#subway busker

[travelswithbrindle]

MBTourA: Finding my sea legs at Boylston Outbound

I've felt anxious and self-conscious about busking, but yesterday's busking sesh went reasonably well by various measures. I felt more confident, I didn't screw up my songs too badly, AND I doubled the amount of money I made. Since I was on a roll, and since my afternoon was pretty open, I decided to busk at Boylston outbound. Since Christmas decorations were set up on the Common, and since Nutcracker and Black Nativity had matinee performances, I figured finishing out Boylston was as good a pitch as any. I arrived at Boylston around 2pm--and probably missed the pre-theatre crowd--and looked for the pitch. The T hadn't marked the performance area, so I set up shop next to the emergency phone. ("Adjacent" can mean "next to", right?) A flurry of people deboarded a train before I was able to tune Brindle. Undeterred, I started playing the instrumental version of "Silent Night" that I'd committed to memory. Since the crowds were pretty thin at this hour, I let go of my expectations and treated this like an open rehearsal. I played with the fingerpicked outro to the Big Star song "Jesus Christ" that I'd thrown together and allowed myself to stumble through my latest addition to my set, "Little Saint Nick". A few people paid attention as they passed through the station. A girl with candyfloss for hair left me $2 and waved at me as she departed; a motherly woman on her way to Black Nativity dropped some change in my hat and asked "aren't you cold?" A man with a handlebar mustache that put Santa's to shame tapped his foot to "Three Packs a Day" before tipping a single. As my final weekend busking session drew to a close, I had $10 to donate to BAGLY, an LGBTQIA youth organization. I'm probably running out of pitches I can play unplugged. In a lot of ways the Boylston stops had good acoustics for unamplified buskers; the high ceilings, tiled tunnel, and absence of fans naturally boosted my sound. Standing at eye level with trains disrupted my songs and hampered my ability to hear myself. I'm hoping to play plugged in this coming weekend.

[travelswithbrindle]

#BuskWithTimKaine

As I write this, we Americans have less than 24 hours before the polls open for what is shaping up to be an historic election. I played a small, unusual role in getting out the vote for Hillary, and while I was unsuccessful on a small level, I had a fun and enlightening experience. 

I had been in the bag for HRC more or less by default--I’ve been a registered Democrat since I was old enough to vote--but I disagreed with her on enough key issues that I felt unenthusiastic about my vote. Within a few hours of Hillary announcing Tim Kaine as her running mate, my enthusiasm started to rise, but not for the reasons you might expect. Like me, Kaine is a huge music nerd. Learning that a harmonica player who cites The Replacements as his favorite band moved the needle for me. Sure, his commitment to immigration rights and social justice issues would get my vote, but knowing that a guy with a love for quirky musical instruments and college rock was a political figure with whom I could identify. When I found out Kaine’s musical interests, I was on a mission to get Hillary’s running mate to busk with me. 

I’m a busker and a meek proofreader, not a political insider, so I didn’t know where I should start. When I posted my question on Ask Metafilter, I got some resistance, and in spite of the good practical advice I got, my fear that I could end up on a watchlist deterred me from taking the first step. That changed when I started volunteering at the Massachusetts for Hillary office--the office manager complimented my Pleased to Meet Me shirt, and when I told him that playing a harmonica/ukulele duet of “I Will Dare” with Kaine was #goals for me, he said “Right on! Make a video and we’ll retweet it. We can make this happen.”

Finding a videographer proved challenging. I had a background in film and initially thought of shooting it myself, but leaving my phone unmanned while playing on the T was an intimidating experience. After a lot of trial and error, I found Chris Barrett, who’s making a career change into film and video. Once he agreed to shoot the clip, we scheduled a shoot at Sullivan Station...that coincided with both the Adele concert and one of the final Red Sox games of the season. We got some pickup shots a week later--on the day of one of the first postseason games--and members of The I Want You stood in as extras. Chris got to work editing the footage, and the video went live on Twitter the day of the Vice Presidential debates. 

To some extent, I had excellent timing. The Boston Globe ran a few column inches about my quest to busk with Tim in their Names section, and we also got some coverage from the Medford Patch (where my mom learned of my “chronic busking”...HI MOM). My friend Jeff, the world’s youngest Goldwater republican and a big Hillary critic, threw down for me, and within a few days I had over fifty retweets and favorites. (Paul Westerberg was even rumored to have seen my video.) In other ways, I didn’t: I missed Kaine’s appearances in New Hampshire, and my plans to fly to Pittsburgh for one of his rallies was curtailed when I realized I was playing a show with my band the day after his appearance. 

With less than 24 hours between now and the end of this election cycle, I can say that on some level my quest to busk with Tim Kaine was unsuccessful. In other ways, I feel good about the success of my viral campaign. I made new friends, appeared on a podcast, and even talked to Portuguese radio about my quest! My boss at my new job even saw the video, and I’ve been doing more work with the promotions department as a result. My work on this viral campaign inspired me to work more closely on a presidential campaign than I ever had, so it’s possible that I might have gotten more people to vote as an indirect result of my busking. I know I made a lot of people smile and laugh, which was a rarity in this election, and if I inspired someone to listen to the Mats for the first time, I’ve done my work. Besides, who knows--with the election winding down, Tim Kaine may have some time for an impromptu jam with a subway busker. (Tim--call me!)

[rhythminmotion]

One man's quest to heal society by teaching the philosophies behind traditional Korean drumming.

"Vong Pak, a New York-based musician, has played the Korean drum for more than 25 years. His performances blend music and dance with elements of dramatic narrative, a mixture of theatrical flair and traditional Korean folk art. "These days I'm not busking for money," he tells Jenny Schweitzer, a filmmaker. "I want to share this identity, this culture." " -Chris Heller, The Atlantic

[rhythminmotion]

RHYTHM IN MOTION trailer