Wall paper gigs: is it just me?

[Clyde Mattocks]

The worst is playing for a private party, say from 6 to 10 P.M. You beat your brains out from 6 to 9:30
playing all your best material to nobody. Then at 9:30 the crowd starts coming and when you start to pack up at 10:00, its "You're not quitting already, we just got here !" Of course the host agrees with the guests, but does not want to pay you accordingly.
"We'll pay you an extra $50.00 to play another hour."
Then there is an attitude when you ask for a fair price.

[Bryan Bradfield]

Dayna

My favorite place for busking is at a festive function where there will be maximum traffic flowing past. One of the best around here is a car show, or a "show 'n' shine". Passers-by often are looking for a bit of a diversion, and often stop for part of a tune at least. I particlarly do well with kids under 10 years of age approximately. They are fascinated by the dobro played with a bar, and after a bit of show and tell, a parent usually discreetly hands the kid a sizeable tip to put in my case.

[Billy Tonnesen]

Several years ago played for a music festival of some type at the park by the Long Beach, Ca. Convention Center. We were told to be there by noon and we would be playing sometime after that. Well we had to wait for a blues band and c couple of rock and roll bands to play first. When it became our time to play they decided to give out a whole flat bed trailer full of door prizes (tickets were sold}.
Now it about 4.00 PM and the door prizes took another hour to give away. When the last big door prize was given away the crowd of several hundred people all went home. By the time we got set up the city clean up crew came in and we never played a note. We were exhausted from waiting around in the sun all afternoon and said "never again".

[Don Drummer]

I enjoy wallpapering when playing solo guitar. In fact I committed to memory many jazz standards doing this at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs during the 90's. It's best that you keep in mind that you are making some good money while honing your craft. In my case the working conditions were very pleasant. Soothing and unobtrusive was how I approached my presentation.

[James Cann]

I only recently heard the term "busker."

Well, visit London sometime. Buskers are all over the place, especially in the Tube stations.

[Jim Cohen]

For clarification, I believe the person is a 'Busker' and the verb is 'to busk', not 'to busker'.