I'm a hacker-journalist, currently Head of Data at Skift and formerly at ProPublica. And this is my random New York photoblog. All photos unless otherwise specified are to be credited to: Dan Nguyen Check out my Flickr, my personal blog, or my books on how to program and take photos.
Ask me anything
5Pointz, the legendary graffiti mecca in Long Island, will host a SummerStage party celebrating the “40th Anniversary of Hip-Hop” on Aug. 11
Check out the custom site I built for SummerStage and if you like it, please toss it a vote in the HackSummerStage challenge!
SummerStage 2013 is coming! I built a website that makes it easier to search through the great music listings and also hand-compiled YouTube videos for all of the performers. The site is called “SummerStageLove“…Check it out here.
If you like it, please feel free to vote for it in the HackSummerStage challenge.
Gabriel Royal, playing the cello at the Bedford stop in Williamsburg
Jazz player as the 7 train goes by
Violinist under Rockefeller Center. I took some video of his performance here.
Jazz in Grand Central, 7 line
A Midtown subway violinist
What kind of crazy guitar is this? As seen at the L train 1st Ave stop
The Ebony Hillbillies in Herald Square station; these guys made me get to work late.
(Source: youtube.com)
Banjo man, L Train at Bedford Stop
Violinist at Central Park; the bar for making money as a street music performer has been raised.
(Source: youtube.com)
As a big @arstechnica fan, I was geekily-excited when I saw that my Flickr account had a referral (yeah, I had nothing else better to do on Sunday). It turns out it came from this discussion thread where users post screenshots of their desktop. An ars-user apparently has my photo of Kaki King as his/her computer’s background(!)
It’s actually the second oldest photo on my Flickr account, taken from a November 2008 Kaki King concert at Webster Hall. I think it may have been my first concert in New York, or at least that I remember. I heard her on NPR when I was still living in Sacramento and thought she had a great sound then. When I moved to New York shortly after, I found out she played in town frequently since she lives here.
Realizing that she — and countless other talented artists — would be routinely performing just minutes away from me on any given night was one of my first epiphanies about how great it was to live in New York.
Here’s NPR’s artist page for Kaki King.
My video of Super Mario Bros. (the theme song) on the subway ride home reached 200,000 views in about a month. The musicians, Gypsy Joe Trane and his bassist Glue, said it was the most views they’ve ever gotten…(I think they deserve way more).
But my favorite part of the YouTube reception is the number of commenters complaining about how jaded New Yorkers are:
It’s like they’re all dead inside. It’s kind of creepy. - fluffystuff66
Just about nobody acknowledged them. What assholes.- pokemonmentalWhy does nobody on the train give a shit?! That was awesome! -ZombieJesus413@fluffystuff66 i know right!!!!no claps,no reaction??????i blame prescription drugs!everyones a freakin zombie nowadays.i saw a old man with a walker getting shoved to the ground by a crazy guy,and he broke his walker falling on it from the shove.and everyone looked at me like i was crazy for gettin in the guys face,and for helping the old guy?????CREEPY - topgunn916all the main cities have cold tubes/subways. london is even worse. - maxgunn555@KifIsARealBoy Showing a little bit of appreciation for high performance level, wouldn’t hurt anybody, right ? I wouldn’t mind claping for them if I was on the train. - softshredlol NYC Subway riders. We show our appreciation to subway performers by staying silent! ONLY NEW YORKERS UNDERSTAND… - esconyfinestand on that day…no one gave a single fuck….which is sad. - MrUBtrollin2To everyone whining about no applause, that’s how the subway works here. Considering the amount of insane bullshit people see on there, cool stuff like this doesn’t turn heads. - forestwanderer
The subway riders might not look all that appreciative, but you have to remember that in New York, scowls mean “thank you.”
I saw them on the R train today! Thank you for posting this. And for the record, there was applause this time :)
Photo by Suzanne DeChillo for the New York Times: In her room at the nursing home, Concetta Previte tunes a string on a violin that has been in her family for more than 50 years.
From the article: “Weakened by Age and Illness, Hands Teem With Creativity”:
Ms. Previte, 72, who is chronically ill, writes lyrics. She scribbles the words on the back of nursing home menus, mostly songs about love lost or love found.
For two weeks, she joined six other residents at Beth Abraham Health Services in a collaboration with seven chamber music players from Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, whose Musical Connections program aims to bring music to a wider audience, in healthcare settings, prisons, homeless shelters and senior service organizations.
Read the article.
Musicians Gypsy Joe Trane (@gypsyjoetrane) playing the theme to Super Mario Brothers while traveling uptown on the R. I can’t believe that no one else was as amused as I was.
This was one of the most entertaining rides I’ve had on the R. I like subway performers and these guys had the best approach I’ve seen: just stand and jam for many stops. I don’t know if they made more or less money than those who do a quick set before hopping into another car, but I gave them a few bucks for the great accompaniment.
Thanks to Kotaku for reblogging this and giving these musicians some well-deserved (virtual) applause.
(Source: youtube.com)
