Mark Hartmaier
Mark Hartmaier was a Canadian busker.[2][3][4] Mark was born with quad-membral limbs deficiency.
According to the Globe and Mail he felt compelled to threaten to "camp on the Premier's desk" when housing for individuals with his condition was inadequate. in the 1980s. They reported this threat "made headlines".[2]
Film-maker Sook-Yin Lee produced a short film profiling Hartmaier.[3]
Colin Freeze, writing in the Globe and Mail, reported that Hartmaier had started temporarily moving to Vancouver, where more clement weather made it possible for him to perform during the winter.[2] Hartmaier told Freeze he used a standard Casio keyboard, and that one hand legitimately played the rythym for his songs, but that he "cheats" for the melody, as he pressed single keys, each pre-programmed with chords.
References
- ↑ webmadman (2019-07-02). "Mark passed away last weekend. We were close friends back in high school and college days. RIP buddy.". Twitter. https://twitter.com/webmadman/status/1146943735697162240.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Colin Freeze (2005-12-08). "A minstrel on the street makes merry". Vancouver, BC: Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/a-minstrel-on-the-street-makes-merry/article990785/. Retrieved 2014-03-10. "It was a way to support himself when he had few other means. Back in the 1980s, he made headlines for threatening to camp out on the Ontario premier's desk unless he got more help with housing. Eventually, the government obliged him."
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Sook-Yin Lee (2008-10-28). "DNTO Videos: Mark the Busker". Definitely not the opera. http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/DNTO/DNTO+video/ID/1236813645/. Retrieved 2014-03-10. "Sook-Yin introduces you to her friend Mark Hartmaier, an amazing force of nature who knows how to push procrastination aside and get stuff done!"
- ↑ Chris Bateman (2013-07-30). "Morning Brew: Hundreds march for Sammy Yatim, similar death remembered, David Soknacki for mayor, Queen West street photos, and a cryptic sign explained". Blog TO. http://www.blogto.com/mb_toronto/2013/07/morning_brew_hundreds_march_for_sammy_yatim_similar_death_remembered_david_soknacki_for_mayor_queen_west_street_photos_and_a_cryptic_sign_explained/. Retrieved 2014-03-10. "The City of Toronto Archives has a just uploaded a collection of Queen West street photos from the mid-1990s to Flickr. Shot by Ivaan Kotulsky, a local jeweler, the collection features candid portraits of several of the area's notable faces, including Mark Hartmaier, the quadruple amputee street performer famous on Spadina Avenue."
