I'm leaving tomorrow for Europe!

August 28, 2008 at 4:12 AM

Yup, it's that time!

I'm so excited. I'm going to have such a blast. I figure that I have enough cash saved that I don't really have to busk at all o cover the cost of hostels and food. That takes the pressure off, as I don't have any idea the kind of success (or lack thereof) that I will encounter.

In the past two weeks I did encounter some troubles here in NYC. I received a court summons for "blocking pedestrian flow" last week at Grand Central. Seems that my luck has been turning. The problem is that every time that you get kicked out, the next time you get hassled, you're more likely to get busted by a cop that's already shooed you away before. So my favorite pitch is basically kaput (though I have played there a few times after I got busted.)

I've made numerous attempts at finding new pitches, some of which have been successful:

-around the empire state building (though this pitch is very time sensitive)

-outside of Penn Station (I've been kicked out of this area numerous times already, though it can be quite profitable if there isn't too much road noise- i.e. jackhammers and large trucks.)

-behind the MET at lunch and at dusk- there are 2 tunnels there that get decent foot traffic and there is an entrance at 82nd street that is ok too. The tunnel directly behind the MET is my favorite pitch, both for the acoustics and the tips.

I'm sure that it will take some hunting to find decent areas in each of the cities that I travel to, but I'm quite sure that I'll be able to make it work. I can't wait to try the Louvre at dusk I suppose that I'll find out if they allow me to play when I get there.

I bought a camera today, so I should have some photos to post of Paris in a couple of days.

Stay tuned.

From Tom Holzman
Posted on August 28, 2008 at 7:08 PM

Have fun and good luck.

From Donna Clegg
Posted on August 29, 2008 at 3:32 AM

Ditto. Looking forward to your pictures.

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