By Nick Klopsis

Myron Leslie is trying to make it in the difficult world of minor league baseball. (Credit: Dave Schofield/Trenton Thunder)

Catcher Myron Leslie calmly stood at his locker in the messy minor league clubhouse at Trenton’s Waterfront Park. About 90 minutes before game time, Leslie’s Trenton Thunder teammates were grabbing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, sitting on the blue clubhouse sofa watching ESPN, or telling jokes. A few ducked out of the room for quick phone calls to their friends and family. Extra jerseys were crammed inside tiny lockers, leaving little space for anything else. Clubhouse attendants walked around armed with bags of ice, plopping them down next to players who were listening to their iPods and stretching. The atmosphere was relaxed, but everyone was still focused on the game against the Richmond Flying Squirrels.

On the surface, tonight’s game may seem like any other. The team will take the field at 7:00 p.m., play nine innings of baseball, and then call it a day. But for Leslie, it’s much more than just another game. It’s another chance for him to show that he has what it takes to crack a major league roster. Yet, as a backup catcher, the 29-year-old Leslie is also just one hot prospect away from being cut from the team, ending his professional baseball career.

“You never know exactly what to expect,” he said as a teammate came by and enthusiastically slapped him on the back. “Once you get to the professional level, it becomes a job.  That job may be to win games, but it’s still your job. And you’re trying to keep your job, and you can be fired from your job.”

Out in the hallway stood one of those hot prospects that threatens Leslie’s dream. Dellin Betanes, a23-year-old phenom pitcher, had just finished an interview with two high school students, only to be immediately swarmed again by a group of reporters. The Thunder had just placed Betances on the disabled list with a blister on his right pointer finger, officially taking him off the team’s active roster for the foreseeable future. Blisters are very common injuries for pitchers, but the team didn’t want to risk it with their top prospect.

Leslie and Betances are two of 25 players on the Thunder, Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees.  For these boys of summer, tonight’s game at the 6,341-seat Waterfront Park is part of their life-long quest of playing in the majors. But the odds are slim that they’ll join Thunder alumni Robinson Cano, Phil Hughes, and Brett Gardner in the Bronx. Only one in ten minor leaguers will play even one day in the majors, according to a study by Baseball America magazine.

Add in the fact that there are about 6,050 players in the minor leagues on any day, and the pressure to succeed becomes apparent. “It’s a lot of people fighting for a very finite number of spaces in the big leagues,” Leslie said. “And you’re not just competing with your teammates for those spots. You’re competing with people on other teams too, because you never know what’s going to happen. So it’s a lot of pressure if you let it be.”

Players who want to play in the majors have to devote themselves entirely to the game, says Matt Eddy, associate editor for Baseball America.  “Work ethic and character are two big things for players who aren’t coveted prospects,” he said. “It’s a game of attrition. You don’t want to be that player who at age 18 is as good as he’s ever going to be. If you’re not an elite talent, you’re going to need to work to make yourself attractive to teams.”

As someone who’s not an elite talent, Leslie has had to claw his way up through the system, spending his entire pro career in the minors. Leslie’s father tried to teach him how to play tennis at age four in Panama City, Florida.  Instead, he signed him up for Little League after he kept swinging tennis rackets like baseball bats and throwing tennis balls like baseballs. After a successful amateur career at Brandon High School and the University of South Florida, the Oakland Athletics drafted Leslie in the eighth round of the 2004 draft.  By 2006, Leslie made it to their AA affiliate, the Midland (Texas) RockHounds. He began spending time at multiple positions, hoping to draw the eye of scouts that were looking for versatility. In 2007, Leslie played first base, third base, left field, right field, and even pitched a few innings for the RockHounds.

“If those positions are where an opportunity opens up, then I’ve shown that I can play there,” he said. “Some scouts will also look specifically for a left-handed bat or a right-handed bat. I’m a switch hitter, so instead of having two guys on the roster, I can fill that one role. I could provide more value for the one roster spot.”

Leslie got injured in 2007, but tried to play through it to impress those same scouts. The decision backfired—he came back in 2008 to less playing time, and was cut at the end of the season. After spending a season in the independent Canadian-American Association in 2009, the Yankees signed Leslie to a minor league contract.

But Leslie’s chance to make the majors is slowly disappearing, especially since each new season brings around a fresh crop of hungry prospects. At 29, he’s a veteran on a Thunder roster full of 24- and 25-year-old up-and-comers, and is only used sparingly in favor of the younger guys.  “I’ve seen a lot of people make it to the big leagues,” Leslie said. “But a lot more aren’t playing anymore, and they’re not around the game.”

Those prospects are always a threat, even if they don’t play the same position as Leslie.   Betances, a 6’8” pitcher, has soared through the Yankees’ farm system. The New York City native idolized the Yankees as a child, and recalls a highlight of his young life as being in the Yankee Stadium bleachers for David Wells’ perfect game in 1998. He was drafted right out of Brooklyn’s Grand Street Campus High School in the eighth round of the 2006 draft, and hasn’t looked back since then. Betances is widely considered one of the Yankees’ top prospects—Baseball America ranked him as the 43^rd best prospect in the minor leagues.

Dellin Betances is considered one of the Yankees' top prospects. (Credit: Dave Schofield/Trenton Thunder)

“You really have to work hard to get to the next level,” Betances said. “It’s definitely something you do because you love it, and it’s definitely a dream for me. But I still have to work to make that dream possible. ”

These two very different paths to the same place show just how varying the road to the majors can be.  What Leslie, Betances, and their teammates do share is the often-tedious lifestyle of a minor leaguer, which is nowhere near as luxurious as it is in the majors.

Take the post-game clubhouse spread, for instance. Major leaguers enjoy hot dinners such as grilled chicken, rice, and fish after a game. They also receive a $125 per diem for food while on the road. Minor league spreads, on the other hand, pale in comparison to major league meals. While Thunder players are treated to pasta and other warm foods, lower-level farmhands don’t have it so lucky and often have to scrounge for a decent post-game spread beyond cold sandwiches.

“I’m lucky that I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches so much,” said Thunder pitcher Steve Garrison. “There are a lot of guys around here who don’t like it, so it’s hard for them to find something to eat. But sometimes I’ll mix it up with some strawberry jelly instead of grape.”

On top of the middling spreads, minor leaguers often endure long hours of uncomfortable bus travel. It’s not uncommon for trips to last 9 or 10 hours while major leaguers travel by private chartered jet to away games. Players will often pass most of the time bickering over what comedy or action movie to watch on the ride.

“We’ll try to get some sleep, but those buses aren’t too comfortable, so you’re not going to sleep too well,” Leslie said. “You just try to distract yourself from how uncomfortable the ride is.”

Travel isn’t only physically exhausting—it also wears on a player’s psyche. Garrett Broshuis, a former pitcher who spent five years in the San Francisco Giants’ system, never had his wife travel with him because he wanted her to live her own life as a physical therapist in St. Louis and not have to follow him around to ballparks. Still, he said it was very tough not seeing her often.

“After pitching a game, you have so many emotions going through your body,” he said. “The one person you want to truly share these emotions with is not there. You lay down at the end of the night, and, even after a great game, something still feels missing. There’s still a bit of emptiness inside of you that never really goes away.”

The busy day-to-day schedule doesn’t do much to relieve that feeling. Players often wake up at around noon and get to the stadium by 2:00 p.m. After warm-ups and batting practice, they’ll relax in the clubhouse for an hour or so until game time. Games usually start at 7:00 p.m., and last about three hours. After the post-game spread at around 11:00 p.m., players will unwind by playing video games or grabbing a few drinks with teammates. By the time players finally return home, it’s about 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. They’ll repeat this cycle for days on end, rarely receiving a scheduled day off.

“It’s very monotonous,” Leslie said. “People from back home will call me and ask, ‘How was your day?’I’ll always tell them, ‘It’s the same as yesterday. It’s the same as the last 30 days.”

But by far, the biggest struggle for minor leaguers is finances. Regardless of any signing bonuses offered, players initially earn a structured salary, which only goes through the five months that the season lasts. Short-season players earn a maximum of $850 per month in their first year, while AAA players make up to $2,150 in their first year. After their first year, players can negotiate their own salary, but it’s still nowhere near the major league minimum of $414,000 per year. Minor leaguers also get a $25 per diem for food and other related expenses.

The financial situation is daunting for many players.  Leslie has a family back in Tampa that he helps support. He’ll send some money home to his wife and two young children, and saves the rest to pay for rent in Trenton, clubhouse dues, and other expenses.

“There is so much more pressure when you have a family,” Leslie said. “You tell yourself that money is not the most important thing to you when it comes to your family. But choosing to play baseball and trying to make it to the big leagues and having to work your way through the minors is very tough. You have to really make decisions and have set priorities.”

Betances, however, is one of three Thunder players listed on the Yankees’ 40-man roster, meaning he has it a little better than most of his counterparts do.  As a first-time member of the 40-man roster, Betances earns the minimum salary of $33,700 beyond the $1 million signing bonus he received in 2006. He’s also guaranteed a call-up to the majors on September 1 when rosters expand, and his minimum salary will increase to $67,500 if he plays one day in the majors. The 40-man roster also gives Betances “reserve” status with the Yankees, meaning that he could receive a call-up at any point in the season and play in the Bronx by the next day.

“It’s definitely a dream for me, especially having grown up in New York,” Betances said. “I’ve grown up watching these guys play, and to have the chance to share the same field as them is definitely a dream come true.”

Leslie is not on the 40-man roster. In order for the Yankees to promote him to the majors, there are a few logistical issues at play. First, the Yankees would have to purchase Leslie’s minor league contract, officially putting him on the 40-man roster. But to make space for Leslie, they would have to make an additional roster move— meaning someone else would have to be traded, cut, or demoted to the minors. They could create a roster opening by placing someone on the disabled list, but that’s usually just a temporary fix—once the injured player returns, another roster move will have to be made to bring him back onto the roster.

“It’s tough because you have to try to steal someone else’s spot that’s already filled,” Leslie said. “They’re at that level, and they’re showing they can do it at that level.  Meanwhile, you need to prove that you can do it better than someone who’s already there. So you kind of feel like you have to do extra.”

Amid all the difficulties and unlikelihood of making the majors, some players question whether it’s all worth it in the end.  Broshuis, the former San Francisco Giants pitcher, was one player who walked away on his own terms, a decision that was due to both soul-searching and injury. He retired in 2009 after topping out at AAA, and is currently studying law at Saint Louis University and blogging about his minor league experiences.

“My life revolved around this game,” Broshuis said. “I became accustomed to putting on that uniform each night, to stepping on the green grass, to hanging out with the guys, and to performing. Yet my dream wasn’t to be a minor league baseball player. Once I came to the realization that my dream probably wasn’t going to happen, I had to seriously think about giving it up.”

But many players don’t get to make the decision consciously. Often, it’s made for them. More than two weeks after the Thunder’s 2-1 extra-innings victory over the Flying Squirrels, Betances’ blister was fully healed. It was time for the young phenom to return to the roster.  But there was one problem: the Thunder were already at their 25-man roster limit. Someone had to go. The unlucky roster casualty: Myron Leslie.

What happens next is anyone’s guess. Leslie could wait for a call from another organization. He could try again in the Can-Am league.  He could go back home to his family in Tampa. But, just like each day spent in the minor leagues, nothing is certain.

“I’m hoping he can find a spot on another team soon, but I know it’s tough,” Betances said. “He was definitely a great teammate. I really wish he was still here.”

By Krista Golia

Courtesy of Tony Vera

The A train rattles into the subway station coming to an ear-splitting stop. A hoard of New Yorkers push and shove, trying to find a vacancy on the not-so-comfortable tangerine-colored seats. They don’t realize that they are taking a seat for a show they most certainly didn’t buy tickets for. Because along with this gaggle of New Yorkers, six burly yet limber men have also jumped on the train, and they are ready to “break” the subway.

