I see the best and the worst of humanity in my line of work. I meet all kinds of people and hear all sorts of stories and histories and witness entire lives play out in front of me. I’ve born witness to marriage proposals, heartbreak, acts of bravery, acts of deceit, even acts of cruelty (Jane Creba’s Boxing Day murder comes to mind) and continually see ghosts of downtrodden people quietly accepting and going about a way of living that will eventually take their lives.

Ironically, for a mime, I used to talk a lot. I still do, as many journalists mention in surprise during interviews. But, in recent years, I’ve learned to simply watch and look past the words of others; for how one responds to situations they are experiencing is the true test of character. The benefit of my job is the ability to passively watch the world go by and hope that one day I may understand this humanity that I love so much, and as a result, I find myself with fewer words as days go by.

Sometimes I feel as though I have a lot to say; occasionally, I will make posts like this in an effort to sort out my own understanding of what it means to be a human being on this planet. I also rationally know that my observations are my own, and I certainly don’t treat them polemically. But I so desperately want to arrive at the conclusion (at my life’s conclusion) that humanity is good, that people are fundamentally good and that we all deserve compassion, humility, forgiveness and unconditional love. I do my best in my waking life to express those ideas both in my work and in my personal life.

I’m sure we all go through our moments of doubting the things we want so much to understand. But, it is our unwavering positivity in seeking out the good that is what drives us to continue to do what we love. It is our actions that define us, not our words. I try to live my life honestly, and I try to be as honest with myself as I am with others. My philosophy in life is that “Everything is Permitted”, an idea that originated through the work of Dostoevsky, and it has been this philosophy that allows me to continue to do what I do; for living life through action can be challenging. It requires one to extend beyond their boundaries of comfort, it requires us to examine everything around us deeply and critically. It requires us to be prepared to let go of even the most deeply important things to us: be it a belief system (or, as an atheist, I like to say “way of understanding things”), a lifestyle or even a relationship—sometimes the most important ones, like our parents. And of course, it requires trust: trust in ourselves, trust in those around us. Trust that you will be okay, no matter what.

And you know what, folks? You will be okay. No matter what. Because, from my experience, all people want is acceptance. And acceptance can be hard to grant (..or even accept), but it is out there. If you are willing to grant acceptance, then you will be okay. I do what I do and take the abuse that I do from life because I accept it. I accept humanity. I accept everyone in it. I accept that we are all, in our own ways, supremely flawed. And when I find something in life that is good, and right, then I grab it and hold onto it. Hard. A life of action is a fearless life.

There is nothing to be afraid of in life. And when you find that thing that is right and good, then you need to grab it and never let go.

With Toronto Buskerfest rapidly approaching, I know I should be taking the opportunity to post about that. And I promise I will, in due time. But today I would like to take the time to dedicate a post to something a bit different: politics.

I am devastated by the death of the Honourable Mr. Jack Layton.

Jack Layton lived in my neighbourhood. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and talking with him and his wife, Olivia Chow, on several occasions.

His tireless efforts in recontexualizing the face of the NDP in the eyes of Canada was incredible. He was a force to be reckoned with, and his historic win as the official Opposition in Parliament was just a step in a future that could have been a pivotal turn in Canadian politics. He worked hard to involve the younger demographic (that’s me!) and his passion for our country was honest, genuine and raw. You can read it in his final message to Canadians.

As an NDP supporter, as a neighbour, and as a Canadian citizen, I am shocked, devastated and saddened by his death. I’m doing my best to share in his unwavering optimism, but, honestly? I’m fearful for the state of leftist politics in Canada. In the wake of our growing conservatism, the growing interest in privatization, the lack of interest in supporting socialized programs, the arts and our medical system, I can only wonder where our country will be in the next few years. But, rather than focus on the despair, I’ll share these words from his final message:

“My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.”

Today is a very sad day in Canadian politics. Rest in peace, Mr. Layton, and if you happen to read this, Ms. Chow, please know that I stand behind you as a Canadian, fellow NDP supporter, and as neighbour in Kensington Market.

