More on the Santa Fe Busk

OK, truth be told, this past week I have been feeling a little out of sorts, and, honestly, conflicted about going forward in the direction I am headed. It's not only hard; sometimes it's just plain brutal. There are the reward moments, yes, and they are many, but the reality of checking your bank balance to ensure you're going to have the cash to get home and carrying your aluminum can cache with you just in case you can't is definitely not for the faint of heart.

And then I received news of another's fortune that made me realize I'm probably NOT just a headstrong fool for staying the course. Oh, I'm a headstrong fool, to be sure...but for other reasons entirely.

But I wanted to kind of spill some takeaways from the Santa Fe busk. It was a bust from the business end of things, but I learned, and that was really what I was there to do. I've seen some amazing buskers, but I also understand we need to develop our own style, and the only way to do that is to, well, do that.

I didn't do poorly; nobody walked away from me. But I didn't capitalize on the moments I could/should have. A filmmaker capturing the scene would have been a good time to belt out an upbeat rendition of "This Land is Your Land". A toddler, whose attention was divided between my guitar playing and the pigeons on the square was an opportunity I could have used for a song like "Ship in the Sky", "Mail Myself to You" or countless well known singalong songs. And given the number of young kids on the square, I figure it might not be a bad idea to learn some current folk/punk tunes.

Also, this was a mostly inattentive audience, there more for the ambiance than anything I could play. Even a veteran juggler/balloon artist was having difficulty drawing a crowd, so it doesn't escape my mind the possibility that I arrived on a bad day.

I definitely need some signage, though. I have some ideas, and may even be able to credibly draw a logo. Otherwise, I may be begging/cajoling my more seasoned Photoshop artist friends to help me with some design elements that are out of my range.

Lots of people busk for a living. The majority fail. But I figure if I approach it with the right attitude, there's no reason that I have to be among them.