Yelling begins along with rambunctious hand clapping as one “crewmember” places an old-school boom box on the floor of the car and starts blasting vintage R & B and Soul tracks. As he handles the jams, another dancer starts his robotic-like moves down the aisles of the subway car, slinking around passengers, most of whom completely ignore him as they stay plugged into their iPods. The three other men take to the poles and the handrails, defying the laws of gravity, as they swing and propel themselves through the swaying car. The three men then crouch as the smallest member prepares for a three-man jump—and lands it—on the moving subway car.

By now, the train has almost reached the next stop and the members of crew remove their fitted baseball hats and thank everyone for their time. Some passengers, the ones who haven’t avoided eye contact the entire performance, dish out spare change and dollar bills to the traveling artists. At the next stop, the men hop out and move on to another unsuspecting audience in the next car.

Welcome to street performance—New York City style. In the subway stations, parks and on the sidewalks, the city attracts dancing, singing, fire-blowing and magic-making performers, showcasing their talents. Most of the time New Yorkers pass right on by without a second glance but if they were to stop to see the show, they’d witness some very talented artists excelling at their craft. The city provides a constantly changing platform; the pavement becomes a stage for the dinosaur-loving guitarist, the “crazy” piano man or the twisting and turning break-dancing comedians. Despite their talents these performers face the daunting task of grabbing the attention of New Yorkers who, usually in hurry, like to pay more attention to the music on their iPod or the emails on their smart phones than the sounds of the streets. So the question becomes why these individuals perform when it seems like New York can ignore them as much as it occasionally welcomes them. Even world-class violinist Joshua Bell couldn’t garner an audience, and that was in slower-paced Union Station in D.C. For some artists the drive comes from the yearning for street notoriety, others need to practice for the big times\ while also looking for that big break, while the rest are engaging in the simple spreading of artistic talent. Ultimately, whatever the craft or the reason may be, the performance becomes a unique experience for the passerby. It’s no wonder that many New Yorkers, the ones who actually stop and watch, can easily name their favorite.

Bryan Waterman, an NYU English professor, teaches classes on New York City’s history and culture. For him, the street performer fits into a unique category within the make up of New York. “There’s a sort of ‘if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere’ thing that goes along with street performance, a kind of desperation,” he said in a recent interview, “but also just a desire for an audience and a sense that a big break could be just around the corner.”

Another professor, Sally Harrison-Pepper, profiled and researched street performers in Greenwich Village’s Washington Square Park during the 1980s for her book, “Drawing a Circle in the Square.” Now years later, she’s a professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Miami University in Ohio, but she still remembers watching the now legendary performer Tony Vera under the arch and marveled at the great Philippe Petit perform by the fountain. From her experience she gained the true and intimate effect a street performer can have. As she recalls in a recent interview what one street performer told her: “It’s theatre of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

Tony Vera, that legendary performer Harrison profiled, was the man to watch as he performed different outrageous acts from fire eating to chair balancing in the 1980s. Now he’s 51 and retired, working as a paparazzo in the Hollywood scene. With the Washington Square Park arch as his “spot,” Vera delighted the masses by swallowing lit cigarettes and picking a girl from the audience to be his “chair person,” who he then balanced on his chin. For him though, New York will always be memorable, despite his move west to Venice Beach for the better weather because he got his start in the park. “I would do my fire show and you could see spirits,” he said in a recent phone interview. “The park was a great place and you could sit in the arch and stare at the World Trade Center. Those were the good days.” Vera doesn’t sugarcoat it though; the dreams of fame and success are difficult ones to achieve, as he had to work winters backstage at Madison Square Garden to get by. For him it was the following formula: “To be a street performer you have to have drive, be hungry and a ‘f… you’ attitude,” he says. “I’m better than you are and I’m taking this spot.”

Vera also performed in a time when law enforcement was harsh, and according to him police were quick to stop an act, especially if neighbors around the park complained about noise and crowds. Back then, just like now, according to a New York City government website, street performers do not need a permit for shows without a sound device, but with one costs $45. Currently, a permit is also required to perform in or next to a park.

Courtesy of Krista Golia

In 1987, the city decided to formalize street performances and give them their blessing with the Music Under New York program (MUNY) under the aegis of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The program continues to this day, auditioning both visual and performing artists to be showcased throughout the city’s major transit stations. This year, more than 100 performing acts are spread out over 25 locations, which include Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station along with several of the major subway stops like Union Square. Some of the most interesting and unique performers involved in the program include the heavy metal, dinosaur-loving You Bred Raptors? the smooth piano sounds of people-loving Gabriel Aldort, and the funky and original quartet known as The Xylopholks.

With a name like You Bred Raptors? it makes sense that the duo’s favorite mascot is the pre-historic legend, the Velociraptor, which they wear proudly on their band tee-shirts and jackets. That’s not the only part of their uniform though; the two boys wear an array of masquerade and clown masks to each performance. On a rainy and cold Thursday night in March, Epileptic Peat and Zach Schmidlein, are rocking the Union Square subway station and have amassed about 20 intrigued onlookers. Peat mans the eight-string bass while Schmidlein plays a full drum set. A toy piano and glockenspiel will also make an appearance. The group was accepted into the MUNY program in June of 2010 after forming in February of the same year, with then drummer Joshua Wiejaczka. Peat describes the program as the epitome as to why he moved to New York City as he tries to better his music career after a lack luster solo attempt in the music industry. “Playing this much forces you to perform better, write better and to think of this as a lifestyle and a business, opposed to a pipedream you were taught it was,” he said in a recent interview.
Even though Peat is optimistic about the future of the band, there have been lows, much like the ones Vera described. You Bred Raptors? have experienced the harsh reality that plagues many street performers: money. “On the second subway show we ever played at Columbus Circle we made $3 in an hour and a half,” he said, and happily added, “The most we ever made for that same amount of time was over $500.” You Bred Raptors? have also faced the silent treatment from iPod-plugged New Yorkers as well as unfortunately witnessing their favorite performers like Bela Fleck and Jaco Pastorious face the same, somewhat-accepted fate. “I’ve seen amazing subway and stage acts go unnoticed by most people,” he said. “But that’s the nature of the beast.”

Fellow MUNY performer Gabriel Aldort is a fedora-wearing piano player who showcases his New Orleans-inspired blues during rush hours in the Columbus Circle subway station. Aldort has compensated in more than just monetary means all because of busking. For Aldort, performing on the streets has been a self-realizing and growing experience helping him to let go of his performance insecurities. “When I started playing underground, something just clicked,” he says. “I was able to let go of a lot of that fear and just play from the heart.” Originally from California, Aldort moved to the East Coast when he was 17 and became immersed in the musical theater scene at his high school and started playing his music for money, with his first paying gig at a local Japanese restaurant. After a few years of living in New York, he came across MUNY through a friend and submitted an audition tape one day before the deadline. He recalls one man who listened to him play for 45 minutes and ended up giving him what was left in his wallet. “So here the guy is, late for work, just gave up his last three bucks, and grinning from ear to ear, totally fulfilled,” says Aldort. “Afterwards he gave me a hug, music can really have that effect on some people.”

The Xylopholks are one of the most eye-stopping acts that MUNY has to offer. Voted by the “Village Voice” as the “Best Buskers dressed as Animals,” the quartet is made up of Skunky, Piggy, Doggy and Froggy all of whom wear some sort of furry animal costume, which can be deduced from their names, as they perform vintage ragtime tunes from the 1920s. The band features a variety of instruments from guitar to drums with their favorite instrument the xylophone. They’ve travelled around the world, performing in festivals around the U.S. as well as India, Canada and Brazil. Jonathan Singer, Skunky, who leads the Xylopholks, is a big believer in the band’s ability to make people start moving their feet and having a good time while doing it. Singer describes the group’s goal rather simply: “We wish to make people smile and perhaps even dance.” Like his other MUNY comrades, You Bred Raptors? Singer admits that the program was saving grace of sorts. For them it helped find a spot to perform their music without having to duke it out with other musicians. “We started playing on [subway] platforms and found the ‘hustle’ of it all exhausting,” he said in an interview. “Meaning so many people are out performing on platforms that it might take an hour of searching just to find a spot.” When the Xylopholks do find that “spot” they realize something uniquely characteristic of New York City as a “stage” for street performing: the people. “When you have so many people using the subway, you’re bound to have an extremely diverse audience,” Singer said. “Nowhere else do we have an audience of children, seniors, students, homeless, professionals [and the] mentally ill.” This mix, he has found, only adds to his and his band mates’ love of street performing. Singer admits that it’s the spontaneous audience moments and the people interaction that keep him performing even in this hustle and bustle environment. “I love what I do so much that the moments are fleeting,” he said.

Even though MUNY is a supportive program there are still those street perfomers who choose to bypass it and keep it old school by doing the same as Vera did back in the 1980s. These include popular performers like Colin Huggins, “The Crazy Piano Guy,” and the dynamic break dancing aerialists, Tic and Tac.

Courtesy of Colin Huggins

Huggins originally hails from Decatur, Ga. where he started playing guitar at 12 years old and piano when he was 16. His passion, which he attributes to his brother as well as legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz, brought him to New York City in 2003 when he was 25 years old. Before he started performing full-time on the streets, he was the music director for the Joffrey Ballet School and played for the American Ballet Theater, both of which are located in the city. Huggins witnessed many street performers before getting involved in busking and admired those performers for getting passersby’s to actually respond. “I like how free they [the street performers] were and how their audience wasn’t made up of friends and family, but rather people interested only in their art,” he said in an interview. “This is the way any audience should be.” Huggins has established himself in the New York City busking scene, mainly in Washington Square Park, where he rolls his grand piano from home into every time he performs.

He goes by the self-dubbed name, the “Crazy Piano Guy,” reflecting his frantic and rapid moves on the keys while he plays his favorite classical tunes. He’s travelled all over Manhattan including the subways and many of the parks, spreading his love of music to the ears the will listen. “I like performing and I like to have a good venue for classical music and the other music I play,” he said. “I enjoy seeing it make people happy.” Street performing is his only means of income and he doesn’t plan on getting a second job either. His next goal is to buy a permanent piano for the park and leave it there so that way he doesn’t have to lug his around—and fortunately for him, his parents are very proud.

Friends as well as sometime co-performers of Huggins, and other favorites of Washington Square Park, include twin brother performers Tic and Tac, who are comedic acrobats with a dash of break dancing thrown in. Tic, standing for talent, impressive and creative, and Tac, standing for top audience controller, have built an impressive resume travelling around the world and entertaining people with their act. The duo has performed their comedy and break dancing skit at half-time shows for the Globe Trotters, as well as on tour with superstars like Alicia Keys and Michael Jackson. They also appeared in the off-Broadway production of “Theolonius Monk” with Michael Bublé. Despite their success and their extremely impressive resume, the Bronx natives find themselves coming back to the streets of New York not only to work on their craft, and because they got their start there, but reach out to the people of the city. Recently, Tic and Tac had the fountain in Washington Square Park surrounded by a crowd of at least 50 onlookers laughing and enjoying their act of improv comedy, audience participation, and the piece de resistance, a five-person-clearing jump. After years of traveling and busking, Tac describes street performing in New York City as “an interaction back and forth with the audience,” that is unmatched anywhere else they perform. “Here they don’t know what they’re going to get,” he said in Washington Square Park after a performance. “We stop people with our charisma, energy and our art form.”

Tic and Tac got their start with Flow Committee, a 30-year-old troupe of dancers native to New York City and some of the first dancers to really take their art to the streets. They were only seven years old but impressed the legendary dancers with their skills. Coincidentally, Tic and Tac are also very familiar with Tony Vera and the other legends of the park like Philippe Petit, so they know the dedication it takes behind each and every performance. “They [people] try to make street performance, like they say a vagabond profession,” Tac said, shrugging. “But it’s far more, it takes a lot to become a great, even a good busker.” Tic chooses to break in at this moment and quips with a smile, “Freedom of expression, it’s our first amendment right.”

