Street Musician

When I got to the Uptown A C E tonight the bench was filled with homeless guys, first one, then two then three gathered to listen … must have been the cold weather pushing them underground. Honestly they are the most appreciative audience, smiling, dancing, singing along & foot stompin’ – all of which quickly turned into a mini church revival when I sang “People Get Ready’ 

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So I was busking the “R” tonight & this girl laden down with tons of shopping bags looked at me as I approached the door after my tune: “I don’t have any cash, but I have lip gloss…” she said with a mini question mark at the end of her offer. “Oh it’s ok, I don’t want to take your lip gloss” I said to shopper-girl. “No, no I have tons of other stuff, really it’s brand new, it’s Clarins. Take it, really – your singing was so lovely I want you to have it” #buskinglove
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Under cover cop was way too obviously patrolling the #7 train that I was busking today so I had to do a whole lotta darting about to keep working. Finally my friendly subway maintenance worker & I came up with a code system that would alert me when one of the 3 under covers on that line was snooping about – code word ‘UNICORN’  #stealthbusking 

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I wish I had a million dollars so I could, instead of passing the hat for tips while busking at Xmas, I could pass the hat & hand out $100 bills. How amazingly fun would that be? ‪#‎BuskersDream‬

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Busking fixes well…almost everything 🙂

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As a busker, to make my job work – I mean really work, I must consistently move myself to a place where I have love for every single person surrounding me in the NYC subways, no matter the anger, resentment or hatred their faces & body language display. I often wonder what our world would look like right now if everyone had to, without question, be in that place of unconditional love to actually make their job work… <3 ‪#‎stufftoponder‬

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I ended up with this hidden in a fist-full of coins last night. I fear I may have totally messed up some guy’s trip to Home Depot … #oops

 

I have yet to find anything in this city that compares to the gift of busking the NYC Subways. The ability to give and receive love & smiles hour after hour in an environment usually filled with the exact opposite is rare. I hold such love for the privilege & freedom all of us performing down there hold onto literally at this point, by our fingertips. As most of humanity is silently allowing their freedoms to be stripped from them, one by one – buskers continue to struggle daily against obstacles most of humanity has yet to experience, just to have a voice. That struggle, is & has always been inherent in our work. As long as we are down there & continuing to fight for our first amendment, our right to make art, to entertain & spread happiness, I am proud & blessed to be part of this community of  creative, courageous  gypsies. <3

 

Busker guy in wheelchair with well worn ax on the A,C,E: “You on the cars tonight?”
Me:”Yeah I am. It’s oddly slow though. Not sure why”
Busker guy: ” Well, we have the slow days so we’ll be sure to appreciate the good ones”
‪#‎BuskerWisdom‬

 

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