Diary Of A Busker Day 2569 Wednesday June 25th 2025 Winchester.
Don Lavelle and Dean Dyson are having a chat at The Buttercross. Dean says he’ll be there at least till four o’clock – maybe a bit longer as it’s not going too well – ‘I think it’s got a lot to do with saturation. People just don’t give as much as they used to because hearing music like what we do isn’t special like it used to be. I mean, they can get it anywhere’ he says, and I have to agree with him. He goes on – ‘There was a couple sitting down there (on the bench opposite where we play) and I KNEW they were enjoying what I play, and they were there for half an hour, maybe more, and at the end he got up and gave me a pound and she gave me two pounds and I thought “I’ve been entertaining you for half an hour!” Then a mother asked if her daughter could sing something through my mic and it’s like…in fact I actually said “Look, before you ask that…this is ME here, I’ve been doing this FIFTY years! It’s MY show! Tell your daughter to go and listen to Eva Cassidy if she wants to learn to sing.'”
I set up down the road at the crossroads, not in the shade but there was a constant breeze so it was bearable because it was another hot day (22 degrees is hot enough). It had a promising start, with two fivers and even a tenner in the first half hour but then literally fuck all for around 45 minutes but it all evens out, I suppose.
Near the end a big bloke who had been watching from a distance came up and asked if he could take a card, then asked if I play in pubs, as he would like me to play at his pub in Andover. I said of course I would. This was Mike, who sounded American, and he said he was thinking of having some music in the beer garden – a nice thing to do in the summer. He asked how much I’d charge and when I said £150-£200 for a couple of hours, he didn’t reel back in horror like some do, just asked if I could send him a list of songs – my “repertoire”, I believe it’s known as. I said I would be delighted to, and added ‘I hope I hear from you, and if I did it would be a rare thing because I’ve had a few pub landlords approach me about playing in their pubs and I never hear back from them!’