Wow. How is it already half-way through August?!
I feel like just yesterday I was packing up  my kit for the ol’ annual cross-Canada tour and now, here I am, having landed back in the land of Kensington Market just last night and already getting prepped and ready to finish off the season with my own hometown festival, TORONTO BUSKERFEST!!

I am exceedingly excited to be home. Touring has been so wonderful, but there really is something to be said about sleeping in one’s own bed. I never thought I would ever get to this place: merely a couple of years before, I was happy to tour all year round. What have I become, people?!

Photo of Kate Mior by Paul Charette, All Rights Reserved 2011

It’s been a great tour, though: the weather in St. John, NB totally held out, Ottawa’s 20th anniversary Buskerfest welcomed me with open arms, and it was an honour and a privilege to be included in the line-up for St. Catharine’s Inaugural Buskerfest. In honour of that, I’ve selected a submission from that particular festival as the “Photo of the Weekend”! Special cheers go out to Paul Charette for his AWESOME shots of Coppelia. Narrowing it down to just one image was a challenge! But, here it is. And, of course, my deepest congratulations to the city of St. Catharine’s for such a great first year of their festival. I had a wonderful time and am amazed at how generous, kind, and enthusiastic the crowds were. Well done, St. Catharine’s, well done!

Speaking of Coppelia… this act becomes more and more exciting for me every day! I finally cut together a youtube video that shows off just a bit of what I can do! In the past, I’ve been reluctant to put out video of my *real* work because of intellectual property issues… I’ve slapped up videos shot of me at cabarets or other things that I didn’t feel would affect me, but, I have always shied away from showing off the stuff I am most proud of… well, while I was away on tour, my prop builder (who built my most excellent wind-up key) discovered a copycat of his design that has originated half-way around the world (he had posted a video documenting our build way back in January/February)! While I am not surprised, I’m still amazed at the power of the internet and how much harder it is to remain cutting edge and creative. But, it’s a good thing, for it keeps artists like me (and my prop builder!) on their toes and raises the bar for everyone! So there ya go. I’ve opened the flood-gates. But hey, at least *I* opened them on my own volition. And I’m looking forward to continuing to grow and learn and develop this act as awesomely as I can–after all, ‘awesome’ the only way I know how to things!

While performing at Harbourfront, I was met with a particularly vehement reaction from a passerby, who told her friend (purposely within earshot of me) that she did not give money to “those people”.
When I mimed a shrug of ‘why not?’ she spat back at me, “Because you need to get a REAL JOB.”

While I am not interested in revealing the rest of our interaction (suffice to say it is quite sad for me to even publish–the elitism of some people is too depressing to even mention), I am interested in writing a response to the tiring, and yet age-old tension between “real” jobs and “fake” jobs.

Busking is not a conventional job, I know. Hell, I was dumped by a long-term partner over my “fake” job, which many will dismiss as an illegitimate form of employment.

Throughout the years, I’ve been asked all sorts of stupid questions (sorry folks, unlike your grade six teacher, I refused to buy into “there are no stupid questions” crap. There ARE stupid questions, and trust me folks–I get plenty of ‘em) ranging from “So let me guess, you go on welfare in the winter time?” to even our OWN CURRENT MAYOR, Rob Ford, upon walking through my crowd to campaign as I was doing a show, insinuating that I don’t even pay my taxes (oh, and by the way, Mayor Ford, I absolutely do pay my taxes, thanks for asking).

But far and wide, the most insulting inference about busking is that it is not a legitimate job.

Let’s look at the history of busking, shall we?

It’s hard to pinpoint the origins of this trade as it’s pretty much as old as prostitution. When and wherever there has been art in history, there have been poor artists who have to fight to earn their income. Our history is largely through oral tradition. The current incarnation of busking that we perform and that you see now was trailblazed in the 70s and 80s by folks like the Checkerboard Guy, Gazzo, and the Three Canadians. It’s to folks like these that I owe much gratitude. Thanks to folks like Chalkmaster Dave and Silver Elvis, we have a licensing system here in Toronto that both protect me and allow me to work. These artists are why I get to travel in a cushy manner to far-off lands to perform shows for adoring fans. Even though I am a dying breed of “streeties” (hard street buskers) in the wake of the festival circut and culture, I know that I am not nearly as hard as these legends.

