A NYC subway musician and musical saw player tells what happens when she plays in the subway

• 2012 is Only a Few Right Nows Away
• Yellow Tulip Hanging on the Hook
• Questions
• Maybe Once in Every Two Centuries
• Music Under New York Auditions

• 5inister: More questions: If I ever go to New York where can I look f...
• cath: Thanks for visiting my blog. I wish I were there in Vilnius ...
• Shawn Grimes: Thanks for the great overview. I wish I could have been the...
• Matt Nozzolio: Great rundown on the auditions, and thanks for correcting th...
• Howlin' Hobbit: Do let us know if the Ukuladies passed the audition! HH...
• Steve: I see (and hear!) you all the time in the subway -- I'm psyc...
• Adam: Thank you for commenting on my blog.I have never heard saw m...

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• 59th street & Lexington
• Music Under New York
• Times Square
• Uncategorized
• Union Square

As I arrived at the Music Under New York spot at 59th street I noticed there were new orange ads for Home Depot all over the station walls.

The guy who usually stands downstairs with an empty coffee cup and a sign on his neck saying ‘I’m hungry’ walked by, smiled and said ‘hi’ to me. I guess he was on his way to his usual spot, though he didn’t have the sign and the empty coffee cup.

Photo by Oscar Durand

A guy gave me yesterday’s New York Times saying “you can read it on your break”.

At 2pm the guy with the ‘I’m hungry’ sign walked back. This time he did have the cup in his hand and sign on his neck.

At 2:30 the guy who makes balloon sculptures waited for the train and nodded ‘hi’ to me.

Photo by Oscar Durand

Somebody put a brown-paper note in my donations box. It says: “2012 is only a few right nows away. That (the musical saw) would sound great on my album. The eye of the world, fifth dimension of reality. Us.”

At 3pm the sanitation lady saw that I was packing up and said “have a nice day”.

When the train doors opened at the 59th street subway station I saw Frank playing guitar/singing/whistling on the platform.

Two members of Faustino’s Group (Andean music) were at the Music Under New York spot at Union Square - one guy was playing the pan flute, the other was selling CDs.
I sat down on the bench to wait for them to be done. A sanitation man came to empty the garbage can. He had a key to open the lock on the can. “Why do you lock the garbage?” I asked him. “Because people go inside the garbage looking for stuff to eat” he said.

As Faustino’s musicians were packing up and I was setting up to play I noticed a yellow tulip hanging on the hook on the wall. (the hooks on the wall are for hanging the Music Under New York permit banner). I pointed it out to Faustino’s musicians but they said they didn’t put it there - it was there when they got here this morning.
The Faustino musicians went to Times Square to hopefully continue playing there. They told me they will return at 3pm.

The fire department seemed to be having a drill on the N/R uptown platform. Action attired firemen with oxygen balloons and axes were being instructed by an officer wearing a blue uniform with a walkie-talkie and a big flash light.

Joe, the homeless man with a metal arm, showed up. He nodded ‘hello’ and sat on the bench. He fell asleep for a while. When he woke up he went downstairs and told me he will be back in a minute, which he was. I don’t know where he goes when he goes downstairs, but he does that every day, just for a minute. Joe sat back on the bench, then when I wasn’t looking, he left.

A lady who seemed a bit off sat on the floor by me. She asked me questions about the musical saw, like - did I invent it, am I singing - the usual questions everybody asks me. About ten minutes later two guys and a girl showed up, tapped the lady on her shoulder and said to her “lets go”. Reluctantly she got up and went with them.

Arnold, the messenger guy, told me that a couple of days ago he was on the 6th train and when the doors opened at 59th street he heard my sound. Unfortunately he didn’t get the job he was trying to get

Isaac Paris, an accordion player from Alaska, was on his way to playing at Washington Square Park for the first time. He told me that he plays a 26″ rusty saw for fun.

Silk came to say ‘hi’. He has been performing in the subway for at least 20 years. He used to sing on the platforms, but now he plays buckets. He told me that after our last conversation, when I told him about the violent hip-hop dancers at 34th street who draw knives on buskers and destroy their equipment, Silk went and talked with them about not doing that anymore.
A blind man stopped by us as we were talking and asked Silk where the way out of the station is. Silk said “I’ll take you there” and he did.

A gentleman told me that he works at the Times Square subway station and that the guys working there miss me. “When are you going to play by us again?” he asked.

At 3pm Faustino’s Group showed up, but without Martin, the guy who was here this morning. Jorje, who plays pan flutes, said “Martin is late, as usual”.

The elevator to the uptown platform wasn’t working, so I had to take the stairs. I could hear Ilie Radu’s accordion from afar.

