Underground Policeman

So last night, after being let off early from a very slow night at work, dave and I decided to play in the subways for a couple of hours. So we headed to the Bedford stop subway in Williamsburg, where the money is a flowing, and played some songs for the people. It went over very well, and we even accumulated a good sized crowd all standing about 10 feet back from us as they waited for their train. A wave of clapping ended each song, and people even sang along once in a while. One little kid was dancing around his mother in excited circles to "Greensburg." I was relieved to know we could make people smile. Even when using words like "fuck" or singing about how life doesn't always pan out the way you might like. It helps that we look like we are actually enjoying ourselves in the process.

Well, after about an hour or so of playing for different waves of transit riders, a police officer came up behind us, and in between articulated bubblegum pops, said to us in a subdued voice, "Ok, wrap it up," and then swiftly closed our guitar case-modeled-as-tip jar with his foot. Before he could get away, we asked him what we are doing wrong, and how exactly were we breaking the law? He obviously had not had a lot of experience with subway musicians and started trying to quote some transit codes about soliciting and misusing the transit system and such. Then Dave, who has had numerous experiences quoting subway musician laws to cops in the past, politely, but firmly explained that actually officer, it is perfectly legal to play and receive "donations" as long as you are 25 feet from a token booth and not obstructing traffic as stated in a transit code. The officer seemed shocked at first, but kept his cool, popped his gum and walked away. We left anyway. But on our way out he seemed slightly apologetic and told us we may be right, but he was still skeptical about us accepting donations told us we were still misusing transit property. We replied that wasn't true and we were within our first and 14th amendment rights of free speech.
No one was upset, and we left politely. Maybe he'll be nicer to the next musician he comes across.

Some new things

I've been away. I apologize. I know! No excuses, but I'm a sporadic person with a poor sense of commitment.

Some news: Dave and I just got back from our very first tour as Chicken Little! It was awesome. And the second big news is that on our trip, we brought with us our new ridiculously cute beagle mutt Roger! Roger is the best dog ever, and we tell him that every day. We rescued him from this amazing woman who started her own rescue foster care called Sugar Mutts Rescue. www.sugarmutts.com. If you know anyone, or if you want to adopt a really sweet, maybe larger dog, this is the place. Roger had already gotten all his shots and everything, so all we had to do was pay her the adoption fee and he was ours. By the way, we took him to a punk show that we played right before tour when we had only had him for 3 days, and here are some pictures of him having a great time. (he's good with the ladies)
And some others:


And here is his beloved monkey.


So Roger actually tagged along with us the entire tour down south, which was both challenging and rewarding. He learned to really trust us, but he also learned he's not so crazy about changing towns every other night. But the tour was great, and we played in various southern towns, including: Philly (played an open mike after our show flaked on us), Asheville, NC (Woot, hometown +amazing show at Firestorm cafe. Visit www.firestormcafe.com), Athens, GA at the Flicker Theater (my brother's town now), Nashville, TN (awesome awesome place. I think I might belong here), Bloomington, IN (horrible lazy, pothead, college burn-out town), Lakewood, Oh (woo hoo! Fuckin' awesome time. Sold lots of cds and made some nice friends, great experience). And Now we're back in the apple. I have to say...it's good to be back. Playing at open mikes, back in a work environment I know and like, and giving Roger a home he loves and wants to stay in. I have to say though, being on tour definitely spoils you. I wish I were performing every other night. But now is the time to really hone our skills. Tighten our songs and get better. But tour taught me so much about being a musician and what I want to be doing. I'll be writing about my trip to Prague with my choir Khorikos as well in October when the time comes.
But until then, hope this wasn't so boring.
I'm a loser and don't have any pictures from tour yet, but here are a few from the Ever Reviled Records show:



So, I will be more committed to this blog thing now. I promise. I'll get those pictures developed from tour, and I will complain about New York no matter how much I love it.
But here's just one last one:

Cute huh?