called buskers. Nowadays, most cities require that they be licenced, and that they are presentable and talented. They are restricted to certain areas, often pedestrain malls and entrances to transport facilities.

Shopkeepers were getting a little peeved about having off key violinists playing "Home Sweet Home" parked outside their premises 8 hours a day, or even worse, a lamenting bagpiper. (Please, I mean no offence to members who may be Scots.)

Some of these guys are really very good indeed. I know of a number of students at the conservatories of music in Melbourne and Sydney who busk and do quite well - much better that waiting on tables or filling beer jugs.

 

[fuzzy64]

Can't recall any name we use for them... I don't see them as being useful, but that stems from me holding a strong opinion against people who chose to live on the streets. but that is a whole different debate...