The first time I tried busking, a security guard shut me down after only six minutes.  The prime spot that I thought was public property was apparently private property.  ”Oh well!” I thought, “I’ll just find another good spot.”  But it’s harder than you’d think.  I walked around Robson street looking for a place to play.  As soon as I spotted a decent open area with lots of pedestrian traffic, I noticed that there was already a busker there.  The next good spot I saw was being reaped by a homeless panhandler.  I didn’t want to compete with him (plus I would feel bad taking away his “business”).  Other good spots were taken up by painters and street venders.  So I tried relocating to a different neighborhood.  I thought that Gastown might be nice, being a major tourist location.  However, I found the sidewalks to be too narrow to perform on without blocking pedestrian flow (not getting in the way of  business is one of the main rules for busking).  So I called it a day and gave up, after only performing for six minutes and making no money.

Well, tonight I gave busking another try.  I decided to go to the Broadway / Commercial skytrain station.  Commercial drive is an artsy area, so I figured the people there might appreciate some live music.  I saw a great spot right away, so I got all set up and was just about to start playing.  Sure enough, a panhandling homeless man came up to me and complained that we would be competing and confusing people.  I didn’t want to get in a fight, so I went around the corner to the other entrance.  

I got my first busking dollar from a guy who had a request.  But not a song request… no, he wanted to hear me play scales!  It was a little bit odd, but I’m all about pleasing the people, so I played those scales backwards and forwards with passion.  

Eventually I began playing a set of songs - both originals and covers.  I got a lot of smiles and had a few people stopping to listen.  But only occasionally would someone actually drop in some change.  It was frustrating to see people stop and reach into their pocket or purse (me thinking they’re reaching for change to give me) only to pull out a cell phone or lipstick or whatever.  It got my hopes up and then shattered them.  

At one point there was a small group of people gathered around.  They seemed pretty into the music, so I was thinking I might get some money, but after I finished a song, one of them told me that he built my guitar.  I like to think they actually did enjoy the music, but the main reason they stopped is because they noticed I was playing a Haida Gwaii guitar and this guy was the luthier.   It was interesting meeting the guy who put so much work into building the guitar that I put so much work into playing.  We have very different experiences with the instrument.  His creation (the guitar) has made my creations (the songs) possible.  Very cool!  He gave me his card for the new guitar company Paragon (since Haida Gwaii guitars aren’t being built anymore).  

I ended up playing a full hour set of busking and made a grand total of… drum roll please… three dollars and seventeen cents.  Not quite minimum wage (or even half, for that matter), but that’s okay.  I basically view it as paid practice.  I made more money by practicing on the street than I would have by practicing at home, so I say it’s worth it.  Now I just have to make $31.83 to break even on the cost of my busking license.  Ridiculous.

I hadn’t tweeted in a while, so I signed into my Twitter and wrote down one of the first things that came to mind: “Opportunity is my bride”.

Does this mean anything to you or is it just some nonsense?

I’ve been thinking a lot about opportunity these days.  I remember being a young teenager (writing and recording such hit songs as “Typcial Geek” and “He Snapped”… come over sometime if you want to hear those hilarious demos).  I would dream of some record executive finding me somehow and turning me into a rock star.  Somehow, I thought, opportunity would find me.  I would read bios and watch spotlight episodes on Much Music and keep hearing the artists say how they were just at the right place at the right time.  They basically lucked out and caught a big break.

The part that dreamers might not realize is that in order to be in the right place at the right time, you have to get yourself out there.  No A&R guy is going to come to your house to listen to your band practice in you mom’s garage.  No, you have to be playing shows, doing competitions, getting album reviews, getting on college radio and small live TV shows and internet shows.  The more you do the greater the chance people will take notice.

Very few opportunities are going to come my way.  I have to go find them.  This is why I am willing to try anything such as busking and auditioning for a musical (can anyone teach me a couple songs for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat?), while also booking gigs and making new web contacts with various people in the industry.

I feel like I’m almost beating a dead horse… I keep writing about working hard to make something happen… but it is very important.

Opportunity is my bride.

