My heart is still in your pocket

Don Witter, the guitar player, was playing at the ‘Music Under New York‘ spot when I got there.
It was raining outside, and usually it would also rain INSIDE at this station, but today there was only one little puddle inside, and Don said it actually didn’t rain by the spot today. Could it be that the leak is finally fixed?
As Don was packing up and I was setting up we talked about library gigs, which Don does a lot.

Delfin Tardio the guitarist waved hello – he was probably scouting for a spot to play.

Bow & Chill, the singing brothers who sing on the trains, stopped to chet. They introduced me to their new singing partner, ‘T’. They were done for today because ‘T’ had to go to his job. The brothers are retired. Bow used to work at a laundromat untill recently but now he and his brother just sing in the trains and collect retirement checks.
As they waved ‘goodbye’ Chill said to me: “My heart is still in your pocket”.

The ‘Opera Guy’, Wesley Ray Thomas, happened by. He got into the MUNY program a few years back, but traveling all the way from Boston to NYC to perform in the subway proved to be difficult, so he hasn’t sang in the NYC subway for a while. He regularly sings in the Boston subway, though, and at concerts, of course. He told me busking in the Boston subway is very different from the ‘MUsic Under NY program‘ – in Boston the performer has to PAY a yearly fee of $25 to get a permit to perform in the subway! And on top of that – you don’t get a spot reserved to you – it’s ‘first come first serve’, which causes a lot of fights between the buskers in the Boston subway. What a terrible program they have in the Boston subway! ‘Music Under NY‘ is a million times better!
The ‘Opera Guy’ is American Indian (Cherokey). He was in the city on his way back from a Solstice ceremony. He siad he might move to NYC at some point and he hopes to be able to return to singing in the subway.

Alberto, a freelancer who plays Andean music on a pan flute, asked me to watch over his stuff while he goes to have lunch.

The daughter and grand kids of Luke Ryan (the guitar player/singer/songwriter who usually plays by the Shuttle on the Grand Central side) introduced themselves to me. I have heard a lot about them from Luke. Luke’s birthday is tomorrow – Happy Birthday, Luke!

Alberto returned from lunch, collected his gear and went to look for a spot to play at Grand Central Station.

At 3pm Jeremiah Lockwood, the blues guitar player/singer who is always dressed so nice, arrived for his permitted time. He told me his son, Moses, is 9 months old. We discussed amplifyer repairs as I transferred the spot over to him. Jeremiah built his own carrying case which doubles as his seat when playing. It’s very cool.

Just before I left the scene the singer who walks with a cane came by with his two singing partners. They were done singing on the trains for today and were on their way to the bank at 96th street to change their change