Key West, Florida

[The Amazing Beaumanz]

Don't hear much from you guys down there. What's happening?? Who's performing?? How's the crowds??

[flooglestreet]

Hi from key west. The usual crowd is back, excepting Roys Rolling Troll band. He talked like he would head for Europe last spring. Two great new magicians, Tweety and Richard, doing excellent effects. I am disappointed with the crowds this year, although the Power boat races included a street display which brought out some high paying crowds. Hope everything is well at Pier 60-flooglestreet

[Barney]

I was thinking of trying Key West after the first of the year. I understand they have a lottery system. Are the chances good of getting your name drawn in a week's time? I would hate to waste money and time down there waiting for my name to get drawn.

[RINGON]

Barney, Any spot in Mallory is a good pitch. Be flexable in you show tecnique. Some crowds are fast, some slow, work accordingly and you'll make $$$$. Think "short attention span theatre, God I love these people" Good luck, It's worth it.

[RINGON]

Oh ya, find the right asses to kiss and KISS early on....

[The Amazing Beaumanz]

i found that with the way they opened up the walk way in front of the hotel ( where the kiosk used to be) that i agree with RINGON and most pitches are good ones at Mallory. Last i was there was in the late summer, and there wasn't many performers and i had a great time.

Hello to all down there by the way!!!!

[Christopher Cool]

I had heard lots about Key West, but most of it was bad information. The pitch is great if you can adjust your show. I was concerned about the lottery system, but the first day there I lucked out with the center pitch in front of the pillars. Most any pitch in the world can be made to be a good one if you can work it right. I was told not to be intimidated by the other performers and to find the right asses to kiss early. I did, but soon found that most of the performers were cool! I learned a lot out there in a very short period of time, with the help of the other guys.

I wished I could have stayed a little longer, but I'm sure I will be back again soon.

Important note: It's a circus, so be prepared to be loud and work WITH the other performers.

A quick hello to the guys down there, HI! and Thank you for teaching me and sharing your pitch.

[mnozzolio]

This is from MiamiHerald.com


Posted on Mon, Mar. 22, 2004





Key West, Fla., Street Performers Complain of Selective Enforcement by City

By Christie Phillips, Florida Keys Keynoter, Marathon Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News


Mar. 20 - The mouse sits on the cat that sits on the dog that walks the street with Gregory Pike.

And then there's the city Code Enforcement officer who sits in the car who follows the mouse that sits on the cat that sits on the dog that walks the street with Gregory Pike.

"They gave me a ticket yesterday for panhandling and not having a license, and today for obstructing the sidewalk," Pike ranted Thursday as visitors stopped repeatedly to stare and take pictures of his animal entertainment on Duval Street. "Code Enforcement is coming by me four or five times a day, even though I'm not doing anything wrong."

Pike says he, and other street performers, are being selectively targeted by code officers.

"City code says if you're offering a good or service to the public, you're performing. I'm doing a public service. I teach people to get along, and I don't charge for pictures or anything. People just give money to me, because they see what I've done and they think I've earned it. How can accepting a gift in public be illegal? They might as well put a ban on Christmas."

Pike has been traveling to Key West with his pets for four tourist seasons.

"Everyone loves it," he said. "I've got three enemies here that are supposed to eat each other, and they choose to get along. They're not tied down or anything.

" 'Can't we all just get along?'" Pike asked a passing Spring Breaker who pulled out his camera to document the strange sight.

"Yeah, man," said the Breaker, handing Pike a couple dollars for the motivational message and photo op.

"Code Enforcement has said they're going to ticket me every time they see me and they told me if they have to put me in jail, they're not going to give me my animals back, ever," Pike said.

The city's code bans panhandling, which is defined as "begging or asking or soliciting money or goods for charity or personal gain, whether by word, bodily gestures, signs or other means."

Solicitation is also banned, defining it as "an offer by a person to perform a service or to sell a good in exchange for money or other type of compensation."

Exceptions are in place for "a person who holds an occupational license issued by the city for a business location when the offer is made at such a location, a person who holds a mobile vendor's license, a coconut palm frond permit, or other specific license or permit issued by the city, or a person whose offered good or service is artistic in nature."

Each of Pike's three tickets is for $100.

"They're pinpointing people they don't like," Pike said of the city's Code Enforcement officers. "Right now, I could make $100 an hour if I was allowed to do what I do."

"If there really are code violations, they should issue citations," said city mayor Jimmy Weekley. "I know Code Enforcement has made an effort to clean up Duval. If you're impeding traffic, you can be cited for that. And if you're panhandling, that's illegal."

Pike splits the rest of his year in various cities, including New York City, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans. He also owns an animal shelter in Taos, New Mexico.