Because my music career is a self employed endeavor, it is up to me to make sure I spend my time wisely.  I could easily waste my whole day just watching TV… OR… I could make little developments with my music.  What I’ve realized is that I need to give myself some realistic tasks in order to make progress.  For example, I won’t sign a record deal tomorrow, but I could book a gig or contact a radio station.  A whole bunch of small steps will eventually equal a big step.  

Today I did two main tasks: (1) I got a busking permit, (2) I sent my CD to a lady who puts music on film and TV.  

It was a good day.  Both of these things could lead to some good development.  Busking is basically paid practicing and there ain’t nothin’ wrong with that!  And if I get my music on film or TV, that would be a dream come true.  It would also be some great exposure and potentially some supplementary income.  So this is a good example of how doing something small could lead to something bigger.

I wonder what sort of realistic tasks I might do tomorrow…

I guess I’ve neglected my blog for a little while… but I have a really good excuse - I’ve been busy!

Seriously, lots of stuff has happened since my last post.  Yesterday, CBC Radio 1 played my song “Shame on Me” (I had no idea they were going to do that.  My friend just called me up and said that he heard my song on the radio.  I was pretty excited, to say the least.), I played a show at the Railway Club (great turn out and great bands to open for: Fuzzcat and Missing Starla), and I auditioned for the Olympics.

…did he just say the Olympics?

Yes I did.

I will be an Olympian, skin-tight body suits and all, and I’m going for the gold!

Not really.  But I did apply to play music at the Olympics.  The weird thing was that my audition wasn’t for music.  It was for “movement”.  They figured that musicians have rhythm, so they must be able to dance and move.  Little do they know…

I’m not one for dancing, but I surprisingly had a lot of fun.  We did some line dancing and other movement exercises.  I think they were mostly looking for a few things: (1) good coordination,  (2) good at following instructions, (3) good attitude.  They would then train the people that they choose.  Apparently they are auditioning 3,500 people, so it’s a long and complicated process.  My audition was three hours long, but the time flew by.  I really enjoyed the experience and I hope to be chosen to “move” during the Opening or Closing Ceremonies.

At the end of the audition, they announced that three people will be asked to  stick around for a special audition.  They called out the numbers and I was one of them!  I was almost scared.  I thought I might have done something wrong.  But no.  This was awesome.  They wanted to audition us for carrying the Canadian flag as the Olympians come in behind us at the Ceremonies.  Could you imagine that?  If I get picked for this, basically the whole world could be looking at me on television for a short period of time.  That’s intimidating.  But it would be such an honor.

This will be my only post about Olympics stuff though because everyone who is involved in the Ceremonies is sworn to secrecy.  They want the performances to be a surprise.  They even specifically said that we cannot blog about it (I hope I won’t get in trouble for this post).  I won’t even find out if I’m chosen until September anyway, so you’ll probably forget all about it by then.

If there’s any lesson I learned from this experience it was that life is more exciting when I’m open to trying new things.  Even though my expectations didn’t line up with reality (I thought I would be auditioning for music, not movement), I experienced something new and fun.  Take this concept and apply it to your life.  Go be adventurous!

I finally faced my first major rejection.  I’ve had obstacles before, but any previous rejection was at least disguised as something else (e.g. “You can’t open for our band because our line up is full,” or “You can’t play at our venue because we book three months in advance”  …these could be legitimate, but you never know, they might be hidden rejections).

No, this time it was straight up rejection.  I emailed a number of house concert venues and one of them replied saying no.  They were vague, so I asked for clarification.  Among other reasons, they won’t book me because they aren’t “enthusiastic” about my music.  It’s a personal taste thing.

Fair enough.  Not everyone can like my music.  That’s reasonable.  It still sucks though.  It’s like working up the courage to ask a girl on a date only to have her look up at you with her pretty little eyes and say “no.”  It hurts the self esteem.  There is a disconnect between my desire and reality and there’s nothing I can do about it.

What happens now?

I move on.  I say, “Oh well.  Just one small opportunity lost.”  No big deal.  There’s plenty more fish in the sea (or in this case, venues in the world).

Finding places to play music can be challenging.  It gets even more challenging when opportunities fall through.  I found out yesterday that two of my upcoming gigs have been canceled.   One of the venues decided to not do any music for the month of May and the other cancellation involved a miscommunication.

