When I moved to the East Village in the late seventies, I wanted to be a street performer, so I practiced daily. I never did work up the skills or the courage to perform on the street, though.
I'm a complete and utter busker.
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.
I was a street performer for two years.
I was the highest-paid street performer, probably, in the history of Chicago. I was making like $800 a day.
I worked in retail for a bit and then I busked for two years. As soon as I started, I thought, 'I'll do busking until I'm 50 because this is the best job in the world.'
Busking is the essence of what I do. It's made everything possible.
