Underground

Seriously – there’s other stuff to do down there in the trains than mess w/ me to save your job!!!

Damn Cops! Ticket – summons – court! All surpassed the ridiculous tonight. This cop passed by me, listed for over 45 minutes, smiled and said nothing, not a thing, nada! Then, out of the blue he comes up behind me & says “Ummmm…do you have an ID? I’m sorry but I’m gonna have to write you a ticket, you’re gonna get a summons & you’ll have to go in front of the judge, but it’s all bullshit so he’ll dismiss it.By the way, are there any warrants out for your arrest? Tell me, honestly, ’cause if you  don’t I’ll get in trouble”
“No, no warrants Officer Chin” I answered, grabbing his name from his badge and name tag
“You’re sure, right? I mean everyone says that but you’re  sure  there are no warrants out for you?”
“As far as I know, nothing” I bit  my  tongue at this  point as I was itching to sing as me and the audience were having a very good night underground
“Ok, well, I ‘ll go on your word ’cause I don’t want to go back up there and see  my supervisor to run your ID through the system.  So, here’s the deal, once I”be given you the ticket, you can keep on playing. I just have to show my supervisor that I”m doing something or else I get fired. See, there was apparently this guy with a gun that we were looking for and because I did not find him  my  supervisor thinks I’ve not been  doing anything. So, I’m gonna have to write you up so it looks like I’ve done something, otherwise I’ll get in trouble.”
wtf!!!
“Really? I can  keep singing even  after you’ve  given me a summons? But what about your  supervisor?”
“Oh, she’s super lazy, she’ll never  come  down here, believe me. She never  does  anything but  sit up there”  and he  pointed up to the landing above me where I guess the ‘grand mistress’ that is  the new female “Lazy Lieutenant’ resided
As officer Chin wrote the ticket he  kept chatting saying; “Yeah, I told the Lieutenant I was doing my job, I was down here, right? You saw me right? I was doing my job. But she saw me resting once and said “What are you doing, go do something useful” So, yeah, now I have to write  you up or I’ll get fired.”
“So, why me, and not the guy playing piano across the platform?
“Oh, he’s just lucky. I just saw you first. But don’t worry, it’s all bullshit. Hmmmm…I don’t even know what to write this up for. I guess I’ll just put that you’re blocking traffic”
Blocking traffic? Blocking traffic? Seriously? God – where was my tape recorder!!! I mean the entire conversation was beyond absurd!!!It was eight thirty at  night on he Downtown A,C,E Port  Authority and barely an audience member around. Although the few people sitting on the bench watching this  whole thing in awe  had  been  a fabulous audience just a few minutes prior and for that I was supremely  grateful.
Anyway, as  rediculous as this act was on the cop’s part, now I’m ‘on record’ which means if another cop  decides to save his or her ass at my expense before the court date of July 11th, 2011,   I go to jail. Seriously, you couldn’t make this stuff up….it’s beyond absurd &  I  don’t wanna play this game…& need to busk. I need to make a living.
God, I’m just trying to earn the cash to eat & finish my album! ‘leavemealonenypd’…..this was  harassment!
PS the gunman…he’s still out there ‘sans’  summons

Two fabulous photographers, Mickey Holiday (www.birdhouserevolution.com), NYC, NY & Saburo Horikowa, from Tokyo Japan, followed me underground this past week during one of the last (hopefully) fridgid weeks here in NYC 🙂

Register to win an autographed copy of ‘The Subway Diaries’ (www.thesubwaydiaries.com) featured in the holiday brag book and follow Heidi through her life in the subway culture of NYC.

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The Subway Diaries by Heidi Kole. Heidi, originally from Washington, DC, often called a Renaissance woman, is a singer/songwriter, actress, dancer, voice-over talent, stunt person for film/TV and author. She lives her life avidly absorbing humanity and creating her art from her day to day observations…

Here’s my post Xmas interview on Michael Mcfadden’s radio show from Atlanta GA (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/michaelmcfadden) It’s a kickin’ banter between two Washington, DC natives about art, life and the journey. Hope you dig the conversation 🙂

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSGPFh-y4BI[/youtube]

Hi everyone! Merry Merry & Happy everything else that you celebrate out there above ground :)Last night, Christmas Eve, I busked 59th St and the vibe was nothing short of magical. People returning from shopping, headed out to holiday parties, all smiling and wishing me a Merry Christmas. Such a joyous underground 🙂 I also had a gift of some good new this week. I had not see Danny, (the ‘Underground Pavorotti of Soul’ as I call him) in a long while and his phone was out & for the past 4-5 days I’d been worried sick about him. I looked everywhere for him underground but could not see or hear him anywhere. And the thing is Danny never misses a day – ever. He sings the trains 7 days a week 1-4 hrs a day 365 days a year. So, yeah, I was definitely worried.

Finally, last night after I packed up, right before I hopped on the train, I asked a couple who were playing the Downtown side of 59th if they had seen him. “Oh, yeah, Danny, I seen him yesterday. Yeah – he’s good. His phone’s all messed up though. He’s just been movin’ ’round ‘some cause of the cold” omg – you have no idea what a relief getting that news was. I had been so worried I’d been imagining a life w/out seeing or hearing Danny and it felt more than crushing to me. I will definitely be grabbing his address and contact info for his band so I’ll never have to worry needlessly again.

Big sigh of relief! Thank God he’s alright. To hear he’s just fine was the best Xmas gift ever.

Below are a few shots of my friends Juan Carlos and Duane spending Xmas afternoon @ Rockefeller Center gawking at the tree and lights 🙂 Marry Christmas!

 

Heidi Kole

One & I had an awesome Jam Underground this week, he on drums, me on vox & guitar…& here he is in all his glory – messin’ around, per usual 🙂

‘One’ 🙂
His ‘closeup’ 🙂
Buskers joining in with our jam!

After a Union Square busque – Poet Minor & I decided to pay an impromptu visit to “The Subway Diaries” @ Barnes & Noble. And in the few minutes we were there ran into quite a few fans. Yay B&N! 🙂 (Photos – Poet Minor)

Happy Holidayz! “la la la la la…”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk0Axseuo50[/youtube]

Check out Minor’s show @ blogtalkradio.com/different-voices

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