You Got to Squeeze That Coal

Juan Castillo was playing at the Times Square Music Under New York spot when I got there. He told me it was very slow today.

Bow & Chill, the two brothers who sing on the trains, came to say ‘hi’ and they, too, said it was very slow today. Now for them that is very unusual because they sing on the trains where it’s hardly ever slow. I said to Chill “some days are diamond and some days are coal”, to which Chill replied “you got to squeeze that coal”.

A guitar player said ‘hi Saw Lady’ as he passed by looking for a spot to set up. I didn’t recognize him but apparently he recognized me…

Juan went to get some food and asked me to watch over his stuff so he doesn’t have to schlep it with him. As he was about to leave a guy gave him a metro card good until Friday. Now that’s lucky!

There is a record store being built inside the subway station right next to our spot. All the buskers are worried that the store owner might play loud music which will drown us out. the cleaning guy in charge of the station told me he heard the store will open in a month and that they will probably play music inside the store but keep the doors shut. That would be a blessing!
I really don’t want to lose my favorite spot to play at!

The person who always shouts “Saw Lady, Saw Lady, she’s so happy, Saw Lady” whenever they pass me by passed by and gave me the usual ovation. I’m not sure if that person is a man or a woman… really nice person, anyway.

As usual, at 2pm the Dianetics people walked by with their gear on their way to their spot.

At 2:20 Geovanni looked for a spot to play at. He told me he opened a MySpace page to advertise his new guitar album. I noticed his hair was shorter, but he said he got it cut about a month ago.

Another guy who sings on the trains said it was slow for him, too, but he thinks it will pick up in the afternoon.

A guy who always wears a hat with lots of feathers on it walked by and crowed like a rooster towards me. A while later I guess he was on his way back from wherever it was he went, he crowed at me again. I have to say he imitates a rooster really well.

At 3pm Yaz Band (Japanese group) showed up for their permitted time slot. Yaz checked out the damage on the wall in front of us. I explained to him the MTA was trying to fix a leak.