A Guide To Busking According To Adi Cox

12th April 2015

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Adi Cox at Leeds Trinity Shopping Centre, England.

There is a great sense of freedom to be able to go busking in so

many cities and towns at any time that you like. There is no
interview and no licence needed to work the streets. There are many
problems encountered though. Here in England we have alot of cold
and windy days and rain fall. Just to clarify:
England is a part of Britain. Britain is the island that is
divided into England, Scotland and Wales. Great Britain is Britain
plus Northern Island which is part of the Island next to the island
that is Britain and all these places are part of Europe. So I am
English, British and European all at the same time, but I digress.
So if we are lucky enough to be going out busking on a nice weather
day then we may encounter other buskers plying for a pitch to play.
The best place to set your pitch is in a medium sized town with a
padestrian precinct commonly known as a pedestrian zone in other
countries. This is as opposed to those shopping centres/shopping
malls that are privately owned and have security. These shopping
centres are usually indoors and have music playing anyway through
their own sound system, but sometimes these private shopping areas
are outdoors and so not part of the public domain and the right to
busk is for the owners of the site to decide. The security guard
usually tells you to move on because you need written permission
to play here. In some cases it may only be a step away before you
are on public domain and so different laws then apply.

The police are in charge of the public domain and they only move you
on if there are complaints about you and your playing. Some buskers
use amplification and can be quite loud. I tend not to amplify
myself when I am busking. It is frustrating when other buskers are
so loud that you can hear them five blocks away because they take up
all that space and so you become limited to where you can play.
Bagpipes are loud they even trump the trumpet for volume but some of
these guitarists with amplifiers are the loudest.
Parking is always an issue. It costs alot of money to park your car.
I tend to park away from the town/city centre to where it is free to
park and then walk in to the city centre. There is also a charge for
going to the toilet in some places. The local public library is
usually free to use their toilet facilities.
A letter I received from a local neighbourhood watch:

Even if you manage to get a good pitch on a good weather day and
there are many pedestrians walking past you as you play, in my
experience there is not much money to be made. Now that my be
because I do not posess the X factor. I do posess the Y factor and
the Z factor though because people wonder why I bother and then I
send them to sleep with boredom. No, I am joking, I am quite good
at my craft really! : )
At the time of writing this the places that I have busked in are:
Barking, Greater London.
New Street, Birmingham.
Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester.
Altrincham, Greater Manchester.
Sale, Greater Manchester.

Pilrig Park, Edinburgh.

Fargate, Sheffield.
The Moor, Sheffield.
Leeds.
Wakefield.
Long Row, Nottingham.
Clumber Street, Nottingham.
Arnold, Nottingham.
Beeston, Nottingham.
Derby.
Hull.
Macclesfield.
High Street, Lincoln.
Mansfield.
Doncaster.
Rotherham.
Barnsley.
Scunthorpe.
Retford.
Worksop.
Ilkeston.
The equipment that I use for busking:
Martin Smith Acoustic guitar Model 401E-N
(I usually only use the guitar above and sing without a mic, but
sometimes I use the PA amp below to amplify my singing)
Sub Zero PA81 portable PA system for ipod
(I do not have an I pod)
Some of the songs that I play are:
House Of The Rising Sun
Wonderwall
Golden Brown
Princess Of The Street
No More Heroes
Hanging Around
Should I Stay Or Should I go?
London Calling
Guns Of Brixton
English Civil War
Hersham Boys
Hurry Up Harry
Rat Trap
Like Clockwork
Knocking On Heavens Door
Nights In White Satin
Ever Fallen In Love?
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Down In A Tube Sation At Midnight
Boulavard Of Broken Dreams
Forever

People Are Strange

The One I Love
Keep On Rocking In The Free World
White Wedding
Sound Of The Suburbs
Monster
Class War (own original song)
The Miners'Song (own original song)