Busking is an integral part of the culture and rhythm of this city. The hustle and bustle of New York City can be brutal as it drowns out the music, the beat and the art of these individuals. Fortunately for those who want them there, the stage the city offers can be a great platform for performers who are following their calling or simply spreading their craft. Like Vera says, “The street performing life is hard [and] vicious and if you’re smart, you’ll make it.” Words of a legend.

By Krista Golia

Courtesy of Gabriel Aldort

Historically, street performing, traditionally known as busking, dates back to the old days of Ancient Rome, according to David Cohen and Ben Greenwood, authors of “The Buskers: A History of Street Entertainment.” Cohen and Greenwood chronicle street performing as it continued through the Middle Ages with traveling and singing clergymen, and later troubadours, entertaining royal courts with poetry and music. Bouts of street performing, which consisted of minstrels and other traveling artists, spread throughout Europe and eventually found its way to America, even though there were laws and other stipulations in place against performing. Eventually the more populated cities like New York City, and Chicago and outdoor venues like Venice Beach, California, have also developed their own counterculture of sorts in the form of the street performer or busker. Nowadays street performers have morphed from the simple dress and performances of the past to the often elaborate acts of present day ranging from the animal-costume-wearing musicians, the masked Velociraptor t-shirt wearing heavy-metal guitarists, and the every-so-often shirtless fire blower.

Albert Pujols is just one of many major leaguers who had to work his way through the minor league system.

By Nick Klopsis

Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, and David Wright are just some of Major League Baseball’s most famous players. They earn million-dollar salaries, have endorsement deals, and live like rock stars off the field. But they, like everyone who aspires to play in front of 50,000 fans every day, had to pay their dues and work their way through the minor leagues.

The minor leagues have been called “the farm system” since the 1930s, when then-St. Louis Cardinals general manager Branch Rickey joked that small-town teams were “growing players down on the farm like corn” for their big-league counterparts.

More than 80 years later, Rickey’s comment still holds true—the minor leagues is where young players hone their skills in order to reach the majors.

It usually takes several years to crack a major league roster, although the average amount of time is hard to quantify.  But one thing is common: it all starts with the MLB First-Year Player Draft. Players can enter the draft immediately out of high school, as a college junior or senior, or at any point in junior college. The one exception is international players, who are signed straight from their home countries and completely bypass the draft.

After signing their contract, teams assign the draftees to their rookie league or Class-A short season affiliate, which start in June to allow newly-drafted college players the chance to play in the College World Series. Most of these teams play at the major league club’s spring training facility in Arizona or Florida, though some short-season teams are located in the boroughs of New York City, Pennsylvania, Washington, Tennessee, and even Vancouver.

After that is Class-A ball, which is split into two subdivisions: Class A (otherwise called Low-A), and Class-A Advanced (also known as High-A or A+ ball).  Then comes Double-A, where talent is just as important as youth. Most clubs are based in the Northeast (Trenton, NJ; Binghamton, N.Y.; Bowie, Md.), the Southeast (Mobile, Ala.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Pearl, Miss.) or the South (Frisco, Texas; Tulsa, Okla.; Springfield, Mo.). For many players, AA is their chance to prove themselves to the discerning eye of major league scouts.

“AA is the first real proving ground,” said Josh Norris, Trenton Thunder beat writer for the Trentonian. “If you can’t hack it in AA, you probably won’t hack it in the majors.”

The final stop is Triple-A, one stop directly below the major leagues. Here, there’s usually a fair mix of future stars who are chomping at the bit to get to the majors, veterans trying to salvage their career, and emergency backups who are one pulled hamstring away from joining the major league club.

Although the competition differs at each level, the overall experience is largely consistent. Games are played in front of smaller crowds, creating a more personal atmosphere between the team and its fans. Teams average a shade fewer than 4,000 people per “home date,” according to a recent study of minor league attendance. Games are fan-friendly, and often use oddball promotions and gimmicks to attract people.

“When you have 5,000 or 6,000 people cheering for you, it’s easier to get psyched up for the game,” said Thunder right fielder Dan Brewer. “It becomes a focus thing. It provides a good atmosphere for us.”

Photo Credit: Leia Jospe

The year was circa 2006: the era of MySpace and the “scene” culture of snake bite piercings, local shows, studded belts, bright hair bows and black eyeliner. The School of Rock was putting on a show in a tiny New Jersey venue stuffed with sweaty bodies, bass strums and drum beats. A single fan circulated the thick air around the dark room as a handful of photographers and masses of fans pushed and gathered around the stage. I was a high school sophomore who managed to force my way to the front, clutching a tiny point-and-shoot. However, most of the show, I was clearly outdone, as I stood next to a 14-year-old girl with braces and a huge digital SLR camera that was constantly clicking and nudging against me. Who does she think she is? I was affronted. Maybe I was envious. But as the night wore on, we reached a silent understanding – we were short girls at a crowded show. We needed to be at the front. It was a small space and we had pictures to take.

At the end of the set, instead of melting away with the crowds, she started throwing small, rectangular cards all over the sticky floor and the stage of the venue. I watched for a few minutes as she pulled them from her bag and tossed them around like confetti. I couldn’t help but ask her what she was doing. She handed me one of the tiny business cards – “Leia Jospé Photography” – and she said, “I want to get my name out there.”

Five years later, that now 19-year-old girl is a student by day studying Design and Technology at Parsons, and a successful freelance photographer by night. And her images can be found on Vogue.com, BrooklynVegan, Blender, NYMAG.com, Stereogum, the Wall Street Journal, Gothamist, MySpace’s front page and all over the not-so-mythical “out there.”

But freelance photography – freelance anything – is a tough industry. With the onset of the digital era, the landscape is constantly changing. As the cameras get better, more amateurs are competing alongside professionals. The industry is a mob scene. While the Internet has provided many outlets to publish photos, there are also more people to take them. In a world where numerous photographers are constantly jostling for a view, this barely-20-year old has already gained respect, recognition and a steady stream of work. “I think if you can support yourself on photography alone, if you can get a consistent work flow, you don’t have to worry so much about the five thousand other people in your area doing the same type of thing you are,” said Jospé. “It’s pushing people who have actual talent to step it up, to really make their photos stand out from everyone else’s.”

So far, there are a few defining moments that stand out to Jospé in terms of her pursuit as a photographer. She recalls avidly following an online forum and reading about a young girl who always discussed winning an award and displaying her work in a gallery. “I remember messaging her and asking her how she takes photos which is such a ridiculous question in retrospect, but I really wanted to know,” said Jospé. “I don’t remember what she said but I remember getting a point & shoot and taking photos with that, not good ones.” When Jospé entered high school, her parents bought her a several hundred-dollar SLR camera. From then on, she took it everywhere and documented everything.

Then began a slow climb for Jospé, taking numerous photos, editing, watermarking her name on them, uploading them to Flickr and adding them to groups online, contacting anyone and everyone, and shooting local shows and concerts that other photographers wouldn’t shoot. It was countless nights of meeting the right people, building relationships and utilizing every outlet to promote her work. “If you’re young, at least when I started shooting, people did not take me seriously,” said Jospé. “I was 15 and had braces. If you were a photographer in the scene for however many years, would you take me seriously? Probably not. Establishing your place in a scene, making sure people know you’re not just ‘some little girl with a camera’ was pretty hard at first.”

Photo Credit: Leia Jospe

After all, anyone can pick up a professional camera and digital cameras make it easy to take professional-style photos. “When I went to shows in early high school, there would be one or two people shooting the show. You go to a show now and the entire first few rows of the audience have a camera in hand,” said Jospé. Worldwide shipments of digital cameras in 2010 reached 121.5 million units, marking a record high, according to the Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA), which began compiling records in 1999 when digital cameras were still new on the scene. Since the onset of the technological era, there has been a steady growth in production and shipment of digital cameras. For 2011, the forecast is for a 7.8 percent increase.

The real challenge for aspiring professionals is being visible – and having a vision – in the growing, digital world of photography. A distinct aesthetic can help distinguish the artist from the quagmire of competition. “Most cameras today make it so that you pretty much need no technique to take a photo – the easier, the better,” said Jospé. “With the accessibility of a camera that requires no technique and every other factor like social networking, I could go on about all of the things that have made photography the choice hobby of every single person. The one thing that you can do to differentiate yourself from the millions of other photographers is to have a unique ‘eye.’”

But photography is also more than just a good picture. Angela Jimenez, 36, is a photography instructor at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and has been a freelance photographer for the past decade. The democratization of the Internet is both a blessing and a curse, says Jimenez. “There are some great opportunities online right now to do essays and projects, but it is also tricky because you need to get paid as a professional and sometimes the amateur photographers do not abide by the same standards. It’s a little Wild West right now.”

The digital era has paved the way for online organizations like Talenthouse, a global social networking website that provides the creative community with opportunities to gain recognition, as well as collaborate with established artists and brands. The company recently held a contest that asked for a photograph based on the theme of “love.” The prize: the opportunity to travel with and photograph Maroon 5 on their 2011 world tour, attracting thousands of entries.

Photo Credit: Amy Wallen

One of the entries was submitted by Amy Wallen, a 23-year-old freelance photographer based in small town Hueysville, Kentucky. She wanted to break out and head somewhere more fitting for her grander photography dreams. For the Talenthouse contest, Wallen brainstormed various ideas from fields to masks to bloody t-shirts before finally settling on intertwining rusted chains – the idea of being connected to another person forever – around a young couple. After that, it was one endless prayer and a flurry of mass text messages and emails to every person she had ever known to vote for her submission online. Her strategy worked and she was one of the five winning photographers.

She hopes the win will give her a platform to begin her career. “I feel like I was always too scared to make photography my career, because of the unsure and uncharted territories as far as success in the field,” said Wallen. “You can take so many different routes, and it can be hard to find your true calling within the art. But I truly do believe that photography is a sustainable career, both physically as well as emotionally. Gaining fame is just a perk – a pretty cool one.”

Such websites and contests present both good news and bad news: technology can help a photographer get his or her work out there, but on the other hand, anyone has the ability to beat out professionals and long-time photographers with the right camera and the access to social media. The playing field is wide open, but it is also more crowded and competitive.

Despite the odds, Jospé, the tiny girl from Tuxedo Park, New York was all about getting photo passes and making contacts. BrooklynVegan pulled her photos from her Flickr page and eventually contacted her to shoot for the blog regularly; Vogue editors saw Jospé’s photograph of the band Beach Fossils and wanted to use the image for their weekend guide-esque section called “THE short LIST.” And so her contact pool and social network and domino effect of opportunity grew. “In a lot of situations it doesn’t matter how good you are, if you don’t know anyone, it’s going to be hard to get jobs,” said Jospé. “You might have the best photos of some event, but the other guy might know the PR person.”

Photo Credit: Leia Jospe

Beyond recognition, getting paid for photographs is another struggle, especially when so many people are willing to work for free or for some other type of payment. A lot of the time, Jospé trades her photography for compensation other than money – free passes to shows, care packages, meals. Once she did a shoot for lunch and a pair of shoes. According to Jospé, her diverse collection of photographs get sold to everyone from older crowds who are drawn to her more “fine art” type photographs to young, huge fans of certain bands.

But Jospe’s specialty centers on people. Her distinct style is organic, “in-the-moment” shots – filled with youth, raw energy and ringing clarity. “There are a lot of things I think that make me the photographer that I am, but it’s mostly just how my personality gets represented through my photographs,” said Jospé. “I don’t think music is my main subject anymore, I think it is more to do with the culture around the music: the people, the places, etc.” She added with a laugh, “Oh, also if it’s a photo of a drunken looking couple, dirty on the floor of some ‘DIY space,’ making out half naked, I probably took it.”

