BUSKER ALERT: BEWARE OR BE WARY OF THE KAMLOOPS FARMERS' MARKET!

For my summertime travels I had BIG PLANS for my caricature busking, my first buskspot being at the farmers’ market in Kamloops, British Columbia. (See the picture and words posted above!)

I LOVE KAMLOOPS! And I love Kamloops for a couple of reasons. Firstly, every summer I drive to Kamloops to hike and hang out with my daughter and granddaughter who reside there, and secondly, my early memories of Kamloops are most certainly hazed through romantic nostalgia.

In 1972, the summer of the BIG FLOOD of the North and South Thompson rivers, my cousin and I hitch-hiked from Regina to Kamloops to work in the sawmill. And what a summer that was! But that is another story for another time …

Anyway, back to the KAMLOOPS FARMERS’ MARKET. The website for such proves that the Kamloops Farmers’ Market is not acephalous and it states that it loves having buskers. 

Factoid: These words that are posted on the Kamloops Farmers' Market website are just glib -- they sound great, but they are not sincere.

A few days before the day of the market and following the directions as presented on the website (shown above), I called and left a voice message, I typed an email, and sent a text. One day passed and it was crickets for a reply to any of the three messages I had left. Two days passed and still crickets. In the early morning on the day of the market, I sent another text directly to Greg, the market manager, to which he did reply. In summary, he stated that as a caricaturist, I would be listed as a “crafter” rather than as a “busker.” As a “crafter” I would have to formally apply four months in advance to sell my wares at the market, because, the acceptance of such "is quite a process.” But it did not matter anyway, since my place of residence was outside 100-mile radius of Kamloops, I would not qualify. The Kamloops Farmers’ Market is for locals only. To say the least, I was certainly addlepated!

From my experiences as a street caricaturist everywhere elsewhere from Kamloops, as a caricaturist, I have been a busker in Dublin, Ireland, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in Marrakech, Morocco, and several cities in Canada.

Hmmm. I googled the question: “Are Street caricaturists considered to be buskers?” And the answer, according to AI, “Yes, Street caricaturists are considered buskers. Busking encompasses a wide range of performance arts in public spaces, including drawing caricaturists.”

Hmmm. And then I wondered, if Manager Greg had ever been to other summer fairs and markets? Including the iconic and same-province Inner Harbor in Victoria, British Columbia, where the caricaturists are significant members of the buskerhood, performing for masses of tourists walking along the legendary boardwalk each summer day?! Hmmm. Only at the KAMLOOPS FARMERS’ MARKET, it seems, that CARICATURISTS ARE NOT CONSIDERED TO BE BUSKERS!

Yes. This may be petty, but I shall continue, nonetheless. Now back in my home province of Saskatchewan, I have been very busy drawing caricatures, as a busker, at several farmers’ markets.

Here are some of my portraits from just last week from farmers’ markets in MOSSBANK and LIMERICK, two small resort towns in Saskatchewan, and my home city, REGINA:

And because I was dismissed from the KAMLOOPS FARMERS’ MARKET, I headed for RIVERSIDE PARK, right in the heart of Kamloops and drew these fine people who were working the BIKE VALET:

Posing in my CHAUCERIAN PARADE this week:

In this blog post I want to send kudos to all those “other” farmers’ market managers who have and continue to warmly welcome me as a CARICATURIST-BUSKER, and have embraced me with a heartfelt smile and handshake, and without having the complications of a written application of any sort.

And to close, my point for writing this post was to hoist by his own petard, the KAMLOOPS FARMERS’ MARKET manager. And I believe I have done just that!

 

LEARNING TO FLY -- BUT I AIN'T GOT WINGS!

 

Dear reader, please forgive my purloin of the Tom Petty song title while making my point that most anyone can learn to fly. Really. Because to me, RUNNING is synonymous with FLYING. I shall explain:

WALKING, according to Oxford Languages, means “to move at a regular pace by lifting and setting down each foot in turn, never having both feet off the ground at once.”

RUNNING, according to Wikipedia, "is a gait with an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground."

FLYING, according to Reddit, "is moving or capable of moving in the air."

So there you have it. Both Running and Flying mean being airborne.

