“Hey, did you see that busker on
the corner?” Johnny said as he put two full pints on the table. “He was doing the Proclaimers when I went
past. He was pretty good.”
“Aye, he wasn’t bad,” Steve said.
“Oh, come on Steve, his voice was
great.”
“I’m just sick of buskers,” Steve
sat up in his chair, Johnny recognised the rant pose. Where was he going with
this? “It’s just there are so many of
them these days. Every ten steps there is someone with a guitar or a saxophone competing
for my earspace.”
“It’s better than outright begging,”
Johnny said.
“And when did it become okay,”
Steve took a mouthful of beer, “for buskers to use backing tracks?”
“What do you mean?” Johnny asked.
“You’ve seen them, they’re all
over the place. People playing their instruments while a shitty tinny Karaoke
version of Baker Street or Paradise City is being pumped out of
shitty tinny amps. There should be a law against it.”
Johnny sat back and took a swig of
his beer.
“I don’t mind buskers showing off
and doing their thing. As you said, that kid outside McDonald’s has a great
voice. But surely using a backing track is cheating. How do we know it is
actually them playing? How do we know they are not miming like the bands were
on Top of the Pops in the Eighties? The whole
point of busking is to showcase your talent. You should be judged on that and
not on how good your fake backing band is. They are being dishonest.”
“It’s hardly dishonest Steve,”
Johnny said, “and anyway you don’t have to listen to them. Just walk on by.”
“But I do, I do have to listen to
them.”
And I have to listen to you,
thought Johnny.
“I have to listen to them because their
amps are casting their music to all four corners of the city. It’s noise
pollution. And I’m not sure it adds anything
to it. Wouldn’t it just be better to enjoy the sound of the instrument? Anyway,
they are not getting any of my coins.
“You don’t give money anyway,”
Johnny smiled.
“That’s not the point. It’s the principle
of the thing. If they are wanting coins off people, they shouldn’t hide behind
a backing track. Busking should be unplugged.”
“Sometimes,” Johnny said. “I wish
I could unplug you.”
“Oh, charming that is,” Steve
replied, and got up to go to the loo.
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