(BOULDER, COLORADO) It seems there's just no love for buskers. To celebrate the start of Busker Alley's 3rd year, an announcement of Busker Alley - The Movie to start filming this summer was made official by producers Jack Carter and Zoobie at the Boulder Cafe July 4th, 2008. Unlike previous movies of buskers and street performers, Busker Alley - The Movie will not portray the classic busker love story gone wrong. There's just too much talent.

"We got very tired of this overused format. Almost every studio film ever made features the busker falling in love with another. It goes all the way back to the silent film "The Street Singer" and always with the same result," said Jack Carter of the film.

"This movie will represent the finest in busker comedy mainly because there isn't any. Instead of love, Busker Alley - The Movie will be an outrageous, wild, and hilarious escapade featuring Bob the BuskerBot. He takes an amazing journey interacting with lots of authentic buskers," Zoobie added.

Zoobie, himself a busker for over twenty years, will write and direct the effort drawing on his fourteen years of experience filming buskers worldwide. Exclusive distribution will be on BuskerAlley.com with the movie streamed in chapters over the internet. Shot in full HDV, it is yet another in a long series of firsts developed from the Busker Central reference site Zoobie created in 2005 (Princeton Review).

"We're going for entertainment in this production. I get contacted about five times a year by the Sundance Film Festival dreamers wanting me to help make their documentary. In competition, there may be several busker films submitted of which they can only accept one, the first. Festivals are fun but it's probably been said and done years and years ago."

"We can't reveal the crazy plot to Busker Alley - The Movie but let's just say it's a study, refinement, and result of standing on the shoulders of giants in the industry with several funny twists and turns. But you'll find no love story here except the pure love, humor, and joy that resides deep within the art of busking."

"It's really quite a technological achievement...to be able to create, direct, then distribute this ndy production right on the web. It's great. Independent film is exploding and this is indicative of the art now being produced, thanks to the internet, that may not have been created otherwise."

The film will première on BuskerAlley.com and début in Boulder, Colorado. Stay tuned for more official updates on Busker Alley - The Movie! 7/5/08

(BOULDER, COLORADO) And away we go! Busker Alley - The Movie is currently in production featuring those crazy buskers and street performers in a original movie unlike any other. Let's check in on producer Jack Carter and writer/director Zoobie and see how things are going.

"We've gotten some really great shots of what we're trying to portray with some excellent performers," starts Zoobie. "It's fun to write, direct, then shoot something that's different than anything else out there. In contrast, documentaries are much easier to make because the subjects, themselves, do just about everything for you. I've already been quoted twice in other documentaries and wasn't even performing. That just goes to show how competitive this area of movie-making really is."

"It's a lot more involved than I've ever dreamed...and funnier, too. I can't wait to get into post and make the final cuts. There's some really cool stuff out there. I may end up a one-man band doing all the music myself. We're going to keep everything pretty much under wraps since these websites are really raked over by other filmmakers. I guess the internet is probably the first stop in this whole process. I've even seen an attorney para-phrase something I've written."

Co-producer Jack Carter chimes in, "I never thought it would take this much effort, either. I'm not a perfectionist and neither is Zoobie but I think it may take longer to make than we initially thought. It should keep us busy for quite a long time. Now that the economy has gone bonkers, it should be interesting to see whether it increases the number of people busking both here and globally."

"It's pretty strange trying to communicate to fellow buskers exactly what we're doing," Zoobie continues. "Some love it, some don't get it, and some just want money. We used to compensate everyone with cash. Now, the busker gets a high-quality DVD production which ties them over until they see the movie. One busker said the disc was the greatest thing he'd gotten all year."

"It's nuts but we've actually got another movie in the works which comes out after this one..." Carter interrupts, "...but we'll cross the Charles bridge when we get to it."

Stay tuned for more official updates on Busker Alley - The Movie!

12/21/08

(HOLLYWOOD) A stunned Glen Hansard was already in Heaven. He had just performed his nominated song center-stage at the world-famous Oscars. Although the odds were against his winning, the magic of the moment was more than enough to satisfy his artistic prowess.

Here was an Irish lad at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles waiting for the proclaimed winner in the wildest contest ever conceived. His dream was in full bloom as he stood starry-eyed out at the audience filled with famous Hollywood writers, producers, directors, and even stars.

Hansard flashed back to the time he was a busker on Dublin's Grafton Street for five years before forming the band The Frames. Although a rough and tumble lifestyle for a mere muse, his homeland was now on the other side of the world. He had made it to America and was honored to be here.

Then, it all turned into a fuzzy blur as Hansard heard "Falling Slowly" announced as the winner and suddenly would be speaking to the Hollywood elite. As he returned to center-stage to accept his Oscar, through the fog he realized an incredible thing had happened. A bloody busker had just won an Academy Award for Best Original Song from the Indy film "Once".

"Thanks! This is amazing! What are we doing here? This is mad! We made this film two years ago. We shot on two handycams. It took us three weeks to make. We made it for a hundred grand. We never thought we would come into a room like this and be in front of you people. It's been an amazing thing. Thanks for taking this film seriously, all of you. It means a lot to us. Thanks to the Academy, thanks to all the people who've helped us, they know who they are, we don't need to say them. This is amazing! Make art. Make art! Thanks!"

