Chances are if you are a pretty good break dancer, I’ll give you buck — especially you have tiny children in your act and you do that trick where it looks like your shins are their legs. (Can you picture it?) I’ll also give you buck if I like your music, because you are easing the unpleasantness of the commute, you are making something beautiful in some of the funkiest smelling places on earth — and that’s a public service. (The awesome Hypnotic Brass Ensemble and Nuttin’ But Strings have gotten money from me.) If you’re a Chinese immigrant (I’m pretty sure they’re Chinese), Medicare-age musician playing that mystery instrument with three strings and you’re not bad, rocking out the Celine Dion, I’ll give you a dollar. And also, if you’re the random homeless person who moves me and you don’t seem like you’re going to hit me with a blunt object, I will also give you money. I don’t know. A dollar is not going to change anyone’s life, but maybe it can add up.
I am not a big fan of breakdancers on the subway because I feel like I’m going to get kicked when they spin on their heads. My favorite subway act is the old doo-wop group. Have they been around for years or are there several different doo-woppers out there?
Nuttin’ But Strings are HILARIOUS. I didn’t know they play on the subway! What a brilliant idea, rapping and playing the violin.
ha, i totally know the doo wop group — i always think it’s the one same group. i actually bought the nuttin but strings cd, which has a lot more than strings. we call it nuttin but strings…and a cello…and drums….and guitar…and a smoke machine. have you ever heard hypnotic brass ensemble? very dramatic and they sound great – it’s like a 20-piece brass band
YES, I have heard Hypnotic Brass – they play at the Times Square station, right? I’m not at all into New Orleans music but I think they’re excellent.
You know who I really, genuinely love? The Tex-Mex kinda mariachi groups, with the two short guitar players in the cowboy getups singing in harmony and the third one passing the hat. There must be more than one group like this, since I see them all the time, but maybe not, because how many short cowboy hat-wearing Mexican mariachi groups are there likely to be in the NYC subway system? Anyway, I’m always happy to turn off my iPod to hear them, and I feel bad when all I have is a $20 bill on me. Because they’re good, but not $20 worth of good.
my max is a buck, and i feel like i’m daddy warbucks when i do that…don’t know hy. i like the tex-mex group too, especially b/c it’s not really prevalent here. (i think the west coast, it’s crazy). i did not know hypnotic brass is new orleans! i just saw a bunch of horns and harmony. they actually book corporate gigs and tour.