Buskers - Part 2

Sean — Sat, 13 Aug 2005 14:58:00 +0200

Day 2 of what started here

Sleight of hand, or magic? This CS graduate turned magician (yeah, you read that right) makes me wonder. I really have no idea how he accomplished some of his tricks. Especially the one where he empties a pop can, squeezes the sides together, and then later restores the can, seals it, reopens it, and poors a cup of pop out.

Squid

What do you get when you take drums, a set of bagpipes, people to play them, and turn it into performance art? The answer, of course, is Squid. One of the best performances I saw in my two days of buskerfest, Squid conveyed a high level of energy and entusiasm in their performance. The kitchen stools as drums bit was interesting, as was the juggling of drum sticks (as well as stopping to do push ups when they screwed up). They reminded me of Blue Man Group, or Windom Earle. Oh, and the Homer Simpson chicken spin was amusing as well.

Dragon Knights

Storytelling art without words. All I really have to say is that their animal harnesses are amazing in their degree of movement, and the people that use them are astounding in how fluid they operate. Whoever designed them were amazing. I want one.

Astar The Fire Dancer

Set things on fire, play music, spin flaming objects around really fast in various directions. What’s not to like?

Afro Jambo

I would also have to put this among my favorite performances. Of course, I could be biased, since I was actually involved with this performance. Yeah, you heard me, I got selected from the crowd to get up in front of all 150+ people and jump rope. I like to think I wasn’t terrible, and in fact, maybe a touch better than the little kids. At least I hopped on one foot for a bit. Afro Jambo, of course, blew my antics right out of the water (hey, they’re professionals after all). Doing flips while jumping rope, human pyramids where the top was balancing on his hands, with his feet in the air, fire eating, dancing, and the flaming limbo…...... yeah I would have to say this was one of the best shows at Buskerfest.

Buskers - Part 1

Sean — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 10:46:00 +0200

Halifax International Buskerfest is once again in motion. Quite a few interesting shows were performed this year. On the first day I went down, I basically ended up watching a series of finales, so I really don’t know how good the entire acts were. As always, the waterfront areas were PACKED with people.

Chaulkmaster Dave

Everyone in Halifax knows of Chaulkmaster Dave. Chances are you have seen his work in front of the Library on Spring Garden. As always, he was down at thje Buskerfest, showing off his talent. His renditions of Spiderman and Batman are simply amazing, as usual.

Matty Blade

I’m sorry, but I don’t want to wait around 10 minutes while you are saying you are going to swallow a sword, before you actually swallow the sword. Also, I am getting tired of finales where you get 4 guys to hold a pole while you climb it and perform your 30 second performance.

Scot Free

One of two escape artists that I managed to see, Scot Free managed a constant stream of jokes, puns, and wit while being wrapped in a roll of saran wrap for his grand finale. That’s right, not the traditional straight jacket escape, but sarran wrap. His non-traditional approach, and constant humor made him one of the better shows I managed to see.

According to his website, he is also an extreme skateboarder, and a chainsaw juggler….... while the chainsaw is on.

Stephen Elway

Another escape artist act, this time with the traditional straight jacket. The performer came across as eccentric, and since he escaped while ‘I’m Too Sexy’ was playing, and turned it into a dance routine, it was quite entertaining. The setup to the event, where he had two members of the audience tie him up, was filled with the busker wit I enjoy so much.

USA Breakdancers

This was the best performance of the day, in my opinion. Despite the fact that I couldn’t see some of the breakdancing, due to the sheer number of people watching, the moves that I did see were spectacular. At one point, they pulled some people from the crowd and got them to dance for the crowd. To my (and I am sure the crowd’s amusement), one of these people actually did some breakdancing himself. The look on the face of the leader was amusing. I swear, he was thinking “Off all the people in the crowd and at this festival, I had to pick the one white dude in Halifax that can actually breakdance to a degree”. The famous busker wit was also present here, with such lines as “We will accept any donations, so if you can pull out your wallet, take out 5 or 10 dollars…........ and give us the rest….” and “We are trying to pay for our educations, so if you could give us 5 or 10 dollers, that would help a lot. On the other hand, if you give us 20 or 50, we won’t have to go at all!”

Jeff Collins

Take Matty Blade, have him eat fire instead of swords, and you have Jeff Collins. I liked (or disliked) there shows the same amount in the same way. After 10 minutes, I was thinking “Eat the damn fire already!!!”

Crazy Or Genius?: Tag buskers

Buskers - Part 2

Buskers - Part 1