Bellevue suxx0rs

[solarbird]

As I kinda suspected might be the case, Bellevue fairs want no sign of buskers. (At least, these don't.) I found the info table at the individual subfair I was most interested in playing and they weren't just GTFO NOW and all that, they looked kinda cranky at me for even showing up to ask, and were generally full of GIR! and mostly looked relieved when I went away. Note to fair runners and info table booth managers: if someone shows up and asks you if it's okay and where they should be, they're probably not the ones who are going to cause problems and fuck up your venue.

So I stood on a sidewalk for a while between two of the outdoor venues far enough away from the official performers not to interfere with them (or vice versa) and played for a while. That wasn't great, but did play for a while until yet an other official venue started up too close to me, closing off the last quiet (ish) area in the general fair area. So then I started looking for another place to play, and this creepy homeless(?) guy who had been hanging out watching me play (and dancing weirdly and talking not very coherently except for asking where I lived, which I obviously did not tell) started following me around, until I got in a very crowded area and told him kinda loudly and obviously to stop following me around, at which point he did, but I was still kinda creeped out, so I said fukkit and came home.

It's kinda too bad; even when the windy location and poor money - it's between two things people would walk to, so people were, you know, walking to those things, not hanging around), it was kind of interesting to play because I was between a couple of buildings in a narrow street and so got some neat resonances going on the flutes. I'd have probably stayed for another set just for that.

FWIW, flute and mandolin did about equally well, or badly, in terms of audience reaction (good) and money (not very good at all really).

Comments

[poodlgrl.livejournal.com]

Piss on Bellevue. Just sayin'.

[solarbird]

Yeah, I think I'll stick to more hospitable venues, like, I dunno, everywhere else.

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

Bellevue does suxx0r, in several ways that have something to do with what happened to you. Do you remember the city's weasly attempts to discourage churches & synagogues from hosting Tent City? If you're not one of the Shiny Happy People in a car, they don't want you around.

[solarbird]

But I am shiny! And happy! And people! But not in a car. In a car, I'm... hum... I guess that joke doesn't work here. Foo.

[maellenkleth]

well, that does suck, but credit to you for asking; as you point, by virtue of asking you clearly demonstrated that you were not looking to ruin their play-day.

better luck at Juanita, ne?

[mhaolain.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a crazy adventure. You've got more courage than me, busking in a public place. You're not alone, though. I've watched friends get the cold shoulder from markets and fairs. Sometimes the hostility seems to come from you being a competitor, but I get the feeling it's a mixture of not being "the right kind of people" and not being friends with the organizers.

[solarbird]

You've got more courage than me, busking in a public place.
I'm not sure where else you'd do it!

You're not alone, though. I've watched friends get the cold shoulder from markets and fairs.
Oh, sure. I was expecting it, even.

I get the feeling it's a mixture of not being "the right kind of people"
lulz. Poseur money is so full of lose.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Agreed, I've disliked Bellevue ever since I had to live there a few years back. Out of all the rough and seedy places I've been and wandered around alone after dark, Bellevue is the place where I got attacked on the street. Not Glasgow, not Amsterdam, not Belfast or Dublin. Bellevue. In 7 months, the Safeway I worked at was robbed 3 times, once at gunpoint, there was a shooting in the parking lot, and the night after I put in my notice, there was a bomb threat.

Sorry about the rant, but Bellevue's one of the things that really sets me off.