I only have one show still booked, which is coming up on Monday.  This means I desperately need to find some more.  Today I looked into house concerts.  I found a website called Acoustic Roof that lists various small venues for acoustic shows.  Surprisingly there weren’t any in Vancouver, but I emailed some venues in other towns.

I’ve also been considering busking.  I know it’s not glamorous, but it would be a way to play publicly on a regular basis.  The only problem is that I’ve met some conflicting information regarding permits.  Some websites say that you can busk anywhere without a permit except for Granville Island.  But other websites talk about people getting fined for not having a permit.  I’m a little scared of being fined because I don’t have a lot of money to begin with.

Does anybody know the local law on busking?

Does anybody know of any venue I could perform?  Perhaps a house concert… or anything really.  I’m not too picky.

The winner of The Great Blog Off 2.0 is Saving for Serenity (a.k.a Alan Schram).  In case you don’t know, The Great Blog Off is a blogging competition that I am a part of.  See the facebook group for more info.

Saving for Serenity is a blog about personal finance.  Alan writes at least three times per week on various topics relating to money.  His personal goal is to help you save money.  Isn’t that nice of him?  I recommend this blog because it has gotten me thinking about saving… so much so that I opened a Tax Free Savings Account a few days ago.

In light of this all, I’ve decided to show you my main strategies for personal finance.  Some may be obscure, but they work for me.

1) Pay off all dept before starting to save (do the math with the interest rates.  It makes sense)

2) Once dept free, start saving as early as possible

3) Find loopholes and jump through them (e.g. my checking account fees are waved if I have $2,000 in the bank.  I save more by waving the fees than I would by earning interest on a savings account.  All sorts of loopholes like that are out there)

4) Live frugally (some people call this cheap, but they tend to be worse off financially).   Here’s how to be frugal:

- Take transit
- Cut your own hair
- Accept hand-me-downs
- Shop at thrift stores
- Cook fresh food instead of pre-made and instead of going out
- Avoid fancy drinks at coffee shops – order coffee or tea
- Turn off all electrical devices (including lights) whenever they are not being used
- Take anything if it is free (maybe not anything, but you know what I mean)
- Socialize during free events, like going for a walk or sitting around
- Rent movies instead of going to the theater
- Pick up some beer rather than go to the pub
- Live with a roommate
- Mooch off your parents
- Learn to be content with what you have (there will always be the next “latest and greatest” and you can’t have it all)
- Hide your cheapness by calling it an ethical choice

Like I said before, these work for me.  At the age of 22, I’m dept free (with a BA degree and a full length recorded and printed album, both of which I paid for [accepting whatever help I could get of course]), I’m starting to save, and I live off of only a half time job (plus album sales).  This is not to brag or anything… I just want to show you that my financial strategies have worked for me.  Maybe they could work for you too.

Apart from this, I don’t have much to say on finances, so go subscribe to Saving for Serenity for more ideas about money.

Moving sucks!  I just spent the last couple days moving all of my stuff from one apartment to another one (only five blocks away).  I didn’t plan it very well because I knew I had to move during the middle of the week, which meant that not many people were available to help.  I thought I could pretty much do it alone.  I started by taking a small load of stuff on the bus, which wasn’t great because there was standing room only.  Then I borrowed a mini van from my friends, the Copland family, and moved my bed frame, mattress, and box-spring all by myself.  This tired me out pretty good and by this time it was getting into the evening.  So I gave in and called some friends.  One friend helped with one load and another friend helped with a second load.  It’s amazing how much faster and more efficient it is to work with people.

This all made me think of how artists often try to go at it alone.  Like a lone ranger.  My friend Adam used to say that he wanted to be the marlboro man.  There’s something cool about having no partners and working alone.  I’m not sure if it’s the mystery or the pride of taking all the credit.  But I’ve been learning that I need all the help I can get.  I need musicians to play with me.  I need producers to help me record.  I need people to help promote my music.  I need people to encourage me and challenge me.  And I even need people to just like my music - people who will come to my shows.  Maybe instead of being the lone ranger, I’ll try the polar opposite and get as many people involved as possible.  Have you been doing it all alone?  Let’s work together.