Cathy Grier aka NYCSubwayGirl sings

The best way to show why I perform in the subway and in public spaces, is to share some of my experiences.

I am usually the one performing and filming so I don't get a chance to show you what I do.  These clips were taken in various locations around NYC above and below in public spaces. With some surprise spontaneous guest performers.

Performing songs Question Of Desire, Dedicate, Cool Trick, Comin' Back To Me, What Fools Do- words and music Cathy Grier Singerfish publishing SESAC with Amazing Grace-traditional, Love Is In Need Of Love Today-Stevie Wonder

MUNY new artists

I want to welcome all new musicians to the amazing program that provides music underground.

check out the newbies of the Music Under New York program.

Music Under NY auditions Wednesday May 16

Wednesday is the annual Music Under New York auditions held all day in the Vanderbilt Hall of Grand Central Station.  I was lucky enough to get an audition back in 1999 and am proud to still be a member of such a wonderful program.

This year I'll be one of the many judges and look forward to hearing the different musical acts vying for a slot in the MUNY program.  For a truly NYC experience come and witness the art of performing in public spaces.  It will not disappoint.

Wednesday May 16th Grand Central Terminal Vanderbilt Hall 9-3pm

WNYC our amazing public radio station is calling for video and photo submissions of your favorite subway performer.  I know of so many fantastic performers, you pass them every day.  It would be wonderful if you come and find me too and capture it for the WNYC audience. follow the link and submit. 

here are my 2010 and 2011 audition clips:

2011

2010

Columbus Circle happiness

I'm inspired by a fun day performing at Columbus Circle yesterday, must have been Spring in the air.  People danced, many smiled. I sang full out for almost 3 hours.

I love singing on the uptown 1 platform because I can actually see light from the outside and watch people coming in and out of the station.  I can also perform for the commuters across the tracks waiting for the downtown trains.  What that also means is I am completely at the mercy of the 2/3 uptown and downtown express trains and their rumble and screeching wheels.  Of course doubly noisy if uptown and downtown trains pass at the same time.  I work with it.  I mark my time, pause my vocal and vamp through the chords.  The game I play is to return to the point where I left off so listeners won't miss part of the song.  It's the express train musical bridge!

A guitarist friend who also lives upstate stopped by and we chatted.  He commented on how amazingly loud it was.  I said it takes me a few minutes to Zen into the sounds and then I'm set for my 3 hour gig. Many people took pictures and stood close to listen. It was a big kid in stroller day and I love watching their reactions.  Their societal filters aren't up yet. They move to it or they don't. My favorite is to watch how many times a child looks back when leaving, and then a perfect moment of joy when one spontaneously waves.

Why do I do it? Music and Art in public spaces is integral to a city's soul. We can't stop artistic expression just because it costs too much to either produce or to experience. Live music in this almost frenetic environment is truly honest, there is nothing timid about it.  There is nothing commercial about it. It's pure, sometimes imperfect, but always real.

It was a good day.

Thanks NYC.

Music Under New York Auditions application deadline

If you know of anyone interested in trying out for a coveted Music Under New York banner, the annual MUNY auditions will be held in May.  

All applications must be in by March 19th.

MUNY Audition information 

Application form

And as a spectator, if you ever want a really wonderful NY experience I urge you to go to Grand Central Station May 16th for the annual auditions. 

Don't forget to tell a street/subway performer how much you appreciate their presence underground!

Winter Walk Hudson, NY

what a wonderful event performing at Hudson New York's 15th annual Winter Walk.  The street became a sea of pedestrians of all ages and number of feet (many many 4 legged kind).  I sang in a wonderful design, furniture and home goods store called Culture+Commerce Project.  I had a speaker on the sidewalk and people either looked in through the storefront windows or joined inside the warm shop.  It was fun to perform for people whose reason to be there was the event, to stroll, to come upon chance moments of performance, the stilt walker, the tango dancers in the bodega window, the saxophonist in a hair salon, lovely. Community in all it's splendor. And me performing in a store. Passers by would fill into the shop, spill onto the street. Straying from my original repertoire with a nod to Brenda Lee's 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree,'  spontaneous dancing and singing filled the air, but when later I sang Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone" I turned to see and hear a crowd singing along, loud 'How does it feel?" I reminded people that years ago most homes had a piano and people spent hours singing along to favorite tunes. At that moment we were a big family home for the holidays and sharing in our love for music to possibly help ignore our differences, if but for a moment. 

Here's a clip of me performing and the various people that stopped by.

