I have been walking around doing magic for people since I taught myself when I was 6 1/2 years old. I'm now 61. Over the years I've performed magic and put a smile on the face of many famous people, such as Ken Kesey, Tom Robbins, Buckminster Fuller, The Lone Ranger, and Alan Alda. I met The Dalai Lama 8 times. And I have been standing up for the rights of performers and public for last 20 years. I was arrested for making a kid a balloon animal. I have had seven cases so far against the city of Seattle for denying performers First Amendment rights of expression. My case was just heard in the ninth circuit Court of Appeals. One of my pro bono lawyers, Robert Corn-Revere, got Lenny Bruce a posthumous pardon. This fight is given me extreme overwhelming depression, diabetes, my psoriasis turned to psoriatic arthritis in my feet and toes which now will not bend and hurt I take my shoes off at night in bed. And insomnia. I've had a mental block about performing, so I am behind in my rent and facing eviction. Yesterday I put my last $250 into a new alternator and fan belt and the distributor which was $300-$400 I don't have. I have no food I can't afford my medicines. I need $3000 before Feb 1 to not be evicted from my one bedroom apartment. I need to find people who care about the Bill of Rights and help me. This has far-reaching consequences. See my story! Magic Mike Seattle http://funandmagic.com/ 206-675-8471 I am also one of the people who helped start FM radio. - Magic Mike Berger (read this please)
Balloonist and magician Mike Berger sued the city over the Seattle Center's rules admitting and regulating street performers, or buskers. A panel of 11 federal judges is rehearing the constitutionality of the Center's rules. The ruling is due in 2009.
What's at stake, in terms of the right to free expression, in the judges' decision?
This fight benefits all performers and all people who go to public places. Seattle Center has tried on a regular basis to say that it's not a traditional forum and that it is not a public park. They tried to say it was not owned by the city. If the earlier ruling does not get overturned, every single person going to any park would need a photo ID permit. The parks and sidewalks are a public forum; that's what public property is.
People from out of town, who have never seen a busker, think performers get paid; they don't even think to give you a donation unless you ask. And doing anything to indicate you need or want some money is a violation of their rules.
They put these rules in effect just to have a tool to get people out - so they don't have the same level of probable cause that you'd have to give to a policeman. There were already rules on the books prohibiting noise and fighting, but they wanted to have something they could use fast and furious.
And these places get our tax money. If they're not a public forum, why do they need public money? If you're taking money you have to act in a manner that's copasetic with the Constitution.
Ask people to donate to me, because I've been fighting this on my own. The depression it causes me is really dis-motivating, and you have to be motivated to perform. This is the seventh time I've had to take the city to court, and I can't afford the medicine to alleviate the conditions that developed from the stress of the lawsuits: diabetes, psoriatic arthritis in my feet and toes, insomnia, and manic depression. I am behind in my rent and facing eviction. I haven't been able to work for the last two weeks because of the weather. And Pike Market refused me a permit; they say there's only four balloonists allowed, which is prior restraint and regulating content. They're my next case.
Magic Mike's web site details his struggle over freedom of expression in public space that started in 1987. You can make a donation or can contact him at http://www.funandmagic.com/performersrights.html
