Conditional Discharge

I was proceeding in a Southerly direction, milord, when I heard uh, strange sounds coming from the Walldor place, milord. A sort of boogie-woogie music was being played. On further investigation, I saw the defendant standing there with a guitar and an old hat on the floor collecting pennies. Well, I decided that uh, he was contravening a breach of the peace.

-Long John Baldry, intro to "Don’t Try To Lay No Boogie-Woogie On the King of Rock and Roll"

The two scurrilous scalawags pictured above have been given 2 year Anti-Social Behavior Orders (ASBOs) by the Birmangham City Magistrates Court. Andrew Cave (left) and James Ryan have been banned from busking anywhere in England or Wales for the next two years. From the Birmingham City Council:

Today’s Order prohibits Cave from entering almost all parts Moseley, whilst Ryan has been banned from entering Mosley village. Cave has been banned from playing a musical instrument in Moseley whilst Ryan has been banned from playing in Moseley Village. Both of them have been completely banned from begging in England and Wales.

The homeless pair will face criminal charges should they violate the ASBOs.

It seems that for the past year and a half the pair have been playing music outside various establishments in Moseley, Ryan playing a guitar and Cave playing percussion on whatever happened to be around. The problem which caused 60 some-odd complaints over the period was not the music, per se, but was their rather limited repertoire which consisted of nothing but Oasis' Wonderwall over and over again, with an occasional dose of Faith, by George Michael.

This went on nearly every day from early evening until 3:00 am.

Councillor Ayoub Khan, Cabinet Member for Local Services and Community Safety, said:

I'm pleased that visitors and residents of Moseley will no longer be subject to this duo's anti social behaviour.  The council's BASBU officers have worked in partnership with the local community and the police so that our citizens can go out in Moseley without the hassle of being harassed for money or subject to excessive noise.

Ryan took a somewhat different position: "The whole thing's about playing a guitar, it's a joke. Most people loved it."

Sources:
News of the Weird
Sky News
BRMB
Birmingham News Room
Song of the Day