I agree that buskers have the right to perform in public places.

I've been playing at Folklife for 27 years and have watched it go from the highpoint of my year to an almost impossible scene. I still play there because my band mates want to, because I feel nostalgia for it, and because I usually pick up some new fans. I don't, however, look forward to it or really enjoy it anymore.

When I started playing there, no one got paid and all the performers were from the Northwest. Some years back, major "stars" from elsewhere in the world started being allowed to play, and these stars were paid. This was a major slap in the face to the local musicians. I have watched the amount of care that is taken of the local musicians decrease every year.

The festival has turned into a generalized urban party where a large percentage of the attendees have no interest in folk music whatsoever. It's a free party on a sunny weekend . . .

I have a fairly wide definition of folk music, but the festial programmers apparently don't have ANY definition of folk music. Rap and rock, complete with full amplification, are intrusive and turn the festival into any other summer music festival -- why call it folk anymore?

There is an acre with hundreds of drummers playing full volume non-stop all day every day. Playing folk music in the face of that is almost pointless.

And as much as I like buskers and think they have a right to be there, they are a major pain in the ass. The place is lousy with them, from 50 little girls scratching on their violins to what looks like every professional busker on the West Coast. I don't know what the answer is, but I suspect the Festival gets as many complaints about them as they do about anything else. My biggest beef is that there is nowhere in the festival for a spontaneous jam session, which used to be my favorite thing about Folklife. Everywhere is blocking a path, right next to a stage, or filled with someone with their hat out. There are too many buskers to be functional.

I have thought for years that Folklife needs to move out of the city and off public land. The "free" festival is paid for by non-stop, non-stop, non-stop guilting everyone into making a donation. My understanding is that their contract with the city requires the festival to be free, but they still have to pay for the Seattle Center gounds. Who thought that was a functional economic model? It is bothersome that the festival exists because of local musicians who are playing for free and we get to watch everyone else in the place make money -- food vendors, craft people, and other performers who didn't sign up to perform.

Reggie, I have great respect for you as a person and a musician, but saying "nice try John" doesn't answer the question I posed earlier. I really am curious if you think it would be alright (as in legal) for a busker to work a wedding crowd. If so, why? If not, where do you draw the line?