Soundtrack Subterranea #8: The Masked Man

michaelisawriter:

Cory Hoover approaches his perch in the Metropolitan Ave. G station like any other busker, first setting down an acoustic guitar and putting out an upturned hat, making sure to lay down some seed cash.

To commuters who have yet to snake their way from the Lorimer L platform to where Cory performs he is just another busker, a folksy singer making his way through the scraps of bohemian New York. That is, until he comes into full view — until they see his golden mask and leopard print kaftan.

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“I don’t want to live in the shadow of the beats or anything. I have this image of this art piece. It’s a flame, an eternal flame, it’s constantly burning, and it’s a pile of Jack Kerouac books.”

Soundtrack Subterranea #7: Echo

michaelisawriter:

The time edges past 10 PM, and Jay still croons to a silent subway station. Above, Canal Street is just as still, the occasional traveler slinking quietly through the NQR station’s labyrinthine passageways trying to make sense of the elaborate station design. Tonight, Jay makes his stage in the hallway that splits the N and Q trains between their uptown and downtown lines.

From anywhere outside this hallway, Jay’s acoustic guitar is barely audible, but the moment one turns the corner into his territory, the airy, transparent strumming meets Jay’s honeyed warble and song takes flight. In his deflated guitar bag, only a few dollars. But as Jay puts it, money isn’t the reason he picked his spot out tonight.

“I’m kind of obsessed with practice, if that makes sense,” he says. “I just come down here to practice sometimes. There’s really cool energy in this station — can you feel it? A really mellow mood.”

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Soundtrack Subterranea #7 is up! Jay and I swapped stories about California. He told me he moved there because of someone he loved, leaving ambiguous what kind of love that was.

“Love will make you do some fucked up shit,” he told me.

Soundtrack Subterranea #6: Ukulele Underground

michaelisawriter:

Evan Van Kouwenberg’s sound rests on a needle-width divide between two deeply unalike tones: that of his instrument — a ukulele strum as frail as the bones of a baby bird, and his voice — a soul that resonates with the sweeping weight of a forming hurricane.

It’s an odd combination, ukulele and soul covers, but the notes harmonize for Evan. “I can’t play guitar,” he says, chuckling. “I feel like you can play any song on an ukulele. It doesn’t matter. It’s all just chords, y’know?”

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“Do you have any longterm plans?”

“Nah, I mean, I’m a free spirit. I don’t really set down any plans… I guess I’d like to be some kind of famous musician sometime, I dunno.”

After a brief hiatus (sickness, parents, vacation, life) Soundtrack Subterranea is back on track this week with Evan Van Kouwenberg.

Soundtrack Subterranea #5: Guitar in Grand Centeral

michaelisawriter:

Chris’ life has always ran down the neck of a guitar. He’s one of those souls who feel the heat, the passion, the aficion, from the time they set foot on the earth—the kids who carried around stethoscopes or notebooks, those instilled with a purpose from day one. There is, though, one difference between Chris and those kids with the stethoscopes: His passion put him on the streets.

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“I would get guitars but I would lose them constantly. I’d put it up against the wall, go to sleep, and it’d be gone. Constantly. I’d get a guitar for two or three weeks at most, usually only a week or so, and then it would be gone and it’d take me two or three months to get another one … I got tired of that, I quit that, and so I went about eight years without a guitar.”

Soundtrack Subterranea #5 is up! This one focuses on Chris, a homeless man who plays acoustic guitar in Grand Central. Stay tuned for a video vignette! And reblogs are always appreciated :)

Soundtrack Subterranea #4: A Specter in the Subway

michaelisawriter:

*NEW!* Click here for video!

The first time I saw John play, I thought he was a ghost.

It was when I had first moved to New York, one of those early October mornings when the leaves hadn’t yet turned but the sky was beginning to let loose its breath, when the wind was beginning to threaten summer’s end. I had just waited all night to get tickets to see Daniel Craig host Saturday Night Live, and my chest ached for want of sleep. I had to transfer trains at 34th Street, and when I stepped onto the platform I was greeted by the sound of a single violin.

It is no stretch to say that my first impression of John as this ethereal, ghostly being was skewed by my lack of sleep, but imagine what I saw:

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Soundtrack Subterranea #4 is late, but up––and this time with video! Tumblr was a curmudgeon about video in text posts, and I fought it valiantly, but alas I wave my white flag––just click through the link at the top of the post for a video vignette!

Video is, of course, in beta as of the moment, so feedback is welcome and much appreciated. I don’t pretend to be great at putting video together, so tip or few would be nice.

Soundtrack Subterranea #3: The Visitor from Japan

michaelisawriter:

There are times — especially in Times Square — when tourists seem to take up more space than actual residents.

Life in New York almost revolves around interactions with tourists. They snap pictures of us while we sit outside coffee shops, and you wonder who might look at these pictures, to whom you might represent Americans upon their journey home. Tourists are as much an unavoidable constant as the rain or snow or a late subway train — just another puzzle piece in the jigsaw of New York.

Still, you never expect to see a tourist performing in the subway.

Ryosuke Ohashi has been in America for two-thirds of his three-week trip. Since he’s arrived, he’s done the normal tourist stuff—Grand Central, Top of the Rock, Empire State Building, hot dogs and bagels with lox. Last night, however, he veered off the path set by the New York guidebooks: he started beatboxing in the Times Square subway station.

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“In Japan, this [would be] unbelievable… Subway beatboxing, musicians. Unbelievable,” he says. “But in America, there are many powerful musicians [in the subway].”

Soundtrack Subterranea #3 is up! Yay!