tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-650160678722829210.post4580753721947046877..comments2024-03-23T13:46:21.790-05:00Comments on Street Musician Daniel: Happiness Daniel McKenna IIIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04157964564856145960noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-650160678722829210.post-75128875157222650742018-03-13T22:17:26.778-05:002018-03-13T22:17:26.778-05:00The simple truth is, there really only are three b...The simple truth is, there really only are three blogs about busking, by buskers, that are updated at all. Marvin Naylor's is updated every week or two, and you and I are pretty much daily. <br /><br />Yet there are several movies out about buskers. "Once", "A Street Cat Named Bob", "The Busker", and that one about the guy who played the cello in Los Angeles. <br /><br />So I suggest you make your blog as much as possible about a dream many have: to run off in their mid-50s with very little money, to New Orleans to join the cir, uh, be a busker. You might even consider something like making customized guitar picks that have your URL on them, or cards or just print up flyers or something, so people know about your blog. <br /><br />It would probably help if you mentioned more New Orleans-y stuff. Search Engine Optimization. The trouble there is, you're not a New Orleans-y guy. You're a guy who just happens to be in New Orleans, who's into a California band and an English band. I doubt you're going to start your mornings on beignets and chicory coffee from here on out, but you could try to mention a few things. <br /><br />Another thing that may help is to put more in your postings about your interactions with the public when you're busking. Marvin Naylor is great at this. His blog, out of the three, is the purest busking blog. alex carterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12458022111793552536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-650160678722829210.post-4595912523764318932018-03-13T22:08:03.676-05:002018-03-13T22:08:03.676-05:00Hmm, I've stated the reasons for my blog, and ...Hmm, I've stated the reasons for my blog, and you also have two reasons: To have a diary you can go back and read, years from now. And as a way to get people to give you money. <br /><br />I know of a guy, named Ran Prieur, who started out publishing a "zine", remember those? Then he got into blogging when it was about the only game in town, but also I think he had the right kind of roughing-it-but-went-to-the-right-kind-of-prep-school vibe about him that he was able to live just by writing his somewhat interesting blog and people would just send him money. He was an early user of Paypal for instance. <br /><br />Then just when his blog was beginning to get really boring, he came out and admitted he had enough stocks and bonds and such to provide him about a thousand dollars a month anyway, and soon after his mom died and left him a house. So he's got a paid-off house, a decent living, a girlfriend who's probably a wife now, is writing boring first-world-problems shit, and those of us who hung on his every word about how to dumpster dive and hop trains (or at least hitch hike) etc think he's a putz. <br /><br />I'm not saying go out and dive Dumpsters (although you'd save a lot of money that way) and all that, but for every busker there's something like 1000 people who want to be a busker and don't have the guts. Make a blog people can follow, and live the busking life vicariously through you. <br /><br />You're ostensibly an English major, use your writing skills to make the kind of blog you'd want to read if you're Joe Flyover and the only interesting thing that happens in your town is when the cows get loose. <br /><br />Having next to no money is an adventure. The kind that terrifies the squares. So you talk about how you had/have next to no money but here's how you got over it: you got into that apartment by virtue of being a veteran, and if it weren't that, you'd probably be renting a room or something by now. You didn't have money for clothes, again a thing a square is terrified of. But, you talk about getting clothes from various homeless places. A bike is super helpful for getting around, and you showed how to "adapt and overcome" by buying a bike for $30 "off an Israeli lady". <br /><br />People like that; they like to read about someone in a situation and put themselves in that situation and think, "wow, that guy's really resourceful, I guess that's what I'd do, too". alex carterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12458022111793552536noreply@blogger.com