On the train two Nortenos wearing black hats were playing accordion and guitar.
When the train doors opened at the Times Square station I saw that the new newspaper stand on the platform opened. This means that musicians would no longer be able to set up there to play

When I arrived at the 59th street subway station there was an erhu player on the N/R platform. I headed to the Music Under New York spot on the #6 train platform.

The singer who walks with a cane and his singing partner said ‘hi’ on their way to singing on the train.
A lady asked me: “What kind of bow do you use?”
A bold man sat on the bench and said hello to me. It took me a whole song to remember where I knew him from… He was here last week, too. It’s easy for people to remember me (how many ladies with a saw do you see a day?) but sometimes it’s hard for me to remember why a face looks familiar to me in the sea of faces that pass me by. Turns out this man is a yoga instructor. He told me that that is what he would really like to do but for now he paints houses for a living.
A lady asked me: “Do you take Ballet?”

Photo by Oscar Durand

A sanitation lady surrounded by teenagers in blue vests (they have to do community service to pay for something illegal they did) said to me: “I thought you were singing!”

A guy playing guitar on the trains stepped off the train and came to listen to my playing while waiting for the next train.
A lady with two kids asked me: “Do you know where the Museum of Natural History is?”

On the platform opposite where I was, across the tracks from where I was sitting, a guy wearing a Music Under New York shirt waved to me. He was carrying an accordion case.

Photo by Oscar Durand

A guy said to me: “See you next time!” and got on the train.
A lady asked me: “How do I get to the 4/5 trains?”
A guy asked me: “How do I get to the United Nations?”
Three Nortenos wearing white hats - two playing guitar and one playing accordion, where playing on the trains.

A guy asked me: “How do I get to the downtown side?”
As I was packing up to go home a guy asked me: “How was your day today?”

At the Union Square subway station I took the elevator up from the platform with a lady who erroneously thought she was heading towards the ‘L’ train platform. I pointed her in the right direction.

As I started to play, Albert, the messenger guy, came by to tell me that he has a delivery to make and he will be back at 4pm.
Victor, a student who is doing a series of drawings of New York Subway musicians, came by to draw me. He showed me the drawings he made of Delta Dave, as well as a reggae-y guitarist called One Leg Chuck. His drawings are really good. When I told victor his drawings reminded me of “Where’s Waldo?” he said the Waldo books were his favorite.

A lady told me her name is Linda and that she works upstairs (meaning at Union Square above ground) at the Regal theater. She said I should come by on Tuesdays and she will let me in to see the movies for free.

A guy said to me: “Did you study physics?” He thought only through the study of physics would it be possible to figure out how to make music with a saw… He went on to say “I’m never gonna find anybody like you again. Maybe once in every two centuries”.

A guitar player carrying his guitar with no guitar case walked by.
A guitar player with his guitar in a case walked by.

The lady who used to work at this station as the sanitation person walked by. I haven’t seen her in a long time. She used to never smile. I always made a point of saying a cheerful ‘hello’ to her every morning, and she would grumble a retort. Today, she came to me and said hello, and - she smiled at me! I siad to her “I haven’t seen you in a long time!” She said: “I’m retired now”. Maybe that’s why now she smiles

The smell of steak wafted in from upstairs.
A guy carrying a saxophone stood in front of me and saluted.

Joe, the homeless man with a steel arm, sat on the bench. He then informed me that he will be right back, and he went downstairs. I thought it was interesting how the messenger guys and the homeless people tell me their schedules.

At 3pm Kosan Kazutaka, a Japanese musician, came with his permit for the spot. He plays what he describes as a three string Japanese “guitar” called a Sanshin. It actually sounds kind of like a banjo. Kosan had been with MUNY for 2 years.

As I was packing up, Joe, the homeless man, returned. He told me that he was in detox. He also got a new steel arm. His Medicare got cut off but now he has it back. Now he needs dentistry. He is terribly frightened of dentistry so he needs to be put to sleep for the dentist to work on his teeth (not just local anesthesia, but full body anesthesia!). His problem is that he is also scared of the anesthesia needle.

A guy told me that yesterday there was a violinist who played at the spot. He asked me if I knew who it was. I told him to describe the violinist to me. He said “long hair, played electric violin, played music from ‘Guns & Roses’”. I told him it sounds like Michael Schulman to me. The guy thanked me for the info. He said he is a fan of that violinist.

Albert, the messenger guy, returned. He was done working for today. He volunteered to take my stuff to the elevator. He took the elevator down with me, then continued down to the ‘L’ train. Albert lives in Brooklyn.

Photographer: © Aaron Porter