iPod Death

As I set up to busk at the Music Under New York spot at the 59th street subway station, I had to sand-paper the saw before starting to play. A guy passing by asked me what I was doing, so I explained that due to the high humidity the blade rusted, and that takes away from the sound when playing a saw, so I had to take the rust off.

A lady told me her great-grandfather used to play the musical saw in Jamaica.

A blond police lady came to check if I have a permit. She said “usually I don’t bother you but when they tell me that I have to check, then I have too…”. Some police officers are so nice. They realize bothering subway musicians is a waste of their time when they should be concentrating on criminals.

Half way through playing my iPod went dead! It’s a brand new iPod, which I use for playing my back-up music on. Luckily I always carry my old walk-man with me as a back up. Later-on I discovered that my iPod just got “frozen” (just like computers do, and you have to reboot) and all I had to do was hold the menu and select buttons for 10 seconds. Until I learned that, I had a minor heart-attack thinking my brand new iPod is dead.

A kid asked me: “Is it sharp?”

A guy with a big smile on his face came to talk to me as he always does. As always, I didn’t understand most of what he said (he kind of mumbles) but he is so friendly. What I did understand is that his name is Reggie. He noticed that I wasn’t wearing my glasses. I explained that when it is so hot and humid it makes me sweat under the frame of the glasses, so I am trying to wear contact lenses, though it sometimes bothers my eyes.