green loops
Undeterred by the famous Joshua Bell Experiment at L'Enfent Plaza last year, I have been taking steps to put together a little show that I could take to the streets. There was a flurry of activity last year when the DC Metro Transit Authority decided to embrace the performing arts. They held auditions and selected people for scheduled performances each season. Their site is out of date and there is no clear link anywhere to future auditions, but it got me started thinking. My main problem is that I can't really imagine doing anything interesting without electricity. Well, that, and I don't yet have a set of material to play, even if electrons were available. I'm working on it, though.
I don't know anyone who got selected by Metro, but I do have 5 or 6 friends now who have given busking a shot in DC. All of them were musicians except my friend Damian, who does traditional magic. By far, the most lucrative of all of acts was Alicia Cundall, a beautiful 18 year old harp-playing singer/songwriter. She managed to rake in about twice as much as the magic, probably because people have to stop and watch magic in order to be impressed enough to drop a bill. Or maybe because the harp is more novel - the least lucrative of the bunch was the 22 year old guy with the guitar.
Anyway, if for nothing else besides the experience, I've been wanting to try busking myself. So I've been looking into buying a portable solar power station to power my computer and looper pedal and a very small PA system (or maybe just two cheap danelectro amps or something). I figured I can't be the first one to want to do this, so I went searching for a solar powered guitar amp or a portable solar power station that would suit my needs. The things I found weren't all that encouraging. Through a life after the oil crash forum, I found a link to a band that built a whole solar powered PA system for performances, but that was 2005, and it was a tad overkill for my purposes.
When I was in high school, being an oboe player, I had to make myself useful in some other capacity during marching season. Junior year, we had no tubas or baritone players, so we were hurting for a low end. My band director asked me to play electric bass. They equipped a very large green cart with a battery, a converter, an amp and very large speakers, and they made the Norwegian exchange student push this cart around behind me on the field and down Main Street. Poor girl. It was especially bad when the cart got a flat tire, which it did more than once, and we had to make impromptu circles on the field. But it was fun to be able to make so much noise.
I guess that was the last time I tried to be portable with an electric instrument. I'd like to find a more elegant solution, powered by our very own star. Have any of you tried (or thought of trying) to do this? Has anyone tried taking your power with you for street or remote performances? If so, I'd love some tips.
Maybe I should ask the guys who put together the opening ceremony of the Olympics this year. They seem pretty handy with technology. If you skipped it, it's worth watching.
I don't know anyone who got selected by Metro, but I do have 5 or 6 friends now who have given busking a shot in DC. All of them were musicians except my friend Damian, who does traditional magic. By far, the most lucrative of all of acts was Alicia Cundall, a beautiful 18 year old harp-playing singer/songwriter. She managed to rake in about twice as much as the magic, probably because people have to stop and watch magic in order to be impressed enough to drop a bill. Or maybe because the harp is more novel - the least lucrative of the bunch was the 22 year old guy with the guitar.
Anyway, if for nothing else besides the experience, I've been wanting to try busking myself. So I've been looking into buying a portable solar power station to power my computer and looper pedal and a very small PA system (or maybe just two cheap danelectro amps or something). I figured I can't be the first one to want to do this, so I went searching for a solar powered guitar amp or a portable solar power station that would suit my needs. The things I found weren't all that encouraging. Through a life after the oil crash forum, I found a link to a band that built a whole solar powered PA system for performances, but that was 2005, and it was a tad overkill for my purposes.
When I was in high school, being an oboe player, I had to make myself useful in some other capacity during marching season. Junior year, we had no tubas or baritone players, so we were hurting for a low end. My band director asked me to play electric bass. They equipped a very large green cart with a battery, a converter, an amp and very large speakers, and they made the Norwegian exchange student push this cart around behind me on the field and down Main Street. Poor girl. It was especially bad when the cart got a flat tire, which it did more than once, and we had to make impromptu circles on the field. But it was fun to be able to make so much noise.
I guess that was the last time I tried to be portable with an electric instrument. I'd like to find a more elegant solution, powered by our very own star. Have any of you tried (or thought of trying) to do this? Has anyone tried taking your power with you for street or remote performances? If so, I'd love some tips.
Maybe I should ask the guys who put together the opening ceremony of the Olympics this year. They seem pretty handy with technology. If you skipped it, it's worth watching.
24 Comments:
Maybe its just me, but if i saw someone busking with what looks like a lot of expensive equipment, i don't think I would give 'em a penny, no matter how good they were (of course I'd love to be proven wrong). I realize cellos, harps, fiddles, guitars and other acoustic equipment can also be very expensive, but for me there is a difference between a stand up bassist or an oboe player going at it on the street vs. someone with a solar powered PA and laptop. I might enjoy your performance, but at the end I might just end up asking you for some loose change or a cigarette. I hope that didnt sound rude.
Thinking about that, i realize that it doesnt make much rational sense and that its based on some kind of bias about people busking with laptops (which i use) and PAs (which I also use), so maybe next time i see someone busking like that i'll try to overcome my own preconceptions.
have you seen someone busking like that? alicia's harp costs more than my macbook pro. i think if i saw someone busking with some expensive equipment i'd probably appreciate that person's commitment to performance and maybe also their commitment to the environment and i'd probably be generous to support the effort. one thing's for sure - people react differently...
also - magic equipment isn't cheap. damian was saying his 3 little brass cups for his cups and balls routine were several hundred dollars. apparently some magicians will pay thousands for those things. crazy.
Ah...here's a very useful response from my friend Joseph DiMasi:
Hi Kelly!
So wonderful to hear from you! I'm glad you're taking the music out. That's a good sign.
