Red tape Ties Up Underage Street Artist - Montreal

[Lynneski]

(As reported in the K-W Record, Tuesday, July 17, 2001)

"RED TAPE TIES UP UNDERAGE STREET ARTIST"
-Montreal, CP
An 11-year-old bagpiper from Huntsville who's been picking up quite a bit of cash performing in Old Montreal, has found herself in a bureaucratic tangle.

Melissa-Jane Hollands says she loves playing the bagpipes and she's delighted to have collected about $200 a day since arriving here last week to spend 10 days visiting her sister.

But now she's in a jam.

The city says she can't play on the street because she doesn't have a permit. And the city won't sell her a permit because she's under 14, the minimum age under the city by-law governing street performers.

Shortly after Melissa began performing Saturday evening, two police cadets approached to ask whether she had a permit. She didn't, so she stopped the performance and didn't play on Sunday.

Yesterday she and her mother, Christianne Hollands, went to the city permits department to buy a permit, which costs $105. That's when they were told about the age restriction.

Sylvie Lebeuf of Montreal's economic development department said the minimum-age requirement is based on the fact that children under age 14 can't be prosecuted."

[BFlat]

Where does this information comes from?
I'm a regular performer in Old-Montreal and surely I would have known about this. It didn't even make it in the local news or paper here in Montreal. Anyway, don't wanna put your word in doubt, it's possible that it has happened without me knowing about it.

However, if this incident happened somewhere around July 17, 2001 in Montreal, I doubt very much that she was collecting 200$ a day, no matter how young and cute she may be; because all the month of July in Montreal so far has been really ugly temperature-wise. It rained almost all of the time, the sky was gray, it was windy and the temperature was autumnal (below 60F). And, as a local performer in Montreal, I check several times a day the webcams across the city to check to crowd density at various pitches in town. And what I've seen on the old Montreal web cam showed me no potential to even bother going to play there since the beginning of July. What I mean by no potential is; Usually Old-Montreal is filled with thousands of tourists, the streets are filled, you can see only people's heads and what I saw, were completely empty streets, perhaps with a couple of tourist wandering around here and there occasionally. I have been away in Massachusetts on the 3rd and 4th only. And what I was told when I came back, is that the weather sucked in Montreal the whole time I was away. So unless those couple tourists who were wandering around Old-Montreal gave that girl hundred dollar bills, I doubt very much that she's earned such an amount, daylly during the month July.

Another thing, the street permit in Montréal cost 155$ for the first time performers. it costs 105$ for the returning performers to renew their permit.

I didn't know about the age restrction, but I believe that it's possible since I've rarely seen any street performer under the age of 16 in Montreal.

Children under 14 can't be prosecuted? Well maybe so but my principal preocupation concerning this would be that I'd worry about such a young person playing on the streets. Even in Montreal which is relatively a safe city; it doesn't mean it is 100% safe. I've had my share of troubles over the years playing in Montreal and I never go play on the streets without my cellular phone (and it saved my life quite a couple of times allready)

Despite all this, wheater it is true or not, I don't see issue to make a scandal about this. Of course that she was informed of the age restriction thing only when she went to the city's permit departement. I mean, how else she could have known?? This makes me wanna raise the question; "What kind of parent is her mother to let her 14 yrs old daughter play on the street of a city they are not from, and so without asking information about rules and regulations concerning street performing? I think that the parent is to blame, not the daughter, not the city.

And finally, it doesn't suprise me that she was caught. In Montreal, there are permit inspectors and their job consists only of checking street performers... they are really annoying. Plus, one cannot perform anywhere in Montreal, espescially in Old-Montreal. St-Paul street is forbidden, basically every streets in Old-Montreal are forbidden to performers except Place Jacques-Cartier. So with those permit inspectors around, if you street perform without a permit in Montreal or at a forbidden spot, you can be 100% sure to get caught. The inspectors usually issue warnings at first. This is done so to give the chance to the performers who don't know, to get aquainted with the rules and regulations concerning street performing in this town. They are all sent to the permit departement office where they are then informed about everything they need to know.

Anyhow, this still suprises me that a 14 year old girl played bagpipe in Old Montreal ad made 200$ a day in such bad weather conditions. Maybe they are exagerating the story a little bit. I'd like to know how this turns out tho.

Thanks
-BFlat

[This message has been edited by BFlat (edited 07-20-2001).]

[Lynneski]

Hey, I don't make the news, I only retype it.

The story was a Canadian Press wire item and appeared in my local paper. I thought it vaguely interesting and posted it. You might be able to get some follow-up info, or contact CP, from the paper's website, I believe is www.TheRecord.com (http://www.TheRecord.com) (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada).

It did provoke a few questions from the mom in me, too. Like, where the heck are this girl's parent's while she's doin' her thing all day? And maybe it's a good thing that she has to wait a few years before she can try to make a real go of street performing. I don't know too many 11-year olds who have the street smarts, unless they're kids who are already part of a performing family.

Anywhoo, I didn't mean to raise any ire, just curiosity.

Lynne

[BFlat]

It's okay Lynneski, I know that you didn't write that article. I wasn't blaming you for it, sorry I gave you that impression.

I'm just a bit outraged at how sometimes the media 'shit' (excuse my French) on people or place. In this case they got the readers by their sentiments, they are talking about this sweet little girl who didn't do any wrong (and she's said to be talented on top of that to make the story even sadder) and who's got a passion for playing bagpipe... and then you have the big bad wolf which in this case is the city of Montreal.

I mean when someone reads an article like that, one can't help to feel sorry for the little girl. And it's ture in a sense, I feel sorry for her too. But the city of Montreal is not to be blamed either. Montreal is a nice place and I don't really like it when people dis Montreal or any other city for that matter in such a low and displaced manner. I mean, playin with people's sentiments, how more low can they go?

[Lynneski]

Of course, they could have spun this piece of "merde" (pardonnez-moi mon Anglais) in a different way. I mean, what kind of undistilled evil does it take for a short-statured imp to inflict the fingernails-on-blackboard scree of bagpipes on innocent passersby, instead of touring La Ronde and then waiting patiently in a locked station wagon while her folks played the Casino. Kids these days!

[Stretch]

Ahhhhh . . . (forhead slap) So THAT's how she made such big hats!!! They paid her to STOOOOOOP!

Walking tall, above the noise, or dancing to it, I'm not sure!

Bill 'Stretch" Coleman
http://Stiltwalker.com/

[BFlat]

LOL! Well I was afraid to say something about the bagpipe. You know, I didn't wanna be impolite cause I know that some people actually 'like' that instrument.

Personally, I hate bagpipe. Despite the historical or nostalgia that's behind it, this instrument if you may call it so, was created in order to scare the enemy away at war. It was meant to sound awful!!

This reminds me of a joke... Q: Why do bagpipe player march while they play?
A: Cause it's harder to shoot a moving target.

[Rich Potter]

They can't prosecute anyone under 14? Then what's the problem? The girl can't get a permit, and they can't arrest her. Problem solved. I know of a couple of people who survived the streets at that age. I'm not saying it's pretty, but I would think if the girl's out on the streets out of necessity, then that should be taken into account. The comments about her parent(s) may be truer than we might want to believe. But then, if she's some sorta rich brat, we should string her up.

On a more serious note (How about "fa" or maybe "re"?) Does anyone know the definition of "perfect pitch"?

It's the sound of an accordian falling against a bagpipe in a dumpster.

--Rich

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