If you love model trains, each year in Grand Central Terminal they install the most wonderful train show. This is one of my top 10 Holiday reasons to love NYC.
Enjoy this time lapse fllm of the installation.
The show runs through February 23, 2014.
New York Transit Museum: http://mta.info/museum/
Trains by Lionel: http://www.lionel.com/
Model layout designed and built by T W TrainWorx:http://www.twtrainworx.com/
with only some transit service running and my apartment still without power I am unable to perform again today. Here's more updates from MTA be safe.
MTA Service Advisory
Limited Fare Free Service To Be Restored On Subways, Full Service Rolls on Buses
Subway service will be limited Thursday, due to ongoing water remediation, infrastructure repairs and power related problems. Limited service will operate along parts of several routes between The Bronx, Upper Manhattan and Midtown. Other lines will run in parts of Queens and Brooklyn, with service terminating in Downtown Brooklyn. Shuttle Bus service will be available at Jay St - MetroTech, Atlantic Ave - Barclays Center and Hewes St in Williamsburg to 57th St and Lexington Ave in Midtown Manhattan. See Bus Stops in Manhattan.
The restoration of subway service was made possible by the hard work of hundreds of Transit Workers who inspected miles of track, removing debris that washed into the system, dried out components and made necessary repairs. In other parts of the system heavy duty pump trains continue to evacuate thousands of gallons of water that filled 7 underwater tunnels. Station Environment crews removed and repaired canopies on elevated stations ripped off by Sandy's strong gusts, while cleaners removed debris. Track Workers checked rails for damage while Signal Maintainers inspected and tested equipment that was submerged under water. Electronic Mchecked critical electrical systems, including crucial communications equipment.
Late Wednesday night, the system was energized and 3rd Rail power was restored. During the night crews will begin running trains throughout the system to polish rials and ensure there are no track or other component defects before service begins.
Because subway service will be limited to roughly half of the system's subway lines, waits will be longer and trains will be more crowded. Customers are advised to consider changing their normal routines to travel later in the morning or later in the evening.
See Hurricane Recovery Subway Map
Bus service will be operating on a near normal weekday schedule. Some routes may be operating with minor detours due to street conditions, customers are advised to look for signage at bus stops. Customers should also expect longer waits and crowded conditions.
Click Borough names for PDF maps:
Subway service will be limited Thursday, due to ongoing water remediation, infrastructure repairs and power related problems. Limited service will operate along parts of several routes between The Bronx, Upper Manhattan and Midtown. Other lines will run in parts of Queens and Brooklyn, with service terminating in Downtown Brooklyn. Shuttle Bus service will be available at Jay St - MetroTech, Atlantic Ave - Barclays Center and Hewes St in Williamsburg to 57th St and Lexington Ave in Midtown Manhattan. See Bus Stops in Manhattan.
The restoration of subway service was made possible by the hard work of hundreds of Transit Workers who inspected miles of track, removing debris that washed into the system, dried out components and made necessary repairs. In other parts of the system heavy duty pump trains continue to evacuate thousands of gallons of water that filled 7 underwater tunnels. Station Environment crews removed and repaired canopies on elevated stations ripped off by Sandy's strong gusts, while cleaners removed debris. Track Workers checked rails for damage while Signal Maintainers inspected and tested equipment that was submerged under water. Electronic Mchecked critical electrical systems, including crucial communications equipment.
Late Wednesday night, the system was energized and 3rd Rail power was restored. During the night crews will begin running trains throughout the system to polish rials and ensure there are no track or other component defects before service begins.
Because subway service will be limited to roughly half of the system's subway lines, waits will be longer and trains will be more crowded. Customers are advised to consider changing their normal routines to travel later in the morning or later in the evening.
See Hurricane Recovery Subway Map
Bus service will be operating on a near normal weekday schedule. Some routes may be operating with minor detours due to street conditions, customers are advised to look for signage at bus stops. Customers should also expect longer waits and crowded conditions.
Click Borough names for PDF maps:
Day 2 post Storm Sandy and subway musicians have discovered our place of work still off limits. Would love to be able to perform though. Subway lines, Grand Central, LIRR, Staten Island Ferry all shut down. These are places I and many musicians were scheduled to perform in this week. My apartment is still without power along with millions of others. We have to remain calm and get through this. As you can imagine I have been in contact with friends and fans from all over the world concerned about our situation. This from my friend Sabine in Paris who emailed to check in with me:
No elec chez toi? We had 2 weeks without elec, heating in Paris last Feb. Our area and apartment building was really bad then. No hot water, no light for many many days. It was horrible.
