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 saw”
Homeless guy: “Now I’ve seen it all”.

A group of girl-scouts went by.
Three cops went by and smiled at me. One of them gave me the ‘thumbs up’.

Romero, who sings on the trains, noticed I wasn’t wearing my glasses. I was trying to wear my contact lenses to the subway, but I feel more “protected” wearing glasses in the subway – sometimes tiny particles fly into my eyes…

An older gentleman told me of Sunday services with no God… turns out he is part of a non-denominational church at the Ethical Society.
Albert, the messenger guy who always runs into me at Union Square, ran into me for the first time ever at a different location. He was wearing lots of necklaces and looked very colorful. He is always cheerful.

Photographer: © Aaron Porter

A guy said to me: “Make it sing!”

Four Jewish teen age girls gave me two candles and told me that on Monday there will be dancing from 6pm to 6am by their Rabbi’s house in Brooklyn.
A grandmother and her grand-daughter, Sophie, were on their way from a fundraiser for the Kayak Boat House. They entered a raffle there for a free boat ride. I told them that they can have a free boat ride any day: the ferry from South Street Sea Port to Red Hook is free (on account of the Ikea store at Red Hook). They were happy to learn about that.

A guy told me he’s on his way to work. He asked me about the lack of teeth on my saw. Turns out he works on old wooden bars (as in pubs). He carries a little pocket knife with him, for carving wood sticks on his free time. He said the police give him a hard time when they see him carve. He tells them his knife is smaller than the palm of his hand, which is the legal size for carving knives, and they let him off.

A guy said to his girlfriend as they were listening to my playing: “It’s like the 5th element”.

Balla Tounkara, the African kora player from Mali, went down the elevator with his kora.
The weird thing today was that throughout the day I kept seeing people carrying violin cases pass by. Was there a big violin audition going on up stairs?

On my way back home I passed by the Gimagua twins playing on the mezzanine, dressed in black and matching hats.