Author Archive

One of the reasons I enjoy busking in the NYC subway (or anywhere) is that I have many of the pleasures of a hostess, without the bother and expense of entertaining: to have people come & go & stop to talk with me, some of them friends, many strangers and interesting. Photographer: © Puneesh...
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Travelling on the subway train, on my way to busking at the 14th street subway station, a guy told me that he has seen me in the movie ‘Dummy’ with actor Adrian Brody. When I got to my busking station for the day, a guy was playing electric guitar and singing on the platform....
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Every year subway musicians who are members of Music Under New York help with the annual audition for musicians who wish to play in the subway under the Music Under New York umbrella. While it is legal for any musician to perform in the NYC subway, many musicians find it easier and helpful to...
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Riding the subway train to my Music Under New York busking spot at Union Square, I realized that my watch’s battery was dead, so I looked up at the time announcement strip in the train. It said: 11:51. A few minutes later, as I was setting up to play, the time announcement on the...
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On the subway train, as I was traveling to my busking spot, a guy with a bird on a leash sat next to me. He told me his bird was three years old and was from New Guinea. The bird cried loudly every now and then until the guy got off at the 23rd...
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At the 34th street subway station, after I finished playing the ‘Star Trek’ theme, a guy who was video-taping me on his i-phone asked me to play it again. He placed his i-phone on his bag and he stood by me. While I played he made golf playing motions… He accidentally dropped his sun...
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A couple of weeks ago film maker Michael Tapp posted a video he took of me playing the theme song of ‘Star Trek’, the TV show, at the Union Square subway station. Within a few hours more than 11,000 people viewed it. By now more than 267,000 have watched it. I was once told...
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Going up the subway station’s stairs, a guy refused to help me bring my busking gear up… While setting up to play at the Music Under New York busking spot at the 14th street subway station, a guy dressed flamboyantly asked me if I was sponsored by Duracell. He said a long time ago...
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I had the good fortune to be amongst the 9 musicians and music groups from Queens who were chosen out of some 500 musicians to perform at the WNYC Radio’s ‘Battle of the Boroughs’. The concert took place last Friday at the ‘Green Space’ in Manhattan. I played ‘Changes’ by Scott Munson, accompanied by...
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When busking at the St George ferry terminal in NYC I know to go directly to the guard with the bomb-sniffing dog first, before venturing further into he space. If you don’t do it and you have a large bag – they’ll chase you. The dog, Tailor, was lounging on the floor. “Sorry to...
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