Where have all the freaks gone

As I got to the spot Agua Clara, the Andean group, was playing, but without their drummer. Usually they have a drum-set, but today they had a different guy on two conga drums instead. It was very nice, a melow, warm sound.

I noticed a guy waiting for the spot. As I approached him to tell him I had a permit for the spot it turned out this was Steven’s assistant (Steven is the ‘Michael Jackson’ dancer from Chicago). Steven is very nice. He said it’s cool and they will just go to Grand Central Station.

Shortly after, while I was still waiting for Agua Clara to finish, the girl wearing a funny pilot’s hat who auditioned for Music Under New York last week walked by. She recognized me from the audition’s welcome desk where I worked that day. She told me she is on her way to play at 14th street on the platform with her partner. They have been playing accoustically in parks and in the subway but they want to play with amplification, which is why they auditioned for the permit. I told her I hope she gets in.

As Agua Clara were packing up and I was setting up we talked about the recent Music Under NY audition, where both Angel, guitarist and leader of Agua Clara, and I worked.
Angel told me it was a very slow day for his group today in the subway.

Frank walked by – he played guitar and sang/whistled on the 1/2/3 trains platform and was on his way to a different location now. He too, said it was very slow for him today.
He told me yesterday he played at the 72nd street platform where a lady asked him to give her a photo-copy of his sheet music. She gave him $20 so that he would go photo copy the sheet music and give it to her.

The lady who wants me to make a CD with ‘Danny Boy’ on it walked by to ask me if I made such a CD yet… I explained that making a CD takes a long time…

A guy who was with me on ‘The New Yorkers’ TV show told me the show is now off air.

Black Wolf the wizard guy who performs at Central Park walked by on his way to Borders book store. He is a very inteligent guy. He told me about an article in this week’s NY Press, titled ‘Where have all the freaks gone’. He wrote a retort to the article. I have to try to get this paper (it’s a free newspaper distributed in green recepticles on the streets of NYC).

It was indeed a slow day for me too. but then the three singing brothers, Chill, Bow and their new partner, who sing on the trains, walked by and sang me their new song. It was so beautiful and they have such a great energy that it energized me. I felt so honored to have them sing a whole song just for me!

At 3pm Faustino’s group (another Andean music group) had a permit to the spot. Funny how two sidemen in this group (mandolin and flutes) were also sidemen at Agua Clara this morning. Sidemen get more work than group leaders