Culture+Commerce Project Warren St Hudson, NY

I kept repeating "I'm performing here where industrialized steel meets reclaimed wood, and the NYCSubwayGirl is singing out from the underground to the metaphorical one above ground." In the subway, rushing commuters are on a mission, and many give a smile, a thumbs up, and shrug of shoulders as if to say..."if I only had more time....", Winter Walk provided a welcome change. Participants had plenty of time and the people showed it with their support and love of the event.  I was also happily surprised to find up the street, Paul and Marc Mueller of Mecca Bodega, my Music Under New York buddies, a wonderful duo of hammer dulcimer and various percussion performing on a sidewalk to dancing children and enthralled listeners.  Small world, Hudson is a special town and for a moment between the festively decorated main street USA, known as Warren Street and happy togetherness, there was a glimmer of what we are all capable of. Occupy Love leapt into my mind of possibilities.

Thankful to Buy Nothing Day

Happy Thanksgiving, 

I hope that you can take the time to enjoy family and friends this Thanksgiving. To all my non-American friends may this message find you able to take time to be Thankful in some way. Here in the US, I'm saddened that mega consumption, through internet sales and early store hours minutes after our meal is finished, has set a place at the table. Thanksgiving Day which has been the least capitalistic holiday of the year is being co-opted by the right to shop. Can't we have one day off people?! So between eating the cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, we'll be seduced into logging on and firing up the credit card. And 'Black Friday' lures people into impulse buying because of a discount. It gets nuttier and nuttier. We should instead be sharing a story or try to be in some kind of stillness. Friday after Thanksgiving should be a wonderful shut down day, to be whimsical, a day for reflection, not shopping, or working.  

I'm loving the Buy Nothing campaign seen popping up around the net. Buy Nothing Day to give Thanksgiving new meaning. Cool People Care's Sam Davidson writes on his blog "Nada For Me," pledge to buy nothing this Friday and stay out of the shopping whirlwind.

and Adbusters who encourage a Buy Nothing Day. Adbusters uses grassroots capitalism to start business ventures, spreading indie culture and providing ever more alternatives to buying from mega corporations. 

We Americans work so hard at working hard and take little time to just decompress. Now becoming contagious throughout the world, this is not some American invention we should be proud of.

So try and pledge to stay away from online sales Thursday, and the stores on Friday. 

Look to the sky, find a star, make a wish, smile at someone, anyone.  Makes you feel good. Or if you absolutely have to go online, watch some of my "What's Your Inspiration?" clips where I have filmed many commuters happy to chat and share their stories, their challenges and loves, and of course their inspirations.

Check out my "What's Your Inspiration?" channel on youtube. 

I'll be back in the subway December 5th.

Update on 2011-12-05 21:05 by NYC Subway Girl

I've been receiving lovely comments to this posting, here's some excerpts including a wonderful Illustration from artist Dianne Engleke.

• consuming much besides food has become a drag.  It's about time.  Anyway, I liked your alternative and would add music, some blues, old carols, and lieder.  Perfect.  And some family....
• 'stay home and stay off the internet'', that's our motto!
• I love the idea of "BUY NOTHING".  We need to be simpler to appreciate our lives.
• I am with you with the nada for me. I have NO intention of going anywhere near any stores this weekend
• I absolutely love the Buy Nothing Campaign, not only because it is something unique but also the cause to give Thanksgiving a different meaning.
• Those are wise words from you,  for every day of the year.

image by Dianne Engleke

A week of NYC life

The past week of subway performances went really well.  I enjoyed a trip out to Staten Island on the ferry to perform in the St. George terminal.  What a life where my commute is actually where I work. The crowds were welcoming and warm.  I also played at Grand Central shuttle stop and had a conversation with a Columbia student who is a journalism major doing her thesis on Subway performers.  It's always interesting to chat about the experience.  There definitely is a curiosity about performing in public spaces and quite a social experiment.  We walked through the station and passed Select Blenz a Doo-Wop group I've known for years, who perform on the subway cars.  We chatted and for the first time we sang spontaneously together.

I also played at the Bowling Green station for the first time and musician Vo Era walked by and jammed for the crowd.  My partner Michele came by and did a clip of us playing. Since it was so close to Zuccotti Park we went above ground and came upon fabulous Eve Ensler in a gathering of people sharing stories of why they were at Occupy Wall Street.  I filmed Melanie Butler a young woman who stopped by to check out the tent and donate supplies.

