{"id":246,"date":"2006-11-20T11:21:49","date_gmt":"2006-11-20T17:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/index.php\/2006\/11\/20\/this-is-a-busk\/"},"modified":"2011-03-04T10:50:42","modified_gmt":"2011-03-04T16:50:42","slug":"this-is-a-busk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/11\/this-is-a-busk\/","title":{"rendered":"This is a busk"},"content":{"rendered":"

No hounding of the buskervilles. We have a word for it: busking. It’s the practice of a musician (maybe a duet or trio) performing on a street corner, with a hat or open instrument case right there, for tips. Towns trying to encourage tourism often encourage busking, until shopkeepers get annoyed. Above my standup desk in the Poet’s Corner here at Shady Hill is a souvenir metal “No Busking” sign from the London Underground museum gift shop<\/a>. Parts of some subway stations are off-limits to the artists, you see.<\/p>\n

Brick<\/strong> is a busk. It could be similar to the rant of a bloke at the famous Speakers Corner<\/a> of London’s Hyde Park. Most people see blogs in this way: A fervent fellow standing on a box explaining his view on things for any who stop by, while he is stationed simultaneously obscurely but in the middle of a metropolis.<\/p>\n

I see many blogs this way, and I skirt around them when poking around the ether. But a number of these online journals are explorations of the medium, and experments in effectiveness of expression. So is the shabbily dressed saxophonist standing near a row of bars, blowing a lonely improvisation howling through the night air.<\/p>\n

Brick<\/strong> is a busk. No tip jar is set up at this point. These posts are not orations, but riffs. -30-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No hounding of the buskervilles. We have a word for it: busking. It’s the practice of a musician (maybe a duet or trio) performing on a street corner, with a hat or open instrument case right there, for tips. Towns trying to encourage tourism often encourage busking, until shopkeepers get annoyed. Above my standup desk […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[36],"class_list":["post-246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technical-difficulties","tag-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":105,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/10\/excuse-708\/","url_meta":{"origin":246,"position":0},"title":"Excuse 7.08","author":"Ben S. 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Even communities\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Body, Home, Street"","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":257,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/01\/shut-up-he-explained\/","url_meta":{"origin":246,"position":3},"title":"“Shut up, he explained.”","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 19, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"In slightly expanded context, from Ring Lardner: \"Are you lost daddy I arsked tenderly. \"Shut up he explained.\" It seemed reasonable to wait for the blogs to calm, and then some. It took nearly two weeks, an eternity on the Ether. The topic is what was meant by the Tuesday\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Course of Words"","block_context":{"text":"The Course of Words","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/course-of-words\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":441,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2008\/07\/callback-around-every-corner\/","url_meta":{"origin":246,"position":4},"title":"Callback Around Every Corner","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"July 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports ... the thrill of victory ... and the agony of defeat ... the human drama of athletic competition. ... This is ABC's Wide World of Sports!\" -- Stanley Ralph Ross, famously intoned by recently deceased Jim McKay. 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