PODCAST HOST: The Voice Behind the Mask
Description
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Middle Aged (35-54)Accents
North American (General)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
I have an appointment this morning with a bear. I'm supposed to meet him a Tenet South station in Boston, but I can't find him. Check out everywhere inside, but there's no sight of him. So I go outside. I hear music. I follow it. Do I hear what I think here? I do believe here what I think I hear okay. He's a street musician, a busker in a bear suit, lots of people walking by recognizing, though they smile. They throw money in his basket. They shout encouragement and take selfies. That's because this mysterious man Bear is a Boston icon. He's the man. Honestly, he's, uh, he's always around in a good spot, having a good time. He represents in Boston in the whole, Really, he's an artist, prides itself on being hard to find. That's the voice of the bear. He often refers to himself in the third person today, while he's playing, he's wearing a red sock shirt for gloves and bear mask. He resembles something from the Seth McFarlane movie Ted, but his public persona is less foul. Mouth bear, more TB care bear. His job description is making people happy on a daily basis. And he does that in part by showing up unannounced wherever crowd might be. Gathering Fenway Park. Harvard Square subway stations are a favorite. He plays modern R and B and pop tunes on an eighties retro instrument called a Guitar Key is an instrument That's the court, a cross between a piano and a guitar. So I wanted to actually play both at the same time, and I saw Prince videos. He doesn't have any formal music training. Instead, his mom's large CD collection provides all the music education he's ever needed. Michael Jackson, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Rolling Stones to Poch, Farrell, especially prints. He just loves music about kinds and wants to share it with others. So who is this bear? My name is Shakespeare Marquees. They know Me is key. Toby Keith are Bare started performing in character about four years ago, just when Boston needed him most. After the 2013 marathon bombings played a party like uh played drums with this Ted suit on people like that. And then I was right. Kids party and adults were enjoying the act morning the kids, so I chose the mass and the city embraced him is one of their own, but he's guarded, even elusive. In fact, his own grandmother doesn't know he's key Tar Bear, and he doesn't talk much about himself publicly. But here's what I've learned. He's between the ages of 22 42 though off Mike he claims to be 34. He's from Leicester. He doesn't like social media. He's religious. Religion is there to keep you generally a genuinely good person. His mother is his handler. She arranges his gigs and she maintains his Facebook page. But why the bear suit? I'm black and four flat tires on a dump truck. You see, before Shakespeare marquees became key Tar bear, he bust on the streets of Boston without a mask. It didn't go well. I went through a little bit of racism, you know, earlier than and I've decided, like, Okay, let me just put on the bad mass and play both black and white music and they won't know which one I am. You know, I know what I've done. I've gotten a lot of people together, you know, gotten open dialogue, you know, between races. That's just an institution that is unstoppable right now. And in order for the change. Matthey Reconsider how we raising our Children. But being famous does not protect key tar bear. Since 2014 at least three separate attacks on him have been reported, most recently in June 2017. Boston was outraged. We don't treat our own that way, you know it's not patriotic. What is that? You just look at the guy Boston all the way, you know? Come on, I don't even know what would motivate someone to attack someone who is all about bringing happiness and joy and sense of fun in camaraderie to the city all over. But key Tarbert just shrugs it off. Um, kids being kids care really fault because I was a kid to once. Some days people make fun of him. They make perverted gestures. They call him a beast or they say he's not really playing. I'm like, yeah, whatever, you know. But I got a bucket full of money and you're broke. His property says, is about $25 a month. That's after his phone bill. A few drinks and purchasing a video game or two. There have also been community fundraisers he needed to cover medical bills and buy new equipment after he was attacked. $15,000 has been raised at those events, and even though he has no traditional full time job, he's hoping something comes through in the future. If the situation presents itself. Lack of flying a restaurant nightclub that could play out weekly, maybe three or four and then 10 years before time kill. Criticize me. People say he's a fake off fraud, but I don't have a job to do on the responsibility, and that's to keep everybody happy. I don't care what anybody else thinks. I'm just here to do what I gotta do. In Boston on Carol Basir for the Transom Story workshop.