For Calgary buskers, the magic is fading with the closing of the main venue, but the show must go on

Dan Duguay, of the One Man Band, played his final show at the soon-to-be-shuttered Eau Claire Market on Saturday, surprising many people, some who saw him perform decades ago.

The market will be closed and demolished this summer.

For the performers, it was a farewell to one of Calgary's most successful bus locations.

“That was the great thing about Eau Claire,” Duguay said. “It was indoors, which allowed me to drive, whether it was raining or snowing. There were many bus drivers. You should have come down here and waited for seats.

“It was a very active time.”

Dan (The One Man Band) Duguay poses with his Eau Claire Market bandmate “Arty the Scoundrel” in 1996. Duguay says the closure of the market has meant less space for bus drivers. (Contributed by Dan Duguay)

Duguay said the Eau Claire Market first drew him to the city. He performed there from 1995 to 2001.

“I moved here because it was an indoor place to play, and in Canada you have to find indoor places to be a busker.”

A dying art form?

“I don't do much anymore because it's a bit of a dying art form,” Duguay said. “We are becoming a cashless society.”

According to Duguay, busking also competes with social media performers, a desensitized society and a lack of suitable performance space. He now earns from corporate concerts, festivals and events.

“There are people who are insensitive to certain things. You know, in the '90s, if you saw a guy playing multiple instruments at once, he'd be like, 'Wow, I've never seen that before.' .' Now you've probably seen it on YouTube,” Duguay said.

Dan Duguay said performing at the Eau Claire Market's farewell event gave him a sense of closure. The mall lured him to Calgary in 1995. (Taylor Brat/CBC)

The downtown Calgary community oversees traffic on the Stephen Avenue sidewalk and admits the event is a challenge. The association is working to revitalize the shopping center to bring vibrancy to the town centre.

“We see busing as a lost art and really we want to encourage hacking. But we want it to be more guided and manageable and of better quality,” said Mark Garner, the association's executive director.

This year, the association is introducing new rules about how close performers can be, where they can set up and how loud they can play on Stephen Avenue. According to Garner, there have been issues with performers drowning out the music in restaurant areas and other performers.

“We want to be strict with the amplification to make sure it's not too high in decibels and doesn't hurt your ears when you walk past one of the live performers,” Garner said.

The city also encourages street performers through its bus program. Motorists and street performers must apply for a standard bus ID from the city. A City Transit Bus ID costs $25 and allows performers to ride the bus everywhere, including transit stations.

For those wishing to ride the bus on Stephen Avenue, they must obtain a standard bus ID issued by the Downtown Calgary Association.

A divided community

James Jordan, a longtime Calgary performer, said the challenging landscape can foster a hardened group of performers.

At age 14, he began performing magic shows in Eau Claire outside the former Hard Rock Cafe. He said the area would not be one of the best places to work in Calgary if it became a construction zone any time soon.

“My generation grew up in a community of street performers. I was there, and maybe a dozen other performers worked together and helped each other grow, learn and develop our art,” he said. “But now it seems to have become an independent art form.

“It's like they're just arguing about time and space.”

James Jordan used to perform magic shows in the Eau Claire area. (Submitted by James Jordan)

While places like Stephen Avenue have a lot of foot traffic, people don't often stop to watch the show for long, Jordan said.

“There's not a lot of mixed traffic on Stephen Avenue,” he said. “I understand that a key element of being a good street performer or a key element of being a good venue is whether or not people want to be in the same area for hours at a time.

“On Stephen Avenue, people go there with a specific purpose. They do that, they get back in their car and they go because of the parking. They don't want to stay more than that hour because they've already paid eight dollars.”

Combining comedy and magic, Jordan now focuses on charter concerts and festivals. But he's looking forward to Eau Claire's return once the market is replaced by an LRT station for the new Green Line.

“I went through all five stages of grief. I went through the reception quite a bit. I'm glad to see it rebuilt now.”

Blaine Muzika has been playing classic rock music with guitar as a hobby for the past 10 years, mostly at the Stampede. But this spring, he decided to perform on Stephen Avenue.

Blaine Muzika performs mainly during Stampede in Calgary. He said his productivity was reduced because people were making frequent debit and credit payments. (Provided by Blaine Music)

He says he has witnessed dangerous conditions for performers, and he also says busking is less successful than it used to be. But for him it's not about the money. He knows that declining revenues don't necessarily mean poor performance. Moments of fear and gratitude compel him to do it.

“I had a couple last year, and I played a song that was their wedding song. So they started dancing, and when I finished the song, they came up and thanked me and gave me $20.”