Much love,
Kate Mior

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 definitely had my own epiphanies while performing; seeing all of the extraordinarily layered, complex and rich characters around me inspired me to continue working on Coppelia – since the festival I have re-worked her costume and am building something even better and more in-line with my aesthetic. Feedback, by far, is the most important thing a performer can receive from an event and the feedback I received was *just* what I needed. Exploring this character and watching her grow has been awesome! Sunday, after my performance at a private event, I took Coppelia out on the street for PS Kensington, just to have her walk around a little bit more and explore her further!

Coppelia lookin' for love. Photo: Kim Brilliant

This weekend is going to be a busy one! Canada Day celebrations, Pride, and lots & lots of busking!! This is the first year in quite a while (I’d say…3-4 years?) that I have not hoofed it to Ottawa to attend the Parliament Hill celebrations. Part of me is sad to be missing it, but, another part of me is relieved to not spend 30 hrs in a whirlwind of transit, shows until I drop, and transit home within the same day… but, I’m making up for it by performing in an AWESOME inaugural festival in a neighbouring city, so, I can’t complain.

I hope you all have an amazing weekend and let’s hope the weather holds out for us!

Happy spring holiday of choice! I have emerged from the depths of my hole and am dusting off the ol’ hat and kit in preparation for another season of busking fun.

Many people have asked me: what do buskers do over the winter? While this may befit my other website, I think it’d be a great issue to address in this post today.

So…what *do* buskers do in the winter time, when we are unable to perform on the streets. Many of us opt to go somewhere warm to continue working. Others choose to stay home and take on corporate events. Others, still, seek out other methods of employment or invest in training and building new material for the next year. For myself, it all depends upon a few factors: do I have anything lined up, do I want to line something up, do I want to go somewhere, do I want to stay home and work on the life I’ve neglected while on tour, or do I want to go forth and experience new things? Last year, for example, I spent the entire winter touring through Europe and Africa because I was on a roll, so to speak. This year, however, I opted to stay home and do the domestic thing and the working on new material thing.

Touring can be hectic, especially when traveling across the International Date Line so frequently within the span of 12 months, and I was grateful for some time on the ground in my favourite city in the world. I spend so much time away from my home in Toronto that I discovered a few things about myself as I stayed put over the course of this winter:

1. I had no routine at all in Toronto.
2. I had absolutely no furniture, other than suitcases and roadcases.
3. I didn’t know how to cook at ALL! (okay, I sort of knew how to cook… after all, I am Italian!)
4. I lost a lot of fitness. Fitness I kinda need for work. The irony of this does not escape me.
5. I became creatively drained while on tour.
6. I totally forgot I have a boyfriend!

So, I went about fixing all of that stuff, because, let’s face it: a performer who has no structure at home will have on structure on tour. If you’re a mess in one area of your life, you tend to be a mess in ALL areas of your life.

So, first thing I did was get back to the gym and re-kindled my passion for fitness and proper nutrition. I started weight training again on a serious athletic level which took care of Problems 1 & 4. To maintain proper fitness, one needs routine, after all.  I also took an amazing masterclass workshop with my corporeal mime mentor.  This also took care of Problem 5, because I was around some very talented like-minded individuals and worked on some new pieces with their encouragement and help. I re-developed my creative spark and even introduced an exciting new act in Winnipeg in February! I will be posting a blog update with information about this new act once I receive the promotional proofs from my photographer.

All in all, I had a wonderful winter, even if it was a physical shock to my system to be in a cold, snowy country.. (I’d managed to avoid winter in Canada for two years straight prior to this year…) and I am really happy to have stayed home to focus on fixing and building. I wouldn’t have traded it for all of the exotic gigs in the world. Okay. Maybe if I had a *really* cool gig somewhere warm….

So, there ya have it. My winter in a nut-shell: keeping a low profile and emerging with some new and amazing material for 2011!

Oh…and yes, I learned how to cook. Very well, I might add! This not only solves Problem 3, but also solved Problem 6. After all, cooking for one can get boring and expensive….
And.. on a final note: I FINALLY received my partial refund from Air Canada from the Heathrow Incident. Special thank-you shout-outs to Monica and Brian from the Eaton Centre Flight Centre for their diligent work in helping me procure my refund after months and months of trying!