Woman to me on 1st car of the day as she handed me a dollar: “Oh, please stay & sing another would you?” #SubwayLove 

Conductor today on leaning out of his window as I hopped off the “N” train: “Hey, when do I get to hear a tune?” 

Blows me away when out of all the people on those platforms, it’s the homeless guy wearing everything he owns who smiles when I make eye contact, grooves to the tunes & drops one of his hard fought for, crumpled dollars into my case. Moves me every time 

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

Tonight I hit the platforms as I needed to mix things up musically from my train car routine which involves basically one song, plus it was crazy beautiful warm! So I get onto the Uptown A,C,E & a girl sitting on the bench shouted; “Sing that song you sing on the trains! I heard you on the cars and you got a standing ovation. Sing that song please?!” So much for mixing things up  🙂

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

My new “A” train friend & her mad colourful barbie “Cleo De Nile”.  Her mom; “Yeah, there’s definitely something a bit skewed when you say that name out loud” 

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

I know it doesn’t appear so always from the surface – but the grass truly is greener under NYC 🙂