GAYE THAVISIN WRITES:
Brigitte Roth's warm greeting, "Hello, and welcome to my website!" begins a refreshing and candid journey with Brigitte as she travels the world in search of what makes buskers tick. It's all in her Watson Progress Report, her personal ongoing online log she keeps as she travels.
On 16 March 1999 Brigitte finds out that she has won a Watson fellowship and makes her first entry on March 30, 1999:
Joy joy joy joy joy!! I now know what I will be doing with the next year of my life... Here is a brief description of my project: I will be investigating the lives of street performers (or "buskers") in Europe and Australia. The project has three elements: performance, interviews, and a multimedia project. I will perform my original folk compositions, singing and playing the guitar. I will interview street performers I meet to learn more about their lifestyles and histories. To report on the project I will produce a multimedia project in the form of a scrapbook or album. It will include photographs, interview clips, writings about my experiences and encounters, and songs (or lyrics) I write influenced by the project. I will be living in Cambridge, Melbourne, Dusseldorf, and Bordeaux. I will visit international busker festivals in Ferrara, Italy, and Christchurch, New Zealand.
The Progress Report charts meetings with street musicians and performers of all kinds, her own busking experiences, her high and lows, her observations on the cities and places she is in, and also shares some insights revealed to her along the way.
Brigitte says, "This action-packed site has evolved over a couple of years,' and this is very clear as you browse through all the entries in the index. All were prepared by Brigitte, in the same chatty way, as if the readers are all her friends, or friends to be. Each page is illustrated with many photos.
Of course, the best way to enjoy the site is to look at it, rather than read about it secondhand. Below are some sentences to stir your curiosity, a personal choice from the Progress report. Some song lyrics are copied directly from the Watson lyrics page as a sample of the goodies in store there. For the complete texts, check the site out.
One thing Brigitte really appreciates is feedback, so :
"...Don't forget to write me an e-mail with your comments and greetings! I love to hear from people, even though I may be slow to respond while I am travelling... and sometimes have very limited e-mail access (and may have little more time than to post my update).
"I hope you find the content on this site interesting... Please forgive me if anything offends you. :) Hope you have a groovy day! Brigitte"
Email: sage@ugcs.caltech.edu
EXTRACTS FROM BRIGITTE ROTH'S WATSON PROGRESS REPORT:
March 30, 1999: I am really excited about this project... One more term to graduation... and then I am off, in the middle of July!
July 14, 1999: I leave in two days...
July 18, 1999: So far so good. Now that I am rested from the flight, I can enjoy Europe! I love it here, it is so good to be here! I performed a little bit yesterday as I had 40 minutes to kill before the train came... It went really
well, these young guys were watching and smiling. This one Italian one complimented me in Italian and another guy from Cameroon put me on his cell-phone singing to a friend. :)
Life is good.
July 27, 1999: Cambridge is a lovely town.... There are lots of buskers to watch here... For example, today I spent quite a while watching a young guy just standing in a little alcove playing the guitar and singing popular tunes... it reminded me a lot of myself. Although most people just hurriedly walk by (rather briskly), every now and then someone would stop to throw him some change. On the other hand, I hear that back home on 3rd St. Promenade in Santa Monica, they will be cutting back on street performers because the businesses are complaining.
July 28, 1999: Today has been a wonderful day!!! I busked in Cambridge!! I was at a little alley off of Sidney Street... it was fabulous... no cars, and some pretty good acoustics... yay!
July 30, 1999: I think that I have decided what I would say if someone asked me what the best part of busking is... it is the children! They are so sweet and watch so intently as the parents drag them along! :) Today these five blond little girls (aged 4 1/4, 5 but almost 6, 6 but almost 7, 7, and 8) formed an audience for me. They were sooo sweet. I sang "Puff the Magic Dragon" for them. I also really like it when somebody walks by and we make eye contact and then they start to smile... it is so groovy. I feel like I am making an impact somehow. That is fabulous. Some people even said "thank you" to me. I love music so much!!
August 5, 1999: So... I have now had the experience of being "moved on" after just 2 1/2 songs! It was terrible, this woman came straight out of her shop to me to ask me to "move on" as I could be heard quite clearly in her store.
August 6, 1999: Today my voice was not in the best shape ... and I was not in the best of moods. I was on St. John's St. in Cambridge and things just weren't clicking. As I was packing up (a bit earlier than I might have normally) a man passed by me and said I ought to come down to the garden nearby to play for the craft fair... I followed him and he pointed out this great spot. I really enjoyed it! People were really positive... So after being kicked out in one spot, I got invited to another, where I felt the vendors were really responsive. Yay! And one Danish girl asked me who wrote the tune "Something Meaningful"... When I told her I had written it, she told me that she found it beautiful and thought that it had maybe been written by Joni Mitchell. Wow! It made me feel good... :)
August 9, 1999: Edinburgh is very cold and windy... It is comparable to our coldest weather in Los Angeles... There is sooo much art stuff going on...