My learning to fly began in 1977, the very day I finished reading THE COMPLETE BOOK OF RUNNING, by JAMES FIXX, published that same year by Random House. I was living in Kamloops, British Columbia, where I became a runner of the outdoor circuit at the very beautiful McArthur Island Park situated right in the middle of the city. Moving to Regina, Saskatchewan, where I am still a runner, but now at Wascana Park, also situated in the middle of the city.

Running has been good for me. To quote James Fixx, for me and my running, the fates have been exceedingly kind. In 1977 when I first started running, I was 26 years of age and running a minimum of five miles every day. Now I am 74 years old and running just three miles, three times a week.

And I wrote my thesis, ONE HUNDRED DAYS AT THE HOUSE OF CONCORD: An Ethnographic Study of Young Offenders in an Exercise Programme. For 100 days, in 1994, at 43 years of age, I gathered a group of male young offenders, between the ages of 15 and 20, and we ran a minimum of five miles each day from Monday to Friday on a course in Wascana Centre, Regina, SK. Yes. Learning to fly, literally, has been good for me.

But I have also learned to fly, figuratively, when it comes to BUSKING. When I started busking, I started clunky with a plethora of accessories. I had my guitar, I had the garb (bedizened in cowboy attire), and I also had my music stand and my cheat sheets! Having to travel about by foot with the added music stand makes busking bush-league and almost immotile, whereas now busking with just my guitar and harp is rather lightweight and very portable.

Over the years I have developed the confidence to thrum without the cheat sheets and even move on to other musical instruments. Guitar is still my favorite, but I have busked many times with my banjo and my didgeridoo. And then even moving on from other instruments I have developed my busking skills as a pencil portrait street artist, and now as a Sharpie marker caricaturist. Practicing with my pencil, after drawing hundreds of portraits, my fastest times would range from 20 – 25 minutes. Practicing now with my Sharpie, sacrificing quality for speed, it takes me just five to seven minutes! Not-so-strangely, I’ve changed only my busking instruments, certainly not my milieu.

Regarding busking, I learned to walk with my guitar; I learned to run with my pencil; I have now learned to fly with my Sharpie! By flying I mean traveling light, conveying just a canvas knapsack filled with a “MIX MEDIA 11 X 14 inch” CANSON sketchpad at a cost of $25.95 and several Sharpie fine print permanent black and gray markers at a cost of $2.00 apiece.

Marching without wings in my CHAUCERIAN PARADE this week are these two lovely ANGELS, from Toronto, Canada:

MY HEAD IS IN THE CLOUDS: FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, BUSKING WITH MY SHARPIE

My head is in the clouds, always. Oftentimes when I look at clouds, I see images of things familiar. For example, in this cloud KING KONG jumped out at me, maybe from Skull Island?

KING KONG CLOUD

And in this cloud, DAVY CROCKETT, king of the wild frontier just happened to be sauntering by, hunting for bears?

DAVY CROCKETT CLOUD

Every time I watch evening fireworks, I see spiders!

SPIDERWORKS!

Methinks these cloud pictures are classic examples of PROJECTIVE PSYCHOLOGY. Yes! Of course they are! I am projecting my own thoughts (from my own experiences) onto the cloud stimuli! And not-so-strangely, I have been suffering such projective psychology for years and years and years!

But also, dear reader, I suffer the psychology of being delusional, some unreasonable ideas that I hold, I truly believe to be reasonable!

One such delusion is that I am immortal! And because I am immortal, my chronological age of 74 years is nary a factor in my physical health. This morning, for example, just before starting this blog entry, I went for a three-mile run (around Wascana Lake), followed by a one-hour bike ride (through Wascana Centre). During this past week I still managed to hit the weights in my downtown gym (DOWNTOWN FITNESS) at least four times, and I went to my Muay Thai class (kick-boxing) at my martial arts gym (ASCENDENT MARTIAL ARTS) which I do just once per week.

To continue my fitness bluster, anytime in summer, if the temperature hits 30 degrees Celsius or higher, I head to the outdoor pool (WASCANA PARK) and swim individual medley (IM) lengths. Every weekend I gear up in my very thick cold-water wetsuit, complete with mask, snorkel, and fins, and free dive in a gelid Saskatchewan lake.

