Accordian Player

Accordian Player
Originally uploaded by SonicGrass.

An accordian player at Harvard, he has a gypsy quality to his playing...

Mary lou lord

Mary lou lord
Originally uploaded by SonicGrass.

I got to see Mary Lou Lord on my way hame friday night after work. She has such a sweet voice, I'm coming to her music sort of late, however she seems to be a slow starter. She had release in the 90's with Sony and is now on Rubric records. I feel blessed to have such talent in the subway on my way home, it's very inspirational.

Blind Banjo Player

blind banjo player
Originally uploaded by SonicGrass.

Ok so I love the banjo, so I'm an attentive audience for anyone playing the banjo. I've heard this fellow play Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Old Joe Clark, The Beverly Hillbillies, and one or two that I don't recognize. He plays at a medium tempo and low enough volume to make for a wonderful Monday morning banjo. In Boston who would expect such a strong Bluegrass community. Every Teusday night there is a bluegrass jam at the CanTab in Central square.

See yoins there...

Eleanor

Eleanor
Originally uploaded by SonicGrass.

I've been listening to Eleanor all summer at Harvard. That name seems like it should belong to an older person, my Mother in Law is named Eleanor, a beautiful name. One Saturday in October I heard her play at Park st. I enjoyed hearing her quiet innocent voice, with a hint of sadness seeming seeping in. Unpolished subtle expressions, with slight syncopation on the guitar. She brought smiles to many a face that day.

Edgar Allen Poe should have penned a song for her.

You can find a video of her playing in Harvard at the headsoff blogspot. There is a link to it in the links section.

Exotic Instrument

Exotic Instrument
Originally uploaded by SonicGrass.

The array of exotic instruments that one encounters in the subway adds to the rich tonal expression of the screeching subway. This fellow was playing Thursday night at the Harvard stop, I gave him a quarter, all I had on me at the time. The instrument stealing the show looked like some sort of evolved banjo, with harp like tendencies. A harp with twang to it, you can hear the skin of some sort of beast in every note. I love that it has a pickup so that it can be played through a guitar amp, roots with lots of growth.

I only heard one piece and it was very melodic with a slight twang, I could have hung around all night, I was tired however and continued on my way. There were some young men listening to the music making emotive faces to the music and laughing. The music doing it’s job of facilitating life and living, animating our shared experience in time.

P.S. Notice the microphone, I think that is just to add range to the harp.

Hipster Bluegrass

11-01-05_1941.jpg
Originally uploaded by SonicGrass.

These boys were playing tonight in Harvard Square.

Hipster-Bluegrass, they were having a good time apparantly they have been playing there all day.

Gonzalo Silva

Gonzalo Silva was playing tonight at Harvard Square; he has a nice voice, and manages to successfully use his bass as a solo instrument. He uses a lo fi amp that seems very light with one 6" speaker seems to fit his playing style. He sorta sounds like an old radio, were you can make out the lyrics and the bass.

I noticed he will also be playing at Nov 26th at Club Passim. His website has a great deal of information about busking in Boston and in New York. Is a must if you are researching busking or just trying to Find Gonzalo Silva.

http://www.gonzalosilva.com/busker/index.html

Ukulele

Ukele Player
Originally uploaded by SonicGrass.

This fellow lifted my evening a bit, he was playing at Park St with just a Ukuele around 7:30. He wasn't miked, so you had to get in close to hear him.

A week ends, and fall begins.

I haven't seen much music on the streets lately. The transition from summer to fall is upon us, this entire summer has been a bit of a transition. A lot of street performers are no longer playing the streets. The Opera singer that sang in Harvard square was not here this summer. Ari also seems to have quit playing the street, although I hope that she occasionally will grace the street with her guitar. This also means that people are moving on into the clubs, as the subway is a transitory experience it also makes sense that the musicians move on as well. The last time I saw Bob Sundstrom the banjo player, he stated that he would not be playing the subway for awhile due to gigs that he has.

This image was posted from the third life website

I did see two young men who call themselves The Third Life playing at Park St. They were singing in harmony with nice guitar parts. One of them would play a bass run, meanwhile the other would compliment that with a jangley response There Harmonies sound great for the subway, the crowd loved them, actually clapping which is a rare underground occurance. I'm not a huge fan of this style of music, to happy, and bouncy for my taste, but my taste was the minority on the Red Line tonight. I would like to say thanks for playing.


This image was posted from the third life website

http://www.thethirdlife.com/pages/7/index.htm

Gifrants Subway Musician

Gifrants subway musician
Originally uploaded by SonicGrass.

Well its one minute until Friday and I have to get some sleep but thought that I would add a few quick photos, of the musicians I hope to see, as the nights stretches through the day, and the evening falls into the night.

In the morning I would like to hear a bit of Gifrants, who plays his own version of Haitian Pop music. Coming home I would love to catch Ari, or Bob Sundstrom the banjo player at Park Street.

I hope to see this young lady Friday Night at the Harvard Square stop.

Her name is Jamie Mclaughlin, she uses something like a red beat box (is it a Roland?), microphone and a subway amp to make subway trip hop. She sings along with the psyche-beats that she generates and they fit well into the subway until the train comes screeching through the tunnel.

She used to have dread locks now she has a Mohawk, I like the Mohawk and the music.

ARI

This is Ari. Let me know if you get a chance to hear her play.

The image is a collage I made from images from her performance at the Midway Cafe, I didn't make it, but my friend David took some pictures. The thing I like best about Ari's playing is her use of harmony on the guitar, she capo's of in all sorts of ways. One of my favorite pieces she puts the Capo on the ninth fret, and then sings over that (F) I think.

Also feel free to post if you are a street and or subway musician and would just like to post where you are going to be playing.