There is such a range of people who take to the streets, ’tis true: from beginner living statues with crappy costumes, to That Guy With the Guitar, to the crazy dude with the chessboard, it can be daunting to sift through the muck to find the diamonds. But there are diamonds out there, folks. Trust me, I am fortunate enough to work with many of them.

People forget that in a country like Canada, it can be damn difficult to eke out a living as an artist: many of us choose to have day jobs to make ends meet, or, like myself, choose to street perform. And, if we choose to go the pro route with street performing…..well, I feel like it’s almost unnecessary for me to even have to condescend to tell you all about the many hours I spend training, booking, writing up invoices, negotiating contracts, working with directors, balancing the creative and the business-side, wrangling my insurance and licenses, work-permits abroad, etc. … wait.. this is suspiciously sounding like a Real Job™ to me!

The beauty, though, is that the time spent on the street is what helps us hone our crafts so we can get cushier jobs. Here are just a few famous people who started out as buskers:

Steve Martin
Louis Armstrong
Penn & Teller
Bob Dylan
Irving Berlin
BB King

Oh..and guess who else? CIRQUE DU SOLEIL.

The irony, of course, being that Cirque Du Soleil has since made such an impact upon the performing arts industry, globally, but, specifically within Canada so much so that we circus artists are now granted er.. ‘grant-getting’ status by the Canada Council for Arts. We are finally recognized as legitimate artists!!

The problem of making the argument between ‘high’ art and ‘low’ art is that it becomes muddied when you are talking about intermediate artists like myself: people who aren’t ‘famous’ but people who can make a comfortable living through producing their own art. What does that make us? “middle art”?

I conducted an interesting experiment last week.

I have a routine that I perform on stage. It’s corporeal mime-based. It’s guaranteed to be artsy and fartsy and “high” art. I trained on it for a long time, worked with a talented artist and developed it based upon classical mime–an art I have studied and paid money to learn. I took it to the street and incorporated it into my statue act for jokes. It did NOT get the response I get when performing on stage. And yet, I get paid to perform it on stages!

Different art for different contexts. No less legitimate. Hell, I would argue that busking is FAR more legitimate: I’ve touched more audiences here and abroad through my street shows than I ever have with my corporate cabaret acts. Plus, what other job gives you the product before asking for payment, now, really?

This is what I do for a living and I take it very seriously. I have no time for “weekender”  (or, as I call then “tourist”) buskers who have day jobs. I have no time for pitch-wasters, and I especially have no time for people who don’t care to understand the amount of work that goes into putting a show together to give to the general public at our own free will.

If busking is  a “fake” job in the eyes of the public, then so be it, but you can be sure that I will argue tooth and nail that it is a legitimate one.

I had a *wonderful* time at the Dundas International Buskerfest this year. It’s always a pleasure to do shows close to home! I’ve spent so much time entertaining people all over the world over the last year or so that I have missed the very people who’s support has gotten me there in the first place.

My weekly update is a bit late, ’tis true. I’m very sorry for that. It’s been a whirlwind of work since the festival and I have totally hit the ground running. I had been dragging my heels with regards to busking prior to the weekend that has just passed, but, all it takes is one great festival to get one started! However, this morning, I’m having a lovely espresso on my awesome balcony patio, enjoying the beautiful morning before I pack my gear to head out to work, so, I figured it was time for an update!

This week I was fortunate enough to have the pleasure of hosing my dear friend James Jordan for a few days after we performed together in Dundas. One of my favourite parts of my job is connecting with old friends on the road. James and I met in China back in 2008, while performing at a clown festival in Nanjing. Aside from having an impressive moustache, James is an expert magician, MC and hat juggler. He taught me my very first hat juggling tricks, in fact! We had a great time hanging out, talking shop and busking together.

