It started off when Jamie invited me to my first Brooklyn Open Mic at Pete's Candy Store on Lorimer in hipster capital, Williamsburg. After Jamie finished her tunes, she jammed on the train. I got inspired to hit up Grand Street to test the waters. And sure enough I was hooked. Once the money came flowing in and people were handing me dollar bills (occasionally 5's), I was addicted. Jamie and I are buskers from the start. I just didn't discover my heart for it until a few days ago. When I first met Jamie, she was busking to get by. Look at her now, she's making her dreams come true a year later. She is an inspiration to me. 0=)
Martin was the one who suggested that I should busk in the city and make a ton more money than at 25 Ave ("The Chinese are mad stingy!"). He was right. I busked at Grand Street, West 4th, Pacific Street, and 14 Street on the F/M line. So far I've been the most successful at Grand and 14th! I got kicked out of Pacific St (maybe because neighborhood is too gangster for me) and I faced some tough apathetic crowd at West 4th. The sound is pretty awful at West 4 because I have 4 open tracks and no walls to bounce and reflect my voice. My voice ends up traveling across the other platform and dissipating, losing its brightness. I love Grand Street because my voice fills the entire two tracks and it bounces off the walls quite niceless, preserving my brightness and tone. 14 St is by far the best because there are no cops there, only one token man and one nonchalant janitor. I love the acoustics there because of the tight platform and lower ceiling. I also get a nice crowd passing by me to exit and take the L on the lower platform.
My favorite songs to keep playing are Price Tag, Breakeven, I Hate That I Love You, Sunday Morning. These songs highlight my key, my intonation, my best breathing, my brightness and my style (creating a lisp and curvy accent). I have the most fun with Price Tag because I get to sing to random strangers and make faces at them, hoping they'd react with smiles and laughter. In doing this, I also cause my audience (usually those sitting on the bench next to me and those standing near platform pillars/edge) to react with similar facial expressions. It is amazing to get people out of their shell. I can't begin to tell you how many women slip me one dollar bills when I don't have my guitar case open. I would prefer that they come up to me and hand it to me. I am grateful and appreciative that they did. It is amazing to be complimented and to be offered smiles right before these persons embark on their tiring journey home.
I can't begin to tell you how awful New Yorkers present themselves as. A postmodern philosopher (forgot the name but I read his book at Strand) described New Yorkers perfectly: they exaggerate their busy lives. "New Yorkers are resilient" (Bloomberg) because they are hell-bent on adhering to their schedule and they will knock you over if they have to. Most of the straphangers I saw today were armed with headphones and books to seal their attention from me. It was refreshing to see faces looking and affixed on me. In fact I am very happy and glad that I'm visible. A few people didn't even look at me. I wonder if it's stigma for guitarists to be busking in the subways. In fact when I turn the tables, I rarely pay attention to guitarists either. For some reason I feel I am better than some of them. My ego wants to compete with these guitarists. Believe me, there were a few Asian women who looked at me top to bottom to understand why the hell would an Asian person be out of Youtube and actually be performing in the subway? This is a great chance to lose face. In fact I have lost face at Grand Street station maybe one time. But I don't see any relatives because I only have two relatives here in NYC. The people at Grand Street are mostly tourists and young liang jais who are leaving work. Unfortunately most Asian liang luis reach for their earbuds over my music. It might be stigma.
Stigma that guitarists / subway musicians get. Or perhaps it's just civil inattention---New Yorkers selectively tuning out musicians so that they can get by easily without exposing themself to new information/"disruption" or noise. But then again the persons who graciously listened to me broke those norms. And I am glad they did because they ultimately show me that I am visible and I am heard. For the first time in my lyfe, I acknowledge Shirley's comment: "At least you have talent [to earn money]."
It feels strange to see NYC musicians pass by me with their instruments. It feels like they're grilling me or staring me down. Maybe they think I am unworthy of open mics or that I am desperate for money. If only they noticed my guitar case full of money! Sometimes it feels a bit degrading that they walk past me without even acknowledging me. But I continue to do what I do. I get these feelings of amazement when women walk by and smile at me.
"You walk the streets and you don't see too many happy people. Maybe because they are not doing what they love or maybe I stole their happiness. Most likely not the latter." -Gene Geter.
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