Norwegian Christmas Drink

On Halloween, while busking at the Times Square subway station dressed as a witch, I was approached by an unusual man. For more details of what happened back then: see the Halloween post. Out of the blue, a Norwegian angel by the name of Tore e-mail to let me know there is a video of…

Read More

Organic Playing

As I got to the Whitehall ferry terminal a guard with a black dog asked if he can check my busking cart. “This is the 1st time I’m asked to have my stuff checked in NYC” I told him. I handed him my back-pack and he said “just put it on the floor”. Turns out,…

Read More

A Different Bag Every Day

On my way up the subway station’s stairs two guys offered to help me bring my busking gear up. It turned out that they were the two guys I saw at the 14th street subway station last Friday – Guillermo and Martin, who were the ones sitting on a bench and fixing a string on…

Read More

Thanksgiving Day at the Times Square Subway Station

When I got to the Music Under New York spot at the Times Square subway station at 11:30 this morning, there were two police officers standing right at the spot, one of them with a police dog. There was yellow police tape and police barriers blocking the way to the escalators. As I showed the…

Read More

Sending ‘Love Letters’ on My Pants

When I got to the Music Under New York busking spot at the Times Square subway station there was a cup and spilt coffee on the floor… As I was setting up to play a sanitation lady came to clean the cup away, but the spilt coffee was left on the floor next to me.…

Read More

Some People Are Diamond And Some People Are Coal

A guy passed me by as I was lugging my busking gear up the stairs at the subway station. He then retraced his steps and came back to help me, saying: “I thought someone was with you – that’s why I didn’t stop to help”. That someone he thought was with me was a younger…

Read More

The MTA’s Jingle

On the platform at the Times Square subway station there were two tap dancers. The sound coming from their hoofing was too echoee. Probably because the board they were dancing on was not flush against the floor. This reminded me of the time I used to tap dance in the streets many years ago. Nobody…

Read More

Give Me Beer and Nobody Will Get Hurt

At the Music Under New York busking spot at the Union Square subway station kora player Salieu Suso was playing. He spotted me as I came out of the elevator and yelled: “Saw Lady! How are you?” Salieu got his official Music Under NY cloth banner (newbie buskers get a small plastic banner for their…

Read More

Just Keep It Down

A nice lady helped me carry my busking cart up the stairs at the subway station, even though she herself had a load of bags to carry. Some people are so kind! There were three Nortenos on the train, playing bass guitar, regular guitar and accordion. They were wearing white straw hats that had the…

Read More

Train Panhandler Retired to Florida

Nobody was playing at the Music Under NY busking spot at 14th street when I got there. As I was setting up my busking gear a European sounding lady asked me: “sorry, can you tell me the time, please?” Immediately after that two Japanese ladies asked me how to get to the ‘L’ train. I’m…

Read More