Whitehall Ferry Terminal
The Pleasures of a Hostess
One of the reasons I enjoy busking in the NYC subway (or anywhere) is that I have many of the pleasures of a hostess, without the bother and expense of entertaining: to have people come & go & stop to talk with me, some of them friends, many strangers and interesting. Photographer: © Puneesh Suri…
Read MoreWrong Turn in Life
On the subway train, as I was traveling to my busking spot, a guy with a bird on a leash sat next to me. He told me his bird was three years old and was from New Guinea. The bird cried loudly every now and then until the guy got off at the 23rd street…
Read MoreRat & Roach Poison
When I got to the terminal of the ferry to Staten Island, the guard with the bomb sniffing dog greeted me: “Saw Lady!” Two men on a tall dolley were fixing the big running sign above the entrance to the terminal. It had numbers from 1 to 9 all along. As I was setting up…
Read MoreBoiler Room Job
On my way to busking at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, a blue eyed guy offered to take my busking gear up the four flights of stairs, all by himself. Usually I hold one end and the volunteer holds the other. But he just lifted the whole thing by himself. “I work out”, he said.…
Read MoreDrawing Portraits on the Train
While busking at the Whitehall Ferry Terminal in Manhattan, a guy who works on the ferry-boat asked me if I’ve lost “one of those” – he said as he pointed at my musical saw. He said that he found a musical saw on the ferry boat, together with a bow in a brown case. He…
Read MoreWeren’t you here two hours ago?
Busking at the Staten Island ferry terminals is always an anticipated opportunity, because it doesn’t happen very often. A guy told me that the last time he heard a musical saw being played was 50 years ago, in Panama, when he was 12 years old: his godfather played the musical saw in a band. The…
Read MoreDo the Cartoon Sound
While waiting for the train at the subway station, I noticed seven big white panels on the floor, laying against the wall of the opposite platform. It looks like maybe the MTA is preparing to have ads on the walls of the station. It’s about time. At the City Hall subway station four guys were…
Read MoreWalked Away Singing
While I was busking at the Whitehall ferry terminal, I had a few nice conversations with people waiting to take the ferry boat to Staten Island: A guy told me that his Dad taught him to make sounds with a saw by hitting it with the thumb. Another guy told me that he plays the…
Read MoreThe Smell of Baked Goods
As I was transferring trains at Union Square I saw Dan Stevens playing guitar and singing at the Music Under New York busking spot. A woman was dancing with a little kid to the sound of the music. My busking spot for the day was at the Whitehall Ferry Terminal in lower Manhattan. An older…
Read MoreHow Strong is Plastic?
There were no trains going to Manhattan today… they were working on the tracks. So, I took a train going the opposite way and switched to a Manhattan bound one a few stops away. It took me about an hour and a half to get to the Music Under New York busking spot at the…
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