Buskers face off at Little Italy farmers market

A January 13 video of a filmed confrontation between known buskers — a local tap dancer and a rapper — at the Little Italy Farmers Market went viral.

The clip starts with Pat the Tap Dancer kicking Joseph Harrison's gold-colored tip bucket so hard it flew out of the selfie video's frame. Money flew out of the bucket as well. That Saturday early morning, by happenstance, Harrison was recording a selfie video while singing and standing atop his metallic-gold-painted speaker.

Original Instagram post

"You want fucking trouble?" yelled Pat. "I'll give you fucking trouble [for] stealing my spot."

Pat was peeved that Harrison took his street corner.

Harrison, a hip-hop artist who goes by the Joe Dreamz monicker on Instagram, continued singing, "I remember your name and where you came from ... "

"You are not fucking playing here," yelled Pat into Harrison's body camera. "I'm telling you again; you are not fucking playing here."

Harrison requested Pat to call the bi-weekly farmers market manager just east of the Waterfront Park on Pacific Highway.  

Harrison explained to me on January 21 that "The tap dancer (Pat) has been performing at the Little Italy farmers market in the same spot for years. What [Pat] does is he gets there at 4-5 am, leaves his equipment there, and comes back when the farmers market begins." That Saturday at around 7:30 am, the market was already filled with other performers claiming the spots. "It occurred to me that it’s neither fair nor right for someone to leave their equipment overnight in a public place and prevent anyone else from getting a chance to perform," Harrison explained. "So I relocated [Pat's] equipment and began performing."

The confrontation began when Pat, the tap dancer, returned.

But this wasn't the first time, said Harrison, "The feedback I got from the farmers market manager who remarked that the tap dancer has had similar issues with other performers."

Another local tap dancer, Claudia Gomez, saw the viral video. "I know Pat," she said to me. "He is typically a very nice person. Pat is a busker and pedi cab driver. This is what he does for a living."

A busker is a street performer who generally sets up at the same spots where there's a lot of foot traffic, which improves the chances of receiving more tips.

Gomez wondered, "Was Pat there before the other artist arrived? I was a busker myself in the past, and in busking culture, there are underground rules."

One of the underground rules listed on various busker websites and Reddit is that if the busker has performed at the same spot for a while, as Pat the tap dancer has "for years," it's generally his spot.

But, "If two buskers want the same spot, they can negotiate a schedule," suggested another local busker on the San Diego Buskers and Artists Facebook page. "I have done that before, and it's not hard, and it benefits civility." Another person who saw the video said, "This was one of the reasons Balboa Park went to the permit system. In the 80s, there were five spots that everyone wanted. There were constant fights going on."

And in 2023-2024, the same type of busker beef happens at Balboa Park, as some who don't have permits set up camp. And it's not just conflicts between the performers, but with the park ranger and the performers.

"Balboa Park still gets artists messed with (by park rangers) on occasion from magicians to musicians, to people making balloons, or doing soap bubbles in the park," William Dorsett said at a January 9 city council meeting.

Dorsett, who sold his paintings at Balboa Park in the past, advocates for buskers' rights. Around Thanksgiving weekend, he set up a Balboa Park Bubble Rally.

"Park rangers have written a couple of arbitrary citations to bubble performers in Balboa Park," Dorsett continued. "We would like to rally as a group of adults, and perhaps children, to blow bubbles for a couple of hours in Balboa Park and see if we get warnings for citations. They are citing people for littering by blowing soap bubbles. So be aware that you could receive a citation for doing this. This would be group activism, to rally for the right to perform, or just to enjoy the act of blowing bubbles."

Forty-four people responded to the rally's Facebook invitation.

In 2018, two bubble performers argued over a grassy spot by the Ocean Beach Pier.

And while San Diego County buskers request the city to do less governing, many neighbors say it'll be chaos in the popular tourist spots mentioned above, plus Gaslamp, Pacific Beach, and Mission Beach.

The incident between Harrison, the rapper, and Pat, the tap dancer, at the beginning of this story, is proof that self-governing between buskers could work.  

"I apologize for kicking your can," said Pat. "I was that angry." Harrison responded, "If we keep doing this (arguing), it's not good for the people here. It's hard for them to enjoy your performance or my performance. What if you tap-danced to my songs? We can be in  synchrony, and we both can prosper."

Pat responded, "Can you play anything upbeat?"

The clip ends with the two performing together, and they split the tips 60/40 in favor of Harrison.