Saturday we went to the Big Apple Film Festival to watch Give and Take, a documentary about street musicians made by Carl Kriss and Chris Viemiester.  Funny true story is I got stuck  for 40 minutes on a downtown N train on my way.  Never having been stuck on a subway car before, I was happy to be chatting with a group of French people in town to run the NY Marathon. After 35 minutes of my rusty french speaking, I interrupted the passengers to tell them about the runners, and to sing La Vie En Rose.  No sooner had I begun the song, but the car lept into movement. We all applauded and I was happy I actually sang on a subway car for the first time. 

The film Give and Take has a wonderful narrative with a score by Luke Brandfon. Carl and Chris used one musical motif perfectly to bring in each story creating wonderful transitions. Many street performers I know are in the film including Natalia Paruz the Saw Lady.  Her story is remarkable. Having been a dancer, one fateful day she was hit by a taxi ending her career. Her parents in wanting to cheer her up took, her on a trip where she was captivated by a Saw player.  Her new life began. The film also captures other heartfelt stories, Renard Harris a harmonica playing bluesy storyteller waiting to hear if he was accepted into the Music Under NY program, Douglas a homeless man endlessly acquiring on e-bay replacement guitars from the ones he kept "losing." And of course yours truly.  It was fun to not only see me on the big screen, but to hear my song Good Thing over the end credits. check out the trailer and hopefully you'll get a chance to see it one day.

Give and Take Documentary film screening

Give and Take is aDocumentary film about subway performing and experience.  I am one of the artists director and producer Carl Kriss and Chris Viemiester followed around NYC in the making of this film.  I'm especially excited that my song Good Thing plays over the credits.

Saturday November 5th  1:15pm Big Apple Film Fest in Tribeca

54 Varick Street (at the corner of Laight and Varick Streets, one block south of Canal Street) 

Q and A afterwards with yours truly and other subway performers.

Program guide link scroll down to program 30 at 1:15 pm

Give and Take Trailer:

I made the following clip of filmmaker Carl Kriss  during 2010 MTA Arts for Transit  MUNY auditions. Also with Natalia Paruz, Tin Pan's Jessie Selengut, Sean Grissom, and more.  Hope to see you at the fest.

and a fun interview of film maker Carl Kriss in Interview Magazine by By MICHELLE ONG

subway documentary, my early years

In the category of nothing is ever lost in the age of YouTube, I recently discovered this trailer from documentary film maker Jason Scianno, entitled Legends Of The Underground.  I am featured along with many other subway performers I've known over the years and luckily whom are still performing. Filmed between 1999 and 2001. It captures the beginning of my performing with the Music Under NY program.  Not sure when or if this film will ever be distributed, but Jason does a great job of capturing the essence of street performing.

Grand Central Shuttle

My cousin Michael stopped by to see me at my Shuttle performance and took these pictures. It's fun to have family nearby. Thanks Michael.

In the following picture, the photographer on the right is Sophia Liebig, a German anthropology student doing a study of subway performers.

Summer Is On

The past month has been pretty fun and interesting for NYCSubwayGirl

I met and jammed with musicians from Amsterdam in the Staten Island Ferry Terminal and of course got a wonderful What's Your Inspiration? clip from them.  In halting English including no accent Billy responded "this might sound cheesy, but love." I met amazing Sustainability champion Roberto A. Sanchez who gave me such a succinct definition of Sustainability.

I had the chance to sing at a few weddings so far, one of them was for my cousin Michael who not only had the honor of marrying the wonderful Alex, but as Stage Manager of the hit Broadway Show Book Of Mormon, also became part of a Tony award winning team.  All in the same weekend.  How's that for a high time in your life!  Congratulations Michael and Alex.  They made a youtube clip of my singing La Vie En Rose for the first dance

It was rainy last weekend both for my Garden Party gig to benefit Spencertown Academy Arts Center and my visit to Bobby The Carriage horse, living happily at Equine Advocates Sanctuary in Chatham, NY. Here's a clip I made of Bobby's re-Birthday celebration. Bobby was rescued on June 25, 2010 by Equine Advocates and the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages.  He was then shipped to Equine Advocates Rescue & Sanctuary in Chatham, NY where he has been retired.

Of course the big news occurred Friday evening June 24th when the NY State Senate passed the Marriage Equality Bill 33-29 and then signed by Governor Cuomo. Congratulations to everyone on what I believe is the right side of history. To the others I say, in time like so many of our Country's 200+ years of history has shown, that we evolve.

On June 18th I performed at the 2nd annual Hudson Pride. Here's my blog about the day in Hudson, and some clips from my weekend.

