Museum Tours for the Blind

It was a rainy and dreary day – I barely dragged myself out to play in the subway today.

Mosaics in the subway: 8th Street N/R station, on the north side of the downtown track.

A guy told me that he tried to play the musical saw when he was a kid on a farm. They had ‘Diston’ saws, both cross-cut and rip. He played with a mallet. I told him Diston saws are known for their good sound, and invited him to the 7th annual NYC Musical Saw Festival I am organizing on July 18th.

Albert, the messenger, told me he saw me on TV last night. Then a Russian sounding lady told me the same.

Photographer: © Aaron Porter

A guy pushing a lady in a wheelchair went into the elevator. The lady waved to me. I didn’t understand why.

A group of three teenagers took my picture and went away. Then they walked by me again. The third time they walked by me they put a bunch of cards in my donations box. The cards advertise the Grace Church. They say: “Is G-d sending you a sign?…To download free music, go to…”. Their church services are held in a theater on the upper west side where I once performed with a rock band.

A lady sitting on the left side bench was holding up religious pamphlets.

After many years of just saying “hi” and “how are you” to the blond blind lady who always passes by at this spot, the blond blind lady stopped to talk to me. Her name is Karen and she works as a teacher to tour guides in museums. She teaches them how to give museum tours for people who are blind or visually impaired.

At 1:15 another lady holding up religious pamphlets sat down on the right side bench. So now there were ladies displaying religious pamphlets in stereo around me.
It turned out that the three teens handing out religious postcards belong to a whole group who was in the subway today, spreading the word out about their church, which also holds comedy nights…

Somebody put a coin from Columbia in my donations bucket. This is going straight into my coin collection.

At 3:45 Sleepy Lester, the harmonica player, came for his permitted spot. He told me the cops gave him a hard time in this spot, even though it has been a permitted spot for years.

On the platform a guy sang and played guitar while a lady in a wheel chair played recorder. I now understood why the lady waved to me before – they are fellow buskers!