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October 8, 2005
The Entrepreneurial Busker
When T and I were in Vancouver, we were taking a walk back to our downtown hotel after grabbing lunch in Chinatown when we spotted a man on rollerblades playing a guitar. He spotted us and started skating towards us, singing and playing louder as he got closer.
We tried to walk faster, pretending not to notice him (which would mean we were both blind and deaf). We were only one block away from W, Hasting St., not the nicest part of Vancouver, so we really didn’t know what to expect.
He was a black man of medium-build with long dreadlocks and a good voice. He skated along side us singing “Dust in the Wind”. After a few verses, we realized not making eye-contact with him was silly, so we let him serenade us as we continued walking down the street.
When he finished singing the chorus for the second time, T tried to push a twonie into his hand, but the man refused.
"I’m not done yet," he said, and sang another verse.
Eventually he finished his song, took the money and skated away, looking for other pedestrians to entertain. It left me thinking how this guy was the most entrepreneurial busker I had ever seen.