Photos courtesy of Josh Fischel
Every day for the last month, Josh Fischel has been engaging in a social experiment of sorts. Once a day—sometimes in the morning, sometimes late at night—he sets up with his guitar on public property somewhere in Long Beach and starts playing.
Sometimes he stays for 10 minutes, other times an hour and a half, with most passerby unaware that Fischel is one of the city’s most accomplished musicians, a full-time singer-songwriter since the Sublime era who has toured the world and currently runs musical theater company RIOTstage.
Among friends, he calls his February-long project “the busking thing.”
Fischel first discovered busking while touring in Europe. On days off, he would play on the streets of Stockholm, Amsterdam, Paris, wherever—noting how people would often stop and appreciate the magic of a free show.
“A few months ago, I was looking through old photos of Europe and remembered how much fun it was. I thought it would be cool to busk around town here,” he says. “Long Beach has been lacking in entertainment for so long so I thought I would play for people for nothing.”
Fischel started his February street fest on January 31 with a 30-minute set in front of the Bank of America in Belmont Shore, where he made $60, the most of any night he has busked in Long Beach since. The finale busk will be held tonight in front of Fingerprints, where Fischel will be joined by at least 20 of his close friends.
“At first, I wasn’t trying to promote myself and it wasn’t for political reasons—it was just to play,” he says. But after the first few days, local activist Eric Gray—who operates the Long Beach Street Performers Facebook page—reached out to Fischel and saw “the busking thing” as something larger, a way to make public acoustic performances more palatable for business owners and a major step towards making Long Beach more open to these types of things.
“Now, it’s a matter of changing culture,” Fischel says, noting that several major-label acts (including Mumford & Sons) got their start busking. “I think it takes thick skin to busk because you’re out there singing your heart out and, unlike in Europe, people don’t really stop and pay attention in the States.”
Over the course of February, Fischel has played (rain or shine) everywhere from the Promenade to the beach to the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Long Beach Blvd. And aside from a few run-ins—he got the cops called on him while playing under the ferris wheel at The Pike at Rainbow Harbor and his guitar was almost stolen by hooligans as he was on his way to another Second Street busk—his experiment has proven fruitful in raising awareness of the public art form.
“So many people are trying to change the culture of Long Beach music in general. It’s so palpable,” he says. “I’ve lived here for 17 years and I’ve met more people in the last six months that are trying to change things.
Tonight’s finale also coincides with an international day of busking that Fischel organized where his friends in cities from Tel Aviv to Auckland will play on the street and submit a video for inclusion in a compilation video.
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Afterwards, Fischel hopes to continue working with Gray on promoting the Busking Bill of Rights and encouraging performers to get out there. The hope is to create a website that will let people know where it is legal to busk, where it is not and what kind of foot traffic certain locations get. Eventually, he envisions a scheduling system similar to Venice Beach’s where you can select a time and date to reserve spots along popular corridors.
So after 29 days of performing all over Long Beach, where does Fischel say are the best and worst places to busk in the city?
“I always make money on Second Street,” he says. “But the corner of PCH and Long Beach Blvd. might be the worst. There’s no reason to play there other than just to do it. I’d probably go back there to do it again, though, but that’s because I’m crazy.”
Josh Fischel’s free “Final Busk Extravaganza” will take place in front of Fingerprints, 420 E. 4th St. at 7PM. Follow Fischel on Facebook at facebook.com/joshua.fischel
Read more:
- Joshua Fischel: A More Complete Experience
- RIOTstage Singing a New Song in Local Theatre
- Local Bands Play East Village Streets at 5th Annual Buskerfest
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