August 11, 1999: Edinburgh is actually a bit overwhelming... I have been doing three interviews a day and have found that to be very draining.... On the bright side, the people I have been interviewing have been teaching me a great deal. I have found that the world of buskers is very diverse... some happy and excited, others tired and jaded. It is fascinating and I feel like I am learning a great deal about people in general.
August 26, 1999: Italy is magnificent... So full of life. The buzz of mopeds whizzing by. More nuns than I expected in this romantic country... :) It is HOT. The opposite of Edinburgh. In Ferrara, the International Busker Festival is the only thing that seems to be going on in the town... during the day the whole place is deserted ...The program ...is only printed in Italian. Most of the performers are Italian. It hardly seems international to me. But the talent is amazing... All over the place the streets come to life with all kinds of amazing music! It is really neat. People don't give as much money to the hats as in Edinburgh though... not nearly!
I have written three songs since I have arrived in Italy. One is about being
lonely and not happy about it and another is about how wonderful it is to be on my own. I think that this really does say something about my little mood swings. It does get tiring at times to be on my own, especially in such an unfamiliar (though fantastic) culture where I don't speak the language.
September 9, 1999: So, yesterday, on my way back from a lovely daytrip to Norwich, I managed to do a very STUPID thing: I left my guitar on the train!! I realized this a few minutes into my walk home and rushed back to the station. I had the feeling that the guitar was not lost to me and was not as panicked as I have gotten at other times about other similarly foolish acts... Luckily I did get my guitar back, after it had its own adventure all the way to Stanstead Airport and back. :) What a relief to know that it is safely in my hands again!
Anyhow, Norwich was truly lovely. I busked there for a bit ...However, I did not get much of an audience ever because I was foolishly not following the advice of buskers I have interviewed... : choose a spot where people are not rushing by... but are instead more likely to take the time to enjoy listening to live music. Well, instead of this, I chose a spot where almost everybody rushed by... a little experiment. Live and learn! :)
October 5, 1999: I am on the Dingle peninsula at a really secluded "performing arts" hostel... It is beautiful, incredible, right by the coast, overlooking the beach! Wow!!! Life is good and I am falling in love with Ireland!... Oh, yes, there are a lot of buskers in Ireland...Even in the village where I was staying near Cork there was a busker.
October 7, 1999: I love Ireland... It is sooo cool! I am in Galway, which usually has a really good busking scene, but unfortunately the weather has been just a tiny bit too wet for it... But that is definitely one of the things about busking, it is seasonal and very much dependant on weather... people often complain about this to me.
I had a wonderful, absolutely wonderful day since I wrote the above entry! I was walking down Quay Street and I passed by a guitarist/singer... I kinda wanted to talk to him but was feeling intimidated (and have been ever since I got turned down twice in a row). I did not want to interrupt or disturb him... so I kept going.
Next I heard a pennywhistle player, but he was really good... So I turned to go down the alley where he was playing, in order to pass by him and listen. As I was passing by him, he asked me what time it was... "A quarter to one" Then he asked where I am from. "Los Angeles" "Oh, what are you doing out here?" "Funny you should ask..." and so I ended up interviewing him (at a nearby pub. How amazing! He somehow picked me out to be interviewed rather than me having to approach him for an interview. I can't believe how life works out.
After having had a wonderful discussion about busking with this guy, I decided to go out and busk myself... and I had such fun! At first this dog came along and set itself down right by me... it looked like it belonged to me, but, of
course, he didn't....
October 18, 1999: Wow...on Saturday I watched quite a few buskers in Brighton and ... I sat and watched these two guys who were juggling and doing other tricks. I enjoyed watching them in spite of the fact that in passing their clubs they must have dropped them at least 50 times ... Anyways, one of them started doing the whole Diablo thing when I decided to take a photo. And ...he got really upset and I asked him if it bother him, apologizing... and he said of course it did... something about how the person behind the camera usually makes loads of money and then gives him none... but ...I think that street performers should be more responsible than to snap at their audiences. Maybe I should ask for permission first, but usually the people I ask end up being awkward about it and imply that they would have rather I had taken it before we started talking, though they don't mind at all if I take it. Something I need to figure out more about...
November 2, 1999: Well, my bags are mostly packed and today I am off to Australia. I am looking forward to it. I am calm. This is going to be a very very very long day. :) What is home anyway?
November 4, 1999: Australia... is really neat. Melbourne reminds me so much of home! So far, though, I have mostly been sleeping... took an 8 hour nap.yikes. :) It is good though... lots and lots of cafes... and houses with front yards...
November 26, 1999: Well, I just left the forum on street performance: Loitering With Intention. So many amazing people! The most interesting parts were some descriptions of various projects that people have put together and the story of this Japanese festival: the Daidogei World Cup (a street performance competition)...It was an inspiring day. The people there were creative people who go for it rather than sitting around feeling totally lost and helpless. I liked the scene.