My performance clip at Club Helsinki, and I am especially proud of a clip I made of Matthew Hamilton whose "I might be straight, but I'm not narrow" t-shirt prompted a fun exchange.  

Here's Matthew's "make it happen" clip

and event organizer Trixie Starr's What's Your Inspiration Clip.

Summer reading is also something I look forward to as I spend less time performing and more time being inspired by others and the countryside around me. I've already begun with these two:

Fellow Music Under New York performers, Heth and Jed Weinstein's book  Buskers: The On-The-Streets, In-the-trains, Off -the-Grid Memoir of two New York City Street Musicians (now that's 36 characters shy of a full tweet).

Margaret Roach "And I Will Find Some Peace In There." 

Why do these books resonate with me? With Heth and Jed's book, it's their life of discovering an underworld of possibility by performing in public spaces of NYC, something I know about intimately. And in Margaret's book, it's about following a passion begun by a single act of purchasing a weekend home, and then leaving a corporate job for the unknown adventure of living there full time surrounded by nature. My partner Michele and I bought and built on a piece of land in 2002, and this past month she left her corporate job of 14 years for the unknown.  Stay tuned.

Happy 4th of July weekend.  

Bobby and Me Summer in the country

As the summer intensifies so does the subway and I find myself staying longer in my country get away up in Columbia County....

It was rainy last weekend when I went to visit Bobby 11 Freedom, the rescued NYC Carriage horse, now living at Equine Advocates Sanctuary in Chatham, NY. It's one year since Bobby was rescued from slaughter. Equine Advocates President & Founder, Susan Wagner and the rest of us were caught in a sudden rainstorm, but it didn't dampen the high spirits. 

Bobby was rescued on June 25, 2010 by Equine Advocates and the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages.  He was then shipped to Equine Advocates Rescue & Sanctuary in Chatham, NY where he has been retired. Bobby is sponsored by Cathy and Ron Wong. You can sponsor one of the many equines rescued and living at the sanctuary. contact Equine Advocates Sanctuary

Here's a clip I made of his re-Birthday celebration:

Elizabeth Hess an Equine Advocates board member, avid animal rights activist and author (Nim Chimpsky), brought me along to the party.  We took my two poodles Etta and Lily who loved the attention.

I'll be heading back to the subway after a summer break excited to know Bobby is retired from the city grind living happily at Equine Advocates.  

The birthday celebration was written about in an article about Bobby by Karrie Allen of The Chatham Courier

Here's a previous clip I made from my intial visit to the sanctuary when Bobby first arrived.

why NYCSubwayGirl?

Interesting email lately from a wide range of connections, I realized a certain theme is emerging, how do I describe NYCSubwaygirl and why does she exist?  Very existential, no? 

To Margaret Roach an amazing Garden blogger, I wrote: I am a blogger of the underground kind.  Working where the roots of the city make their way, and nourishing them as best I can with my brand of folked-up blues, singing and songwriting.

Natarajan, a visitor from India wrote:

I wonder why you call yourself the subway girl. Is it the struggle or is it the love of life that surrounds the subways in NY. I have a friend who is involved in yoga teaching as I am and lives in NY. .... she was telling me that for creative people its a real struggle but they seem to keep trying and liking it. 

My reply:

NYCSubwayGirl is not about struggle although it is about finding peace in the chaos of the subway.  I am a folk and blues singer, blues comes from experiencing life through struggle and finding a kind of peace through it. Folk comes from singing for and about people. I think singing in the subway is an amazing way to share live music in a public space. 

Yoga has many principles of letting go of struggle, but it does not come without pain. (I practice a very vague form of yoga on my own).  So like the creative people your friend talks about, the struggle comes with it reward of what discipline and practice provides. 

Another theme reappears time and time again what is my name?  It should be so easy and yet people stumble they call me New York City Subway Girl, they call me New York Subway Girl, somehow the initials don't stick.  NYCSubwayGirl in one word you'd think wouldn't be hard to figure out.  Not true. Go figure.

Your thoughts?  

Update on 2011-06-29 14:24 by NYC Subway Girl

thought I'd share a past posting Looking Back On Creating NYCSubwayGirl explaining in more detail why NYCSubwayGirl.

Billy and Nigel jam in SI ferry terminal NYC

Musicians Billy Maluw and Nigel Schat with friend Marvin visiting from Amsterdam, Netherlands, arrived inside the SI ferry terminal with instruments on their shoulders. I asked if they wanted to jam. Of course they said yes. They joined in and we had a great time. They jammed on my songs Jungle and then performed on their own. The crowd loved it, including one very enthusiastic dancer.

