https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiHFGH0RCUc
Sam Mardar (above), bassist with Dublin band Keywest, writes:
The public consultation for the new and very unfair rules the council are potentially imposing on Dublin buskers is over this Friday at midday. We decided to fly back yesterday from our single promo in the UK to help rally the cause with our old Dublin busker friends
We’ve learn’t a lot about what can be done by the public in these situations after working closely with keepstreetslive organisation who saved busking in a lot of cities in Britain.
We don’t busk here in Ireland anymore and haven’t done for a while! but we really don’t want to see Dublin lose its street performance charm! Public consultation is on Friday, you can submit a submission and have your say here.
We’re in danger of losing buskers like Keywest from our streets? That’s a danger I’ll happily embrace.
busing yes, loud amps no.
Aggghh,
Busking yes, loud amps no.
I agree with this. I don’t particularly care is a busker is rubbish, but amplification and backing tracks are anathema. It would give the chap with the bagpipes a bit of an advantage, but that’s fine with me.
the standard of Dublin busking, especially on Grafton Street, is appalling. Nothing charming about it – e.g the awful violin guy, the terrible sax player, to name just 2. They should definitely be made audition and amps should not be so loud that they fill the street.
Did you know that those sand dog guys don’t even make the dogs? They just tinker with them.
SHOCKED I TELL YOU
Well I feel cheated.
And you don’t see those statue guys as often – which is fine by me because I hate them but where did they all go?
Why do you hate them?
When they bang the box they are standing on, I get a fright and crap me pants.
You should make that part of their act.
I would but it costs a fortune in new kaks
Ha!
In the first paragraph, he manages to casually slip in that his band have been over in the UK promoting a new single and, in the 3rd paragraph, he implies that for the last while his band have been too big to be caught dead busking in Ireland.
Who are KeywestLife?
Keywaste
But without busking we’d miss out on fantastic Irish acts like The Riptide Movement or No Angels DC!!!
+1 on Riptide, dont know the other
“We’ve learn’t a lot about what can be done by the public in these situations ”
But they’ve obviously not learned how to spell the word ‘learned’.
Anyway, who the hall are Keywest? Or should I even care?
They sound like a meat processing factory, in more ways than one.
Says the man who can’t spell ‘hell’! And there’s nothing wrong with the spelling; just an unnecessary apostrophe. Let me guess, you learnt your English in th US?
Before I saw where this came from, I was thinking ‘I don’t like this idea, but I’ll sleep easier if these new rules keep KeyWest off the streets’.
I’m not a begrudger, but the horror of having to pass these insipid sub-Coldlay gits everyday was destroying my will to live. Grafton was indeed, not a wonderland – there was not magic in the air.
It was beyond a joke. I could just about handle the blandly throbbing music with its ‘epic rousing’ bits. But that whiney simpering voice with the Ronan Keatingsh shibbilansh was beyond my endurance threshold.
One day I heard him singing Raglan Road. A little piece of me died that day.
Excellent. These are probably the guys taking ads in Irish newspapers complaining about not getting radio play
Based on my experience living in a couple of UK cities the quality of buskers in general is much higher in Dublin. Especially on Grafton St.
Good initiative, but I think you shouldn’t have to tick every single box on the form. I have no problem with them banning amps, but I couldn’t submit the form without ticking it. I used to busk and having to pay for an amp to compete. Might put young people off who just want to give it a go. As well as it being much less irritating if someone’s style of music is not to your tastes.
you should be able to select what you like on the form,
Not a chance. Ban the apms. The original charm of the busker is long gone because of it.
Keywest unfortunately are regular buskers on Grafton St. I don’t know who he is trying to fool.
No amps, no problem.
The sand dog. That awful sand dog.
And that accordion man.
And the break-dancers who take up the width of the street.
And the junkie rappers.
I wonder why the local peelers don’t move the damn break-dancers and their audiences along for obstructing the way. It’s not as though Grafton Street has plenty of room spare on a busy afternoon.
actually, i always like the junkie rapper with the vocal beat box guy. they were pretty talented. the two empty coke bottle drummer guy deserves a wedgie though.