But whether the pictures involve people having cigarettes and coffee on a summer day or bathing in sweat and screams at a crowded music festival, Jospe’s images make the viewer feel like a participant in the action. They feel familiar. As the late photographer Ansel Adams said, “There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.”

Photo Credit: Leia Jospe

So a typical shoot for Jospé – and for many other photographers – is a candid one. For one photo shoot, she worked with bassist Mathieu Santos of famous indie band Ra Ra Riot. With film and digital camera in hand, they wandered around her Brooklyn neighborhood for hours and found brightly colored buildings and walls. “He said he wanted ‘color’ which is hard in the dead of winter when everything still looks dead, but I made it work,” said Jospé. “Every time we saw something we liked, we took a few photos in front of it. I really like a relaxed, laid back shoot – those photos always come out the best. I really talk to the person I’m shooting; that way, the emotions that come through are legitimate.”

After the shoot, Jospé spends hours sorting through and editing them to perfection on a diet of late nights and caffeine. And then the cycle begins again. And again. It’s a familiar scenario, said Jimenez. “I think we will see someone win a big award and think they have made it, but what you don’t see are the years and years that someone spent in obscurity doing this because it was their calling.”

Due to her persistence, fellow photographers and fans can recognize Jospé’s aesthetic. As Jospé says, people who are already familiar with her body of work and type of subject matter would be able to distinguish a “Leia photo” in a pile of non-Leia photos. And now, she works on a regular basis. “I think if you’ve made good connections and are really passionate about it you could sustain a career on photography alone,” said Jospé.

Photo Credit: Leia Jospe

A “good eye,” creativity and technical mastery are essential qualities for a photographer, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. For some aspiring professionals, college degrees and formal training programs in photography can hone artistic and technical finesse, along with courses in business and marketing.

Business skills are more critical than ever for professionals, according to Jimenez, because the traditional newspaper field is changing and dying, and the survivors need to adapt. It is more than being an artist. It is also about having business acumen and marketing savvy. Jimenez contributes to the New York Times, the Newark Star-Ledger and the Getty Images agency for stock work. She also has private clientele from people to non-profit organizations. It took her eight years to consider herself a small business owner, not just a photographer. “I feel like surviving and standing out [in the industry] are two different things,” said Jimenez. “You do need recognition – awards, exhibitions, grants, publications – and you need to know people to keep this ball rolling. It takes a lot of work to create that buzz and people work really hard at that.”

So the definition of a success story varies from photographer to photographer. But at the root is the story any artist has the potential to tell with a camera, a lot of time, a bit of luck, a point of view, and a hunger to share it all. The photo industry is about pursuing a passion – separating the people who do it for art and the people who do it for money, believes Kristen Yoonsoo Kim, the head photographer and writer for the music blog The Morning After Pills. She approaches photography as a “side project to life” instead of a career or claim to fame.

For Shengyuan Hsu, fame and money is not even a part of the equation. It is simply about taking photographs. Hsu – who has published a book of his works, took campaign trail photographs of the Mayor of Tapei and did some freelance work for GQ Taiwan – does not consider photography his job, even though his freelance stints are currently his only source of income. “No matter what my career is or will be, photography is a part of my life now,” said Hsu. “I never really considered it a ‘career.’ If people like my pictures and want to hire me, fine. If not, I can still survive and keep taking pictures and producing work.”

Photo Credit: Shengyuan "Ray" Hsu

Another photographer with a similar approach is 25-year-old New York native, RIT graduate and Brooklyn hipster Andrew Lipovsky. A passion that stemmed from a high school class resulted in his full-time job as a freelance photographer. His clientele runs the gamut from musicians to magazines (Alternative Press, Insider, etc.) to modeling agencies. For Lipovsky, making enough money to live comfortably is a sign of success, but at its core, working in photography is a labor of love.

“It is waking up every day knowing that I have an incredible job, and opportunities ahead of me,” said Lipovsky. “Not everyone loves what they do the way photographers do; and I think that if you love your job, you love what you get to do every day, and it makes you smile for no reason. That’s success.”

And for the past six years, Lipovsky has survived in New York City by selling on his photographs alone. Back home in Rochester, his name was known and had a constant stream of work. Living in the big city, he acknowledges one has to fight for every job. The business is changing and challenging. But like many photographers, Lipovsky believes it to be an industry worth navigating.

Photo Credit: Andrew Lipovsky

“The reliability of constant work has gone down quite a bit for non-established photographers, and even some established ones because of the economy and the rapid decline of print media, but people always want and need photos,” said Lipovsky. “They can’t make a machine that can create ideas, light and shoot the way a human can…or can they?”

“The name is Simon, the game is P.O.P…” – Simon Curtis, “Laser Guns Up”

Simon Curtis performing at ArjanWrites.com's Superfraiche Pop Night in Brooklyn's Galapagos Art Space on 4/1/11, Credit: Gabi Porter, Metromix New York

I’m not gonna tell you to dance, just gonna keep on doing my thing
I’m not gonna tell you to move, just gonna keep on playin’ the way I’m playin’
Don’t dance, don’t dance, don’t dance!

The message, however, doesn’t keep the crowd from dancing. The setting is Superfraiche Pop Night in Brooklyn’s Galapagos Art Space, where the tables, standing on concrete lily pads, are surrounded by water. Curtis is one of four acts taking the stage. Superfraiche, a pop concert series launched in 2009, also has been held in Los Angeles and Atlanta. As the name, a French play on “super fresh” suggests, the show provides pop hopefuls with a platform beyond the Top 40 Billboard charts.

Curtis enters the pop music scene without a record deal, publicist, or manager. But, that hasn’t mattered as much as it would have in the past because of the Internet and the way the music industry has changed. The Internet offers free online exposure for savvy social network pros on Facebook and Twitter. He’s also breaking into the industry at a time when CD sales aren’t the primary source of revenue. Emphasizing ticket sales, record companies are now investing in entertainers who can sell both Madison Square Garden tickets and iTunes singles. That often rules out the simply talented singers in favor of “entertainers,” with a niche that sets them apart like Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Rihanna, and Ke$ha at the helm. Note that they are all women, which presents an obstacle for Curtis as a male pop singer, a rare species in music today.

Despite those obstacles, Curtis’ success suggests that a Twitter account can be a powerful promotional tool. Last March Curtis released his debut album, “8Bit Heart,” which has been downloaded over a million times through his website for free, thanks to a Twitter campaign. He’s had one million plays on Last.fm, more than 400,000 YouTube views, and over 21,000 followers on Twitter. Curtis opened for the Backstreet Boys’ A.J. McLean last May and, in January, for “Glee” actor Cory Monteith’s band, Bonnie Dune. He’s also loaned his vocals to the theme song for the CW’s weight-loss reality show, “Shedding for the Wedding.” This spring, he’ll release on iTunes his follow-up album, “RΔ” (pronounced Rah), named after his fan base, the Robot Army. Snippets of some of the album’s tracks can be found here.

Curtis’ flair for theatrics started at age 10 when he started performing in musical theater, including in the national production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Inspired by 90s teen pop acts Britney Spears, ‘N Sync, and the Backstreet Boys, Curtis recalls, “That’s when I said I want to be a pop star, so I’ve been working on that ever since.”

Curtis headed from Oklahoma to Los Angeles to tackle showbiz after high school. In 2009, after a tough audition process, he nabbed a leading role in Nickelodeon’s made-for-TV movie, “Spectacular!” Then, he appeared on “Hannah Montana.”

Despite the T.V. success, Curtis set his sights on a music career. “I love writing music, performing it, releasing it, and seeing people think. There’s something about creating music that’s just the most gratifying thing in the world.”

In 2009, after 13 days in a basement with producer Jeff “Jadion” Wells, Curtis wrote and recorded “8Bit Heart.” Inspired by his “love for science fiction, fantasy, and 8-bit video games,” “8Bit Heart” follows the story of a “Boy Robot” who becomes human when he finds love. In “Fell in Love with an Android,” for example, he lashes out at an unresponsive lover: “Try to play it like you think you’re something so hot, hate to say it, but I’d rather fu*k a robot.”

Throughout “8Bit Heart,” Curtis mixes elements of video game sound effects, opera, and pop-culture references. He’s optimistic that his music will catch on. “I think people want to hear songs that aren’t about clubs and drinking,” says Curtis. “I hope that I can make music that people find catchy, songs that people want to sing and think a little bit as well.”

Support from music blogs helped Curtis find an audience. Arjan Timmermans, the founder of ArjanWrites.com and Superfraiche, was one of the first bloggers to introduce Curtis’ music. The first credentialed blogger to cover the Grammy Awards and a pop-music connoisseur, Timmermans takes credit with helping introduce Lady Gaga to the masses in 2008, after nominating her for a category in Logo’s NewNowNext Awards, which led to her first televised U.S. performance.

Timmermans launched his blog in 2002 to share alternative types of pop music. “If you listen to the radio or look at the iTunes charts in America, you will see that a lot of the music is the same: the same artists, the same style of music,” he says, “and people are looking for alternatives and other types of pop. They look for more excitement and innovation in pop music.”

Now Timmermans, showcasing Curtis’ music on his blog and in Superfraiche, has given Curtis his stamp of approval. “We don’t really have a good male pop star right now,” he says. “It’s all about the ladies. Where are the men? We need a great male pop perspective.”

Curtis offers that male pop perspective. Serving straight-up pop songs filled with emotion and infectious choruses, Curtis describes his style as “pure pop, dark pop, anything with the word ‘pop’ in it. I love pop music and that’s what I strive to make.” So if Curtis wants to be the next be big pop star, what does he need to do, according to the unwritten yet tried-and-true path to million-dollar sales and deals? The rules, in lyrics:

“Who run the world? Girls!” – Beyoncé, “Run The World (Girls)”

The challenge for Curtis is not only his distinct sound, but being guy trying to make it in a female’s world, with Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Rihanna, and Ke$ha running the show. “Pop music is definitely ruled by girls and it’s definitely a girl power moment,” says Jocelyn Vena, pop writer for MTV News, who points out that music has moved on from the boy band craze of the 90s.

Vena notes that a male pop artist faces more difficulty getting noticed because females can be more outrageous. Recent chart-toppers are dance-pop songs with themes ranging from overt sexuality (Rihanna’s “S&M”), science-fiction fantasy (Katy Perry’s “E.T.”), and self-acceptance (Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” and Ke$ha’s “We R Who We R”). While these songs offer standard radio-friendly production, they become enhanced through larger-than-life music videos and live performances. “It’s harder for men to be engaging in that form,” she says. “Girls can have costumes and it’s easier for a girl to identify with the terms of pop music.”

Tanner Stransky, staff writer for Entertainment Weekly, agrees, noting that pop music generally appeals to young girls and gay men seeking a strong female role model. “They love a diva, a big female singer, and it lends itself because of the kinds of topics,” he says. “No guy is going to be able to do a J.Lo-like song or a Britney song because it’s a female medium to do trance/dance kind of stuff.”

But the absence of a male pop star from the scene might also be a plus for Curtis. Although many popular male artists top the charts today, none quite fit the bill as the full-fledged male star that Michael Jackson was. Usher and Chris Brown occasionally have dabbled in mainstream pop influences, but offer mostly smooth R&B. Not only is Justin Bieber too young, but he’s also following the crooner footsteps of his mentor, Usher. And despite Bruno Mars’ evocation of Jackson’s “Dirty Diana” in his hit, “Grenade,” his performances lack dancing, an essential for any performer seeking pop greatness.

An all-around entertainer, Curtis seeks the pop crown. “I definitely hope to fill that void and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” he says.

