Friday the 13th Rude Street Vendor Debacle! -- Busker Life

I was setting up to do some busking when a street vendor came over to me and yelled “You’re going to play live music!!!”

“Yes, I am going to play live music!”. I responded. I play around a lot of street vendors and a lot of times they are happy when I show up because my music attracts people and helps their business. Sometimes vendors are concerned I might be too loud, but I take pride in keeping my volume to a reasonable level so everyone is happy. When music is too loud I can’t enjoy it either, so playing a reasonable volume is something I have strived for in the 21 years I’ve been playing professionally. One way I know if I’m too loud is if all the children walking by start holding their ears. Kids are super honest. If it’s too loud, they will let you know! I have taken note of my levels and use the same levels just about everywhere I play on he “streets”. I use the amplifier for my backing bass track and a slight bit of vocal. Without my amplifier on the “streets” my voice gets strained in this loud, industrial world we live in, so it is essential. The bass backing tracks are not very loud either. My banjo is acoustic, without amplification, which is a reason I switched to full time banjo; because acoustic guitar is harder to hear in most “street” settings.

“No no no!” shouted the man “YOU NOT GOG TO PLAY LOUD MUSIC. IF YOU PLAY LOUD MUSIC I SSH YOUR AMPLIFIER”.

“You’re not going to smash my amplifier” I assured him. I consider myself a nice & kind person, but if someone threatens me, I will stand up for myself. Besides, a boom box is also an amplifier, whether this vendor realized it or not. “You do not have the right to threaten me. You don’t own the world. We are all here trying to make a living, so just please calm down and watch what happens when I play, you will probably get a lot more customers.”

“You don’t have a permit!!!” he yelled.

“Yes I do” I responded and pulled out my permit. It wasn’t enough for him. He just kept on yelling things at me. “Well dude, now you leave me no choice EXCEPT to play in this spot. Just out of principle I cannot retreat now. I have to stand my ground and play right here as I intended”. And that’s what I did. He went over to his stand and blared his boom box. As I was just about to start and family with some children were very excited to hear me play. And play I did. It was chaotic with the boom box blaring at me from across the way, but I knew I had to play on. I don’t necessarily believe in demons, but if I did, I’d say I felt as if I were called to exorcise the world of the negative energy that was surrounding this rude street vendor.

None of the street vendors have permits these days. Musicians have to wait in line on the first Saturday of the month and grab a lottery ticket in hopes of getting permit. During these days of this “pandemic”, finding work has become very difficult for musicians. The street vendors just come and set up and sell stuff. I’m cool with that. I wish we could all be as free as birds, that’s why I’ve been a street performer for 21 years now. However, when this street vendor harassed me, I felt it unjust.

So, I set up and started to play my music for the family in front of me. Half way through the first verse of the song the mad street vendor came over and threatened to destroy my amp. I tried standing over my amp to protect it as I played on, but the enraged street vendor would not relent. That’s when all the angels came out of the wood work. Another street vendor came over and spoke up in my defense. The family with their children spoke up for me. Other people walking by came to protect me against this negative force.

I made sure to keep playing until the mean street vendor packed up and left, which was 2 hours later, after the sun went down. The vendor would turn up his boom box and people walking by would notice the sound war and inevitably go over and ask him to turn down so they could hear me, but he refused. The mean street vendor refused to see the world is a place for everyone. He refused to see that we are all struggling through these difficult times, especially musicians. The vendor’s attitude is negative and I hope this will help him be more considerate in the future. Hopefully the next musician who plays next time will be greeted with a “Hi, I am glad you are bringing music to the world. Can you please play at a reasonable volume so I can still conduct my business?”. I hope that question is met with “absolutely sir”.

I played for 30 minutes after he left and enjoyed the peaceful scene that emerged. This experience reinforced my love for humanity. Yes, there are negative people out there, but in my experience, the vast majority of people are good and will come to your rescue when you need it most. I don’t necessarily believe in demons, but I do believe in angles. There is no darkness. Only absence of light.

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