Alright!!! Nothing better than hitting the streets of Toronto to test out your music on unsuspecting passers-by. I've never been one for learning a lot of cover songs, as in the past I've always been so involved in writing music that its seemed secondary to sit down and learn a cover song by a different artist. After maturing a bit I can see the value in it... but in any case, that prevented me from wanting to go out busking, because I thought people would just want to hear cover songs, and I didn't know any! So all apprehensions aside, I packed my busking bag and hit the streets this week, for the last few warm days of the season. I had an absolutely great time and raked in enough change to make it worth my while! First I set up shop at Eglington and Yonge, near the newspaper stands.  I met a really friendly bunch of people and got lots of encouragement on the music, and even sold a few CDs! I stopped to talk with an interesting person at the end of the night as I was just about to tear down my gear, and he asked some really to-the-point questions that made me really think about how to define our band and work as artists. In short, it was really productive and I highly recommend it to any song-writing artist as a simple and straightforward way to test out your material and challenge yourself as an artist. Later this week I hiked on down to Dundas and Yonge, and the real challenge on this day was that I actually forgot to bring my microphone. I had everything; stands, cables, etc, but for some reason that mic just didn't make it into my bag. What to do? I tested myself by using the vocal techniques I'd learned, such as avoiding throat-strain and trying to lean on the diaphragm for vocal support. It really tested me to apply what I'd learned, and by the end (I'd started with a sore throat) my voice felt the equivalent to my body does after doing a good yoga-series; like it really needed that! While playing it seemed like so many people were going by without giving me the time of day. However, looks proved to be deceiving because when I counted the change in my case, it was a lot more than had been the previous day. In places where there's so many people, it seems like nobody's listening because only a fraction of people will stop, but those few add up to be a lot! In total 5 or 6 CD's went and again I met some really interesting people such as bloggers and just general music lovers. So, in short, the moral of the story is; don't be afraid to go busking. For some reason I had a real fear of it, but after receiving such a positive response, I feel like I was a fool for not trying it earlier in the season! -AD