“I’m a put-on-a-show kind of girl…” – Britney Spears, “Circus”

In today’s music business, filling stadiums—and selling t-shirts and other merchandise – is more relevant than having an amazing voice. Although Curtis is a multifaceted performer with the potential to bring in large audiences, he says it’s difficult for him to tour without the support of a record label. With the industry valued at half of the $14.6 billion it was a decade ago, the four major record labels—EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner—are investing in foolproof acts that can sell tickets.

Sony, through Nickelodeon’s Nick Records, approached Curtis after his “Spectacular!” success. The offer involved a record deal, which Curtis described to Billboard as “one of those really big, scary contracts that included taking my publishing for the rest of my life.”

For the music industry, releasing albums has become somewhat of a formality, and touring is now the primary source of revenue. In 2003, Mitch Weiss, who most notably manages the Village People, wrote “Managing Artists in Pop Music” eight years ago, with an updated version due this summer. “In just seven to eight years, the music world has been turned upside down,” says Weiss. “Artists would put out records and tour to help sell the records, because that’s where the money was. Now, it’s the reverse. You put out a record for publicity, because you’re not going to make any money from it, and then you tour. You let your record help sell tickets to the concert.”

After the Internet brought piracy and created the digital music business, allowing consumers to buy singles, album sales couldn’t be counted on for profits. Only Platinum-selling artists like Michael Jackson and Madonna are making money on music alone, says Weiss.

By today’s standards, Lady Gaga, who hasn’t sold nearly as many albums as her predecessors, has become arguably the most profitable pop star to emerge during the 2000s because of touring. “She has managed to survive the technological transformation in music distribution from CDs to digital downloads,” says Dr. Mathieu Deflem, who teaches “Lady Gaga and the Sociology of the Fame” at the University of South Carolina.

Gaga’s emphasis on visuals has paid off. Her theatrical Monster Ball tour, an opus of 200 shows featuring countless costume changes and a finale where she’s swallowed whole by a giant animatronic Angler fish, has grossed $227 million and drawn in 2.5 million people, making it the most successful tour ever by a headlining debut artist, according to Billboard Boxscore.

“Look at me (watcha starin’ at?)” – Lady Gaga, “Vanity”

How did Gaga attract that many concertgoers? Weiss says it wasn’t because of her voice, but because of her self-appointed role as pop’s performance artist. “Her music isn’t new, only her outfits,” says Weiss, who says most pop stars need a gimmick to market themselves. “There are plenty of artists who can sing well and make videos, but she has created an art out of the performance art: What do I wear? How do I look? How do I present myself? That is her art form, which is not necessarily being the best singer or dancer.”

Weiss says it’s more difficult to get noticed today because of the Internet, which can explain why the last three years have brought us an assortment of characters such as Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Ke$ha, each with her own over-the-top traits. “Someone that wants to be famous has to give us a reason to look at them when there’s so much to look at,” says Weiss. “You turn on the television or the computer, and you can’t keep up. YouTube changes every second.”

An up-and-comer has to be able to make headlines in the press to break through the noise. “The most important thing is not even necessarily in terms of voice,” says EW’s Stransky, who explains that a publicity stunt and/or a signature look is key for pop superstardom today. “You have to have a point of difference and some originality; something for her to talk about when she goes on ‘The View’ and ‘Good Morning America.’”

Because today’s most popular songs can be traced to a small circle of producers like Dr. Luke, Max Martin, RedOne and Stargate, segmentation of pop stars then depends on the package, not its contents. If style could be regarded as a flavor, Katy Perry might taste like candy tinged with sour punch. Merging the retro pin-up look of Bettie Page with “Lisa Frank” kitsch, she came on the scene with “I Kissed a Girl,” igniting the media to discover whether she was a lesbian. For those who want to do some damage, there’s Ke$ha, who conjures the taste of Jack Daniels. A distinguishing trait might be as simple as a dollar sign in your name, which will have audiences curious about its meaning. The symbol, paired with her perpetually hung-over look, cemented her place as pop’s party girl. Finally, there’s the mystery flavor of Gaga, who has everyone eager to uncover the real girl behind the outrageous costumes. “That’s why Ke$ha and Gaga are fascinating – they have something to talk about,” says Stransky.

Vena agrees that audiences are captivated by persona. “They’re looking for someone with a strong personality and a very defined look that is singular to them,” she says.

“I’m gonna tell you a little story about a boy and his beats and how he made an army…” – Simon Curtis, “Get In Line”

Curtis doesn’t need a wild persona to distinguish himself, because he stands out as a male in pop music, and has mastered Twitter as a promotional tool. Dr. Deflem notes that the most successful pop acts are social-media savvy, noting, “They share an ability to connect with fans, mostly influenced by the use of new communication technologies such as social networking, while at the same time being visible in the more traditional media such as radio and TV.”

To create buzz for his album, Curtis tweeted a new song each time he gained 800 new Twitter followers, and the entire album for free once he reached 8,000 followers, the octave numbers tying in to the LP’s title, “8Bit Heart.” “I was thinking about ways to get people excited about hearing it and that was the plan I devised,” he says. Once Curtis reached that number last March, he released his album to critical acclaim on music blogs and 150,000 downloads within the first two weeks. References to Gaga earned him support from the fan sites Gagadaily.com and Gaganews.com.

Not to be outdone by Gaga and her “little monsters,” Curtis generated his own custom-named admirers, the Robot Army and his own cyber-shrine, Simondaily.com. This caught the attention of Billboard magazine, which usually showcases established popular acts with record deals. “His music is compelling and he has a huge following,” says Jason Lipshutz, the editorial assistant at Billboard.com, who wrote the feature that revealed the title of Curtis’ new album “RΔ.” “We saw that he has a fan base, and he’s performing pretty well in terms of social media.”

Lipshutz points out that social networking also is essential to remind audiences of artists’ existence: “It lets everyone know, ‘Hey, I’m relevant, I’m around, and this is an important thing to check out in terms of my music.’”

Reminders are especially important online, where a record deal doesn’t guarantee getting noticed. “It’s a more crowded field because everyone’s trying to get you to listen to their music,” he adds. “It used to be that someone is an established artist because they have a record deal, but things have changed so much that you have to fight for people’s attention online.”

Timmermans notes that fans expect their favorite artists to be accessible through social networking. “Nowadays, with Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, fans want to be able to reach out to the artist and get a response. They want to be part of their journey and success.”

On Twitter, the three most followed people are all pop stars. Lady Gaga – with over nine million disciples – leads this trinity, according to Twitaholic. Hot on her trail is Justin Bieber and eight million followers, followed by Britney Spears with seven million fans. On Twitter, musicians combine self-promotion with fan connection, letting fans know about the day’s happenings and the release date of their latest single on iTunes.

Even as pop music is shifting, Curtis is determined to succeed. He continues to cultivate his fan base and this time will charge for his music, expecting to release “RΔ” on iTunes. At the moment, he’s not worried about getting a recording contract. “If anything comes my way and it’s the right deal, then I’m willing to explore,” he says. “But right now, I’m not looking.” On May 14, he will perform at EQ Live in London.

Back at Superfraiche, one of the highlights of his performance is his rendition of Britney’s inaugural hit, “…Baby One More Time.” “All of you know this is a special week in pop music,” says Curtis, celebrating the recent release of Spears’ seventh album, “Femme Fatale.”

It was a special week indeed. Taking on the classic song a capella, Curtis advanced one more step in his quest to become as big as Spears. “I’m really excited about the prospect of being a successful independent artist,” he says. “I think I can do it.”

By Karina Grudnikov

After graduating from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Texas, Olivia Kaufman followed the same track as thousands of others: She went right to college, despite her sense that it wasn’t the right place for her. In 2006, she enrolled in St. John’s University at Queens, NY.  A year later, she dropped out.

“I went there and didn’t do well,” says Kaufman. “I’ve never been good at sitting down and doing homework.”

Kaufman, 23, returned to her parents’ home in Texas, where she enrolled in the University of Houston, in the hope that living with her parents would force her to focus on her studies. It didn’t. She left college again, only to attempt it one last time at a community college.  But there, the classes were too easy and Kaufman found herself gaining credits but little knowledge. She finally called it quits on school after three years at three different universities.

Like many who leave college, Kaufman worked a variety of jobs as she attempted to find her true calling. She first went into the Navy, from which she was shortly discharged due to medical reasons, and then worked at Starbucks. “I started to wonder what I was going to do with my life,” Kaufman said, “and if I’d spend my whole life being a barista, making $7.80 an hour.”  One day, her mother asked if she had ever considered becoming an emergency medical technician, or EMT.  Kaufman had been a lifeguard for several summers, and her mother knew she loved helping people. “I didn’t even think that would be an option without a college degree,” said Kaufman. But, as it turned out, there was a certificate program at Houston Community College where she could get her basic EMT certification. She enrolled in January 2010.

Four months and $1000 later, Kaufman was certified. “Thankfully, it was exactly what I needed,” she said. For someone who has always had difficulty learning only by reading and writing, Kaufman enjoyed the program’s mix of learning styles, including hands-on techniques. She has been an EMT for over a year now, and works two separate EMT jobs, a practice that Kaufman says is not unusual. She works for her local 911 emergency service, as well as with a private company that has contracts with local facilities, such as nursing homes. The workdays are tough – Kaufman works two 24-hour shifts and two or three 12-hour shifts weekly – but she loves her job. “It’s super rewarding,” she said. “There’s nothing better than stabilizing someone’s child after something devastating has happened.” And her salary doesn’t keep her living from paycheck to paycheck. “Now I can have a career that keeps me comfortable and not working extreme hours for little pay.”

Kaufman is not alone in discovering that college wasn’t the right place for her.  College enrollment in the U.S. continues to rise; there were 7.1 percent more enrolled students in fall 2009 than there were in fall 2008, reported the National Center for Education Statistics. Both public and private colleges have reported higher application and enrollment rates. Yet at the same time, graduation rates have remained stable and not the most impressive: only 56 percent of students who enroll in college end up earning their degree and graduating. With high student debt, high levels of unemployment and spiking tuition costs, many are reconsidering the value of a bachelor’s degree.

Alternative paths are beginning to emerge. Or rather, many of these options have been around, but have been overlooked in the cultural dialogue about life after high school and paths to adult success. A stigma has often shadowed individuals who choose not to go to college and earn a degree, and a large part of the college-dropout problem is that our society tends to overlook alternatives to a traditional four-year college program, and students and their families just don’t know enough about them.  For many students who don’t fit the traditional mode, college is where to go because alternatives are essentially unheard of, says Barbara Ray, author of “Not Quite Adults: Why Twenty-Somethings Are Taking a Slower Path to Adulthood and Why It’s Good for All of Us.” But for some, like Kaufman, getting another form of secondary education or certification, rather than a four-year bachelor’s degree, is the right path. For others, choosing to pursue other interests first and delaying education may be the answer. Some forge career paths inspired by childhood dreams that don’t require a traditional degree.

For a long time, society has pushed the idea that college is the only road to adult success. Like many parents, former New York Times editor Linda Lee sent her son to college in the late ‘90s, despite the fact that he struggled to do well in high school. Despite his academic difficulties, her son still thought he ought to go to college, and Lee sent him. “It was a disaster,” she said. “No one was around to tell me that he shouldn’t go to college, or that a bright kid might do something else and be just as well off.” Her son’s experience inspired her book, “Success Without College,” in which she attempts to debunk the myth that only college graduates can find good careers in the real world. Lee’s son dropped out of college and decided to pursue something that actually interested him – automotive mechanics – and now has a job making helicopter parts for the Defense Department. The only thing that he had gained from college, says Lee, “was meeting his future wife.”