Speaking of busking, the season is now in full swing! This year, I’m making a concerted effort to take Coppelia out and show her around Toronto. Last night, I hit Queen W., the old pitch of my dear friend and roommate, Alexander Winfield, (made deservedly-famous by BoingBoing.net). I had a GREAT time working on new material in such a friendly environment. I’ve always avoided working Queen street due to several factors, but, I think I fell in love with it last night. While I am not abandoning my beloved Yonge and Dundas pitch, you should definitely keep an eye out for me on the hip strip this year!

Speaking of busking and speaking of media…. it’s that time again: photo of the weekend!! Now, I was silently stalking Flickr.com and found some amazing photos..however, they were not sent directly to me, so I am unable to put them up since I don’t have expressed permission from the photographers. That said, however, a wonderful local photographer by the name of Pierre Dubeau who I have always seen around Y&D Square sent me a crazy cool shot he took the day I was actually shooting a commercial and *not* busking. Technically, it doesn’t fall under the rules and guidelines for Photo of the Weekend….but this is my website, so, I MAKE THE RULES!! AHAHAHAH!!!

Way to go, Pierre, for making the front page of katemior.com!

So there you have it.  Dundas Buskerfest was awesome! Queen st. W is awesome! The season is upon us! AWESOME!!

Hope you all had a great Victoria Day weekend! I sure did.  I had a great time performing at the Toronto International Circus Festival (TICF) and the Warkworth Lilac Festival. If you happened to come out to TICF, you may have caught Coppelia roving around, bumping into people and things! Maybe you even got a chance to wind her up?For those of you who missed it, I managed to snap a shot of her in one of her many, MANY costumes! I had a blast performing for all of the awesome audiences who came out to the wonderful (free!) event held at Harbourfront Centre.

Coppelia as 'Robo-Wife 9000' - Thanks to Kristen McGregor for the shot!

This weekend heralded in the official start to the summer busking season! What fun!
This, of course, means it’s also time for a refresher for some of you about a topic I am very passionate about: that’s right – busking etiquette!

Over the years, I’ve compiled a list of things to do and not do if you happen to stumble across a busker in your town!

The Do’s:
1. DO stop and watch the show! After all, you’re bound to see something pretty remarkable!

2. DO get involved in the show! Most of us don’t have a show without an audience or participants to help us out! This includes making lots of noise when we do stuff you like.

3. If you take a picture or have been called to be a part of the show, MAKE A DONATION. It is *bad* busker etiquette to engage in a show and walk away without any contribution. If I’m good enough for you to take a picture of, then I’m good enough for a tip.

The Don’ts:

1. DON’T walk through a show as it’s happening. This especially includes chalk-drawing and statue shows. Remember: when we are performing, our area of the sidewalk (‘pitch’) is our stage, and you wouldn’t walk across a stage at your local theatre, would you?

2. DON’T give pennies. Nothing is more insulting to a busker than small coin. We all would much rather prefer you say something like ‘Thank you for making my day!’ or, perhaps even say ‘it wasn’t my bag’ (and even then, you can walk away before the finale..)

…that’s pretty much all I can think of for now. Just remember one rule of thumb if you happen across one of us working this summer: what other job gives you the product before asking for compensation? Just remember to tip us what you think we are worth (*cough*$5*cough*) and have a wonderful experience watching the magic unfold before your eyes!

See you this summer!

So I made it to Singapore and am having an AWESOME time at the Sentosa Buskerfest. The festival is in it’s first year and I am having such a blast performing for the wonderful crowds in Singapore for the third time this year.
Despite the fact that it’s rainy season and there is a typhoon happening in the Indian ocean, not too far from us, we’ve been lucky to have wonderful weather (with the exception of a couple of rain spots here and there) and wonderfully engaging crowds.

I love performing for Singaporeans. I find the folks here to be very similar in temperament to Canadians. My theory is perhaps because of our other similarities: we are both multicultural hubs, we both have the British influence, and we both have extreme weather to deal with (we get the cold, they get the hot)! So, it is such a delight to be back here.

For those of you in Singapore, please do come down to Sentosa Island to watch amazing world-class performers for free! I am located by Beach Station for two hours between 5:30-8:30 nightly!