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.

(1) On the first day of recording, we set up all the equipment, tuned up the guitars, and warmed up on a song or two… then when we tried to queue up the recording, the metronome* wouldn’t work. It took about an hour for Adam (my producer) to it figure out. Meanwhile, I was just sitting there silently, thinking, “I’ve made a terrible mistake….” (Arrested Development reference anyone?) Apparently Adam was thinking the same thing. So we weren’t exactly off to a good start, but things got much better quickly… until…

(2) I had recorded all of the guitar tracks for the original set list of the album and I wanted to record drums, percussion, piano and guitar for a new song all on the same day. We weren’t exactly set up properly for drums. I am a very rusty drummer – I was in my prime in high school (and in hindsight, I wasn’t even great back then). On top of that, we had a poor quality drum set and only two microphones. All of the drums and percussion we recorded that day was scrapped in the end. We didn’t get any piano done either. I did, however, record the rhythm guitar for “No One But You” that day. So at least I got something (other than a lesson well learned about recording drums) for my money.

(3) The first day of recording vocals, I experienced the harsh reality of my limited vocal range. All of my songs were too high. I could hit the notes, but they didn’t sound very good… or at least not professional. I was pissed off. I thought that I sucked and I seriously considered throwing in the towel and cutting my losses. I spent most of that day moping around the studio, feeling sorry for myself. Adam convinced me that I really do have talent and that I just need to find my sound and use my strengths. For the first time, I tried singing in my lower register. It felt weird at first, but I eventually started to love it.

(4) When the recording was finished and it came time to get the album professionally printed, I ran into a couple problems. First, the day before I was going to the printers, I tried playing the master copy of the CD in my computer. To my dismay, it did not work properly. We burned the CD in the wrong format. I almost panicked but Adam and I solved the problem the next day, just in time to get it to the printers. Then on the next day, the printers sent me a digital copy of what the artwork would look like and there was a new problem. My eye on the front cover got cut in half because of the bleed room**. This looked terrible, so I actually had to get Matt (my designer) to put a new photo in and re-send it to the printers. Thankfully, it all worked out in the end.

* A metronome, aka click track, is a constant beeping beat that keeps musicians in time (not slowing down or speeding up) when recording.

** Bleed room refers to the part of a picture that gets printed, but cut off in order to insure there is no unwanted white border.