Subway Jam at GCS

 

What happens when subway performers jam.  Grand Central mezzanine (above 4/5/6) on a Friday afternoon. The musicians from Alex Lodico Ensemble were arriving to perform after me and the drummer Neil asked if he could join in, then Yosuke the sax joined in followed by Michael the baritone sax.  We had never played together and the spontaneity of the moment is clear.  Filmed by Yasuhito Sasaki (guitarist who also joined in later but not in this clip)

song 'Keep You Out' words music C. Grier SESAC singerfish publishing

clip montage by Brendan Padgett

Is anyone listening? The First Follower....

Dancing guy: check out: Leadership Lessons from the Dancing Guy by Derek Sivers. In the clip, a guy dances alone to some off camera musicians. Soon after, another dancer joins him. Then a third joins and now it’s more of a thing. Eventually a crowd rushes to be included. What does this say about leadership, or as Derek Sivers blogs about, what he calls the first follower. That second guy is the reason the first guy (with the good idea, or leadership) can continue…. leadership takes risk, so does following a leader. In the beginning you are both out there on a limb on your own. My take, I see this every day I

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Live radio broadcast Sunday feb 21st audio link

“Home Made Music” program featuring acoustic music.  And me!

Guest DJ Larry Wolfert (filling in for Mark Corso), stopped while I was performing at Grand Central Graybar corridor Wednesday and invited me to perform at 10:00 am this coming Sunday.

Rutgers Radio WRSU 88.7 FM /  click to hear an MP3 of the interview

If you do get a chance to listen, I'd love your comments here!

It will be nice to be above ground for a change!

Update

on 2011-04-19 20:32 by NYC Subway Girl

What a fun interview.  Larry was a lot of fun and asked great questions.  I sang 4 songs and got a chance to talk about Music Under New York and nycsubwaygirl

click to hear an MP3 of the interview

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Larry Wolfert and Me

PoetMan Records USA- Bryan Klausing

Congratulations for making it on the Acoustic Rainbow Sampler. What a great CD! You have all the grit of Robert Johnson, the sweetness of Blind Willie mcTell and Keb' Mo', and the soulfulness of Bonnie Raitt......

I loved your slide playing and lyrics on Lebanon. Your cover of the Stevie Wonder tune is as good as it gets......
What Fools Do, I was hooked the minute I heard the opening guitar passage. Your playing and vocals are so passionate, and it has this great slow gritty blues groove that needs to be heard by a global audience.

Bryan KlausingCo-Producer
www.acousticrainbow.com

 

website review

Her CDs are just overflowing with great songs featuring Cathy's impassioned message and pure artistry. A beautiful combination of Folk/Rock/Blues with standup writing and production. Cathy Grier reaches out and touches your soul with her music and words.  

online reviewer

What’s your Sister’s Playlist?

My friend Paige Orloff writes a blog for the Sister Project. Her recent blog about music playlists got me thinking about my own sister Susan’s playlist of sorts. Susan opened my ears to a pretty diverse musical world, powerful, fun, deep, from Joni Mitchell to Bob Dylan, Supremes and Stevie Wonder, Leonard Cohen to John Mayhall and Janis too. Her records became mine (even if I had to hide them from her). Or the 45 of ‘I want to Hold your Hand’ that I took to school (was it in 2nd grade?) and it got broken……forgive me Susan, at least you can say you gave me great first musical influences through your records. That of

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Vintage Guitar magazine 
by John Heidt

Cathy Grier Comin' Back To Me:

Playing songs with just your acoustic is certainly an art that some of us never master well enough to make a full album. Cathy Grier does not have that problem, whether playing fingerstyle blues, or mixing poppy chords with her strong voice.

There are some great songs here. The title cut features nasty slide and a great lyric. "Good Thing" is about as good as it gets. It's blues-mama heaven. She can definitely find her way around a boogie, with imaginative arrangements and some great follow through playing.

Lyrically, the songs that deal with relationships are the strongest. "What Fools Do" and "Stealing Hearts" tell great stories to go along with her fine acoustic accompaniment.

Grier plays all the music on this CD on her 1944 Gibson SJ guitar, and she definitely knows how to handle it. Her singing, brings out the feeling of the songs, especially, in the relationship-themed tunes. If you like folky, bluesy singer/songwriters, check it out.