Man and the Machine, they were called. I liked them too.
he’s all the rage these days… Tommy KD. In fact, didn’t he do an appaling ‘mash-up’ with KeyWest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcHl161zpsg
(that’s not the mash-up btw)
Crusty Jugglers
Dogs on Strings
http://i.imgur.com/1GVbCJG.jpg
We have a very different perspective on this! Dublin City specifically lost its street performance charm when large, amplified bands became commonplace. I’m trying to find an actual link to the new rules the council are imposing, but can’t from this post.
Essentially if they’re banning amplification then I agree, but there should certainly be room for face painters, dancers, magicians etc (which the video suggests the new rules will eliminate?).
Found a list of the amendments on Dublin City Council’s website. It’s all looking okay to me.
I assume what the band above are most concerned about is the amendment:
Which would ban them from their usual haunt entirely. I’d still support it, though. Sorry, guys!
trad groups and classical ensembles should be exempt from any of these rules imo.
I don’t disagree, now that you bring up those distinct categories. It’s complicated! It’s a pity that the spokesgroup is so emblematic of the kind of performers I’d prefer to see less of.
Will this mean an end to Bono busking at Christmas?
yeah, Key West are a pain, always take up so much of the street and they’re all about their hair.
One of my favourite buskers is a chap on Henry street, weather beaten lookin fella in his 40s, may or may not like the aul skag, but he has a great voice.
And Baldy McDonagh of course…
These self important gimps that spoil it for everybody …..
Some of them are good and some of them are bad, it adds to Dublin. Look its not a bunch of artists whinging about the cost of their smithfield complex where they do modern avant garde art going up, in my eyes this is something that we should be addressing more…
Can you expand on that Fluffster?
You really have a chip on your shoulder about art, don’t you? Was your Junior Cert art teacher particularly hard on your shading or something?
:)
All buskers should have their fingers broken as a street initiation. Imagine the craic…
I’m not sure anyone would notice the difference in many cases.
Just to save you having to move them on? That’s just lazy.
With the most unparliamentary language …. F… You deputy postman, F… You.
I’m guessing you got overlooked when they were handing out the batons. Must have stung a little.
There should also be a limit as to how many are on Grafton st at one time. Battling your way passed a crowd, watching a dance troupe that have already squared off half the street, only to face the exact same thing ten steps later is a pain in the arse (yes, first world problems and all that). They should be stationed at the Stephen’s green end as a rule. Plenty of space up there. Also support the ban on amplifiers. With so many it just turns into white noise.
it depends on the amp. a couple of watts is grand to be heard just over conversation level. i play a mandolin through a wee fender micro-twin for pub trad sessions and it just about keeps up with a fiddle or accordian and general conversation noise. anything bigger just isn’t necessary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h35T1-KZAnQ
Can we extend these laws to prevent Keywest from being in Dublin?
True Story: Pete Doherty was banned from London after nightfall.
I sincerely hope that is true. I can’t stop laughing.
That ginger on the corner of George’s Street and Exchequer Street.
No amps.
And restrict “dance” groups and the space they take up.
That’s all.
Bring back the man with the saw.
Those guys who did the planet paintings with the spray cans were great too.
& remember the Benzini Brothers (who became Hothouse Flowers)?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=461aOG88l2I
I think we should ban all colour from Grafton Street. We’ve already dulled the path. Now we should silence the street.
Next step should be to put lanes in place, to segregate fast and slow walkers. Anyone who drops below a certain pace should be snipped off by highly trained marksmen situated on the roofs of key, strategic buildings.
Nah, maybe that’s too much actually.
I would support a separate lane for little old ladies with umbrellas, though; they’ll take your eye out.
Just lash up some basic poll site on the web somewhere. Run votes week on week, let the public decide who gets to play on public streets.
You can find the bye-laws here, with the proposed changes clearly marked:
http://www.dublincity.ie/streetperformers
To make a suggestion, even if it’s just “Ban amps,” email here: streetperformers@dublincity.ie
Thanks! Might drop them an email later on :)
dublincitybuskers.com if you want to ban amps, click it off on the form