You Belong Here

It was raining. If I didn’t have the subway near me, busking wouldn’t be a possibility today. Traveling to my busking spot I saw a Chinese musician playing a dulcimer like instrument on the platform at 59th street. He was playing the theme from the ‘Godfather’ movie. Calebe Arruda was playing the violin at the…

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Sneezing, Coughing, Runny Nose

I had severe spring allergy this morning as I was heading into the subway to play. Sneezing, coughing, running nose – the works. I saw Frank playing guitar/singing/whistling on the 59th street platform. Glen Roth, who comes all the way from CT to play in the subway, was playing guitar at the Music Under New…

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Maybe 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…

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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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Torn 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…

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The 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…

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Famous Violinists Who Busk

My blog still gets a lot of hits from people searching information about the incident last year when famous violinist Joshua Bell played in the Washington DC subway. Another famous violinist also busked in the streets, but as he didn’t do it as a publicity stunt most people don’t know about it… Fritz Kreisler (1875…

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