Last week, Q-Line asked: “Should the city create a committee that will audition street performers before they receive a permit to entertain us?”
Here are your responses: ■ “Hey! I think its a great idea! There should be a committee to audition the Third Street Promenade performers. It should not be selected by city staff or city council. This is a job for the Bayside District Board.” ■ “A Committee? What next? A Casting couch? Let the eyes and ears of the audience make the choice.” ■ “Since most of the performers are cats reading fortunes and tarot cards, and monkeys dancing on leashes, perhaps Ring-Ling Brothers or animal trainer Jack Hannah should sit on the committee and audition them.” ■ “I just came back from the Promenade, I live very close to it, and I’m sitting on the bench reading a paper and I had to leave because there was this guy singing very, very loudly and off-tune. Yes, I think somebody should audition those people who perform there because this was so noisy nobody could really rest or relax or enjoy anything. So I think that’s a very good idea.” ■ “In response to the city creating a committee that’ll audition street performers, I think they should. I also think they should limit the duration of their performance, that is the time that they can do performances, to one month, and they have to take a month off. So that you don’t get sick of the same performers over and over. And the number of performers per street should be limited, or maybe it already is, like four or five per block, ‘cause they’re just stacked on top of each other.” ■ “I don’t think those street performers are necessary at all. They are a nuisance, they’re noisy, it’s stupid, it adds to the pollution and we don’t need all these dumb old tourists walking up and down, up and down, up and down. I don’t want those people around anymore that make all that unruly noise.” ■ “Please! No more committees by the city! Their selections might not be what you would like to hear anyway. And if you don’t like what the performers are doing, all you have to do is walk away.”
Q-LINE, from page 3 ADVERTISE! ■ “Street performers are real and an organic part of street life and they cannot be chosen from above. If they are not that good, passers-by will not donate to them, and they’ll go away on their own accord.” ■ “The beauty of entertainment is that some of it is great and some of it sucks. The gift of the Third Street Promenade is the eccentricity of the good and bad entertainment. So keep things as they are and let the people decide.” ■ “Absolutely not. The city should not create a committee that will audition street performers. It’ll become some kind of corporate nightmare the way the Promenade has become, anyway. For those few that sound horrible, they don’t stay that long really, they don’t come back because they don’t make any money. Those performers are what gives Santa Monica and the Promenade some variety and some individuality. If you start auditioning, you’re gonna create a whole new world, and the record companies and all that are gonna get involved. Please do not do it!” ■ “The street performers should be removed completely. There are all sorts of places around the country, pedestrian malls, like Miami Beach, Lincoln Road, thriving Old Town Pasadena, and so forth, where they don’t have this cacophony of noise. On summer Saturday evenings the competing noise is almost ludicrous. It’s just ridiculous how one can’t even hold a conversation with this ridiculous level of noise; particularly that Old Philippino One-Man-Band-Guy with the bare feet who plays ‘Guantanamera’ until you just can’t stand it anymore, should be removed and euthanized for his own good. While they’re getting rid of these street performers, they should get rid of those goofy dinosaurs and all the homeless people and the goths and dog-collar tattooed set. The Promenade has gone to hell, just in the last five years that I’ve lived here, and it’s become a joke. The city council should study Miami Beach, Lincoln Road as a place where adults can gather in a civilized and upscale environment. The Promenade is heading for oblivion if the present nonsense continues, and it’s symbolized by this cacophony of noise, it’s insane that’s been permitted to persist and fester. Thank You.” ■ “Absolutely you should audition them. There’s only one catch — the people who audition them must be talented people. Not people who sit on the city council. There are people that have been performing for years who ought to get grandfathered in. But no question that they should be auditioned. Absolutely.” ■ “I certainly think you should create a committee that will audition street performers before they get their permits. As it stands, most of the performers there are very good, but you have some now that should not be singing anywhere, particularly an elderly Asian man on, it looks like kids’drums, and a few other people. For the most part, I think they do a great job, and they bring in people, they attract a good amount of people I think to what would ordinarily be a very boring store street.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 25, 2002. Read the original PDF.