Crystal Bowersox Quotes

I was the highest-paid street performer, probably, in the history of Chicago. I was making like $800 a day.

I used to be a street singer in San Francisco.

Maybe if you see me begging on the streets, you might find me doing The Stone Roses the next day.

Well, playing a guy who writes songs and busks on Grafton Street in Dublin and falls in love with Marketa Irglova wasn't very difficult for me. There was very little acting going on.

I sang on Church Street, every place that had a stage.

I was just a folk singer. I cut my teeth on the streets, you know.

I'm a complete and utter busker.

I was a street performer for two years.

I'd stand on the side of the road when I was just a little girl singing on trash cans. People would roll down their windows saying, 'Isn't she cute'. I had a vivid imagination. I always pretended it was some big stage.

I began singing in dive bars and really small clubs. I dragged my piano down the stairs, and I went down the street with my keyboard, and I would go to every different dive bar that I could get to agree to let me play. I'd call and pretend I was Lady Gaga's manager.

You get way better from playing to the passing public. You learn how to entertain. But it took me a good three years out on the promenade to figure that out. You also learn what makes them stop dead in their tracks and what doesn't.

When I was a street performer, before I had any songs of my own that anybody would stop and put in money for, I would always be doing covers. Even with covers, people wouldn't stop in the beginning.

In a typical day, I would wake up about 8 A.M., pile all my stuff into my mom's minivan - my guitar, my amp, CDs to sell, a table and a rug - drive it down to the street, and unload it all. I'd wait until about 12, then play for two hours. You could only play in two-hour intervals, so then I would move it all somewhere else.

When I was little, I had concerts on the subway, and old ladies came up to me like, 'You are so good!'

I was on the train; I did play, but I also played in bars, in the streets, at birthday parties for people who discovered me on the train.

I don't busk any more because it's gotten too dangerous.

I'd get a train to some town and wander about to find a decent spot. Sometimes I'd play for three hours; sometimes I'd get moved on after three songs.

I'm acting! And doing it for income! But it's for something that I love, and that's super rare.

Busking is the essence of what I do. It's made everything possible.

Without busking, there is no Fantastic Negrito.

I had a $1.50 from playing the ukulele after owning it seven minutes. I thought, "Hmmm, this has some possibilities."

Once you been performing on the streets you can conquer any venue.

You need to do the work to bring the money in, but not compromise standards.

I had done a fair bit of traveling during the holidays in my school days with my guitar and discovered that I could live on it. Admittedly, I traveled with a sleeping bag but I could always find somewhere to lay my head.

I'd stand on the side of the road when I was just a little girl singing on trash cans.