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| Michael Penn / Juneau Empire |
 On the corner: Malcolm Tullis stays cool in the shade in 2005 as he sings outside the Chilkat Cone Kitchen at Merchants Wharf. |
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On sidewalks and subways, plazas and cafés all over the world, entertainers lift their instruments, put on costumes and perform their art in order to earn a living. These kinds of entertainers are called buskers, and their livelihood is busking.
During a trip to Europe recently, my daughter and I saw many, many people performing on the streets of the cities we visited. We took photos and videotaped their performances, bought their CDs and asked about their livelihoods.
I was particularly interested because I am a musician and have busked myself.
In the 1970s, I earned some extra cash singing and playing guitar on the streets of San Francisco, specifically at Powell and Market streets near the cable car turnaround. I used the opportunity to develop my performing skills and get used to audiences.
In many cities in the world, people pass by a variety of buskers every day - performers who sing, tell stories, play guitars, violins and accordions, tap dance, do acrobatics, fire eating, clowning, juggling, magic, recite poetry, and more.
Juneau has a few buskers, though they are few and far between, mostly because local ordinances have prohibited performing in public places for money. This rule is changing, however, because the prohibition has been deemed unconstitutional.
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| Courtesy of Teri Tibbett |
| Wild perfomances: Juneau guitar player Steve Wilde has traveled the world and performed with other buskers. He says his 1998 visit in Kathmandu, Nepal, with snake charmers was one of his most memorable. |
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Many buskers around the world earn a living from the coins and bills that are tossed into their hats or instrument cases. Others do it because they need to perform, just as some people need to write or paint or work with numbers.
In Venice, Italy, mimes stand as living statues on pedestals, dressed in capes and elaborate costumes wearing carnival masks and moving in some artistic way or posing for pictures when a coin is dropped into their hat.
In Mexico, mariachi musicians roam the streets of almost every city and town, singing and playing in plazas and at sidewalk or beachfront restaurants.
The Chindonya street musicians of Japan wander through neighborhoods advertising the wares and openings of commercial businesses.
On subway platforms under the streets of London, Boston, New York, Paris and many other cities, musicians set up amplifiers and sing and play above the roar of passing trains.
Steve Wilde is a Juneau guitar player who has busked all over the world. One of his most interesting street performing experiences happened in Kathmandu, Nepal in 1998.
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| Courtesy of Teri Tibbett |
| Many communites recognize buskers as cultural resources, like this hydrocrystalophone player, who plays Bizet's "Carmen" by rubbing the tops of crystal glasses, in San Sebastian, Spain. |
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"I used to see these guys walking around with their baskets, charming snakes with a flute and drum. I was living across the street, and they heard me doing this harmonic drone thing on my guitar and came and knocked on my door and wanted me to play with them. So, on several occasions I went out on the street with them and did my little guitar thing while they did their snake charming act, and it actually made them more money because they had a westerner performing with them," he said.
Milo Matthews, who lives in Anchorage, performs a solo act with electric bass and phrase sampler. He developed his skills busking on subway platforms in Boston, usually at Harvard Square.
"I did it full time for five years, every day," Matthews said. He also busked in Chicago, New Orleans, San Francisco and Seattle.
"I tried to do it in other cities, but it wasn't easy. In San Francisco on the wharf, there's a street scene, but it's more exclusive. You have to fight for the spot," he said.
Matthews believes that people who perform in public places enhance the environment and offer something in exchange for the tips they receive.
"There's a trade-off. There's an energy exchange and you're free to give, or not give," he said.
Leif Saya plays violin on the sidewalks of Juneau for tips. He's been asked to stop playing, once by a downtown security guard and another time by a city employee, he said.
Saya supports busking and believes street musicians help visitors feel welcome.
"When (tourists) are walking down the street in Juneau they've entered a corporate-free zone. Nobody's trying to sell them a diamond or a tour or make them part with large sums of money," Saya said.
"They've put all this money into this big corporate tourism machine and giving a sole one dollar bill to somebody who's playing music, who is actually a local and part of the grassroots wholesome nature of the community, I think, makes them feel a little better," he said.
Malcolm Tullis plays guitar and sings on downtowns sidewalks as well, throughout the summer and winter. He does it to make a little money, he said.
Tullis writes his own songs about people he knows and experiences he's had.
"I don't really have a message. I know I'm playing for a hundred different ears, so I just try to play what sounds good to me," he said.
Some buskers use public areas as a venue for expression of political beliefs.
Stephen Baird, a street performer in Boston and advocate for street performers, supports the idea that public streets are a place where people can exercise their freedom of speech.
"Our earliest newspapers were written in verse because people couldn't read at first ... They were written in verse and sung and sold on the street," he said. "Street performing is a historic First Amendment publication right that even the founders knew about." He named Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry as early American buskers.
Baird cites studies by William H. Whyte in "Rediscovering the Center City" that indicate street performers and street vendors help develop and keep a town or city's character.
"It's what people remember about a city, not the bricks and mortar, but the different kinds of characters that are part of the landscape ... Even bad street performers help define a community because the public will stand around and start talking to each other about how bad the performer is," Baird said.
Cities around the country are beginning to encourage street vendors and performers as a way to develop the community's identity and to integrate individual community members into the larger community, Baird said.
Business merchants have expressed safety concerns over street performers or panhandlers blocking the sidewalks and crosswalks or acting aggressively when soliciting. They also have expressed economic concerns when store entrances are blocked or a performance is repetitive, irritating or disruptive to customers.
"It's a delicate balance," musician Wilde said. "I think there's a responsibility that comes along with performing in the streets. Much in the same way that if you own a business, you can pretty much do what you want to do with your business, but the bottom line is there's laws that protect consumers from fraudulent or abusive practices, or overly aggressive selling tactics. So I think street performers should be careful and they should be respectful. If everybody in the world was polite and respectful and honest, we'd have no need for laws," he said.
• Teri Tibbett is a writer, musician and photographer living in Juneau. She can be contacted at tibbett@alaska.net.
