NationStates Jolt Archive

what if they weren't good at what they were doing? would you still give them money? why or why not?

is street performing a "respectable" job?

do you often have street performers in your area?

would you do it?

what would you do if you were a street performer?

Why would I give money to a lousy performer?

I give money to performers if they are good and they entertain me. It's my way of saying, "Thanks!" and encouraging them to keep doing what they're doing.

When I was visiting London I kept seeing those "human statue" performers, and some of them were absolutely fantastic. I gave them tons of money because I found them so delightful. They were quiet, so they didn't disturb anybody, they positioned themselves to be visible but not in the way of foot traffic, and they were like living pieces of art that were just available for everybody to admire. I loved it!

I don't think I could be a street performer (since I have wicked awful stage fright and hate having lots of people looking at me), but I might be okay with being a human statue because they use lots of makeup and costume. That would make me feel like I was "hiding," in a way, so maybe I'd be less nervous. I also love making people smile or laugh, and the human statues I saw did a great job of that.

I only give money to good street performers. If I recall, that pretty much meant anybody who was making a little effort and not playing a guitar in the subway.
If I'd given money to every guy playing a guitar in the subway I would've been poor.
Oh, and those guys that stand around not moving. There are some good ones, but a lot of them are just guys in bad costumes. We saw one of them fall over while trying to hold a pose for some tourists with a camera.

EDIT:
Hi bottle, welcome to my mind.

Sure, why not? If they're not particularly good, maybe they can afford lessons.

We don't have such things around here though.

I have been known to if they are good at it. I spend a lot of time down at Venice Beach so I see a lot of them. Most suck and have found this is just a better way to beg so they hope around on one foot or do a headstand and figure that's worth $5.

If they're not good at what they're doing, then they're just being annoying and shouldn't be encouraged.

If they're good at what they're doing, then they should be encouraged and so, I usually give them money if they put me in a good mood.

Street performers are wonderful people whom I would hug if they smelled better. *nod*

If I were a street performer, I would probably do something that was entertaining on both simple and complex levels so as to appeal to both the easily entertained and those who look for deeper meaning. For instance, I would probably brawl with a series of cardboard cut-outs of corporate logos, putting up a decent battle, but ultimately losing when they start fighting dirty. *nod*

Street performers are wonderful people whom I would hug if they smelled better. *nod*

If I were a street performer, I would probably do something that was entertaining on both simple and complex levels so as to appeal to both the easily entertained and those who look for deeper meaning. For instance, I would probably brawl with a series of cardboard cut-outs of corporate logos, putting up a decent battle, but ultimately losing when they start fighting dirty. *nod*
*drops a $10 in LG's hat*

what if they weren't good at what they were doing? would you still give them money?
Theres an old guy in Manchester who plays the recorder. He doesn't know how to play the recorder, but that doesn't stop him. I give him money occasionally because he makes me giggle.

I give to the entertaining ones. Like the guy who used to stand outside Primark in the middle of winter wearing a kilt playing bagpipes.

if i have enjoyed the performance, i give money. if i am just walking by or dont enjoy the performance (why would i keep watching/listening if i didnt like it?) i dont.

i love street performers. they improve the atmosphere of a city street.

I give money to street performers whose performances I enjoy. Sadly, street performance basically doesn't exist in my hometown, so I look forward to seeing what acts people have concocted when I visit other cities.

If street performance did exist around here, I would very likely be among the performers. Heaven knows I could use the extra cash. :p

*drops a $10 in LG's hat*

Thank ya. Thank ya. God Bless Ya. Thank ya. :)

I give money to street performers provided it looks like they are making an effort, I give more to people who actually entertain me.

I have street performish gigs sometimes, so I understand having an off day, tonight I am going out to my local state fair, I have been paid a modest amount by the fair people to walk around and annoy/entertain people, the people I entertain give me money, everyone else just ignores me, except for the college aged drunks who try to heckle me, and I am pretty sure they would be more entertaining if they weren't drunk.....

Pie them. :)

I give money to street performers provided it looks like they are making an effort, I give more to people who actually entertain me.

I have street performish gigs sometimes, so I understand having an off day, tonight I am going out to my local state fair, I have been paid a modest amount by the fair people to walk around and annoy/entertain people, the people I entertain give me money, everyone else just ignores me, except for the college aged drunks who try to heckle me, and I am pretty sure they would be more entertaining if they weren't drunk.....