What It Is To Be A Northerner?
_____________________________________________________________________
Written by Adi Cox
6th April 2015
What it is to
Lincoln and I
sensibilities
Ollerton near
in the miners
It is like we
unrepresented
south.

be a northerner? I am a midlander. I was born in

now live in Nottinghamshire near mansfield, but my
are as a northerner. I live in an old pit town called
sherwood forest. The heart of Ollerton was ripped out
dispute. A community spirit has been changed forever.
are excluded from the political table. I feel
in a Britain that is dominated by a london centric

At one time the north had a proud working tradition with the
trawlermen, miners, steel workers, engineering and ship builders.
The new north has lost its industrious identity, which in turn has
given way to baseless less solid foundation of business and
entrepreneurship. The new culture is led by the financial south east
which is a very dubious culture of quantitative easing (printing
money) and many more corrupt practices which lay at the heart of
westminster and the politicians of our day who think it is okay to
be bought and payed for by big business in the form of lobbying and
who on a daily basis refuse to use any political will to address
such blatant and obvious malpractices that our corrupt system has
incorporated.
The upshot is that we have a financial system that is based on a
very insecure foundation of debt. The political climate has moved
from a traditional leftist working agenda championed by the north,
through a capitalist system based on the foundations of wealth and
then finally where we are now: A very sick nation that is based on
debt. Like a drug addict that never gets them self clean, we are not
dealing with the problem. Whilst we have corrupt self serving
politicians that are usually above the law and a press that has been
censored by a wealthy elite this sick nation will just carry on this
unhealthy path. The only way it can change is if there is a major
catastrophic event to revolutionize and get our once proud nation
back on track.
Adi Cox 6th April 2015

Adi Cox Goes To Dublin

30th April till 5th May 2015
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Not wanting to go out. I find myself writing this because it is a typical bank
holiday weekend. It is Saturday 2nd May 2015 and the sky is dark grey. The
rain is falling and blustering around in the wind. There is a dispute and the
bus drivers in Dublin are on strike. At 6am I was out playing my guitar at Tara
train station here in Dublin. I was not so much busking as finding a dry place
to play my guitar and sing without disturbing anyone at such an early hour in
the morning. I just need to keep the practice up, otherwise I feel incomplete if
I do not play my set of songs that I have memorised over the years.

Yesterday was my first full day here in Dublin and it was blue sky and
sunshine which prompted me to hike away from the hustle of the big city
centre. I found myself wandering down by the Grand canal and played my set
there to a few passing joggers, cyclists and dog walkers and maybe even a
few river otters, who knows? I was glad to get a good session singing and
playing my guitar because the previous day had been taken up travelling
from Ollerton in Nottinghamshire, England. Up to Holyhead, North Wales and
then on the ferry across the Irish sea to Dublin, before walking from the
ferryport to Dublin city centre.

I am staying at Citi Hostel. The exchange rate is good. I am getting about one
Euro forty to the British pound. It is fifteen Euros a night and at five nights
that came to seventy five Euros. A hotel would be about seventy five Euros
just for one night so it is a hostel for me. I have room 305. There are five
bunkbeds in that room and they are all taken, mainly with younger males and
females who are travelers, but there are also people who are working who are
staying here. There is the Dart railway line next to the building. This line runs
along the coastal towns I am told. The sound of trains enter into my dreams
as I am sleeping at night. Last night there were a group of East Europeans
celebrating loudly outside. A girl half awake asked "Who is outside the door?"
She then realised that the noise was coming from outside the building. We
made a joke of her sleepy confusion and I closed the window to make the
sound of the celebration a little muffled. After that I had a good nights sleep,
waking up at 05:30. I had not heard a few late night revellers turn in to bed in
our room. The hostel has a kitchen but it is not open until 07:00. So ...

I went out to a cafe for what I would call a full English breakfast, here in
Ireland. This experience is what I would call "The Illusion Of Choice." It goes
something like this:
"What would you like on your breakfast?" Asked the server.
"I would like; A sausage, bacon, mushrooms, beans, tomatoes and an egg
please." I said.