"This is my fourth year coming here, and the first time they've ever given me trouble," Pike said. "I am performing. I am these animals' trainer, and without me, this couldn't exist."

He gestured to the dog, who by now had rolled onto her side, with the cat on her back scratching her ear, and two mice running around on the cat.

"They're the ones performing right now, but they couldn't do it without me."

Gregory Pike isn't the only Duval Street entertainer having trouble with the law.

"I'm actually a balloon clown by trade," Russell Micari, better known as The Silver Man, said between posing for pictures Thursday afternoon. "But [city] Code Enforcement informed me that it was illegal to do balloons for donations. They said you need a license, but they don't provide a license for that. It's ludicrous."

Micari came to Key West from New Orleans, where he was also a street performer. "They're trying to tell me working with balloons is not an art form," he said. "If that's the case, I want to see the Code Enforcement guy try to do it."

Micari said he makes less than half the money he can earn as a balloon clown by being The Silver Man.

"Donations are donations," he said. "I don't charge for the balloon art. I make them and if people want to give me a tip, they do. That's not solicitation."

Though he has never been ticketed by the city, he said he's been warned enough to stay away from creating balloon art. Instead, he now coats his face and hands in silver grease paint and sits on a box below his Duval Street apartment posing for pictures.

"Everything in my apartment is silver," he sighed. "It's a mess."

"I like Key West and what it's about, but I don't like that the law is ambiguous," he added. "If you need to have permits, make everyone get permits. But they're making what's legal become illegal."

"If they're not by ordinance definition aggressively panhandling, we don't bother them, we leave them alone," said Code Enforcement Director Charles Stephenson. "The problem is we have some guys down there that are too aggressive and we've had calls about that. But no, we're not picking on anyone specifically."

Mike Beaudet, a palm-frond weaver, says he's been harassed, but said it's the shop owners who have made him pack up his wares and move up and down Duval.

"They think they own the sidewalk," Beaudet said. "If I'm obstructing the sidewalk, then so are the trees, the signs, the phone booths. If I'm working on city property, why are you threatening to arrest me?"

Beaudet is city licensed to weave palm fronds on public land.

"My stuff sells faster than I can weave it," Beaudet said. "It's a performance. I used to do construction. This is much better."

It's still work.

"Don't get me wrong," Beaudet said. "I'm at this seven days a week, 16 hours a day. I've taken one day off since I started seven and a half months ago."

"I know a lot of businesses complain," said mayor Jimmy Weekley. "And Code Enforcement follows up on those complaints. But normally they won't ticket them, they'll just ask the guy to move on."

Beaudet said he's noticed selective enforcement.

"There are guys who beat on buckets out here until 4 in the morning," he said. "And they don't do anything about them. That's after business hours, so the shop owners don't complain.

"Shop owners think that every dollar on the island should belong to them," he added. "If they see you selling something, they think you're taking business from them."

"We actually draw business into the buildings," Micari claimed. "People stop and watch us, then realize where they are and go into a shop. We're an attraction, not a detraction."

Stephenson is exploring the option of creating a specified street performance area in town.

"We want to encourage the artistic types to be down there, but there's a problem when crowds gather," he said. "I'm just looking for ideas on a street performance zone. I'm seeing that as a possible helpful solution to the problem we have down there."

What they call harassment isn't stopping the entertainers from doing what they do to earn a living.

"Street performing is what Key West is about," Pike said. "People love us."

-----

To see more of the Keynoter, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.keynoter.com

© 2004, Florida Keys Keynoter, Marathon. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

[mnozzolio]

Street acts to pay $100 for permits
BY TIMOTHY O'HARA

Citizen Staff


KEY WEST — The life of a street performer requires a lot of traveling. They travel across the country seasonally, trying to hit different sections when the areas are at their busiest.

People who want to perform on the streets of Key West will have to modify their schedules to make sure they are on the island during November. The City Commission gave a third and final reading of an ordinance on Tuesday that requires street performers to obtain a license. The licenses will only be given out in November. The city is making an exception this year and allowing people to obtain them through February. The commission passed the ordinance on a 4-0 vote, with commissioners Harry Bethel, Ed Scales and Jose Menendez absent. The commission set the fee for the annual license at $100 in order to cover administrative costs.



Here's the link to the full story:

http://keysnews.com/335038670130417.bsp.htm

[GlassHarper]

Hey, Matt & The Amazing --

Thanks for posting the distressing news about Key West busking. I usually hit Mallory Dock for a few evenings in the spring where I meet my northern family (New York state and Alaska) when they go to the keys to fish.

Does anyone know if this usurious new "license" applies to Mallory Dock as well?

A "license" obtainable only in person during one month of the year sounds perilously close to an egregious infringement of my First Amendment rights.

Where are the Stephen Bairds of the Keys when we need them?