Hansard was ushered offstage where a huge round of paparazzi awaited his presence. The dream was just starting when he thought it was ending. "The Oscar for Best Original Song goes to...Falling Slowly...words and music by Glen Hansard" kept playing over in his head. He was now famous. His film was famous. Speilberg had mentioned it at Cannes. He had made Oscar history. Now all that was left was the red carpet receptions and floating through the mist all the way home to the Emerald Isle.

Glen Hansard's accomplishment is an inspiration to us all.

Strive to be the best at what you do best. 2/25/08

(NEW YORK) The 2008-09 season will finally bring the musical Busker Alley to Broadway.

Busker Alley, which has tried unsuccessfully to open for almost forty years, will get it's long overdue début next theater season. The announcement was made November 30th, 2007 by the producers aboard the Queen Mary 2.

The original Busker Alley was a musical adaptation of St. Martin's Lane, a vintage 1938 London film starring Charles Laughton depicting buskers and street performers entertaining the masses. Along the winding way, two buskers fall in and out of love on their way to glory.

Songs include "Busker Alley" and "She's got a way" written by Academy Award winners Richard and Robert Sherman of "Chim Chim Cher-ee" fame. With the Grand Opening, Busker Alley will take the spotlight and, once again, bid for the success it has always hoped to have on the Broadway stage.

The new musical stars Tony Award winner Jim Dale as "stagedoor Charlie" Baxter, an aging St. Martin's Lane busker. He adopts the street urchin "Libby" then watches his love go from street performing all the way to the St. Martin's Lane Theatre in the performing arts district of old London. Also starring is an amazing and talented cast of professionals not to be missed. With a stage set to yesteryear thrown in for good measure, it promises to be a rollicking good time.

The return of Busker Alley's official première marks one of the first times where all production numbers have been written decades earlier. The musical has suffered no less than five name changes.

The scene of the first scheduled opening was the St. James Theater. Artist Leroy Neiman was comissioned to paint a forty foot mural where he depicted a busker on stilts (left). Upon completion and told the original production's opening had just been cancelled, he remarked, "It just breaks my heart."

Real buskers had actually been booked to kick off the Broadway première that never happened. You can view a video of Tommy Tune and the cast performing "Busker Alley" at the 1995 Tony Awards here.

Director/designer Tony Walton has been recognized with an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, and 3 Tony Awards. This will be a very different production than the one starring the talented Mr. Tune with no lamp posts to be seen. It will be much closer to what the creators invisioned when writing Busker Alley. More information can be found at BuskerAlleyTheMusical.com

Join us in celebration and awareness of buskers and performing artists around the globe. Stay tuned for official updates of pictures, interviews, and songs of the Sherman Brothers in the long-awaited début of Busker Alley on Broadway! 12/1/07

(BROADWAY) Preparations are underway for the production of Busker Alley - The New Musical to open for the 2008-09 theater season.

Starring Tony Award winner Jim Dale, the play is set before World War II and based on an early 20th century novel, "Professor Unrat oder Das ende eines Tyrannen" (Professor Rubbish or The End of a Tyrant). First published in 1905, the story has had many renditions including the film "The Blue Angel" starring Marlene Dietrich in 1930.

Enjoy these exclusive images down in Busker Alley just off Broadway.

Production, Direction, & Promotion

Margot Astrachan, Producer

Robert R. Blume, Producer

Heather Duke, Producer

Kristine Lewis, Producer

Jamie Fox, Producer

Joanna Kerry, Producer

Tony Walton, Director

AJ Carothers, Author

Richard and Robert Sherman, Music and Lyrics

Niko Companies, LTD General Management

Springer Associates (SAPR) Public Relations

Jerold L. Couture, Esq. Production Counsel

"Here's to buskers...past, present, and future!"

There's a whole lot of strife

On the river of life

But the one thing that carries you through

Is to be your own person

Dream your own dreams

And paddle your own canoe

-- from Charlie's song "Paddle Your Own Canoe"

"Busker Alley" the CD features the original cast recording of the New York première at The York Theatre All-Star Gala starring Jim Dale and Glenn Close as well as Broadway stars Noah Racey, Jessica Grove, George S. Irving, Anne Rogers, John Bolton, and Simon Jones available at BuskerAlleyTheMusical.com

"Busking will always be a vibrant part of our Humanity"

Busker Alley - The New Musical!

8/8/08

(NEW YORK) Just when you thought Busker Alley was about to launch, it seems the worldwide economic crunch has also hit Broadway. Theater-goers have declined 7% overall causing major productions to close their doors.

Busker Alley - The Musical, written in the late sixties, will have to wait a bit longer for it's première. It was revealed today that plans are still in the works but have been delayed instead aiming for a hopeful 2009 début.

"We've taken a hit with this economy as you might imagine. But, the project is moving forward - just, unfortunately, not as quickly as originally hoped," said Jamie Fox, producer.

Let's wish the cast and crew well and hope Broadway finally gets to experience the first play dedicated to those wild and wacky buskers and street performers around the world.

Stay tuned for more updates on Busker Alley - The Musical!

12/20/08