So I know what you're going through. We're all so used to comfort that it's hard to deal without it and are lost when the unexpected hits us so suddenly. Take care!
Thanks Sabine, the message here is NYers take heart and be safe. I'll keep posting and will let you know when it's safe to peform in the underground of the city I love! In the meanwhile here's a link to MTA for any transport information. and why not check out some of my Inspiration Project clips and see why NYC is so special.
If your apartment is still without power, please make sure to knock on the door of your neighbors and check in. Especially the elderly need to be heard from.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Metro-North is still unable to operate regular service on its Hudson, Harlem and New Haven Lines
Grand Central Terminal and all outlying Metro-North station buildings will remain closed.
follow these links for important information from our municipalities and state government:
New York State official website
New York City website
New Jersey State website
Connecticut State Website
Update
on 2012-10-31 19:32 by NYC Subway Girl
as of 2pm this afternoon some light rail in NJ an some Metro-North lines are working.
October 31, 2012 update, no trains or subway until further notice. MTA website is only available for service information
-Stay Tuned: We'll be back stronger than ever, that's what New York is all about. Resilience!
follow these links for important information from our municipalities and state government:
New York State official website
New York City website
New Jersey State website
Connecticut State Website
UPDATE Tuesday 11:50 AM: The latest on MTA and NYC transportation:
Some bus service will begin at 5 p.m. on a Sunday schedule.
There is no timetable yet for subway service resumption. Governor Andrew Cuomo and MTA Chairman Joe Lhota said in a joint press conference Tuesday morning they hope to have full bus service restored Wednesday morning. No fares will be charged through Wednesday.
Portions of subway service will return in pieces as it is able. Buses will be used to connect fractured sections.
Flooding could keep east river crossings shut for some time. The Clark, Steinway, Rutgers and Strawberry Street tubes under the East River are all flooded. Lhota said pumps are clearing the Joralemon Street tube and will have it dry in a few hours.
No buses or trains were damaged because of effective shut down preparations. Assessment of the extent of the damage on the tracks “will take a little bit more time than we thought,” Lhota said.
Lhotoa said flooding at the South Street subway station was “literally up to the ceiling.” this is the station I go to to get to Staten Island Ferry terminal for my gigs.
Pumping is underway in the Battery Tunnel.
Metro-North has no power from 59th Street to Croton.
check out the clip made by MTA's Joseph Chan, nice that I had the chance to be interviewed by Joe.
The auditions are really a true NYC experience. All I can say is that although I'm exhausted (I was a judge), I'm exhilarated by the talent and the dedication of the 33 volunteer judges that heard 70 acts over 6 hours. The MTA Arts For Transit and Music Under New York program is as important as any musical institution or museum, it's a treasure.
For many years I loved reading poetry installed in many of the subway cars, not only did the words of famous and obscure poets inspire my ride. I found the presence of their words posted in a subway car to allow the sometimes cramped cars and offensive chatter to transport me.
I was surprised to see it disappear and now am excited and cheer it's return.
Poetry In Motion is part of the Arts For Transit program. Music Under New York is also under the same arm. I am proud to be a part of presenting rich and diverse artistic expression to commuters and travelers of the NY subway system.
Here's my poem for the day:
First
Someone has to start, someone has to road test
Someone has to taste, someone has to listen
First
Nothing comes without
1st inspiration, 1st act, 1st ripple, 1st crack, 1st challenge that might go astray
1st step up to make a wave
1st flutter to take flight
1st starlight to make night
read Clyde Haberman's City Room article about Poetry in Motion in the NY times
Here's a reprint from WNYC's Music Hub
By Marlon Bishop : WNYC Culture Producer
The Lost and Wandering Blues Band are one of the acts chosen to join the Music Under New York program (Marlon Bishop/WNYC)
Coming soon to a subway station near you: a Japanese mandolin player playing Italian classics, Baroque harp music, and a full blown Afro-jazz group. They're just some of the 19 individuals and groups chosen by the MTA's Music Under New York (MUNY) program to join the roster of musicians officially sanctioned to perform underground.