I could definitely be a street performer, but with a slight twist - I'd be the busker version of a mugging. I'd follow you around playing the bagpipes (very poorly, which I'm rather good at) until you gave me money to stop playing.

The mafia and their broken kneecaps have nothing on my piping!

if i had the time to stick around to hear/see a good portion of their performance then yes i would give them money unless they were really awful or not to my taste. most of the street performers here are on my way to work though so i don't have time to stop. there was one guy i saw a while ago who was doing nothng more than balancing on his head in a bucket and waving his hands and feet about, simple but still entertaining for simple curiosity value. the guy was homeless (i'd seen him sleeping rough many times in my area) so i gave him some money.

I'd tell em to get a real job...some with all those bums in hollywood...we need to go back to the days when acting as a job was an embarrassment and you only did it because you weren't good enough to do anything else...

I've come across a couple of street performers who were absolutely amazing, and all of them in Europe. We just don't seem to get the cream of the crop here in the States. Some of the best:


Accordian player in Stuttgart
Bagpiper in Glasgow (played for 30 minutes straight, immediately lit a cigarette when he put down his pipes)
Guitar player in Gloucester Road tube stop who always played "Wild World" when he saw me coming
300 pound ukelele player in Honolulu

I'd tell em to get a real job...some with all those bums in hollywood...we need to go back to the days when acting as a job was an embarrassment and you only did it because you weren't good enough to do anything else...

...when was that, exactly?

Bagpiper in Glasgow (played for 30 minutes straight, immediately lit a cigarette when he put down his pipes)
Whoa.

I'd totally just give that guy my wallet. Anybody who can do that is clearly not human, but is some sort of superior life form who will doubtless conquer Earth as soon as he has finished his bagpipe solo.

I'd tell em to get a real job...some with all those bums in hollywood...we need to go back to the days when acting as a job was an embarrassment and you only did it because you weren't good enough to do anything else...

Yeah! Like Seventeenth Century England! Back then they knew exactly what to do with wastes of skin like William Shakespeare! Or better yet, Ancient Greece! They sure knew how to ridicule their filthy low life actors back then, dammit! :p

I've come across a couple of street performers who were absolutely amazing, and all of them in Europe. We just don't seem to get the cream of the crop here in the States. Some of the best:


Accordian player in Stuttgart
Bagpiper in Glasgow (played for 30 minutes straight, immediately lit a cigarette when he put down his pipes)
Guitar player in Gloucester Road tube stop who always played "Wild World" when he saw me coming
300 pound ukelele player in Honolulu


Where the fuck did he find a 300 lb. Ukulele? What was it made of, Uranium? :confused:

Acting is not a a job which I'll loosely call it that worth millions of dollars a pop...

Where the fuck did he find a 300 lb. Ukulele? What was it made of, Uranium? :confused:

I believe he means the person playing was 300 lbs....but I'd pay to see someone play a 300 lb Ukulele

I believe he means the person playing was 300 lbs....but I'd pay to see someone play a 300 lb Ukulele

Agreed. Playing a 300 lb. ukulele is considerably more impressive than being 300 lbs. and playing an ordinary ukulele.

Acting is not a a job which I'll loosely call it that worth millions of dollars a pop...

acting is hard work, film acting double so.

Agreed. Playing a 300 lb. ukulele is considerably more impressive than being 300 lbs. and playing an ordinary ukulele.

Yes, but not nearly as humorous...

Acting is not a a job which I'll loosely call it that worth millions of dollars a pop...

What percentage of actors earn that kind of money?

lol....its really not if you have the capability to portray emotion and memorize lines of text you can act...and acting is definitely not worth getting paid 20 million something for...or getting the god/goddess like treatment...

I'm only talking about the hollywood type here people...

If they're good, sure. Especially if they make me laugh.

lol....its really not if you have the capability to portray emotion and memorize lines of text you can act...and acting is definitely not worth getting paid 20 million something for...or getting the god/goddess like treatment...

I'm only talking about the hollywood type here people...

Acting is a very risky job to go into. The job security isn't the same as 'real' jobs so I have no problem with the gamble paying off a big reward

lol....its really not if you have the capability to portray emotion and memorize lines of text you can act...and acting is definitely not worth getting paid 20 million something for...or getting the god/goddess like treatment...

I'm only talking about the hollywood type here people...

every time my husband has been in a movie it has consisted of 16-18 hour days of doing the same 3 minutes of film over and over and over, to get different angles and because the background can't keep it together and to try different props......and over and over and over and over and over for 18 hours.....it sucks.

