Seattle has got such a rich street performing community, and we are consistently amazed at the caliber of talent in the Seattle busking scene. Smalltime String Band was really jazzed by the opportunity to mingle with this colorful variety of musicians and performers.
Everyone was friendly and supportive. We really enjoyed playing a tune with our frieinds and fellow musicians the Gloria Darlings.
We enjoyed the crowd at our stage performance a lot. It was really great to work with our stage emcee Gary and our sound engineer Thadeus, who joined in with his trombone on one of our favorite tunes at the raucous end of our set!
The perennial tea room was welcoming and hospitable as the “green room” for the festival. We are all very grateful to the organizers who worked so hard and the sponsors for giving us this chance to immerse ourselves in the best of the buskers in Seattle.
Thanks from Oliver Abrahamson (age 12) and his family band, the Smalltime String Band!
We had our best time yet at the 2010 busker’s festival. Despite the drizzle, we had an awesome experience this year! One of the big highlights for us was: after over a year of passing each other at various local festivals and talking about jamming, we finally made the jam happen with The Smalltime Stringband! That was such a spontaneous treat and then later watched their stage show. What a great day of community at the market! We really felt it from the fans and other busker’s. This day was really the HEART of why we do what we do.
Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate that!
Here also is a video of us busking at starbucks before our Southstage Show:
James Haydu from Pike Place market is going to be in the TV studio talking about the Buskers’ fest on Wed Sept 15th and will be promoting the Busker Festival on the Art Zone show that airs on Friday Sept 17th. You might rember Nancy Guppy from “Almost Live” fame. Nancy brings exciting stories about Seattle’s fabulous creative scene, with fresh highlights from local arts, entertainment and cultural happenings to the intarwebs. The show features interviews with local artists and performers, reviews and previews of current offerings, and lots of surprises. New episodes of Art Zone with Nancy Guppy premieres Friday nights at 8:00 p.m., with additional playbacks during the ART ZONE throughout the week.
.. watch the interview with James Haydu on the website anytime after friday Sept 17th at 8pm - just in time to get a feel for what the festival will bring on Sunday!
Join Pike Place Market street performers Acep Hale and the Dandelion Junk Queens for an in-depth look at the art of street performing. Buskers (street performers) hone their performing skills in order to bring in crowds and keep them engaged. You can use these skills to improve your performances. Whether you’re playing a small coffeehouse or a big concert hall, the secrets of street performing will transform how you engage with your audience and your art. This workshop will share skills that will enable you to take your performances to the next level. Presented by the Pike Place Market Buskers’ Festival (Sunday, Sept 19 @ the Market)
Join Seattle songwriting legend Jim Page for a workshop on songwriting craft. Starting with examples of his own songwriting to show the structure of a well-written song, the workshop will open up to the participants’ ideas, burning desires, and fragments. By the end of the workshop, the group will have collectively written a song and will understand that the process of songwriting is neither secret nor elite, but open to all. Presented by the Pike Place Market Buskers’ Festival (Sunday, Sept 19 @ the Market).
Announcing the 2010 Pike Place Market Buskers’ Festival. Sunday, September 19 / 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM On the Streets and Alleys of the Pike Place Market… FREE
The 9th annual Pike Place Market Buskers’ Festival is a full-day celebration of the Northwest’s finest street performers. The buskers make the streets their stage every day, rain or shine, and are a key part of the Market’s culture. These master performers have a variety of talents: a cappella singers, balloon twisters,
guitarists, mandolinists, magicians, trombonists, harmonica players, accordionists and erhu players, but they’re all united by their desire to bring art out of the concert halls and into the street. Join the Pike Place Market Performers’ Guild and 35+ street performers at the 2010 Pike Place Market Buskers’ Festival for a celebration of the Market’s culture.
At the 2010 Festival, many favorite market performers will be featured, like gospel quartet A Moment in Time and the ukulele crooning of Howlin’ Hobbit, and expect surprises from newly arrived buskers like old-timey banjo songster Gregory Paul and harmonic folk duo The Gloria Darlings. You can even some great magic tricks from Acep Hale! Enjoy witty and sentimental songs by Greg Spence Wolf, smokin’ harmonica playing from Sleepy Joe, The 1 Knight Stand One Man Band, and the wit and wisdom of Mariide. These and many more performers will be featured on stage, so come down to check out all the artistic talent the Market has to offer.
With two amplified stages on Pike St and one acoustic stage in Post Alley, over 35 performers will be featured at the festival and crowds of 5,000 are expected to visit the market for the festival. For one day, the buskers will take over the market to showcase their diverse talents. A family-friendly and FREE event, come celebrate Pike Place Market and all the buskers that make it such a unique place to visit and enjoy.
To reach the Guild for comments or questions:
Pike Place Market Performers’ Guild pmpgbuskers@gmail.com
I don’t mind repeating myself for the sake of clarity. The NW F_ _ klife
Festival is demanding that street performers, pay them for the privilege
of performing on the grounds of the Seattle Center, a public park, during
Memorial Day weekend, a national holiday, that we have set aside to honor
those who have sacrificed their lives to secure our … See Morefreedoms.
NW F_ _ klife not only demands that street performers pay for a permit
but they also want street performers to display said permit. (like we’re
some kind of tagged beasts on display.)
These actions are absolutely illegal to enact and yet the event organizers
have done nothing to alter their tactics at trying to turn street
performers into vendors. This idea of requiring permits for street
performers on public property was already struck down and invalidated as
unconstitutional by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit last
June in the case Berger vs the City of Seattle.This “free” event is a
public event held on public property. 8 of 11 judges ruled that our First
Amendment rights to freedom of expression cannot be denied on public
property.
The meeting will be held in the Goodwin Library at the top of the stairs (next to Best Flowers) from 6 to 8pm. Agenda items include festival planning (fundraising)
Seattle has got such a rich street performing community, and we are consistently amazed at the caliber of talent in the Seattle busking scene. Smalltime String Band was really jazzed by the opportunity to mingle with this colorful variety of musicians and performers.