"Tell the lady on the till that you have six items." The server instructed me.
"Okay." I said understanding this straight forward instruction. So I told the
lady on the till that I had ordered six breakfast items.
"That will be seven Euros please." She said, which I duly paid. "Tea or coffee?"
The lady on the till asked me.
"No thank you." I said, declining the request.
"But you've paid for it!" She said. This was news to me.
I was eating my breakfast when the server came to my table and handed me
a plate with two toasts and two small packs of butter. "Thankyou very much."
I said wanting to be polite and thinking, I did not ask for that. Not wanting to
be ungreatful or appear arkward, I ate the toast out of politeness, in response
to the fast and efficient service that the staff delivered under the rigid
guidelines of their employment. So I was greatful for that.
Written by Adi Cox.

Self Promotion.
written by Adi Cox
30th January 2015.
I have tried to promote myself in many different ways over the
years. First was to play guitar in a punk band. I would have been a
young teen still at school. My friends and I formed a punk band.
We were given little support at the time although Punk Rock was the
music of the time. This would have been the late 1970's.
In my early twenties I became a DJ. There was a distinct lack of
opportunities to play my guitar and so I took a chance of becoming a
DJ with a mobile disco. Again it was self promotion. I became a self
employed DJ. There was a market for Dj's because there were many
pubs, clubs and social events that could use the services of a
mobile DJ. I got to know many other DJ's and became part of the DJ
culture in the city of Lincoln, England. This lasted for fifteen
years between 1986 and 2001.
Thirdly I decided to promote myself to do mathematics. This was
daunting at first, to be in a maths class, but over the years and
with the support of the Open University I managed to pay for a
degree in mathematics. I finished my degree in 2008 and soon after
the course fees went up five fold and so this avenue of self
promotion in education became a closed door to me.
I am fifty years old this year (2015) and my new venture is to go
busking. I have spent about seven years improvising on my guitar,
singing and uploading videos on the internet, mainly You Tube. for
the last year I have been getting a set together of about fifty
songs to sing along to and play on my acoustic guitar. It is January
now and very cold outside, but still I go out and play my guitar.
All that remains for me to do is to hand my notice in, so that I can
go out to promote myself by busking. I have saved some money over
the years on my minimum wage, care work job. So now I am ready to go
out to try my luck busking in the city centres of the north and east
midlands of England. Let's see what this self promotion will bring
me?
I have never wanted any promotion in my capacity as an employee but,
if you feel that you are not getting anywhere, my advice is to not
wait for those in charge to give you promotion, but to be more proactive and imaginative. My successes are minimal, but they are my
own and not by the appointment of someone else.

The Higher Ground

written by Adi Cox
12th April 2015
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It is a shame to see people who are full of themselves for all the
wrong reasons. People generally like people who are happy. We like
people to be happy and celebrate their happiness with them when we
can. To be proud, jovial and boastfull are some great qualities to
live by if we can share these feelings and give others some
satisfaction, encouragement to be who and how they want to be.
There are some lowly people who have positions of power. With their
positions of power they have become corrupt. Their behaviour is
justified by the tolerance and moderate behaviour by those around
them:
Quality people who conscienciously keep themselves in check can open
the way for a weak and bullying boss to be tolerated. The problem is
when these weak and bullying bosses are oblivious to their faults.
We all make mistakes and when we do we usually regret our mistakes
and hopefully correct ourselves. The corruption occures when twisted
ideas take hold. Those traits that make a strong boss does not
always make a strong person. Personally people should come first
before intolerance, greed and selfishness. Any society that reveres
those traits that subjugate people is twisted and morally bankrupt.
Milkmen used to deliver milk to peoples houses early in the morning.
People would wake up to pints of milk on their doorstep. The Milkman
would come round on a Saturday to collect the money that was owed.

