A fascinating glimpse into a world that few really understand. In this book, Heidi Kole presents a first-hand account of performing in the New York subway system in an honest and elegant voice. From her initial fright at the idea of performing to gradual understanding of the ‘code of the underground’ to her acceptance and befriending of fellow performers, this book is filled with interesting insights and philosophy. Each chapter reads like a short story, and those short stories are beautifully woven into a compelling narrative that I found impossible to put down.

Heidi is a free spirit in the best sense of the phrase….trusting her own instincts to be a creative human being. This is the truth, I will never look at people on the Metro or downtown DC the same way after reading her book.

I read a couple of chapters in the evenings as a way to experience New York since I have only been there a couple of times. Thanks for the enjoyable read and for modeling a life based on art and openess to new relationships. Alice

This is a great read and insight into the underground world/code, that many pass by everyday without knowing, overall just a great experience to read and definitely worth a look.

This book should be mandatory reading for every American !!I could not put it down.The underground culture described by Heidi is an amazing model of trust, caring for each other,and unity. If all people would read and apply the features of the model our world would be an amazing place!!

Reminiscent of an urban, underground Celestine Prophecy (but much more well written), Heidi Kole takes her readers through an incredible journey – filled with larger than life characters, personal revelation, love, compassion, heartache and fear – without ever leaving the confines of the New York City subway system. Through short chapter-like diary entries that keep the story moving at a quick, exciting pace, Kole gives us an insider’s look at the lives of some of the city’s best, and least well-known, musicians as they deal with background noise, foul odors, bizarre on-lookers, and the fight for their right to exist – all in the name of entertaining their audiences – and while asking for very little in return. Heidi is part story-teller and part philosopher in a guided tour of a city’s underground that will change the way you look at the people who make your commute a little more bearable.

Wow! Wow! Wow! I thought I would just take a peak at Heidi Kole’s book, “The Subway Diaries” instead I found myself hours later, past midnight, with red tired watery eyes and a night getting shorter and shorter…not being able to put her book down! I kept on scrolling page after page, reading about her amazing world. I felt like being propelled into a C.S. Lewis world! My! I am so fascinated!! Who would have ever imagined what is actually happening on the platforms under our streets??? Tomorrow I am rushing myself to buy hard copies and give them to my friends! I want them to know that Hey! Heidi Kole is FANTASTIC!!!
Therese
Washington, DC – New York City

I  was  gigging up in Harlem last week and this group of  five or six little girls passed by, maybe nine or ten years old, and  they became  transfixed.  Within a matter of  seconds we had a mutual  fan club thing goin’ on; I love the kids. They listened to the music, clapped, danced, stared at the money mixed in with the constant cache of  assorted candies I  keep in my guitar case, chit chatted, giggled and emptied  their little pockets of pennies, nickles and dimes into my case.

Once  done my  gigging for the night and back above ground I noticed there was a new voice mail waiting for me.   Thought you might  want to  hear…

Click below & Enjoy : )

audiolove1

And  a day later…

audiolove2

This kid’s fabulous!

Rock on world!

Heidi ~

Sometimes ya have to come up for air and when you do look what  you find…

These wild  roses  live long  the Hudson River.  Here and there, the predominantly light pink have cross pollinated with the dark  pink and this one particular light pink rose ended up with just one dark pink petal,  in the shape of a heart!  – Magic

"Rose on Rose"

Stumbled on a street artist of a new fashion underground in Grand Central Station, sitting at the edge of the “S” (Shuttle) train…

First for me seeing this underground ~

Her sign...Columbia...those have got to be some major student loans to cover @ $3 a pop

Adrian Margaret Brune 917.239.7923/ambrune@gmail.com...in case you have a lead for her & can't read my fuzzy photo

PS she gave me a short story : )

L-train Nightmare

This is a quick post on the musical, subway-themed gem that is Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror by Jeff Lewis. As this is the spot for all things subway or underground railway themed, it seems an appropriate song to write about.

In case you’re not aware of the song, it was recorded about in the mid-noughties by Brooklyn Anti-Folk musician Jeff Lewis. Anti-folk, in case you haven’t heard of that either, is a singer-songwriter type of music that undermines the earnestness of the folk genre with a ready wit. Lewis has been performing from the late 90s and is one of the ‘formost practioners’ of the art. He is a bit of a radical and you won’t see Cheeky Bingo or STP corporate sponsorship on his shirt, he’s more likely to ask a member of the audience if they have a spare couch to sleep on that night.

The song starts with Jeffrey setting off to re-master his album at Major Matt’s. This is not the action figure but a NYC musician and record producer going by the same name His studio, Olive Juice Music, is in the Lower East Side, so presumably the song takes place somewhere between Bedford Avenue on the BMT Canarsie Line and Union Square station where he would change onto the Lexington Avenue Line.

Anyway, that is pretty much the end of the subway technicalities mentioned in the song, although the Williamsburg/Brooklyn hipster milieu is amusingly described: ‘crowded five to an apartment’ and ‘ten thousand white twenty-somethings crowded on’ the L-train. While on the train he thinks he sees Will Oldham, a very successful Indie musician, sitting near him. This sets of a long, rambling and very funny (subway) train of thought

The highpoint of the song has to be Jeff’s thoughts about attempts to make a a living as a creative person and whether Will Oldham, the indie superstar, is subject to the same insecurities and doubts as the less successful hipsters. Jeff wonders if Oldham is plagued by the feeling that his work is nowhere near as good as Bob Dylan or Neil Young, but then supposes that all artists must suffer this feeling – Dylan probably wondered if he wasn’t as good as Allen Ginsberg or Albert Camus, and the famous French existentialist no doubt wondered if he would ever measure up to the titanic talents of John Milton or Montaigne or whoever. Insecurity about one’s place is universal, no doubt… and all that from a quick ride on the subway.