It isn’t that success without college is completely unheard of. Neither Bill Gates nor Steve Jobs ever earned their degrees: Gates dropped out of Harvard University before his junior year, while Jobs left Reed College after just one semester. Decades later, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard University and became the world’s richest twenty-something after creating the Internet’s most successful social network. And while it is a well-known fact that these individuals never completed their college education, society doesn’t encourage leaving college for riskier endeavors. Zuckerberg’s success is the supposed exception to the rule: for the rest of his generation, for the individuals who are not rock stars or techies, the assumed path has always been college.

A key reason for college has long been the expected financial pay off. College graduates have always earned more than people without a degree: The College Board estimates that a college graduate will earn over 66 percent more than a high school graduate in forty years of work, or about $800,000 over a lifetime. However, the pay off doesn’t seem nearly as bright as it once may have been, due to a post-recession economy. A recent U.S. Department of Labor survey found that the unemployment rate for individuals between 20 to 24 years old is at a staggering 15.4 percent. Many students with loans are often unable to repay them, especially as jobs are still scarce. College tuition and student debt have been steadily rising over the past few years. According to the report, “Student Debt and the Class of 2009,” the average college senior in 2009 graduated with a debt of $24,000.

Kaufman knows that her path is the one less traveled, but she was lucky enough to figure out it out generally early and without getting herself into a debt. She didn’t leave college out of laziness; she just understood that she didn’t belong in the traditional college environment.  “I had ambition and drive, and wanted to have a successful career,” she said. “I just don’t learn well by only reading and writing.” And Kaufman is not the only young adult to be ambitious and yet not thrive in a classroom environment. “There are a lot of kids out there who are just not ready or able to go to school for four more years [after high-school],” says Barbara Ray. “For that group, they often get in to college because society says they have to but they have no plan or idea for what to do. So they flounder and struggle, and almost half drop out.” There’s no denying that you need more education after high-school for most careers, says Ray. But what hasn’t been taught enough is that a valuable secondary education (such as a certification program) is possible without going to college.

A successful career is far from impossible without a bachelor’s degree, but more has to be done to educate individuals about these careers. There seems to be a false dichotomy, Ray said, in which we “make it seem like you’re either getting a BA and well on your way to something big, or you’re in a dead end job with no options.” Life outside of college is not as limited as society often makes it appear. “Our society doesn’t elevate middle-tier jobs enough,” said Ray. “These are jobs that pay well and lead to a decent middle-class living, but they don’t take four more years of school to get.”  Many healthcare jobs, paralegal jobs, and even some manufacturing jobs, don’t require a bachelor’s degree but some form of training. But American teenagers just don’t seem to know enough about these options, and get shuffled off to college even if it isn’t the right place for them. What is needed, believes Ray, is to stop disrespecting alternative paths and start “put a value on those jobs like we do on engineering or business.”

A large problem is the stigma that often plagues individuals who choose to not go to college or get a traditional education or career. “That stigma is not beneficial, because people can do things they love, and that are useful to society, without going to college,” says Matthew Denhart, administrative director at the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, a not-for-profit research center based in Washington D.C. “We’re a nation that still needs the skills of plumbers and electricians and other careers that don’t require a degree.” It’s a mistake, says Denhart, to assume that college is the only path to the American dream.

Joe Lamacchia, author of “Blue Collar and Proud of It!” couldn’t agree more. Lamacchia, 51, never went to college and started his own landscaping business in the Boston area almost three decades ago. The book originally began as a website where Lamacchia wanted to voice his support for blue collar trades and workers. “It started several years ago when I couldn’t find a truck driver or cement mason for my company,” he said. “I felt like I was better off finding a brain surgeon.” Lamacchia hopes that the current economic recession will make people a little more hesitant about going to college and more willing to consider trades and other options that they may be better suited for. “The skill shortage is going to rear its ugly head,” he said. “Blue collar jobs are necessary – when the toilet clogs, look how fast people call the plumber!” And for some people like Lamacchia, trade jobs are the ones that they really feel most comfortable doing. “We have to see it, bang it, smash it, smell it,” he said. “We just can’t do desks and blackboards.”

But some individuals can do desks and blackboards – just not right away. Another misconception is that high-school graduates who don’t go to college are wasting time and avoiding adult responsibility. Sometimes delaying college is actually the adult thing to do. For Collin Boyle, 23, life after high school meant pursuing his dream of rock stardom. Boyle’s band, A Love Like Pi, was formed his sophomore year of high school. By the time graduation came around, the trio was ready to make it big. “It was a no-brainer,” Boyle said, about choosing music first. “We had acquired a fairly substantial following and were showcasing for major labels. I knew if we didn’t continue to tour and establish a name for ourselves nationwide, we might never regain momentum as a band.” School, Boyle thought, was something he could always return to later.

A Love Like Pi eventually signed with an indie record label, Thriving Records, and even played at major music festivals, such as The Bamboozle. Yet despite their local success, they never truly made it big like Boyle had hoped. “Unfortunately, as a result of poor business decisions and inner-band tensions, my band broke up and my dream of rock stardom was never recognized.” But even if he had known that his future wouldn’t turn out as glamorous as he had hoped, Boyle has no regrets. “I traveled the country with some of my best friends.  Even though my education was put on hold, the experience.”

Waiting several years also gave Boyle the chance to grow up and mature, making him more ready to commit to a college education. “Had I gone to college right out of high school, I would by no means be doing nearly as well as I am now,” he said. “I didn’t want to be a student when I was nineteen, but now, at twenty-three, I recognize and value the importance of a college education.” Now finishing up his associate’s degree at Brookdale Community College and with plans to attend Montclair State University in the fall, Boyle thinks he made the right decision about his future. “If I could go back,” he said, “I wouldn’t do it any other way.

Although Boyle didn’t achieve his goal, he isn’t the only young adult to attempt a career based on youthful dreams. After graduating from high school in 2008, Dani Sadowsky enrolled at the University of North Caroline at Asheville, but quickly found herself unhappy. “Ultimately, there was nothing I loved or wanted to study at college,” she said. “It wasn’t fulfilling.” In search of an alternative to school, Sadowksy, 20, thought back to her childhood passion: horses.  In June 2009, she flew into Steamboat, Colo. to start work on a ranch, a job she discovered through a cousin. At the ranch, she trained horses and helped to keep them in shape (“They get fat and lazy in the winter because of the severe weather!”).

Sadowsky loved working there, but not the lack of pay, and eventually had to quit in order to find a steady income. She got a job waiting tables at one of the restaurants at the bottom of Steamboat Mountain, which allows her a decent income and the ability to keep working with the horses. Her hope is to become a certified Sports & Therapy Equine Masseuse, a certification for which she has been taking classes at the Rocky Mountain School for Animal Acupressure and Massage. She will be fully certified after doing case studies on several horses, which she will fulfill while working at a new job in Virginia. With hard work and some luck, she hopes to make a successful career out of her passion – and her certification. “If I stick with it in Virginia, and people like me, I’ll be able to get my name out there and do my own massages for the surrounding area.”                                                                                                                        Whether one chooses college, certification program or risks it all to become a rock star or horse masseuse, perhaps it’s critical to remember that not knowing all the answers and taking the time to figure them out is an acceptable, and valuable choice. There is an overemphasis on following one clearly lit path to success, says Debra Humphreys, Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs at the Association of American Colleges and Universities. “Everyone is overly focused on being efficient as possible,” she said. “Not everyone finds their path on a straight line, sometimes you end up in place you need to be, but it takes several pathways to get there.” Barbara Ray agrees. “We expect young adults to have their lives in a neat, tidy package by the age of 25,” she said. “But even in middle age, we are still exploring options and figuring out our next move.” The most important tool for success may be acknowledging making mistakes and taking time to figure things out is necessary. Says Ray, “This is a life long pursuit of figuring out what it is you want to do and who you want to be.”

By: Ariana DiLorenzo

A snapshot of "Mission Drift"

Five “pilgrims” stand at the back of the stage in a loft- like space in lower Manhattan. They slowly march forward, their feet stomping to create a beat and singing a hymn with the feel of “Wade in the Water:”

“I think somebody is burning down Las Vegas. I think somebody is burning down my house.”

The lyrics of their song are projected onto the wall behind them as the pilgrims begin their march upstage, where their chairs and music stands are placed. By the time they get to their seats they will have finished their journey across the ocean to the United States, circa 1600.

This is not exactly your standard Broadway musical or even off-Broadway drama. This scene is a section from “Mission Drift,” the newest creation from the TEAM, an Obie-award winning, “downtown,” Manhattan theater company.

The show attempts to answer the question — What is American capitalism? — using the lens of “the American western expansion from pre-Revolution New Amsterdam to modern day Las Vegas,” according to the TEAM’s website. The company’s informal reading, this past November, was a culmination of a research trip to Las Vegas and months of rehearsals. Close friends and fellow artists were invited to watch the unfinished show and give feedback about the work: Did the play make sense?  What did YOU think it was about? Was it too long? What could be cut? Would you see this play?

The reading took place in an event space, on Governor’s Island, where the TEAM received a public grant to use the space for several months.  This summer, the company will go into the final stages of a two-year process, which entailed collectively researching, writing and rehearsing “Mission Drift. ” They aim to mount the two-hour piece in September, when they begin a European tour.

The TEAM is one of many so- called “avant-garde” theater companies in the New York area creating unique original work. While this type of theater has been around for decades (see sidebar), recent theater companies have been attracting a spotlight to off-the beaten path productions, getting reviewed by widely circulated publications such as Time Out New York and the NY Times.

These plays are referred to as  “downtown theater,” because many of the performances take place in small, off-the-beaten-path theaters, below Fourteenth Street.  It is more appropriate to describe the work seen in downtown theater as performance pieces rather than plays. While many of these performance pieces are realistic plays, there are also a lot of shows that have no plot line and can range from a compilation of vignettes strung together by a common theme (or no theme at all) to dance pieces set to music or spoken word. Often, this type of theater goes unnoticed by tourists and is bypassed by the average New Yorker. for more mainstream plays or musicals.

Despite that they are not drawing Wednesday matinee crowds, there are an estimated 500 to 800 small theater companies in New York and about 25 new companies per year, according to the NY Department of Cultural Affairs.  Some companies, such as the TEAM, have even performed in well-known spaces like the Public Theater. In September 2010, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, a musical with “experimental” aesthetic that premiered at the Public in 2009, made its way to Broadway, but closed after only a few months. “It’s harder to have a purely fun time in an experimental play” says David Cote, theater editor of Time Out New York.  “It’s not that it’s un-enjoyable but they often demand a complex response.”

So, what exactly is avant-garde theater? That is the question many academics, even some theater goers, have been trying to pin down, to better explain exactly what is going on in the basements below bars and in tiny theater spaces on the Lower East Side.  “It really feels like a dated, dead term,” says Cote. “Unless someone is going to have a show where they fling food onto the audience, its hard to use that without feeling ridiculous.” Instead, the terms “devised “ and “experimental” have become more politically correct than avant-garde.

Many companies look to make political or social statements about the world around them. The TEAM states that they are a company “dedicated to dissecting and celebrating the experience of living in America today.” Their work, such as “Mission Drift” and their last piece “Architecting” (about post- Katrina New Orleans) reflects this sentiment.

“New York companies are expected to have a novelty, have a certain way of doing things, “ says Ben Gullard, assistant director of  “Mission Drift,” “People want to peg a certain aesthetic.” Public funding organizations, such as the National Endowment for the Arts and the NY Department of Cultural Affairs, even require a “mission statement” from companies so they can better understand what each company hopes to accomplish.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “avant-garde” as: “an intelligentsia that develops new or experimental concepts, especially in the arts.”  Some synonyms offered are “cutting edge” and “vanguard.” But this definition describes a group of people rather than an aesthetic. If the work is breaking down boundaries and so “cutting edge,” why isn’t it more popular?

