68 AMERICANWAY
OCTOBER 1 2008
M U S I C
McGeary have learned a lot about how the
variables of weather, time of day, and loca-
tion affect their success. People don’t stop
if it’s too hot, too cold, or too early. “Unless
you’re a classical musician, mornings are
tough,” says Bauer, “because people are on
theirway toworkand they’ve timed it to the
second. In the afternoon, work’s over and
they’re looser, and they can interrupt their
day forhalf aminute to listen.”
As for locations, they have found that
Times Square can be good or so-so, de-
pending on that day’s tourists. The station
at 53rd and Lexington, on the other hand,
“is basically a small, noisy commuter stop
—mostlyallbusiness suits,” saysBauer. “It’s
not good for us.” Union Square station is
ideal because it’s bigger, with acoustics that
allow their music to be heard and crowds
that aremoreopen to idiosyncrasy. “They’re
going toWilliamsburg or coming from the
FashionDistrict orChelsea,” saysMcGeary.
“People downtown tend to bemore cultur-
ally interested inwhatwedo.”
They won’t say howmuch they’re mak-
ing underground, only that their take has
improvedas they’ve learnedhowandwhere
toplay. They’vealso learned from theironly
robbery experience— teenage girls inplaid
school uniforms distracted themwhile one
girl cleanedout the case.
Commuters leave themmany things be-
sides money: cigarettes, wrapped choco-
lates, thank-you notes. Kids sometimes
draw pictures for them. One street vendor
dropped in silver earrings that he’d made
forMcGeary as he sat listening. “And coins
fromall over theworld,” saysMcGeary.
The performers are unanimous in their
love for the subway’s unpredictability and
human diversity. “Spending three hours
here,” says Bauer, “you really get a sense of
theflow, ofhowmanypeople come through
andhowdifferent thecrowd is.”Sometimes,
even in the middle of a song, people want
to converse or take a picture with them.
But therearealso thosewho listen for three
hours orwhohave gone to the group’sweb-
siteand showedupat thenext subwaygig.
“It’s really amuchbettermusical and ar-
tistic experience than the clubs,” saysBauer
asMcGearynods. “It’s just agreat gig.”
STEVE KEMPER
lives in Connecticut and is the author of
Code
Name Ginger
as well as stories for
Smithsonian
,
National Geo-
graphic
, andmany other magazines. His bagpiping son busks in
Boston.
AW
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