I am generally doing pretty well... enjoyed the sunshine as I went on a short hike this morning before the festival... just up in the hills above the city, with a view of the Pacific Ocean (which before Christchurch, I hadn't seen in 6 months!) ... Oh, yes, and to fill you in on other things, I went swimming yesterday, which was great, cause I did a bit of freestyle swimming and treading water, two things I am just now learning and enjoying. At Caltech I learned how to ride a bicycle (age 20) and now in the southern hemisphere I am learning how to swim properly (age 22)... and these things can be really hard to learn when you are no longer a little kid, cause you get really scared of things like being underwater, or just generally not having control.
BUT... (and here I am getting philosophical again) that is what life is all about really, well, maybe not ALL, but in life I think it is important to learn that we don't really have control... and if we are being too controlling that we should just let go a little and enjoy the ride! Well, that is what I feel I am meant to learn about right now... (And I can see that there might be times when the opposite could be said!)
February 2, 2000: Well... it is really hot here in Melbourne...I suppose I shouldn't be complaining, but I can't really help feeling a little bit homesick. Yeah, I think I am at that point in my travels... been on the road for 6 1/2 months and I am a bit homesick, feeling ready to be somewhat more settled again. But not yet, I have many adventures still ahead of me. Today I start with a French lesson, to prepare me for my travels in France. :)
February 21, 2000: I have been really busy in Brisbane, with lots of busking and interviews. I feel like I have been learning and philosophizing a lot. I am also starting to feel ready to begin working on the presentation part of my project.
On Saturday as I was just singing my heart out on a busy corner (just outside the permit boundaries), I was feeling that I am really being tested, or maybe just testing myself, as to my dedication to music. Because the thing is that response while busking is just not the same as having a big audience clap after every tune. Even though people sometimes stop and listen and maybe smile or even approach me to tell me they like what I am doing, most of the time I feel like I am being ignored. And so all those times when I don't have people's attentions and don't have positive feedback, I have to really find it within myself to be strong and want to do the music for music's sake and not for approval. And at the same time, for me the whole point of performing is that I want to have an affect on other people. I want to touch them, stir something up within them, bring something to life... and this can be especially challenging when on the street, where people aren't as open to letting that happen. :)
But I have never been one to turn down a challenge! :) And I am also very thankful for the opportunity to test myself in this way. Because if I pass this one, then it really means something big as far as my life is concerned. :)
March 12, 2000: Last night we had a musicafe at the Melbourne Subud House... it was really fun ... Since I have been in Melbourne, people have been telling me about musicafe's and how there used to be so many of them and they were so great... and we ought to have another one. And I thought, yeah, let's have a musicafe. But no one ever would organize it. So, ...I set a date... and things got set into motion.
Sometimes the hardest step can somehow be the first one... as there seems to be an inertia that keeps us in stasis... unable to venture forth to do what we want... and once you can get over that the rest just kind of follows actually... :)
March 31, 2000: Today... I experienced two magics... First when I went to sing to a class of 23 French 6-year-olds. They were so sweet, telling me which of my songs were their favorites and which they thought were sad and so on... It was such a relief after singing to stern faces of passers-by in the street (although there can be magic there too). The best part was when, after my last song (they had already requested the fourth after singing a couple tunes for me after my third song)... they were chanting in unison: "encore"... I was in heaven. :)
The second magical experience was when I left a small dinner party... where I met a pair of interesting Street Performers (clown work, sounded neat) and we were in a very old building (12th or 13th century??)... and we had very good food... well, when I opened the door to go down the narrow street and back to the place I am staying, there was snow on the bush directly opposite me and slush in the little cobblestone road. There was no one else out during my little walk home... and all the trees, which were dimly lit, had snow on the top of them. This just as April makes an entrance... and this for an L.A. girl...
April 21, 2000: Well ... I am now in Bordeaux ... One more comment : busking can be good for raising one's spirits, but maybe that is just music or performance in general.
Song lyrics by Brigitte Roth
From Watson lyrics page 13.
Sounds in My Head
I wish that I could share
The sounds that I make in my head
Vibrations on air
Through ear canals are lead
I hear myself so differently
From the way the world hears me
I wish you could hear
The sounds in my head so clear
But we don't look as we feel
And we don't sound like what we hear
When I listen to myself
I can't believe it's not someone else
To whom does that voice belong?
To everyone but me
And even as I sing this song
The tones are a mystery
Are the speakers all telling a lie?
Or is the microphone a bad guy?
Is it hollows inside my skull
That make it all sound so full?
But we don't look as we feel
And we don't sound like what we hear
When I listen to myself
I can't believe it's not someone else
I would not be honest
If I said I like your version best
I guess it's just natural
To be a bit perturbed by it all
Even though it bugs a little bit,
I'll keep singing in spite of it
I still wish that you could hear
The voice in my head so clear!
"Joy! Joy! Joy! I now know what I shall
be doing with the next year of my life."