“ A lot of people who hear off off-Broadway tend to add some more off off’s,” says Erez Zivin, co-founder of the Horse Trade Group, an orgnization that houses many different theater companies as well as musical and burlesque acts.  There are hundreds of theater companies across Manhattan and one can’t help but ask the question, why start another one? For some actors, it’s as simple as being pragmatic. If you can’t get a job, then create one for yourself. For others, it’s about making work that is important to them, rather than simply with a commercial appeal.  Either way, the members of these theater companies are paving their own way.

“I always believe that there has to be options for people,” says Jack Cummings, artistic director of the Transport Group, a successful and now off-Broadway theater group. “We’re the equivalent of that great little awesome restaurant that only seats twenty.”

Zivin feels similarly. The goal, he says, is to create a place where artists can develop innovative, rather than simply mass appeal work. “There’s a difference between HBO and Showtime and ABC and CBS,” says Zivin. “I want people to think of us as HBO.”

And while the masses may not be flocking to East Fourth Street to eat up the work at one of the multiple theaters on that block alone, Zivin says the material created in these spaces seeps into the mainstream eventually. “Writers for Conon O’Brian and MTV develop their material in the shows they do here.”  More often than not though, the work reaches a small inner circle of other theater writers, directors and theater junkies.

But, pioneering in the arts does not pay the bills. Most people involved with theater companies have to keep their day jobs and many theater companies become not-for-profit organizations so they can be eligible for grants, public funding and

private donations. Even a successful group such as Horse Trade, who has been running three spaces on East Fourth Street for 10 years has recently become a not-for-profit, in hopes of receiving donations, as they struggle to keep one of their theaters, Under St. Marks, from being shut down.

Under St. Marks Theater on East Fourth Street

Horse Trade is just one of many companies who look to public funding as a piece to the funding puzzle.  The annual budget varies between organizations but according to representatives from the New York Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), their annual budget for arts grants is roughly $4.5 million, for each. But theater is not the only cultural discipline taking a chunk of this budget; there are 14 disciplines, ranging from architecture to electronic media that are funded by the NY State Council on the Arts alone.

And not every company is guaranteed funding. With so many groups vying for a dwindling sum of money, there is intense competition. Of the 219 applicants for the 2011 Fiscal Scholarship fund, 44 were theater. “It’s the largest single discipline of Fiscal applicants,” says Max Ryan, a NY Department of Cultural Affairs representative.

There are three components that public funders look for when deciding where to allocate funds, according to Robert Zukerman, a NYSCA senior program officer. Furthermore, he says these three criteria are the backbone to a successful theater company in general.

1. Artistic excellence: A group of actors cannot just put on any show and get funding. An invisible bar has been set that requires a level of professionalism and quality by historic organizations such as the Wooster Group and Elevator Repairs Service, some of the first groups to cultivate the “off-beat” aesthetic of avant-garde theater. “A company will not

get funded if the work isn’t strong,” says Zukerman. “They have to have a unique vision and it depends on how they fulfill that artistic vision that makes a company successful.”

2. Managerial Competence: A company manager or management team needs to be put in place to keep the company running smoothly. “If you’re doing good work can you support that work with the organization you are building?” says Zukerman. It’s not just about creating the art, it’s about running a business and eventually being able to pay people involved with the project.

3.  Service to the public/outreach: “Public funders want to see outreach to the community,” Zukerman says. Many companies will say that the shows they put on are

their service to the public but Zukerman says that is not enough. Outreach can encompass anything from discounted matinee tickets to free shows in the park during the summer time.

Every year there are between 24 and 40 new applicants for funding, says Zukerman, and the state funds 12 to 15 of those applicants. Because the state organization has lost about 30 percent of its funding they’ve had to cut back on the amount of money they give to new companies. “We used to be able to give up to $7500, now the average is about $3000,” Zukerman says.

For many companies public funding is just one way of securing money. Friends, family and private funding are other options. “We got money from fundraising, kick starters (an online website in which people can donate), friends and family,” says Rachel Chavkin, artistic director the TEAM. The group, created in 2004, used to receive funding from a

private company called the Greenwall Foundation but that organization has pulled its funding from the arts to focus on bioethics, says Chavkin.

Many companies are looking to alternative places for funding and organizations such as DCLA and NYSCA simply help to legitimize a company’s name. “We’re ‘Good  Housekeeping.’ We’re a seal of approval, “ says Zukerman. “They come to us to get funding and use that as leverage to get funding from larger corporations.”

The TEAM, has also looked outside of the United States for funding, bringing about half of their six productions to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, in Scotland. Similarly, they will bring “Mission Drift” overseas this fall. Unlike many festivals in the states, theater companies do not have to pay to be in European festivals. All the fundraising money goes to living expenses and show costs. Performing their work for an international audience helps to spread the word about companies as well. “There’s much more funding in Europe,” Chavkin says. The Team’s artist director, Ben Gullard, agrees. “There are a lot more people who don’t work in theater going to see theater in Europe.” Larger audiences bring in more money and create more of a need to sustain this type of theater.

Bringing their work overseas has paid off. After performing at the Edinburgh Festival, The Team was contacted by the National Theater of Scotland, who offered to produce the company’s next show, first touring in Europe and then in the U.S. “Most people get involved to tour and meet new people,” says Gullard. Touring is a main attraction for many actors.

“It was a totally different experience,” says TEAM member Libby King, of working with the National Theater of Scotland.  “Our first big touring experience we were doing shows two nights and putting everything in a truck and driving somewhere else,” says King.

While it is much easier for the company to get grants for “Mission Drift,” now that they are more established, the TEAM is somewhere in between driving their own van and champagne after parties, on a regular basis.

Chavkin says that it is only now that the TEAM is beginning to develop relationships with U.S producers such as Kansas City Rep and the Public Theater. A goal for the company is for each member to have a salary, but they have not reached that point yet. “As far as trajectory, I don’t think we’re ever go back to driving around in a van in the UK,” says King, “ “but it’s tricky.”

As the TEAM gears up to take “Mission Drift” on the road, in Europe, they are entering a final set of rehearsals to put the finishing touches on their newest piece. The show is written. The music is learned. No more research. No additional scenes or songs. Now it’s time to approach the work as they would any standard play.

“ This next phase we start to turn off that writer brain and really just start to rehearse more like you would a traditional play, “ says King. “It is slightly different because you’re really working toward a product that you’re going to begin performing.”

While the finished product of a TEAM piece, or any “downtown” theater piece for that matter, may not look like the typical play on Broadway, this “avant-garde” work offers something unique. It delivers a fresh perspective, looking at people and events from many different angles. “The TEAM creates a sort of collage of events that moves and changes before your eyes” says David Cote. “We’re not living in a time when the well-made play is the best way to convey information.”

As the “Mission Drift” actors continue to stomp forward the music cuts out, leaving just voices, claps and a deep beat.

If you believe in money, than you believe in God, repeats the last line of the song.

The audience applauds, moved by the soulful combination of voices and poignant political lyrics.

“ I like plays that take advantage of every aspect of live performance and have a distinct contemporary edge to them,” says Chavkin.  “I respect a glorious failure rather than a safe play that is only interested in entertainment.”

By: Ariana DiLorenzo

To give a truly comprehensive history of the avant-garde theater movement in America, would take a book, and there are several. So, for the purposes of contextualizing the current “avant-garde” scene, here is a brief overview of how it all started and how this type of theater is having a resurgence in popularity today.

European theater had experienced waves of avant-garde activity since the 1880’s but it didn’t reach the United States until the 40’s, according to “American Avant-Garde

The Wooster Group's "Booty Call-Arama!"

Theater: a history,” by Arnold Aronson.  The book sites a production at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, in 1948, as the first American avant-garde performance.

“In the roughly thirty-year period from the mid-1950’s to the mid 1980’s there was an eruption of theatrical activity in the United States that would ultimately reshape every aspect of performance and have significant influences both at home and abroad,” Aronson writes. This explosion continued to grow throughout the 60s and 70s as several theater spaces popped up, including the now iconic La Mama, providing venues for artists to develop this new type of theater.

Similar to the contemporary theater of this genre, the aesthetic of the “old” avant-garde looked to push the boundaries of what audiences considered standard theater (i.e the then popular, “Streetcar Named Desire”). “This theater was not fundamentally linear.”

Aronson writes. “It was not literary theater- meaning not that it lacked language but that it could not be read in any way a work of literature could be.”  These pieces were not looking to replicate the “real” world but rather create an entirely new one, giving their audience an experience as opposed to a plot line.

Several groups stand out as those who paved the way for today’s “avant- pioneers.” The Winter 2010 “Drama Review” sites companies such as, the Living Theatre and the Open theatre as the first wave of avant-grade groups, in the article “To Avant or not to Avant,” by T. Nikki Cesare and Mariellen R. Sandford.  The Wooster Group, Elevator Repairs Service and Builders Association make up the next wave. These artists set the standard for today’s theater companies.

Today, companies such as International Wow, who recently created the Oscar-nominated film “Gasland,” about water contamination in the U.S, reference the aesthetics shaped by artists, like the Wooster Group, in their work. And in many ways, contemporary avant-garde groups have evolved from their predecessors. “While the historical avant-garde operated in contentious relation to society’s mainstream,” Cessare and Sandford write, “today’s generation of theater makers are operating in relation to the mainstream art world of Bravo and billboards.”  Older “avantgardists” had fewer outlets and therefore remained outcasts to mainstream Hollywood but contemporary artists work the festival circuit and use the Internet to spread the word about their work, say the “Drama Review” article.

While the current form of the avant-garde may be shifting slightly, today’s theater makers do not forget their roots. ““If this was the early 70’s we’d be run of the mill,” says Jack

Cummings, artistic director of the New York based, Transport Group.

Mark Zukerman, senior program officer for NY State Council on the Arts, agrees: “I’ve been in New York for 34 years and I can honestly say, the scene is much richer and exciting now than it was 34 years ago. And its only getting more interesting.”

The face of #winning.

A look into the world of gossip bloggers and their growing influence

By: Arielle Schwarz

On Friday April 8, 2011, the celebrity media caught wind that 89-year-old Betty White had lashed out at Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen, calling them “terribly ungrateful” and “unprofessional” for their repeated public bad behavior. Lohan quickly released a statement criticizing White’s comments. A decade ago this inconsequential Hollywood war of words should have ended at that, perhaps a short Page Six item. Thanks to the Internet platform, however, popular celebrity bloggers jumped into the fray to spew venom at Lohan for her rebuttal.

One such celebrity blogger, Michael K of DListed, wrote: “Why the hell did LiLo [media nickname for Lohan] even waste a breath she could’ve used to puff on a Red? Betty White is right. End of story. Shut those silicone anal glands on your mouth and take it.” Ouch.

The Internet has provided Michael K, and other famous names in the blogosphere, with a platform to assault Hollywood all-stars and give their not-so-humble opinions about celebrity comings and goings. Before the web era, fans hungry for their celebrity fix or to read the latest scandal had to wait until the weekly tabloids hit the stands hear what ‘really’ happened. But these days, the internet has made the transmission of information instantaneous. And celebrity gossip is no exception. It seems people have an insatiable appetite for the hundreds of gossip blogs out there.  Two of the top sites, Perez Hilton and TMZ, receive up to 4 million hits per day, and it has been reported that Perez garnered close to 14 million unique visitors the day after the 2009 Academy Awards when his fame was beginning to skyrocket.

Bloggers have become self-appointed cultural commentators, and several have developed a following simply based on their reputations for being nasty. Michael K, one of the nastiest, wasn’t finished with Lohan and Sheen when he added, “Betty White is saying what Charlie’s and LiLo’s family should’ve said a long ass time ago. If only Betty could stick her fist up White Oprah’s [media nickname for Dina Lohan, Lindsay’s mom] ass and do the talking for that delusional crazy from now on.” Okay!