The milk that we used to get was whole milk and the cream would rise
to the top of the bottle. It would be a treat to open a new bottle
of milk and put the cream of the milk in a coffee. Sometimes we
would shake up the milk so that the cream was evenly distributed
amongst the milk for everyone. "The cream will always rise to the
top." is a phrase often cited to justify the status quo. This is an
attempt to reassure people in a patronizing way that if you have a
talent or a quality then you will naturally find your just place in
society. Well that all depends on the society that you live in. The
milk that I drink now is semi skimmed so some of the fat has been
taken out, as we are told that too much fat in your diet is bad for
you. This is what cream is. It is decades since I have poured the
cream of the top of the milk in my coffee and there are no milkman
now. Milk is bought from the shop with all the other food items. So
the conclusion is that the cream does not always rise to the top and
in turn this means that not all societies allow the best, brightest,
most talented and most deserving to rise to the top positions in
that society. In some cases it is only the scum that will rise to
the top positions and I believe in Britain today that we really need
to keep this in check.
People and power is an oxymoronic combination because power by its
nature is corrupt and creates struggles within society, whereas
people are by nature usually a force for the good of others. My last
point can easily be overlooked in a society where its media hypes
and sensationalizes everything that it can in order to sell and to
make money. The depths to which the press will go to is astounding.
It is easy to lose faith in people when the media circus that
surrounds us is constantly bombarding us with the worst of human
nature. The world is full of great people and to base your life on
any other assumption will constrict your life.

A Few Thoughts That I Will Share:

Changing Times
How much are we in charge of our own destiny? As a child in the
1970's I used to play in the woods off Doddington road (B1190) in
Lincoln. There was also some gravel pits which had flooded into a
lake full of wild life. There was a stream that led to hartsholme
park and there used to be an airdrome still left over from the
second world war. This was RAF skellingthorpe which is now the
Birchwood estate. I was lucky enough to find myself happy here in a
settled life with friends in peacetime.
RAF Skellingthorpe opened in 1941 on a field previously called Black
Moor. During the war the tally of bombers lost or failed to return
from Skellingthorpe reached 208: 15 Hampdens, six Manchesters and 187
Lancasters. As a child I had very little knowledge about the past.
The summer holidays from school would feel like I was forever
enjoying my freedom to explore and to play in the old air raid
shelters that were still there. After the end of the Second World
War, RAF Skellingthorpe was the base for No. 58 Maintenance Unit RAF,
with salvaged crashed aircraft stored at the base. The base finally
shut down in 1952.
Looking back in time from 2014 I see how this area has progressed
from a field called Black Moor to an airdrome and then to an estate
for the housing of families hooked up to the internet. Spanning from
the second world war through the cold war and then into this new
phase of cyber security and government surveillance and austerity. It
really does feel that technology is taking over our lives and
increasingly being used as a tool to govern people. A new era of
civil rights has emerged and it is being fought on the internet.
People like Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowdon are
the new leaders of civil rights activism.
The Only Smart Option
There does not seem to be many opportunities. Maybe we should be
greatful for what we have or maybe we should rise up and protest
about our ever declining social situation here in England,
Nottinghamshire to be more precise. I do not know what the situation
is like in other areas of the UK. I live in a former pit town called
Ollerton. I am a health care worker here in Ollerton and I am on the
minimum wage which went up in October 2014 from 6.31 to 6.50 an
hour. I am a rare person because I have not borrowed any money. Most
people usually borrow money some time in their lives for some reason
but I have not had a mortgage or had any form of finance. I know
that to borrow money costs money. This just makes those with money
richer while those borrowing have to work harder to pay off an extra
cost for the privilege to borrow money.
I do like to have an easy life and so I have very few obligations. I
have no children. I do not take on responsibility if I have a choice.
Does this make me irresponsible? I like to have my freedom and so I
like nothing better than to go out with my acoustic guitar and
having a good sing along to a few of my favorite tunes, which are
often old seventies punk songs. You may find me somewhere in North