Because I am immortal, I am still happily and full-time gainfully employed! For 23 years I was employed full-time as a high-school guidance counsellor with the public school system, while also teaching third- and fourth-year Psychology classes as a sessional instructor at our local university, and while doing these two jobs, ran a part-time private practice as a professional hypnotherapist. Factoid: I am still on contract as a full-time as a teacher-counsellor, designing and delivering a program, transitioning young offenders from custody into the community. And my private hypnotherapy practice is still thriving.

Because I am immortal, as I have been these past couple winters, I plan on keeping my winter gig as part-time alpine ski instructor and shall continue to do so as long as my love of skiing lasts, which so far as been a mere 53 years -- I started downhill skiing in the winter of 1972!

Because I am immortal, my plan is to be a part-time caricaturist from here to eternity. Since my youth I have drawn pencil portraits – I sometimes love to reminisce with my old classmates, most of whom were my models! Lately in my adulthood, I have now tossed my pencils and replaced them with Sharpies! Monochrome caricatures, I have decided, are the way to go!

Here are some examples of what I have in store to amuse myself at least partway throughout my unending existence:

To continue in my delusion of having an everlasting life, I have decided I cannot be milquetoast when it comes to cultivating a sharp sense of opportunity when it comes to becoming a professional caricaturist. THE MANITOU BEACH BUSKER FESTIVAL was my first professional opportunity to show my wares.

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, 

I'LL BE BUSKING WITH MY SHARPIE!

In the meanwhile, 

“MAY WE FIND JOY IN THE MOMENTS THAT MAKE UP THE INFINITE,"

AND MAY OUR HEADS BE IN THE CLOUDS FOREVER!

(HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, AMERICA!) 

 

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT ... SENSE!

A PASSER-BY IN WASCANA PARK

It’s summertime and I am all agog to go busking! For me, busking has primarily meant slingin’ and strummin’ my twelve string and blowin’ my blues harp on a variety of street corners, hoping the passers-by will toss loads of coin and bills into my open guitar case. This summer, though, shall be different. This summer I’ll be drawing quick caricatures for those passers-by who are willing to stop and pose for five minutes, then pay me ten bucks for doing so.

I have, in the past, occasionally exchanged my guitar and harp for a pencil and sketchpad, then drew pencil portraits rather than strum and blow original songs. But this summer, regarding busking, I plan to park my guitar and pencil, pick up a Sharpie, then offer five-minute monochrome marker caricatures rather than twenty-minute pencil portraits.

For July, I’ve already booked two gigs as a caricaturist. This coming Saturday, June 28^th, I’ll be drawing at the MANITOU BEACH BUSKING FESTIVAL in Watrous, Saskatchewan, and after that, drawing caricatures at the OLD WIVES LAKE FESTIVAL, July 19^th, in Mossbank, Saskatchewan!

And how did I get from being a pencil portrait busker to a quick-draw caricaturist? Both the long and short answer is simply through practice, practice, practice, and more practice! Marching in my CHAUCERIAN PARADE this week are those who graciously volunteered to be my models my practicing five-minute caricatures:

ANOTHER PASSER-BY IN WASCANA PARK

Here are some staff from my favorite guitar shop, B-SHARP in REGINA, SK.

CRAIG (OWNER)

TYSON

JORDAN

MY BEST FRIEND LOOKS 20 YEARS YOUNGER!

MY COLLEAGUE

IN HER NEW HOUSE!

IN HIS NEW HOUSE!

Here is my first pet five-minute caricature.

"GEORGE" AT WORK

Here is my first photo five-minute caricature.

MY CALGARIAN ACADEMIC FRIEND

MY CALGARIAN FRIEND, AGAIN!

My second photo five-minute caricature:

MY DRIVE-THRU FRIEND

TAKEN AT THE DRIVE-THRU

Accustomed to the peripatetic nature of my traveling light and stealth as a guitar busker, I shall carry these same traits into my caricature busking. For my caricature buskspot, I will simply scatter on the ground around me, a few laminated pictures of some of those (above) who marched in my Chaucerian Parade.

For my caricature debut this Saturday at MANITOU BEACH, I am planning on some basic creature comfort and convenience for my buskspot. I will pack along a couple of lightweight canvas lawn chairs, where my consumers and I shall sit knee-to-knee while I sketch their visages. 

In the meanwhile ... I’ll just PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!