*Real* first post

So that other first post was more of an introductory note. This will be my actual first post, on the subject of my experience being a street musician in NYC.

People always ask, "don't you need a license/permit to do that?" And the answer is mixed. For many spots in the subway system, you do. For some parks, you do. For many spots in the subway you don't, and, most importantly, for Central Park you don't. Given that the lion's share of my experience has been as a regular player in Central Park, that's what this post will focus on.

This laissez-faire system (especially with regard to Central Park) creates a very interesting state of affairs. Those of us who play the park regularly basically exist in the Hobbesian "state of nature", at least with regard to such things as street performing. Basically what this means is that we won't kill each other (there are laws against that), but there's nothing stopping us from setting up six feet away from another musician and simply playing louder, or making them so fed up that they simply move on (no regulations whatsoever against this). Fortunately, most Central Park musicians are decent folks who are only too happy to help a newbie learn the ropes, so long as you don't infringe on their territory. From what I can figure out, seniority seems to be the order of the day, with the people who have been in the park the longest pretty much having things their own way, and the rest of us putting up with it. The simple fact is that if we don't get along, nobody makes any money; you point out to me someone who doesn't mind hearing "Summertime" played on top of Bach's Prelude in G major, and I'd be willing to bet you my entire savings account, small as it is, that that person is deaf.

I experienced this firsthand over the weekend. My regular spot is Bethesda Fountain (almost directly in the middle of the park width-wise, at 72nd street length-wise), a rather picturesque spot where people tend to be found in large numbers, and just as importantly a place where people tend to linger (I like my listeners to stick around for more than one movement). The fountain is surrounded by benches, so some times I will sit on the fountain itself, and sometimes I will sit on a bench across from the fountain. Depends, sometimes the fountain is so crowded when I get there that I can't find a place, and I am unwilling to ask people to move.

At any rate, on this particular day I was seated on a bench across from the fountain, playing from 12:30-3. At around 2:15, a rather large man carrying a guitar sits down on the edge of the fountain, not directly across from where I was sitting but not terribly far off the mark. He then proceeds to belt out Jimmy Buffett songs at the top of his lungs strumming as hard as he can, with his friend sitting next to him clapping and cheering loudly.

He could have chosen a dozen other spots on or around the fountain. There were just as many people on the other side of the fountain to listen to him, and that would have in no way interfered with what I was doing. But instead this monster insisted on stepping all over me. I can't remember anything in the recent past that made me so angry. I mean yeah terrible stuff happens around the globe all the time but this is how I pay my RENT, for fuck's sake. But the reality was that there was nothing I could do. There are no licenses required to play in the park, so I could threaten him with no legal sanction of any sort. I just had to put up with it. And that's exactly what I did.

Thankfully, by sheer luck (or perhaps the benign will of whatever powers that be), he broke a string about 10 minutes into his "performance", which gave me a nice reprieve. After replacing it, another 10 minutes passed and he must have broken another string, since he stopped yet again for a while, adjusting something with his guitar.

All in all, I suppose the situation could have been worse. He could have played a louder instrument. He could have insisted on sitting directly across from me. Still, I have never witnessed a musician do anything so rude to another musician in Central Park, and I hope such occurrences do not become more common as summer sets in.

At any rate, social restrictions and considerations that I've noticed musicians placing upon themselves in Central Park generally work quite well; if someone is in a spot, it is theirs, unless a much more senior player comes along who has claimed that spot since time immemorial. And you NEVER set up in close proximity to another musician, and always do your best to minimize potential interference. And when everyone follows those rules, everyone makes enough money to live on (some quite a bit more), and tourists get treated to a ton of great music and live performance. And when such rules get stepped on, well . . . you end up with J. S. Buffett.