A New York Moment
I was packing up my street performing gear at the end of my busking day at the Union Square subway station. A lady came up to me saying “I was just talking about you!” She motioned to a few friends who were with her and said: “I was just telling them how mesmerizing your music…
Read MoreLast Wassailing Day in the NYC Subway
Today was my last wassailing day of 2016 in the NYC subway: ╰☆╮A guy told me it is 3 years now that I have been putting a smile on his face. ╰☆╮A guy from Texas told me last time he visited NYC I was his favorite NYC subway busker. He has been telling his friends…
Read MoreThanksgiving
Yesterday, the day before Thanksgiving Day, I played at the 34th street subway station. The closest piece of music I could come up to for matching the theme of the Thanksgiving turkey was… the ‘Swan’ by Saint Saens 🙂 Three people said they missed me – they noticed I wasn’t at my usual busking spots.…
Read MoreJust Like Marlene Dietrich
They say if you sit in one place long enough in the NYC subway, eventually everyone will pass by you. Today it felt true: I just started my day busking at the 34th street subway station. A man came over, put a dollar in my donations’ bucket and said: “my grandmother played the musical saw”.…
Read MoreA Glimpse Into People’s Souls
I was playing ‘Danny Boy’ at the 14th street subway station when a man approached me with such a look on his face. He told me he is a writer and was just coming back from a meeting with a publisher, who accepted his first book. The book is about Ireland. He walked into the subway…
Read MoreSometimes we need a blessing…
Today was pretty “dead” in the subway when I was playing at the Times Square station. A drummer who came to say ‘hi’ to me said it was “dead” at his spot by the Grand Central Shuttle, too. “Mondays are slow”, we agreed. I was contemplating leaving early, but thought I’d hold on for a…
Read MoreRedeeming a Saw Memory
When I was busking at 14th street subway station a man told me he had a defining memory of saws from when he was 5 years old, growing up in Porto Rico. His uncle was a handsaw maker. One day the uncle’s horse kicked his son and injured him badly. The uncle was so mad…
Read MoreSpirituality in the NYC Subway
At one moment when I busked at the Times Square subway I intended to stop my play-list and go back to the beginning. But before I was able to do so, ‘Moon River’ started to play, and I found myself playing it. I was thinking to myself: “why am I playing this song now? I…
Read MoreOne’s Measure of Success
When I played at 14th street subway station today a lady came to me and said “I haven’t seen you in two weeks – is it just that I wasn’t in the right place at the right time or were you not playing in the subway?” I explained it was too cold to play in…
Read MoreVox Humana
When I got to the Union Square subway station today I had a few minutes to wait before taking over the busking spot from musicians Zack (banjo) and Scott (violin) (who btw will be playing with me on January 23rd at the http://www.spikehillmusic.com/event/198839/?utm_source=fb1 ). I set on the bench next to a homeless man named…
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