Don’t play it again, Sam

A guest post here from my colleague Graham Clark, lead singer, guitarist and song writer for the brilliant band Brilleaux.

    I just read on the front page of the Herald that Auckland’s council is passing a law that forbids BUSKERS from playing a song more than once every hour!!
    WTF?
    Does that mean you can play a 45 minute version of ‘Sister Ray,’ but Not 2 x 5 minute versions of ‘Sweet Jane’?
    What about encores?
    What about requests?
    Who exactly is going to police this, and at whose expense?
    Are they going to allocate some TWAT in grey zip-up shoes and a clipboard to stand there with each busker and write down what songs they play and then bust them if they play a song twice?
    How would Mr Grey-Shoes even know what’s being played.
   And who exactly gets to feel Mr Grey-Shoes’ hand upon their collar?  Does this apply only to buskers who have applied for a council-approved busking licence, or does it apply to tourists or travelling buskers also?
    What if you are walking down Queen Street and accidentally whistle the same song twice - can you get busted? 
    There is only one considered response: “FUCK OFF!!”
    I can’t wait till my band gets to play at the next festival in Auckland - I am going to play the same song several times and see if we can get ourselves busted.
    It just shows how things have changed.  In the good old days musicians used to have to resort to trashing hotel room,  chucking TVs out of windows, doing drugs or getting drunk and disorderly to get arrested.  Now all you have to do is play the same song twice.