One Good Deed Deserves Another

A young guy helped me bring my busking gear up the subway stairs. When we reached the platform there was an unusually large number of people there, because the train wasn’t working. I forged my way through the thick crowd and the guy who helped me before followed behind me. When we got to the…

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But I Still Love You

As I was riding the train towards my busking spot, a guy with a tape-recorder in his hands boarded the train at the 59th street subway station. He asked me if I was going to 14th street. I told him that today I’m playing at the Grand Central Station’s Shuttle to Times Square. Man: “But…

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The Legal Size of Carving Knives

When I got to the Music Under New York spot by the Mosaics at the Times Square subway station there was nobody there. The whole space was kind of empty – no people, which is a bit unusual. The only person around was a homeless guy. “What is it?” he asked Saw Lady: “It’s a…

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Give Me Beer and Nobody Will Get Hurt

At the Music Under New York busking spot at the Union Square subway station kora player Salieu Suso was playing. He spotted me as I came out of the elevator and yelled: “Saw Lady! How are you?” Salieu got his official Music Under NY cloth banner (newbie buskers get a small plastic banner for their…

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Recycling Souls

When I arrived at the Music Under New York busking spot at the 14th street subway station Salieu Suso, the kora player from Africa, was there. As he was packing up his busking gear and I was setting up mine, he told me about kora playing in Africa. I saw him taking money out of…

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It’s a Unicorn

When I got to the Music Under New York spot at the Times Square subway station Salieu Suso, the Kora player from Africa, was playing at the spot. There was a guy with a long beard sitting on the floor, leaning against the other column from the one Suso was by. As I was waiting…

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Working on Co-existing

Salieu Suso, the African kora player, was playing at the Music Under New York spot at the Times Square subway station when I got there. Salieu told me that a lady from Arts for Transit was there this morning. She told him to point his amp away from the record store. Salieu told me that…

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Music 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…

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