You see a finished version of a movie and you think "I could do that" but could you do it for 18 hours a day for months on end?!!

So which hollywood bozo are you married to then?

I've watched people do acting...the kind without having them(the actors) pampered in between scenes...and the kind that live in decent houses but not 18 million dollar homes...those type of actors are the ones I actually pay to see...I just pirate the big names films so they don't get a dime of my money

So which hollywood bozo are you married to then?

What a well thought out discussion point. Thankyou for that :rolleyes:

So which hollywood bozo are you married to then?

not a hollywood bozo, just an underpaid part time actor......

I have met some of the Hollywood types, they work as hard as he does, they get paid more, but they deliver more. If you heard my husband was in a movie you probably wouldn't care at this point, but if it was Bruce Willis you might go see it.

No matter how much you get paid (or don't) acting is hard work and it is a real job.

not a hollywood bozo, just an underpaid part time actor......

I have met some of the Hollywood types, they work as hard as he does, they get paid more, but they deliver more. If you heard my husband was in a movie you probably wouldn't care at this point, but if it was Bruce Willis you might go see it.

No matter how much you get paid (or don't) acting is hard work and it is a real job.

No if it was Bruce Willis I would pirate the movie and watch it for free...

No if it was Bruce Willis I would pirate the movie and watch it for free...

that's rude.

every time my husband has been in a movie it has consisted of 16-18 hour days of doing the same 3 minutes of film over and over and over, to get different angles and because the background can't keep it together and to try different props......and over and over and over and over and over for 18 hours.....it sucks.

You see a finished version of a movie and you think "I could do that" but could you do it for 18 hours a day for months on end?!!

its a mystery to me how a professional actor can do the same scene over and over again and end up with a good performance.

Now if your husband worked in like a minor film...with at least a decent plot...then I'd pay to see that or if he did stage acting I might go see that too depending on what the play is about...I'm not a fan of Broadway type things though...although I have seen some good ones (stage acting) about important American figures like Harriet Tubman...

its a mystery to me how a professional actor can do the same scene over and over again and end up with a good performance.

it's a skill.

not one worth a million dollars

not one worth a million dollars

who are you to decide?

I cant thats why i pirate my movies so they don't ever get a dime from me

I cant thats why i pirate my movies so they don't ever get a dime from me

if you have so little respect for an actor's craft why watch movies at all?

My favourite street performer was a dude in Montreal. It wasn't an "artistic" performace per se, but a performance nonetheless. He had a pair of pants filled with stuffing with shoes on the end. He would stuff these fake legs into the wheel well of a parked car, smash a few ketchup packages on the sidewalk, then would desperately ask passerby's to give him some money so that he could get his friend to the hospital. It cracked me up everytime (and I always gave him money).

Makes for a great reason to bring girls over to the house so I can end up sleeping with them

Makes for a great reason to bring girls over to the house so I can end up sleeping with them

how old are you? 5?

I'd tell em to get a real job...some with all those bums in hollywood...we need to go back to the days when acting as a job was an embarrassment and you only did it because you weren't good enough to do anything else...

Suspecting this person is full of shit.

Makes for a great reason to bring girls over to the house so I can end up sleeping with them

Confirmed.

The only time I have ever given money to a street performer was when I was in Japan... and it was mostly because I was on vacation and having a lot of fun anyway. I think I gave him about $5 >>; Interestingly, I would never do that here... Probably because I see them more as an annoyance and none of them are very good and are always in the way.

No I just gave an honest answer...i myself honestly don't watch movies or particularly care for them...I'd much rather be outside doing something active...and really the only TV i watch is documentaries particularly ...some comedians some times If I can't go see them in person... and news channels...

Suspecting this person is full of shit.



Confirmed.


lol...try again later you failed miserably this time

I give any available change to street performers if they're doing well ($1). I'm more generous when they're playing something I know or appreciate ($2). I'm still more generous if they're doing it when it's very cold outside...like Pike Place market in Seattle in December and the guy is managing to maneuver his fingers around a guitar ($5) -- you gotta MEAN it if you can do complex etudes in fingerless gloves on a 30-degree day.

That said, I will usually pass up giving cash to someone who isn't any good or appears to be half-assing it.