Nottinghamshire on top of a hill, by a river bank or under a disused

railway bridge thrashing out some chords and chanting out an old
tune. I get a mixed response usually from people walking their dogs.
Originally the idea was to go out and get away from everyone to play
my music alone but it soon became evident that no matter how far away
from people I tried to get there was always someone walking their
dog.
So this is what my life has become at the age of forty nine. Fifty
on the 28th of April next year 2015 to be more precise. Well I guess
that my life could be a lot worse and I do feel that I am mostly
okay with much of my life. This is through no small part of learning
to accept the way things are because there is the small point that
most people find themselves powerless to direct their lives and so
to go along with the way that things turn out is the only smart
option.
The Unwanted Musician
In a world where there is free music and a build up over many years of
recordings from the greatest artists and bands that have ever lived,
it take an extraordinary recording to make people want to listen. Even
if such a recording exists it still takes a costly promotion to get
the recording out there and only then is there a chance of making
sales.
For many musicians it is a constant struggle just to be able to make
music and any commercial success is not realistically sort after.
Because of work commitments and most of all because no one really
needs another musician, musicians tend to be side lined. Other house
hold members do not want to hear your music ever again and those
neighbors hate that music that you make with a passion because they
work nights and your music is the reason that they lack sleep.
There are a lot of unemployed musicians out there determined to do
their musical thing come what may. The world conspires against them.
Their pleasure to make music is only matched by the scorn of those
around them who have to suffer for your art and so I find myself deep
in the countryside with my acoustic guitar avoiding people trying to
sing and play to myself like an autistic social outcast who
inadvertently comes across a cautious dog owner walking their dog
concerned that someone may have escaped their detention and trying
to evaluate whether I am dangerous.
Are Religious People Mentally Ill?
Can we make a case for religious ideas to be proof that someone is
mentally ill? Surely anyone who believes in miracles and any sort of
supernatural has flawed reasoning and a desperate disposition and
that needs to be addressed in the DSM.
I find it unbelievable that many high level politicians and prominent
people can spout off their own incredible ideas just because those
ideas are based on christian faith. Surely the very idea that anyone
who needs religion who is in a powerful position is proof that they
are not fit for the job that they do.
Many world leaders are these crazy religious types who have gone

to war on dubious grounds. When we think about weapons of mass

destruction in Iraq and their lack of evidence. When we think about
the war on terror and how ridiculous a war on terror is. We tend to
think of people like George W Bush and Tony Blair who are
decidedly committed to their religious ideas.
When the crazy people run the asylum then we get serious
situations that need to be addressed and usually the only way that
this scenario plays out is through disastrous consequences.
When these things are played out on the world stage then there is
only war.
When world leaders make crazy decisions they are the last people
to suffer for their warped religious beliefs. If we value our world
surely we should base our politics on sound reasoning. We have a
duty for the sake of this world to deny these people their place on a
world stage.
Governed By Corruption
Anarchists show that there is a deep discontent and disquiet amongst
the people. Politicians really need to work with people and not with
corporations because like it or not anarchists are questioning
governments and the establishment. More and more people are becoming
dissatisfied with the way that government and society is going.
Corruption and privileges for the few people who can buy political
power. Corporations own our politicians and this is an outrage.
It is considered to be utopian and out of touch with reality to be an
anarchist, a socialist, or anyone else who stands up for the under
privileged in our society and this is why it is important to get back
to a more utopian direction because reality the way it is now blights
the lives of the many disadvantaged to enhance the privileged few who
have dubious self serving intentions and who continue to protect
corporate interests.
It is really annoying the way that people are treated by their
leaders with the exception of a very small number. With the rise of
capitalism the poor are demonized whilst the privileged few become
ever more corrupt. It is astounding how much people in power get away
with but I really believe that this is starting to change. The war
criminals, expenses cheats, self serving and bias corporate agents
are being exposed for who they really are and it is to our benefit
that we scrutinize and hound these people out of existence.
Adi Cox 2014