Last week, 68 groups tried out for the program in front of a panel of judges culled from New York's cultural scene in an alcove of Grand Central Terminal. The new acts will join about 350 sanctioned groups already in the program. Although anybody can play in the subway legally, MUNY artists can display official banners, use amplification, and have dibs on some of the best and busiest spots underground.
Check out the list of the winning artists below -- or listen to what one of the winners, the Lost And Wandering Blues Band, sounded like at the MUNY auditions last week.
Several of the artists chosen, including Tom Larsen and the Body Electric, are featured in the audition video below produced by the MUNY staff.
reprinted from Music Hub by Marlon Bishop WNYC Culture Producer
Guest Blogger, Journalist Katherine Ulrich contacted me to do a story on buskers, we had a great chat on the phone, here's her story
Her voice echoes beautifully, not competing with the din of the school children chattering and the homeless people shouting and the clicks of turnstiles and clattering of shifting train tracks, but complementing it. The harried commuters rush by to get to Penn Station to take the LIRR, the hipsters head to Brooklyn on the NQR, and mothers pushing strollers rush to catch the uptown 6, but for just a moment, people in the Union Square subway station are brought together by that age-old unifier: music. And in that moment, there is a community in the subway, one of the least friendly places in New York, all because of Natalie Gelman,
subway chanteuse.
“You have to be prepared for anything. You don’t know who you will connect with, who will open up their heart to your music,” says Gelman. “You’re throwing people out of their normal daily commute…you’re giving them something more substantial to think about than ‘what’s for dinner?’”
As a native New Yorker born to musician parents, Gelman began performing at open mic nights in clubs like CBGB and The Bitter End when she was only 17, but it was the subway that really influenced her music style, allowing her to sing for a wider variety of listeners.
“In a perfect world, the term alternative would still mean what it used to in the ‘90’s,” she says of her genre. “But it [my music] straddles the line between the quieter and more intimate stuff, but also powerful and rocking. It’s alterna-rock punk-pop.”
After a few attempts at “busking” (as street performing is called) nine years ago, a friend encouraged Natalie to start playing guitar and singing in the subway for money. It was here she realized the influence not only she can have as a performer, but subway performing can have on her. As a member of Music Under New York, or MUNY, Natalie now has a schedule of where to perform, her MUNY permit affording her protection from harassment by police officers for starting crowds.
MUNY was initiated by the Mass Transit Authority in 1987 to promote the music culture by “presenting quality music to the commuting public” according to its website. With over 100 musical acts performing music of various genres, from folk to opera to blues, the popular program is positively changing our commutes. Just ask Cathy Grier, or NYC Subway Girl, a MUNY member since 1999.
“The message of MUNY is just ‘good sounds’,” says Grier. “Whether you like the genre or not, any music is definitely more pleasing than door alarms and metal scratching and grating train brakes. The program is to create and provide diversity, and as a performer, your lofty ideals of life, career and success are turned around. It’s a humbling experience.”
Despite having performed her “folked-up blues” music everywhere from bars in Key West, Florida, to across Germany as a member of a touring French girl band, Grier is most inspired by subway performing, favoring three spots within Grand Central (each location has different acoustics and atmosphere, so she “changes rhythms and tempos accordingly”). She is even recording an album of songs about the subway in the subway.
“Music becomes different in the subway. I’m influenced by what’s around me,” says Grier. “I’m not just standing there-it’s different every time. You pick up on the energy around you.”
Tom Swafford, a classically trained composer and arranger with a PhD in composing from UC Berkeley, also recorded an album about performing in the subway called 7th Avenue. At first, he did not even realize he was improvising the same songs repeatedly, but when he did, he decided to make an album.
“An album would literally give me a record of what I’ve been doing with my life lately,” says Swafford. “I played so often at the 7th Avenue subway station in Brooklyn, people who knew my music appreciated it.”
Although Gelman, Grier and Swafford have had very different performance experiences, all describe the subway as one of their favorite venues due to the inherent spontaneity of busking underground.
“It took me awhile to understand the concept of performing in the subway. Live performance is a type of art in itself,” says Cathy. “The immediate reaction, or no reaction. Either way, you’re part of the fabric. It’s a pass-through because people are not coming to hear you [like at a concert]. This is a way to just make people happy.”
