by Bill Allyn

Over the past couple years, working with the ACLU and the Drinker, Biddle & Reath law firm they acquired, we got the District of Columbia (D.C.) to agree that street performing is legal and protected under the Constitution's first amendment and regulations of the panhandling act.

 

At first they (the powers that be after you make 15 phone calls to find out who they are!) told us panhandling is legal but passing the hat after a performance is not. They finally agreed that we were right as long as we followed the same rules the panhandlers, such as no approaching vehicular traffic at intersections. In the end we received a letter from the district's corporate council and the Chief of Police which we can use when officers of the law who don't know the law ask us to pack up! The letter is good for D.C. property but not federal property in the district, as they have yet to recognize the Constitution! (Although they're looking for it!)

 

Recently President Bill Clinton, in fear of the militia and other unknown evils, closed Pennsylvania Avenue adjacent to the White House to vehicular traffic, restricting it to pedestrian use. A few days later, Robert Strong (emcee of the D.C. Continental Congress of Jugglers) was strolling by the White House and thought to himself,  "What a pitch! Quarter-mile long, 80 feet wide and tourists everywhere!" So he pulled his phone out of his pocket and called me.

 

I explained to him that the sidewalk there is federal property overseen by the Secret Service, and that Lafeyette Park across the street falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior's National Park Police. However, the street itself is owned by the same District of Columbia which gave us permission to busk on their property: Lets do it!  

 

We haul our props to the site, smack-dab in front of the White House. We start to set up and two uniformed Secret Service agents approach. They inquire and we tell them we are going to do a show. They shrug their shoulders and ask, "What are those?" We say, "Torches." They say, "Fire?!" We say, "Yes." They say, "No." We say, "OK."

 

Well, after a discussion we say, "OK." One of the agents looks into my bag and says, "Don't even think about getting out that whip."

 

Again we relinquish and he points to the roof of the White House and says "We'll be watching you." On the roof we could see the silhouette of another agent with binoculars.

 

So we started. Robert and I played tag with some magic and juggling bits (we don't normally work together). We did a pass around. I was about to pull out the drywall ax and eat the apple and Robert says, "Let me do my rola-bola next." So I step back and look around. I notice about seven uniformed officers across the street working their way slowly to our back side, and there are now four binocular guys on the roof and maybe a supervisor (no binoculars). There are more agents behind the crowd and uniforms on the other side of the fence. Robert reaches into his bag, pulls out his machetes and...

 

"That's all folks!" We are converged upon from all sides by agents, Robert is told to put the knives down. He casually says the are just juggling machetes, but is again told "Put them down!" By now all the agents on the roof are in the prone position, their silhouettes are just bumps on the edge of the roof and they have traded the binoculars for a single scope to see us better. On the other side of the fence some SWAT style guys dressed in juggling black appear, and out of our crowd three tourists step forward, spread their arms and say "Stand back! Secret Service!"

 

Real smart guys, real smart! I backed away from our props, laced my fingers behind my neck and told the agents that they could purchase their own machetes a few blocks down Pennsylvania Avenue at the Juggling Capitol. They started going through our bags, which tripled the size of our crowd (We'll use them to open the show next time!), and informed us they were going to confiscate all the dangerous items.

 

"What are these?" "Torches." "This?" "Coleman fuel." "This?" "Another fuel canister." Oh, how I wanted to blurt out, "Well, at least its not fertilizer!" 

 

I started telling them to get out their pens and paper and start writing down a list of what they were confiscating, and began spouting prices. I was out of it! I told them the machetes were $38 each. It went on, with them going through the bags and me asking how we are going to get our stuff back, telling them prices, telling them to write it down. They pull out my drywall ax. "What did you think you were going to do with this?" I reply, "I don't know... Build a house?" '

 

The first officer asks, "Don't you think when we told you 'no whips or fire' that knives and hammers would be included in that?" Robert and I looked at each other and said simultaneously, "No!"

 

I started my litany about our props again and then they asked if we would shut up if they allowed us to put our stuff back in the bags and leave. Robert looked at me like I should agree so I did. However, I added, "OK, but we'll pass the hat before we go!" So we asked the crowd to imagine that we had juggled knives, torches and axes, we told them we were not paid by the Secret Service to perform here or to leave, but we had to. We asked that they support free speech. Unfortunately we had to stay within our new circle of friends and the crowd was not too anxious to join us. A few brave souls stepped forward to support us monetarily, however, and someone even dropped in a $10 bill without asking for change.

 

Then we were free to go, and they even let our volunteer go. I think she stepped into more' than she bargained for!

 

We had to give name rank and serial number. They asked for my Social Security number, being unaware that it is not supposed to be used for identification purposes. As a matter of fact that is how they keep their records on you - different rules for those guys. One officer said that busking may be legal today, "But it won't be legal tomorrow." I replied, "Thank you for the information, Congressman. What district do you represent?" We asked what real danger our props were, since we couldn't throw anything the quarter-mile to the White House. We were told there are a lot of foreign tourists here who might not speak the language, that the Secret Service is looking out in their behalf.

 

How do you guys do it, performing in Europe and Asia where they don't know that knives or fire might be dangerous?

 

Well, we called the ACLU and D, B&R again and they're back on the case. Once we get it all straightened out, I'd like to go back there in force and, fill the whole street. Any takers?!