Cass McCombs Quotes

I used to be a street singer in San Francisco.

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

I'm a complete and utter busker.

I was a street performer for two years.

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

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

I wasn't in a lot of rock and roll bands. I was in jug bands and things when I was in school.

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

In my early life, I was a professional folk singer. I used to sing on the national television and radio in Canada. Nobody knows that - but now I've said it, haven't I? I'm strictly a shower singer at the minute.

I've done my share of busking, and it's fun until it isn't. There are musicians in the subways that will make you cry, they're so good.

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

I did pretty well busking. I would play two to eight hours a day, and I could make two or three hundred an hour.

I learned to play the git-tar from an old colored man in the streets of Montgomery. He was named Tetot, and he played in a colored street band.

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.

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.

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

The truth is there's always a hum of people playing folk music in cities.

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.

At one stage, I wanted to be a folk singer.

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

Without busking, there is no Fantastic Negrito.

Well, the first Australian tour I literally just took busking to the stage.

I grew up in a really rural town, Stratford, Ontario, with 30,000 people. There's a big festival thrown in the town. A lot of people travel from all over the world to see it, and growing up, I actually used to busk on the street. I'd play my guitar, sing, and people would throw money in the case.