Yellow Tulip Hanging on the Hook
When the train doors opened at the 59th street subway station I saw Frank playing guitar/singing/whistling on the platform. Two members of Faustino’s Group (Andean music) were at the Music Under New York spot at Union Square – one guy was playing the pan flute, the other was selling CDs. I sat down on the…
Read MoreQuestions
When I arrived at the 59th street subway station there was an erhu player on the N/R platform. I headed to the Music Under New York spot on the #6 train platform. The singer who walks with a cane and his singing partner said ‘hi’ on their way to singing on the train. A lady…
Read MoreMaybe Once in Every Two Centuries
At the Union Square subway station I took the elevator up from the platform with a lady who erroneously thought she was heading towards the ‘L’ train platform. I pointed her in the right direction. As I started to play, Albert, the messenger guy, came by to tell me that he has a delivery to…
Read MoreMusic Under New York Auditions
The annual Music Under New York audition attracts a lot of media – many newspapers and TV news shows have reported on it. One reputable newspaper reported that: “…was among 200 people who applied for this spring’s auditions, about 70 of whom were selected to play Thursday before a panel of 40 judges that included…
Read MoreTorn Bow Hair and Cut Fingers
Today was the first day this year I didn’t need to wear a sweater when playing in the subway. Can summer be finally here? Calebe Arruda was playing the violin at the Music Under New York spot at the 14th street subway station. He has been playing there for four hours today. Calebe is a…
Read MoreA Fake $20 Bill
At the 59th street subway station a lady helped me carry my busking equipment up the stairs. As we got to the top of the stairs the train was in the station. The lady ran to the train and as she got to it the train doors started to close. The lady forced the doors…
Read MoreBusker Spirit
Carrying my busking equipment up and down stairs is a workout… I was lucky – a gentleman helped me up the first set of stairs and a lady helped me up the second set of stairs going into the subway (which is actually an elevated train here) this morning. At 11:40AM there was nobody at…
Read MoreThe Other Way
There was nobody at the Music Under New York spot at the Union Square subway station when I got there. A man was sleeping on the bench and another man was reading. On the opposite bench a lady was counting change. The homeless guy with a hook hand asked me to play the theme from…
Read More$3
It was raining as I left my house to go play in the NYC subway. A gentleman offered to help me take my gear up the stairs at the subway station. When we got to the top of the stairs we saw a lady fall to the floor. The guy helped her up while I…
Read MoreIt’s a Bird
It was raining as I made my way to playing in the subway today. At the Music Under New York spot at the Union Square subway station Louis and a friend were playing Andean music. They were there since 8am. It was almost noon, and they said, as they gave the spot over to me,…
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