I don't think that Solar will work so well w/ guitar amps. It's mostly a function of area. Think of it: in full sun we get ~1kW/m^2 of sunlight. Cheaper cost solar cells (the kind that someone who's buying guitar amps...) are generally ~15% efficient. So, 1m^2 = 150W. A smaller guitar amp is maybe 50W (and that's not too powerful...) so, that makes the needed area ~1'x3'. If you account for that you're generally not in blaring sunlight, or it's cloudy half the time, you'll likely want to add 50% area: so now 1.5x3'. Finally, you need 'headroom' in an amplifier to accommodate peaks... often 10x the rated power of the amp... to sound 'musical'. Well... that's not a problem w/ wall current , but would stretch our solar cell considerably.
This is a fine application, IMHO, for storage.... i.e. batteries. Get your real solar array to charge the sucker up, and then go travel with it. Much easier, much less mess.
I highly recommend the products of Phil Jones Bass - they make awesome, 'audiophile' amps for basses. Yes, they're bass amps, but they provide full-spectrum sound delivery, so they actually sound more clear for vocals, etc than most guitar or even keyboard amps. Their smallest one is called The Briefcase, and it can be run on a battery. I have one. I've not put vocals thru it, but it screams for my bass, and lasts for hours on a LeadAcid battery which you buy separately.
yes i realize that its not really about actual prize of items. its some weird preconception about computers mostly I think. probably stemming from the days when computers were as big as houses and could only be afforded on a government war budget.
You can get pretty loud with a 10 watt amp and that would lower your power needs considerably. A friend of mine makes little amps in corn cans and cigarette cases - they require batteries but are suprisingly loud and novel...but I think you want the solar cell as part of the presentation which is understandable.
When our trumpet player first moved to Chicago he busked along side his resume blown up and set on an easel. He made some money and it got him in on the front page of the paper and I think he got his first job that way too.
yeah i guess it's kind of a dumb idea to want to go solar when there are pretty great little 10W battery powered amps and other portable power (mainly for tailgaters) out there. i guess that's what i'll do. i'll just use rechargeable batteries.
don't give up on your dream little cherry blossom.
How is using a portable amp on a street corner saving the environment?
Some people might think a harp on a public street could be considered pollution.
jc - 'solar' doesn't always mean hopping on the bandwagon of environmentalism
No Stacey, but i think if i saw someone busking with some expensive equipment i'd probably appreciate that person's commitment to performance and maybe also their commitment to the environment and i'd probably be generous to support the effort does.
How is using a portable amp on a street corner saving the environment?
Solar power is more renewable than expendable batteries. But i'm not saying it's _necessarily_ better for the environment, i'm just saying that's probably what i would think if i saw it myself.
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You pretty much did say that. I just think it's ridiculously meaningless to even mention it at all. Playing electric music on a street corner has virtually no impact whatsoever on the environment. In comparison, your home studio alone does thousands of times more damage to the environment than a mini amplifier ever will.
that may be true, but i don't really have the option for choosing alternative power at my home/studio. if you want to look at it that way, each of us as individuals have "virtually no impact" on the environment so we might as well not bother making personal choices that could lead to change. i don't really subscribe to that point of view. if there's something available to me that makes a less impactful choice feasible, i will generally choose it. not always, but usually. 70-100W for 3 hours is certainly not going to end the world, but i am considering the possibilities and was simply asking for help.
I'm right there with you on the need to make better informed personal choices (ie compact fluourescent bulbs, smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, etc...), I just thought that the problem you raised with finding a way to power a single busking event in an environmentally friendly manner sounded more fashionable than worthwhile. It's not a bad idea, it's a silly one. Plus, I hate harp pop, and who can argue with that?
What's so silly or fashionable about a solar powered amp? If CB can figure it out then aside from advertising alternative energy she'll have a self sufficient power source.
Hell it would be a better spectacle than 90 percent of the busking that goes on in this town.
Actually you know what I think would be even cooler? A man-powered amp, performing on an exercycle for example.
wednesday, yeah - i thought of that too. that would be fun on a number of levels, although it's bloody hot and humid here in the summer. thanks for your support.
I used to do mobile performances with loopers, some stomp boxes, and a little mixer built into a small suitcase.
With most of the wires and patch cables hidden in the suitcase, it didn't seem as much like a geeky experimental music gig. It's also nice not to have to reconnect all the cables each time you set up.
You can also build a cute little amp with a car stereo amplifier and a wheelchair battery. Use an external speaker, or build a speaker right into the suitcase. (My speakers were built into alien sculptures).
The wheelchair battery can power the electronics using an inverter, or if the looper & cetera use DC, you can wire up a little voltage converter to get the battery's output to the right level for the equipment.
I think busking with solar power is cool enough, you know, or whatever, but doing so as if it will somehow advance the life of the planet strikes me as being insanely goofy. Guess I'm the only one. Being a scientist lends itself to this sort of idea, I get that too. Nonetheless, I find it to be a touch silly.
Shit, I can personally admit to all sorts of silly shit. There's no shame in it.
There's a million portable devices out there. Just use one that uses rechargable batteries. The laptop powers itself.
Besides, now that you guys found water on Mars, we can go ahead and finish this turd of a planet off once and for all. Screw the environment, let's go to space!
insanely goofy is the new black.
No it isn't.
Besides, now that you guys found water on Mars, we can go ahead and finish this turd of a planet off once and for all. Screw the environment, let's go to space!
Actually the soil on mars has a substance to it that's extremely poisiness, thus dashing hopes of fucking up another planet.
Want green? No people. Clean planet.
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