An Elevator Has Two Sets of Doors
When I was busking at the 14th street subway station, a teenager named Art rubbed my musical saw with his hand three times and said: “can I have three wishes?” He then went on to say: “I wish you’d play that song I like”. As I’ve seen him before many times I knew he meant…
Read MorePoetry and Art
If I didn’t play the musical saw in the NYC subway, I would miss out on meeting some of the most wonderful people in the world whom I’ve met in the subway. One such gentleman is Jeffrey Dayton, who surprised me with a beautiful poem he wrote: You are the saw lady Natalia Paruz Your…
Read MoreI Think of You When You’re Not Here
As I was playing ‘Over the Rainbow’ while busking at the 14th street subway station, Joe Lucas, the homeless guy with the hook arm, showed up. I haven’t seen him in months. He went to Montana to visit a friend and then to Rhode Island to visit his sister. It was wild that he showed…
Read MoreWords, Images and Music
When I got to the 34th street subway station I heard a voice saying “Saw Lady”. I looked around and saw two ladies talking but it didn’t look like it was them calling my name. I kept walking and I heard the voice again. I looked around. From a dark corner a homeless man with…
Read MoreR.I.P Rue McClanahan
As I was dragging my busking gear up the stairs to the subway station, a guy left his shopping cart by the bottom of the stairs and offered to help me carry my stuff up the stairs. He wasn’t even heading to the subway – he volunteered to go out of his way just to…
Read MoreI AM A BUSKER
Every now and then I come across poetry about busking or about musical saw playing. This time a poem was sent to me. And not only was it sent to me, but it was writen especially with me in mind! I AM A BUSKER/Janina Jayme I AM A BUSKER..WITHIN MY HEART AND SOUL..TO BUSKER OR…
Read MoreIf I Murder My Wife, Can I Marry You?
Climbing the stairs up to the subway station with my heavy busking gear, I noticed a guy wearing an MTA shirt who was also walking up the stairs. “Excuse me…” I said to him. MTA guy: “I’m sorry, I can’t help you (motioning to my busking cart) – MTA rules – we can’t touch anything”.…
Read MoreNobody Gets Out of this Alive
As I got off the train at the Union Square subway station two guys who were getting on the train said: “Saw Lady! How are you?” Just as I started to play, Chill, who sings on the trains with his acapella group, came to say ‘hi’. He told me that he was just released from…
Read MoreWeren’t you here two hours ago?
Busking at the Staten Island ferry terminals is always an anticipated opportunity, because it doesn’t happen very often. A guy told me that the last time he heard a musical saw being played was 50 years ago, in Panama, when he was 12 years old: his godfather played the musical saw in a band. The…
Read MoreThey Came Up For Air
At the subway station, the lights were off and temporary emergency lights were on. I asked an MTA track worker why the “candle-light atmosphere”. He said they are working on the station and needed to turn off the lights, but the train is working. It gave the station a romantic atmosphere 🙂 At the Music…
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