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| MY BANFF SELFIE |
In my last
blog post I referred to my having a minor surgery on my left shoulder; today I
had another surgery for the same shoulder.
The first surgery was a biopsy, the second one to remove my basal cell
carcinoma, the most frequently occurring form of skin cancer (not to worry, the
operation was a success). Initially the
pearly reddish patch on my left shoulder was finally brought to my real
attention on a bike ride with my friend, Chris.
“You’d better get that checked out,” she said,
“it is likely skin cancer and it goes really, really deep under the surface.” Chris was smiling and joking when she said this.
Hmmm … Feeling
a bit unnerved with her comment I got my spot checked out the very next week. It was
diagnosed as cancer and caught early enough that I can now refer to myself as a
cancer survivor.
When I was
13 years of age while riding a horse across Notekeu Creek I was shot in the
right shoulder with a 22 rifle by some boys shooting frogs along the creek bank
(see my blog posting, BOY 13 SHOT IN SHOULDER: AN ESSAY ON A REAL
BUSKEROO, Saturday, March 24th, 2012). I still have the scar from when the doctor
cut out the bullet. With this latest
surgery I now have a similar looking scar on my left shoulder, and so here is
my new tagline:
I TOOK A BULLET IN MY
RIGHT SHOULDER AND DODGED A BULLET IN MY LEFT!
Enough of
this pity and proud introduction -- today my essay is that of being a band
member contrasted to that of being a busker.
I’ll start with a couple of stereotypes: Band members are those shiny
people on stage with baditude issues and Buskers are those lonely unpolished bards who are in search of a band.
Band members are those shiny people
on stage with baditude issues:
And this
stereotype is not-so-strangely sort of true.
It takes a lot of jam to strum and play on a bar stage and because most,
if not all of the audience members, are drinking booze resulting in some of the
bar patrons looking at the band members through their seductive liquor goggles.
Hmmm … and more the confident a performer gets strumming and strutting on stage,
the more cocky and cavalier one becomes.
(And if you don’t believe me -- just ask me.)
Buskers are those lonely unpolished
bards who are in search of a band:
I’ve been in
bands and I am a busker and I cannot count the number of times someone has
suggested I team up with so-and-so because so-and-so is also a busker and together
we’d make a great band. And why would a
busker prefer the street to a stage, prefer to be perceived among dregs rather
than a shiny chick magnets? Here are the
reasons why:
Finding suitable
band mates is a chore. Friends are
usually the first pool of players to choose from when forming a band. The second pool comes from the music
community of which you are most familiar.
Once the players are picked then each of the individual personalities
has to be reckoned with on a continuing basis.
Most bands I’ve been involved with seem to thrive on egotistical drama
and is incumbent upon all of the members to keep band-centered rather than
ego-centered. This is the main cause of
bands breaking up.
ZEROTH. This is the number of band mates you need to
be a busker. With zero band mates there
is never an issue of collective social drama.
Buskers can be egocentric and not miss a street beat.
With busking
you just pick yourself for a solitary and totalitarian enterprise, no screening
or auditions necessary.
YIKES. Bands need lots – buskers need little. Bands that perform live need equipment, microphones,
amplifiers, monitors, and the technical list is actually endless. Guitar buskers need only a guitar and a
singing voice, though the singing is optional.
Bands need
to be with-it -- buskers need to be without.
This need is in terms of every
regard from equipment to marketing.
- PERFECT
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT PERFORMANCE
Bands have
to practice to get their songs tight.
Most bands that offer solid performances practice at least once a week;
whereas, buskers play loose and, in fact, get paid to practice. For buskers, every busking occasion is a paid
practice.
For a band
to practice at least once a week demands quite a commitment of its
members. The more members a band has,
the more frustrating it is the keep the collective committed to the practice
schedules. For a band, perfect practice means near perfect performance. For bands, the rehearsals are like
the real thing.
Most bands
play covers to appeal to their audiences, but once in a while an original song is
squawked out during a set. There are
several sublimated singer-songwriters on any given band stage.
Buskers, on
the other hand, play and sing whatever they want whenever moment they want. Bands play according to script – buskers play
according to heart.
Every band
needs a certain look. Some bands are in
costume, and for others, their look is being out-of-costume. I remember being in the band, Sharie and the
Shades. In that band we all wore black
shirts with blue jeans. Strangely, I
carried on that practice for years later.
Whenever I was on a stage strumming and singing I always wore blue jeans
and a black shirt. Now I always wear
jeans and usually a white shirt. Over
the past couple decades it has seemed always to me to be, literally, either
black or white.
Factoid: My buddy Devon and self are playing at the
COPPER KETTLE tomorrow night. We’ll both
be wearing jeans (this is not planned but in any duo performance previous with
Devon he has always wore jeans) and both us will be in a long-sleeved
shirt. (Mine will be white and knowing
Devon from previous gigs, his will be darker.)
Whatever garb Devon is donning, we will present as crisp looking when we
perform.
Buskers can
look crisp or sloppy – As long as they’re clean, nobody cares.
Who ought to
be doing what is always a concern for a band.
The band manager, who is usually an active band member, should assign
specific duties to each of the other band members. Typically the band manager does the bookings;
whereas the duties of set-ups and sound-checks should be assigned to others. All individual equipment should be lugged by the members
who use it. I’ve been in several bands
and it seems that other than show and shoulder their own equipment, most band
members roll along with a not-my-job attitude.
Band members, for the most part, do not appreciate their manager’s labour
and stress involved in booking gigs.
Unfortunately this minimum- effort- for- maximum -gain attitude seems
prevalent in band and most other communities. (I, myself, seem to suffer this same malady
line.)
Band members
tend to be like house cats prowling out-of-door for the evenings. Bands haunt the same hunting grounds time and
again, playing in familiar bars in familiar cities and towns.
Buskers, on
the other hand, tend to be wildcatters, showing off their wares in the most
obscure and experimental settings.
Both bands
and buskers are driven by mercenary adventure and endeavor, and this is just
one of many comparisons (even though this essay in on their contrasts).
Bands are
fragile – buskers are forever (or at least as long as the shelf life for any
particular busker).
Admittedly
the camaraderie among band mates cannot be replicated being a busker on the
street. The camaraderie of being in a
band is most certainly endearing. I love
all my band-mates, those that were and those that still are. But saying thus, camaraderie can most
certainly be attained in other areas of anyone’s life, other hobbies for
example. I must mention that for me THERE IS NO BETTER CAMARADERIE than being a band member in this regard.
As a busker,
between consumers I am allowed a hundred Walter Mitty moments within my
self-initialized time frame.
Factoid: On occasion I have daydreamed
through my whole busking time.
Any such
Walter Mitty moments on a stage can only drift into performance
disaster. Every band member during every
song has to stay focused, because each player is reliant upon the other members
to play their instruments according to their practiced scripts. A song on a stage shared among band mates is truly
a trapeze act; whereas safety nets and member supports are never necessary
for buskers.
BANDS ARE LIKE THE TRAPEZE --
BUSKERS ARE LIKE THE TIGHT ROPE.
My
CHAUCERIAN PARADE members marching today:
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| A MURDER OF CROWS AT THE START OF MY HILL EARLY THIS MORNING |
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| A COUPLE BUSY BEAVERS AT THE END OF MY HILL RUN |
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| THE HOCKEY TEAM I CAPTURED IN MY SELFIE (AT THE TOP) ... MY GHOST IS IN THE CLOUD |