I once slipped a $10 to a kid in Victoria, BC on the quayside tearing it up on a violin. The kid couldn't have been more than 11 years old and was plowing through Bartok like he wrote it. I asked him what he was doing outside, and he replied that money for lessons had run out in his parents' budget. If I'd had a $20, he'd have had it.

lol...try again later you failed miserably this time

Thou sayest.

You have no clue as to what acting entails, and no conception of market forces on movies. Of COURSE no performance is really worth $20mil, but that's what the market will bear. When a studio fucks up and makes a turd with a budget like that (Waterworld, Battlefield Earth, and the like), that actor, unless the money was his or otherwise insulated his investors, doesn't get that much for a film again.

I'm sorry about your inflated self-worth delusion. Hope that works out for you.

Thus why I don't participate in said market...that was an improvement but I still think you can do better...maybe you'll have something when I get back

If I stop and enjoy their performance then I will most likely give something if I have some change on me. Some of the best I've seen were in London, Covent Garden, and Prague, Charles Bridge (one amazing guy playing Ma Vlast with a selection of glasses of water tuned to different notes, not just the melody but accompaniment as well, using both hands like a piano).

what if they weren't good at what they were doing? would you still give them money? why or why not?

I would give them money if they were good. If not, I would take their money. :p

is street performing a "respectable" job?

Sure. It is like performing anywhere else... except it is on the street.

do you often have street performers in your area?

Never really, they tend to be more of an Urban thing.

would you do it?

Sure.

what would you do if you were a street performer?

I would starve.

:p *gives cookies for the hilarity*

*stops blasting 'music' out of a harmonica and nibbles on cookie to stave off hunger*

I would give them money if they were good. If not, I would take their money. :p



Sure. It is like performing anywhere else... except it is on the street.



Never really, they tend to be more of an Urban thing.



Sure.



I would starve.

:p *gives cookies for the hilarity*

it's a skill.

Or careful editing.

Either one.

Sure, I give money to street preformers. Unless they just suck. Anybody reasonably good gets a couple of bucks. Really good gets you five, about my max. It takes a bit of courage to do it for a living. And sometimes a bit of desperation.

Maybe my easy acceptance of it as a reasonable thing for a struggling young artist to do is linked to living in Austin. The city's always been pretty accepting of a sort of bohemian lifestyle. Sixth Street has tons of street musicians, especially on weekends. And a couple of pretty nifty visual artists, too.

My sister used to date a guy who played the flute down on Sixth Street. It's probably one of the only places in the south you can act like a total hippy and not be thought a pretentious little prick. He also sold wild herbs to some of the local shops and canvased for Greenpeace. Anyplace else in Texas and he would have starved.

when its people singing old Irish ditties badly to get sympathy money-no, absolutely not. Otherwise street performers may get my money depending on whether I think they're good or not.

only if they sing "mr. Bojangles"







if you got the simpsons reference, congrats, give yourself a cookie. For those that didn't, watch more simpsons.

I give to the entertaining ones. Like the guy who used to stand outside Primark in the middle of winter wearing a kilt playing bagpipes.

Oh my god, you get them outside of Edinburgh? On behalf of the Scots nation I apologise.
I live in Edinburgh and it is full of morons who can no more play the bagpipes than fly the Eurofighter raping the otherwise inspiring notes of Highland Cathedral high into the already polluted Edinburgh air.

The trick is to cut their throat with a knife. Please, Scot's culture and history begs you to.

AMK
xxx

Oh my god, you get them outside of Edinburgh? On behalf of the Scots nation I apologise.
I live in Edinburgh and it is full of morons who can no more play the bagpipes than fly the Eurofighter raping the otherwise inspiring notes of Highland Cathedral high into the already polluted Edinburgh air.

The trick is to cut their throat with a knife. Please, Scot's culture and history begs you to.

AMK
xxx

Good song.

Oh my god, you get them outside of Edinburgh? On behalf of the Scots nation I apologise.
I live in Edinburgh and it is full of morons who can no more play the bagpipes than fly the Eurofighter raping the otherwise inspiring notes of Highland Cathedral high into the already polluted Edinburgh air.

The trick is to cut their throat with a knife. Please, Scot's culture and history begs you to.

AMK
xxx

Really you should cut their throat with a sgian dubhs - why can't you people spell properly? - to be authentic about the whole thing.

Anyway, bagpipes are northumbrian.

I believe I have.

It's really nice walking down the street hearing a man play the violin, or a trumpet.. or the more usual bucket drums and guitars.