<\/p>\n
Busking<\/em> is a British<\/strong><\/span> term.\u00a0 In the Midwest we say “playing on the street.”\u00a0 Kind of awkward, but we don’t want to sound British.<\/p>\n In the 1990s, several Yiddishe Cup musicians played on the streets in downtown Cleveland and made nothing. Security guards shooed us away from Higbee’s and the Arcade entrance.<\/p>\n Our parking expenses were more than what we made.\u00a0 Then we ate out and lost even more money.<\/p>\n We were certainly contributing.\u00a0 We were putting the viva<\/em> back in city<\/em>.<\/p>\n The bus exhaust stunk.\u00a0 The passersby ignored us — except for the bums,\u00a0 who ogled our money pot.\u00a0 Our gelt was immense.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n I have “busked”<\/strong>;<\/span> <\/strong><\/span>I played on the streets abroad. (Northern Mexico, 2008, doesn’t count; that was a freebie.) \u00a0In 2006 I made 16 shekels ($4) on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem.\u00a0 I had my axe with me in Israel, so why not play for my people?<\/p>\n My people wanted Dixieland.\u00a0 “The Saints Go Marching In” was killer.\u00a0 A charedi<\/em> (ultra-Orthodox) boy kept asking for it.\u00a0 I tried klezmer but that didn’t sell, except for “Anim Zemiros.” (Song of Glory)<\/p>\n The tzedakah<\/em> (charity) collectors eyed my coins.\u00a0 Again, awkward. Give it up for the charedim<\/em>.<\/p>\n There is a new<\/span> <\/strong>video clip of Pete Rushefsky, the renowned klezmer musician,<\/em> playing on the boardwalk in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.\u00a0 Pete is wearing a glove, the wind is blowing, and there is a sole listener, who says to Pete: “My grandfather used to play this stuff.” \u00a0 Great stuff — the video.\u00a0 Turns out the grandpa was Louis Armstrong.<\/p>\n