Recently there have been a lot of discussions about one of Chicago's alderman's attempts to put a stop to street performing in Chicago, by requiring licenses for performers, setting up a system of fines and just generally making things difficult for them. After two fines a performer's license would be revoked permanently.
The proposed laws would primarily affect the area of the famous Michigan Mile. The people opposed to the ordinances claim they are merely racist attempts to placate the rich store and condo owners, while those same owners say, "Thank God, enough is enough."
The ordinances are aimed at stopping the ubiquitous "bucket boys." You've seen them, a group of young and not so young black men, with plastic buckets between their legs, beating out something that is less music and more headbanging noise.
When I first heard the news, I was initially opposed to having an easy source of income taken away from the young performers, working the only gig available to them. I was sympathetic because, at times in my past, I have done a bit of street performing, and the money always came in handy.
Street performers come from a line that extends back to Shakespeare and Elizabethan England and beyond, and ultimately came to be called buskers. Their performances were called busking. The history of busking is long and varied and has often been associated with scams and pickpockets.
My sympathy dissipated when I discovered that some of the modern street performers here in Chicago have more in common with those early buskers. Apparently when the bucket boys do draw a crowd it creates opportunities for their partners to pick the pockets, pocketbooks and shopping bags of the curious tourists who have innocently stopped to take in a performance and see what all the "noise" is about.
Who knew that something as wonderful as making music could be criminalized? My advice - when you see these guys, keep your hand on your wallet and keep stepping.
Sei deMarks is a jazz singer, 1/2 of The Showtyme Jazz Duo from Atlanta, GA. Her first love is singing and her other is writing. http://www.smoothjazzduo.com http://www.smoothjazzduo.com/vocalmusic.html
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