This is a sentiment shared by all subway musicians; regardless of what type of music they are playing, it is about how that music makes the listeners feel that matters. Across the board, the goal is to put a smile on the face of just one person.
It is not a requirement to be a MUNY member to perform in the subway, however. Plenty of musicians perform without a permit due to a variety of reasons, including the competitiveness of becoming a MUNY member.
Morgan O'Kane taking a break in Union Square subway station
“The nice part about playing on the streets and in the subway is there are no real rules,” says O’Kane. “The city just wants a piece of everyone, and I’m doing my part to give it with my music.”
In other words, he does not need MUNY because it’s the freedom that comes with performing that he enjoys. O’Kane does not have another job besides busking around Union Square and Lorimer stations, but does make “a decent living.”
This is what makes playing in the New York City subway the ultimate performance: you do not need a permit, contract, producer, album, or big name. You need your voice, perhaps a musical instrument, and that is it. Commuters can come and go, but that experience of performing will last forever. You were there and sang a song, and even if only with a smile, you changed someone.
“Subway performance is just about the music,” says Swafford. “It’s about the expression of the players, what we are communicating to the commuters. It’s not about flashy labels and showing off. It’s about expressing a genuine love for music, plain and simple.”
interesting notes from Katherine leading up to the piece:
May 2, 2011
Hi, all. I hope we spend some time on Tuesday talking about the coverage of the reported death of bin Laden. Interesting, indeed.
As for my project, this week just made me realize how many incredibly talented musicians perform in the subway. I recently made friends with a man who plays the didgeridoo, a group of male break dancers, and a really strange man that sings while he makes a puppet move to the beat (!?). I need to figure out who my
“star” stars are though for the piece – I need better quotes. So far, I don’t have any stand-out interviews, but I do have a lot of background information on what subway performing is like. It’s coming together, but slowly. I want to get some high quality videos to include in the final blog post (I do have one so far, but the acoustics are a bit off). Lastly, I put a call into two of the Arts for Transit authorized (and publicized) musician groups. I think it will all come together.
APRIL 25, 2011
Ok I don’t know why, but the “links” feature is not working for me right now. I keep trying to link to all of the various websites I have used for my research so far, but it won’t let me. Basically, I got the idea to write about the subway performance artists (most of whom are musicians) through a NY Magazine article from February 27. Then, I read various online articles about the musicians, including the March 21 blog post from the NY Times (about the changing face of subway musicians), a April 19 NY Daily News article about Lyle Divinksy (a singer/guitarist), and additional NY Magazine articles about different performers (one about Susan Cagle, who has now sold 30,000 copies of her album because of her subway performing). Additionally, I researched the various laws associated with performing, especially in regard to MTA – Arts for Transit and MUNY. In the past week I have checked out musicians at Lorimer, Union Square, Battery Park and Bed-Stuy stations.
In my research, I have noticed a couple of (random) things that might pose problems/become more interesting. A) It is going to be hard to find new ways of saying “performer” throughout the piece without being contrived. B) Many of the laws contradict one another, or at least the resultant discrepancies between law enforcement and musicians contradict the actual laws. C) People actually can and do get arrested…for singing too loud? Shameful. D) Some people have actually garnered moderate fame from this. E) MUNY is actually very selective, but also a permit is NOT necessary to perform down below the city.
So, as for my angle: I know we discussed the MUNY tryouts and such, but I’m trying a different route. I, of course, am intrigued by the legality of the whole thing. I get a kick out of interviewing police officers (“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can not give you an answer at this time”) and I want to focus not on the shiny cool performers that cover freaking Oasis/The Beatles, but the homeless guys that just belt it for kicks. So basically I’m going to figure out the intricacies of the nitty gritty underside of performing underground
February 2011: I feature Alexander Chen who has created an amazing musical experience from actual current subway line movement. I can watch/listen to it all day, very soothing, something we can't generally say about riding these lines.
Conductor (2011) by Alexander Chen. this clip above on vimeo isn't interactive. If you want to watch this art in real time go to mta.me
Conductor turns the New York subway system into an interactive string instrument. Using the MTA's actual subway schedule, the piece begins in realtime by spawning trains which departed in the last minute, then continues accelerating through a 24 hour loop. The visuals are based on Massimo Vignelli's 1972 diagram.
More details and his other work
follow Alex on twitter