About six or seven years ago when they first started to emerge, it may have been tempting to write these gossip blogs off as virtual garbage, but with growing hordes of readers, their cultural influence becomes harder to deny. Stories such as the Betty White one on DListed garner hundreds of comments, while big news stories, such as the death of Michael Jackson, can elicit thousands. The bloggers themselves become celebrities and tabloid magazines are now behind the curve when it comes to breaking events. What started as a few snarky comments has transformed into a viral subculture.

Celebrity blogs are a platform not just for bloggers but they’re the virtual water cooler for anyone with something to say about celebrities and their affairs, says Erin Ann Meyers, who received her Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and wrote her dissertation on the topic. The celeb blog readers are often students and office workers who spend most of their time behind a computer anyway. So surfing the Web to comment on celebs becomes, she says, “A distraction or a fun way to take a break because there’s always something new. It’s not just reporting, they’re putting a spin on it, and people want to know what Perez has to say. Audiences are attracted to what reinforces their own beliefs. Blogs are in conversation.”

Another element of blogs, unlike magazines or TV shows like Access Hollywood or Extra, is that the audience becomes the producers of content too. Commenters on sites such as DListed get to know each other and form a community, so much so that when frequent commenters disappear for a few days, other commenters notice. Erin Ann Meyers says blogs “play a really important role in how the media is changing because people engage on those sites with the comment section and linking elsewhere. All three parts are blended, with images and text, the blogger’s commentary, and the audience as a layer.”  Magazines are left to play catch up days after the events.

A Battle Between Blondes

Gossip bloggers make no claim to objectivity, an important fact when considering the scope of their influence. Meyers believes they are not journalists, rather, she says that they are commentators, a central distinction to make. In light of recent suicides in high schools and colleges blamed on bullying, the often hateful commentary on these sites could certainly seem to act as reinforcement that tearing people down is acceptable and even enjoyable. Meyers believes bloggers who like berating celebrities are reinforced by a mean-spirited audience. “Perez is mean and people like that. Bloggers are not creating the [bullying] problem. That is how people interact online. The distance of not being face to face with the person leads people to say things you wouldn’t say to their face.”

Many people find the commentary crude, even if it refers to public figures. Michael K creates monikers for famous people, including Lady Caca for Lady Gaga, Katherine Hag-el for Katherine Heigl, and Parasite Hilton for Paris Hilton. Perez Hilton was known to draw penises on celebrities’ faces and cocaine dripping from their mouths, as well as for outing famous males he thought were gay. Many people attacked Hilton for being a bad influence after a slew of suicides in high schools and colleges, and he has since cleaned up his act. The nasty drawings have stopped and he has since made amends with many of his former enemies, but the motives behind his change of heart are debatable. Perhaps he was afraid of losing readers, or maybe he really did see the error of his ways. Either way, Hilton is a virtual force to be reckoned with.

Meyers thinks people have always had a cultural obsession with celebrity and their private lives.  The Internet makes it easier and more acceptable for readers to gossip and pass judgment on celebrities, such as Britney Spears’s mothering skills. “We police their private lives to talk about social issues, such as motherhood or femininity. I would never say my friend is a bad mother because I know her but I won’t get in trouble because I don’t know Britney and she doesn’t know me.”

Do the stars deserve that kind of scrutiny? It depends who you ask. Kelli Burns, assistant professor at the University of South Florida and author of “Celeb 2.0: How Social Media Foster Our Fascination with Popular Culture” believes that seeing celebrities in a negative light makes us feel better about our own lives. “We revel in seeing celebrities at their worst–without makeup, looking fat in their bathing suits, or getting mad about something,” she says.

On the other hand, she believes many celebrities love the attention, even if they act bothered by it, noting how paparazzi shots are often set up by publicists. Kim Kardashian, Heidi Montag, and Britney Spears are rumored to have arranged “candid” photos of themselves to stir up paparazzi and publicity.  However, there is a line that gets crossed, according to Burns, such as recent paparazzi photos of Scarlett Johansson and Sean Penn jogging in which Johansson’s belly pooch became the subject of blogger scrutiny. “I do feel that photos of celebrities coming out of Starbucks, leaving the gym, or walking their kids to school are not news,” says Burns.  “Celebrities should be given some space to live their personal lives. [They] do take a lot of criticism on blogs, and this is sometimes dished out unfairly.” Johansson was criticized for what appeared to be early signs of pregnancy, which her reps had to deny after the blogs made it a story.

How do bloggers, such as Michael K and Perez Hilton, get away with the venomous things they say? Victoria Cioppettini, a New Jersey-based attorney,  studied the legal questions surrounding gossip bloggers.  In “Modern Difficulties in Resolving Old Problems: Does the Actual Malice Standard Apply to Blogs?” published in the Seton Hall Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law, Cioppettini explains that there is a fine line that bloggers have to be careful of crossing. “Bloggers potentially open themselves up to defamation (slander or libel) lawsuits by posting negative comments on the Internet.  However, one of the issues that will determine if the blogger will be found liable is whether the information is a pure opinion or factual in nature, which can be a fuzzy line.  Pure opinions may be protected as free speech under the First Amendment while the publication of false facts about another may lead to legal liability for defamation.”

For example, she cites an incident where California DJ and pseudo-celeb Samantha Ronson (Lindsay Lohan’s former gal pal) sued Perez Hilton in 2007 when he claimed Ronson had planted cocaine in Lohan’s vehicle. Hilton defended his free speech rights and won the case. Hilton is often involved in legal entanglements due to controversial and malicious items he reports as fact.

In her study, Cioppettini notes that in newspapers or magazines, stories are either presented as fact or marked ‘Op/Ed’ and a clear line is drawn. Bloggers often do not draw these lines, reporting stories with a skewed bias or opinion. She writes, “Many times, the forum appears to be a personal journal but also ‘reports’ on stories as if they are true, when in fact they may be gossip, rumor, hearsay or pure conjecture. Because of this intermingling of fact, opinion and accusation, it is difficult for the reader to distinguish pure opinion from fact and opinion implying false facts. It is in this gray area where problems concerning whether to treat information contained in blogs as defamatory runs into significant legal obstacles.”

Why would someone want to blog about celebrities? Experts agree they usually have a strong interest in celebrity culture and want to write about them, and blogging is the easiest and cheapest way to do so. Professor Burns argues that they wanted to work as celebrity journalists and blogging builds writing samples. “Blogging allows for a freedom of expression that would not be tolerated in traditional journalism. You often find that bloggers can get away with being snarkier and somewhat disrespectful to celebrities.  Traditional entertainment outlets depend on publicists to provide information about celebrities, but bloggers usually don’t need to pander to celebrities and their publicists to get their stories,” she says.

The blogs don’t reserve their smack downs solely for Lindsay Lohan and other Hollywood train wrecks.  Entrepreneur and presidential candidate Donald Trump found that out when he created a media frenzy this spring demanding to see President Obama’s long-form birth certificate. Obama showed the goods, and celebrity bloggers took to their laptops to spew their thoughts.

Rebecca M. Leib, one of the head bloggers for Girls Talkin Smack, trumped Trump by saying: “Trump is a dirty piece of sh*te, and should know it. He may not like Affirmative Action, but he’s got to accept the fact that it helps ease racism in academia, and supports people like Obama becoming such a gigantic and inspiring influence on the United States. So, you know, go host a reality show, Trump, and stay out of important matters, please. Adults are talking.”

Though Girls Talkin Smack doesn’t rank to Perez-level popularity, its punchy writing style holds its own, leaving no celebrity stone unturned. Leib, 27, has been blogging at Girls Talkin Smack for almost nine months. She went to grad school at the University of Chicago for art writing and fostered a fierce love of comedy, training at The Second City comedy school in Chicago.

Eventually, Leib ended up in Los Angeles and realized there was high demand for pop culture writing with, as she puts it, “a strong comedic and journalistic voice.” She’s the perfect fit for Girls Talkin Smack, and says they liked her style of humor and snappy writing. She enjoys blogging because it’s “lenient,” adding “the pop culture stuff has to have an acidic tone, and they give me the freedom to say what I want.”

So what’s the typical day in the life of a blogger like? Even being able to work from home in her pajamas, blogging is a lot of work, she admits, getting up  “ridiculously early” to start writing jokes, and  expected to be available non-stop.

“I tell people it’s a full-time job plus. I’m always working and I’m never working. I’m home in my pajamas writing jokes, but I’m really writing jokes in my pajamas at home. It’s a strange lifestyle. My parents are both attorneys, they’re both very traditional, professional 9-5 types, and they don’t get it.”

If something big happens in Hollywood, she has an obligation to cover it. She’s in constant correspondence with her editors and publishers via email.

Similar to other ardent celebrity followers, there are people and topics that Leib enjoys covering and those she hates covering. She would prefer to write about more off-beat topics than celebrities, but finds it easy to write jokes about super-exposed celebrities, such as Lindsay Lohan. “It’s easy to do those things, and it is fun because we’re so obsessed with them.” However, she admits she is sick of writing about Charlie Sheen. Duly noted.

Many experts say bloggers feel no responsibility to the poisonous messages they’re sending, but Leib disagrees. She believes there’s “a line you just shouldn’t cross.” For example, she will not write about someone sick with cancer or who has recently had a miscarriage. She says, “Rehab is an interesting case because it’s like ‘oh, another celebrity is going to rehab’ and we tend to forget people actually have serious addiction problems but we don’t feel as bad because they put themselves in these situations.” She says she does self-edit and is conscientious of what she puts out there.

Ronnie Karam, head blogger of TVgasm, a blog dedicated to TV recaps and commentary, says that the bloggers on his site were actually the bullied kids in high school, and does not feel that poking fun of celebrities is a bad thing, provided that it is lighthearted enough. He agrees it is all in good fun.

As for the future of celebrity media, Rebecca Leib believes the tabloids “will keep eroding until they are strictly online” with no print distribution because people now need and expect the instant gratification of a constant feed. Ronnie Karam agrees, adding, “Once you start reading everything on your phone, you don’t go back” and thinks the Internet is a great forum for people to express themselves. “People think writing is going to disappear, but now the entire world is expressing themselves in some way. There’s more being written now, and I think [the shift] is a good thing. The Internet is still very Wild West. There are no rules right now. You never know what will make money.”

Trent Vanegas, founder of Pink is the New Blog, was one of the first players in the blogging game, founding his site in 2004. Like Perez Hilton, Michael K, and TMZ, Vanegas’s followers are fiercely loyal and have helped him secure a top spot in the blogosphere. He says he got into blogging by accident before blogs were common and his love of everything pop culture made it easy for him to become a daily commentator. He credits excellent timing to his success. “I was an early adopter.  My blog found an audience when there weren’t many blogs out there.  If I were to start my blog now, exactly as it is at this time, I guarantee you it wouldn’t have the same impact that it did when I launched it.   I guess it was really a matter of right time, right place.”

Vanegas agrees with Rebecca Leib in that bloggers are not exempt from standards of respect in their commentary. He says, “I think we, as people, have a responsibility to respect one another… bloggers, journalists, celebrities, students, what have you. The rules of common decency do not change because someone can hide behind a blog. I personally try to have fun with celebrity, poking fun in a comedic way.’”

Like Leib and Karam, Vanegas enjoys working from home but thinks the immediacy and constant nature of blogging is difficult to manage. But all in all, he loves it. “I just love the craziness of celebrity. Celebs are people just like us, they make mistakes, they wear the wrong things sometimes, and they look silly and screw up sometimes. As I said, I try to keep things fun.”

As long as Lindsay Lohan has court dates, as long as Charlie Sheen keeps winning, and as long as Britney Spears is, well, Britney Spears, celebrity bloggers will keep criticizing them. Celebrity media may be changing, but celebrities are as crazy as ever, and audiences keep demanding more. It’s an old game with new rules and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Sorry LiLo!