Here are some clips from my encounter with City of Vancouver noise bylaw drones on June 9/2017, 3 pm. I could have posted more footage, but only wanted to highlight the most questionable moments, the ones where their supervisors sit them down for a talk and hopefully try to educate. This sermon went on for 20 minutes. They made good money with their well paying city jobs, shutting down creativity in the time honoured tradition of fascism everywhere, while I made ZERO due to their rude interruption of my emotional improv performance. If that wasn't enough, I got incredibly inappropriate advice from her that \"Starbucks is hiring\". Read that again. She's a city drone in a hazard suit that told me, a forty year musician, that if I had problems with them shutting down my music income, I could serve coffee.
\"We're just doing our jobs\" Sure, so was Himmler.
The male was more reasonable, but she was overstepping her boundaries. There was a lot of intimidation, threats, warnings. The 60 minute max play time is ridiculous. You can barely get warmed up in that time. For the first 90 minutes, I didn't make a cent. They had no clue that no one adhered to this \"rule\". Been there for a few years & buskers don't leave until someone else comes along & wants the space. 2-3 hours minimum courtesy time is how we all did it.
She also said \"We are in the van down the street and we can't have a conversation with the windows closed.\" I have easily understood conversations all the time with my audience while playing and standing next to my amp & I have sensitive hearing. They tell me 60 db is max for busking. Do you know how loud that is? The level of normal conversation. We were talking louder than that in this video. Probably 75 minimum db. Did this not come up in the city council meeting while they wrote up their five page busking manifesto? Did someone not bother to check how quiet 60 db is? This makes it impossible to busk in Vancouver, with or without an amp. So what they should be telling me is not \"Turn it down\" but \"Busking is not allowed.\" Why does she bother giving me the five page rules book & repeatedly, & annoyingly, asking me if I read it? Just say \"Busking is not allowed.\" But I could surely work around the 60 db max? Yes! I could do a show where I hum songs at pedestrians.
How can you come up to me as a noise bylaw enforcer without a db meter? Hey, city of vancouver, they have free apps on the app store now, have you heard? The guy said me he couldnt check my levels as he would have to sign out the db meter. You see, this would be a problem for me as it would \"Escalate the situation\", his supervisor would want followups, creating more work for him. Their merciful goal was to \"Not let it get to that point.\" They run around as noise enforcers, without carrying the one essential, free piece of equipment they need to do their job. This is your tax dollars in action. City of Vancouver employees are now touted as one of the few that generate a living wage. That is at least $25-30 an hour. I recommend we start a donation fund so we can get them a real DB meter they can carry with them. I had a couple loonies on my bag. I should have donated right there! Maybe I should apply for their job and experience the joy of shutting myself down.
I want to thank the city of Vancouver noise bylaw enforcers for \"doing their job, without proof or data\" & killing my already short summer busking show, my only source of income, depriving locals/ tourists of good music. It was great meeting people from so many countries. Adults and children posed for photos, filmed, thanked me, danced, gave me a blanket, bought cds, and even cried as they shook my hand telling me how a song brought back memories of a deceased loved one.
It was always difficult to be heard, to concentrate, express myself through the noise and distraction of constant buses, sirens, police cars,. But when I made the connection with the audience it was all worth it, & made up for the abuse I received from drunks, addicts, thieves, & now those 4 people out of 500 who reported me to the noise police. Do they also report the constant sirens? Didn't think so. In time honoured tradition, it's always the minority that ruins it for the majority.
Now, Vancouver, hub of real estate flippers, abandoned shops on Robson street, and killer of art and culture, your entertainment goes back to drunk panhandlers who can't sing or play, or a guy on metal stilts raping a bagpipe. That is totally legal.