What Inspires them? Music performing in New York City

check out their What's Your Inspiration? clip I made

Salieu and I jam Union Square

Today was one of those days performing in the subway that I will cherish.  I arrived at my scheduled location at Union Square to find Salieu Suso an amazing Kora player performing in the spot. We've always talked about performing together and so I said, "why don't we just share the gig?"  To which he replied, "why not!"  

I started to set up when Richard Allen a commuter came by to talk to me about singing at his wedding.  His wife and daughter had seen me perform at Columbus Circle a few weeks ago. I think it's really cool that seeing my performances in the subway inspires someone to want my music for a wedding.  I've done a few (actually singing for my cousins wedding this weekend, but I digress).

Salieu and I started by him joining in on my song Question Of Desire, which within the first few bars I adapted to his playing and rhythm.  I had to tune up a 1/2 step to be in tune with his 21 strings, and believe me it's a lot easier to tune 6 strings with modern machine heads than tuning 21 strings that are tuned by pushing up a ring made from animal hides.  The Kora is made from a large gourd and it's played in front of the musician with both hands not unlike a harp.  It's from West Africa and Salieu sings songs as the storyteller in Africa it's called the "Griot" a common and much respected role in the village.  So why would it be a stretch for a white girl playing and singing the blues jam with a black man playing the Kora?  It's world music.  The combining of styles.  Anyway the blues came from Africa, nurtured in the US with Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker to name a few, then ironically discovered by groups like the Rolling Stones who truly gave those artists a chance to be appreciated in their own country.  Such a long and windy road for the blues.  There we were in Union Square.  What a lovely sight to see people realizing what they were seeing and hearing.

Throughout the day I'd play a few songs and then Salieu would play a few songs, each time the other finding our groove and place within the others style.  I'll tell you my wrist is tired from all the repetitive finger picking.  Songs in the Griot style are long and use a lot of rhythm.

I'll be putting together a clip of our day and will add it here soon.  In the meantime here's a picture.

Union Square where the current advertising is for the Lion King. what could be better than Salieu Suso a Kora player? photo by Richard Allen

a subway story

Once last year while performing at 34th street station I saw a group of about 20 young school children passing through. It isn’t strange to see school kids traveling in large groups, but rarely have I ever had a teacher point me out as this one did.  What I usually experience is at least one of the kids will start mugging, dancing, being silly-air guitar or mouth singing.  But this particular time, the teacher to my surprise and thrill gathered them around me to listen.  I sang my song Through My Eyes, and eventually they caught on and by the end were singing along.  It’s a memory that I cherish.  The lyrics are “see the world through my eyes," so imagine these young children singing along.  It was quite a sight and sound. At the end I spoke with them a bit, asked if any were guitarists, a couple of boys said yes, and there was one girl too.  I encouraged them to practice and thanked their teacher for stopping.  I never did get their names.  They said they were from The Bronx, and I handed out my card to them-the teacher had to keep them from all taking one!  I had hoped to get an email to let me know who they were, but never did.  I was just happy to have provided a school class from The Bronx a chance to hear a subway/performer.

It’s just one reason why I believe that the MUNY program is so essential to NYC. An interesting coda is the following day I was at Graybar and could see a group of kids heading my way, and wanting a repeat of the day before, I attempted to engage them.  Nothing doing.  No reaction.  Goes to show these spontaneous moments cannot be recaptured, they are little gems to savor as they happen.  That moment of those 20 or so kids singing along with me will stay in my head for a long time.

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera filming that day (some things are best left to memory), but here is a clip made of kids I have captured. edited by Brendan Padgett

Quiet reflection NYC wound

Been in quiet reflection, and stillness over the news since Sunday night of the killing of Osama Bin Laden.  Sympathy for the families of those who died on September 11.  It's their moment for now. Feeling uncomfortable though, watching people, gloat, mob like hysteria as if his death, a murder of a murderer would be the end of the story.  Paraphrasing Martin Luther King Jr. "The ultimate weakness of violence is that it's a descending spiral, with violence you can murder the hater but you do not murder hate, you just increase hate...darkness can not drive out darkness, only light can do that."

I have to turn off the media or take it in small doses, maybe a radio program so I don't have to see, or a printed article to allow the words to seep in about "the operation."  No matter what, I still get confused, have too many questions. All that is swirling is hard to digest.  We went to war, wars over this man and his ideologies, but we don't know the exact cost of lives lost or as our military calls it, collateral damage.  I am uneasy to say the least.  And we're still at war.  How can you wage a war on terror?

