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Citizen complaint of the day: The living statues are out of control

A concerned citizen has had enough of all those gold-plated people just silently staring at him in front of Faneuil Hall:

The living statues, dancers, etc are taking over and people are not seeing the reason to be here Our HISTORY.

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Comments

Tourists still go to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market for history? Ah, yes, the historical Ann Taylor and Cheers bar and Urban Outfitters. Silly me.

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Don't forget the historical bars of McFadden's, The Good Bar, and the Hard Rock cafe. I wish I had been there when Paul Revere was sitting in the Hard Rock cafe and got notice the British were coming.

Peterborough
http://www.bostontipster.com

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They drill in the courtyard, with their historical boom boxes and tumbling moves.

All to the beat of the drummer boy with his Ye Olde Historical Plastic Tubs and Buckets!

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...Dick's Last Resort. According to my 11th grade history book, he invited some of the British military higher-ups there for a few pints, but they didn't take kindly to the names written on their paper hats, which included things like "knicker-dropper" and "pantaloon sniffer."
Crispus Attucks never let the Brits live it down, and on March 5th, 1770 they finally said "Enough!" and wrote "jerkin stain" on his hat after shooting him.
Thus, the Boston Massacre and eventual American Revolution were born.

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I nominate this as comment of the year.

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Do you know what the term "Yankee" really means?

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please enlighten us

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We should probably get rid of all the restaurants, bars, and shops in the area too, because it takes away from OUR HISTORY. People are going to Faneuil Hall to LEARN, not to have a good time!

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The Lonely Assassins, that's what they used to be called. No one quite knows where they came from, but they're as old as the Universe, or very nearly. And they have survived this long because they have the most perfect defence system ever evolved. They are Quantum Locked. They don't exist when they are being observed. The moment they are seen by any other living creature they freeze into rock. No choice, it's a fact of their biology. In the sight of any living thing, they literally turn into stone. And you can't kill a stone. Of course, a stone can't kill you either, but then you turn your head away. Then you blink. Then, oh yes, it can.

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If that gold thing in the photo is a human it's the best example of frozen statues I've ever seen.

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It's just a matter of time before we're knee-deep in dog muck, thieving kids and crusty jugglers.

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...crusty jugglers!

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IMAGE(http://britfa.gs/shed/src/132231365958.jpg)

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This one wasn't even in one of the mayor's "performance zones". Instead he had the audacity to use one of the nearby benches.

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Adam, I am a professional busker, a living statue, and have been performing at Faneuil Hall for 8 years. My costume is copper, not gold, and I am often mistaken for a number of historical figures when I statue.

I don't know how long you've been here, or if you know that Quincy Market has its very own auditions and schedules a plethora of buskers to perform on its steps every year. The rest of the grounds around Faneuil Hall are PUBLIC PROPERTY and therefore fair game for all buskers to perform on, as is any other public property in the city of Boston, thanks to Stephen Baird.

Busking is a centuries old tradition with roots around the world, and is active in almost every major city. People who come to Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market see me busking as a living statue and exclaim that this is just like in Barcelona/New Orleans/Venice/Sydney/Edinburgh/Montreal/etc.!

If you are in fact concerned with learning more history, I encourage you to peruse this site:
http://www.buskersadvocates.org/

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And if I may return the favor:

After you read Universal Hub for awhile, you'll notice I just love browsing the city's online complaint service for interesting complaints. That I post them doesn't mean I submitted them or even agree with them; just that they're not your run-of-the-mill graffiti or burned-out streetlight complaints.

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I'm sorry but I just don't see the point of these so-called "living statues", nor do I consider it busking or entertainment. Nor, by the way, was I aware that "statue" is now a verb-"when I statue". I suppose one goes out "statuing". I am all for street performance, even performance art, but as either the statue people don't cut it.

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What you just said doesn't matter at all...to anyone.

Whether you "get the point" or don't consider it busking doesn't matter. For you to talk as if this isn't a performance art is absurd. Do you know how broad the definition of "performance art" is? Evidently not, since you're not even clear on the definition of busking (which is simply performance art performed on the street, usually for money).

Is miming (yes, that's a verb) a performance art? And if performed on the street for money, then is it busking? And this is different than miming how? Living statues are a branch of mime work. It's a branch of entertainment that goes back to the days it was called "tableau vivant" in the Medieval and Renaissance days...and likely built on even earlier forms of physical art/theater.

It was tremendously popular (on the street, in cities, just like Boston!) up to the advent of movies, TV, and radio with famous works of art often "displayed" on a mocked up set as a way for people to be exposed to artwork they might never have seen otherwise because of the cost/difficulty of reproducing the artwork locally.

Sadly, ironically, that is the very notion of the purpose...the very origin, even...of the social media which you just generously partook of in order to retch up such an uninformed, and just plainly incorrect, opinion. So, I conclude, that if you personally choose to continue to remain unaware of the point of honoring such an artistic medium... A medium that is entwined so greatly with the human condition to want to convey message, beauty, and even information even when there was no other available medium other than to reproduce such things with the human body... then, may I suggest that you humbly refrain from commenting further until you gain an appreciation for the humanities which the rest of us know to honor.

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The one that says:

"STOP LIKING WHAT I DON'T LIKE"

Ditto.

Besides, I can't imagine anything easier to ignore and just pass by than a mime. I mean, they're not playing music, screaming into a microphone, or bugging you for spare change. They're just - there.

Sorry to disrupt your perfect world.

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After all these years assuming that buskers are self-important blowhards, it's nice to finally have that suspicion proven correct.

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Not just a mime ... a gilded mime!

Or is it "goldface"?

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I think I need to bring a couch down there and see if I can get some tourists to dance on it with me.

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It's people playing guitars in public

I don't see any living statues

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... and nobody has yet mentioned Amanda Fucking Palmer ?

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