It's a dog licence with "dog" crossed out and "entertainment" written in!

One of the great quaint traditions of England has just taken a battering. The "Momas play", where people perform in a pub in exchange for food and beer. A tradition going back aeons. Seems the pub owners were told off by the local council for putting on entertainment without an entertainment licence.

Street entertainments are fine, and so the play was uncremonially moved onto the street. The counciller who enforced the rules defended the action on Radio 4's "Today" show. Someone had informed the council and they had to act. We have to ave these rules for the sake of public safety.

This trend depresses me. Is a pub full of people really much more of a fire risk than the same pub with some people performing instead of drinking? I dunno, but I can at least take heart that it does appear that the councillers were powerless to use some discretion in the face of a kill-joy busybody, demanding that the rules be enforced.

I dunno, but free public entertainment does have a bad image. Undeservedly so, in my humble opinion. I like buskers, street performers, pub entertainment, etc. If I like what I hear and there's a place for me to leave a tip, I'll happily throw a pound in. One groups of buskers were enterprising enough to mass-produce a CD. I bought a copy and it's rarely out of my car CD player.

For me, busking is a sign of healthy society. People are happy to take some time to perform for the public with no expectation of return, and the public are happy to pay up when there is no obligation. It's an antidote to the plastic that the music industry churn out. The average busker is quite good, where as the average Pop Fame Star Academy Idol Rivals is quite... well...

The CD was from a group of three folk musicians, playing violin, guitar and harmonica. They called themselves "The Bucket Band" and the CD I bought was called "Sunny Street". It cost me ten pounds and the three musicians probably got keep most of it.

They are not part of the great music industry machine, and frankly, I hope they never will be. If thier next CD came with an industry logo, they would not have as much soul. Every note would become suspect. Was this track thier first choice, or did someone feel that a cover version of "The tide is high" would have a greater marketability to teenagers?

For now, free entertainment can continue. How long before you need a licence to perform in public or produce a CD? Independent music is a threat to the music industries bottom line, and the industry has enough friends in high places to influence the law-makers.
"Busking is a threat to public health."
"Independent music production can be used for piracy."
"Music executives are best placed to find quality musicians."

Bootnote:

I'd like to put out an appeal to actually find the other two CDs produced by the Bucket band. The titles are Rainy Daze and Live in Britain. I've lost thier address and the phone number doesn't work. They come from Cardiff (or is it Swansea) in South Wales. If you know where to find them, please tell me.