My thoughts in reflection: 

Waking up September 11, 2001 in my apartment in Washington Heights to a city forever changed. 

Walking past flyers and posters plastered throughout the city announcing the missing.  

Returning to perform in the subway as soon as I could to be a "canary in coal mine," of sorts.  

Singing to grieve. 

Singing to let people know we're still alive and breathing and capable of getting through the tragedy. 

Singing even during all the Anthrax scares, and family concern that maybe I should "wait before returning to subway gigs."  

Singing at St. Paul's Chapel the epicenter for exhausted recovery workers. 

Singing at a funeral for fallen fireman Sergio Villanueva, from ladder 132 engine 4

Heartbreaking weeks and months of the loss, sadness, death, and ever burning smell.  

A torn apart and grieving city.  

Joining in voice with others fearing America would be changed in very negative ways-like with the fast tracked Patriot Act; the horrible side of humanity with backlash of anyone Muslim; racial profiling at it's most reviling. President Bush racing to war.  

A media frenzied.  

Putting a hand written peace symbol on my subway banner and getting very mixed reactions to it. 

A small and growing group called "New Yorkers Say No To War" meetings with anti-violence guest speakers, trying to understand the new world we were being delivered into.  

We found our own solace in attempting to be educated and proactive not reactive.  

All this only months after September 11.  

In Union Square in the underground corridor above N/R line on the west wall are all the names of those who perished. It's just label stickers someone put up onto the subway tile, some names are fading. You could miss it if you're not paying attention. I look at it every time I perform there and point it out to people as they rush on by. A quiet reflection of the gravity and loss, slowly fading from the finger tips that brush over the names.

Update

on 2013-02-06 16:18 by NYC Subway Girl

thanks to Melea Seward for informing me that the wall sticker installation was created by John Lin. 

She writes:

My friend John Lin did this. He measured the space, mapped the white subway tiles, printed all the names of those that died on 9/11, and enlisted a bunch of us to help him make this wall. It was the weekend after September 11 -- maybe 20 people or so -- unpeeled Avery labels and affixed them in alphabetical order -- to the wall. I had just moved to New York a few months before. I have recently left NYC -- was there a few weeks ago and ran into this wall, noticed the peeling stickers. And had a moment. I was writing about it and wondered if anyone else had noticed it.

I'm pleased to see that you made this video. And accompanied the long walk down that hallway with your song.

Thank you.

Springness has Sprung

wow, it's finally here. Spring.  The air is milder, the rain warmer and softer and the city is awakening.

After a long Earth Day weekend I thought it's always good to tell more of my story:

NYCSubwayGirl evolved after I was featured on the cover of AMNY one morning in 2009. Commuters rushing past as I perform may not catch my name so I thought of keywords used in searching the internet and NYCSubwayGirl was born.  That's a good marketing reason, but on a more personal level, NYCSubwayGirl is a way to participate in the underground fabric of sound and be a presence in the urban environment. NYCSubwayGirl is also the part of me that loves connecting with people and seeing the powerful influence music has on all of us, whatever the genre or style. It's the sense of community I feel while performing in public spaces that really gave me the impetus to create NYCSubwayGirl. 

I love singing under the elegant ceilings of Grand Central Station that captures my voice as if in a cathedral. And when I sing on the platform at Astor Place, the acoustics capture a edgier effect. Performing against the backdrop of a gorgeous mosaics wall in Times Square as multiple subway lines converge is a poetic dance of people, art, music and sounds. These places have one thing in common; the life force of this amazing city and the people who live and travel here. And of course when I get a chance to come above ground for a concert, club or benefit performance, I'm thrilled.

People often ask if I'm from New York. I was born upstate in Ogdensburg because I was a bridge brat-my father was a civil engineer building the bridges across the Saint Lawrence River. He also worked on the Harlem-Broadway Bridge (we moved to Elizabeth, NJ during that one, and then on to Middlefield, CT where I spent my k-12 years). Both Mom and Dad were born and raised in NYC. Three of my grandparents were born and raised here too (my mother's father arrived from Antigua in the late 1920's). One great grandfather played the piano to silent films in NYC movie houses and another worked in the garment district. I performed my first NYC club date at Folk City in 1981. I have been living in NYC since 1996, when I returned after living in France for many years. I love my NYC history. 

Ever wanted to ask a subway performer a question?  Well ask away, just click on post a comment in the section below.