John Heidt 

an anniversary of sorts

Last year on February 4th, I was performing at the Shuttle in Grand Central. I remember it was really cold. Photographer Jefferson Siegel took some pictures and then came over to ask me a few questions regarding the current financial meltdown and if I felt that people were tipping less. My response was that I didn't notice a difference, but my focus was more on the act of performing in the subway, than the tips in my bag. I asked what paper he was working for. I woke up finding myself on the cover of AMNY, a free paper handed out to commuters throughout the city. The headline was not

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Snow

Snow is Coming Everyone is talking about snow We used to just know it Intuitively Now we Know it through Satellite imagery Not the Gods will another means Another device Snow white Snow cushions Snow slows Pause We’re all pausing So early and it’s not even here Yet We all can’t wait
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Resist the urge to punish everyone for one person’s mistake

Words of wisdom from Derek Sivers blog (daily thoughts for entrepreneurs and musicians): (if) You're lucky to own your own business. Life is good. You can't prevent bad things from happening. Learn to shrug. Resist the urge to punish everyone for one person’s mistake. In the moment, you're angry, and focusing only on that one awful person that did you wrong. Your thinking is clouded. You star

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If I know one thing, sage is tricky

Ah, the joys of a dual life from city to country and country to city, is fulfilling to me in many ways. I come to the country to be involved in my communiity, and now mostly to write.  Clearing out a creative space by burning sage is a good thing, but not if you get lost in the meditation and set off the fire alarm.  That’s how I started my morning today.  I quickly called to cancel the alarm, but not before the town siren went off-we have a local volunteer fire department. And if you have one, you know how loud and discomforting it is to hear when it sounds. Dispatch said they called off the trucks-whew, but the chief might want to stop by. Which of course being a small town, he did. 

Have you ever smelled sage when it burns-kind of like really awful weed-not that I would know what that is, but say if I did….. I had a harder time trying to convince him that it was only sage I was burning.  Will I ever get a chance to write without all these distractions?!  Last time I got side-swiped by a car that lost control in a curve in the road and smashed right into my driver’s side door.  The car is still in the shop. Maybe I am safer in the city!

Eve Ensler talk, The Girl Cell

Just talking yesterday to my friend Paige (who blogs at The Sister Project) about nycsubwaygirl and how as I continue to develop it, want nycsubwaygirl to be so much more than about me and my adventures in the subway. nycsubwaygirl is I hope eventually a state, a place to build strong community, it’s form created by the collaboration of others. To that extent I think “are you a NYCsubway girl?” Today another friend Cheryl sent me a TED talks link of a speech Eve Ensler gave about girls and the idea of a girl cell. Hmm I thought,

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Robin Greenstein, artist Folkmusic listserve

Folkmusic listserve

Hello everyone,

I recently went to see Cathy Grier perform here in NYC. She was playing outdoors in front of Pace University as part of a concert featuring musicians who play underground, in the subways. I originally met Cathy at the Folk Alliance convention in New Mexico. I had liked what I heard back then. She had a bluesy-jazzy streak to her music that was a little different from the typical singer-songwriter. I think she may have been living in Southern Florida but she moved to New York City some time ago and has been making her living playing in the subway as part of the "Music Under New York" program.

While I wouldn't care to do that myself, it's a situation that has brought her many great things, including an appearance at Carnegie Hall. More importantly, it has toughened up her performance skills and her chops. She now has a gritty sound both in her voice and harder edge to her guitar playing that is very appealing. Cathy has released a new CD called "What 
Fools Do" which she gave me a copy of. It is her playing solo and I think it's worth a listen.

She has lots of bluesy love songs (I love the first cut which features her playing slide guitar on "Keep Coming Back To Me") and some interesting political music too (a song about Elian Gonzalez called Elian the Spectacle).

She's worth checking out.

Regards,
Robin Greenstein

My two cents worth..Grammy's 2010

Watched the Grammy’s last night, it’s my annual check in on the “industry” I really do watch it like homework, or taking medicine. And I don’t really feel better in the morning. Gaga and Elton John, very cool, especially since they sounded great together, although the whole Fame Factory set and weak story line a distraction. Especially the crazy make-up that made Gaga look like Heath Ledger in Batman and Elton John, well he looked like he had a run in with his makeup artist. Gaga sang and played effortlessly, not freaking out-poised and perfectly at home performing the opening song of the Grammy’s with superstar Sir John. She didn’t flinch! Great start. There was the usual glit and pecking order. Women in someone's

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of the people by the people for the people

I thought that we were a nation of the people, by the people and for the people, apparently the Supreme Court has other ideas...But we can still do something about it, unless we continue to do nothing.....

What happened last week in the chambers, gave Corporations the right to fund elections in a way that will have huge repercussions on our electoral system (as if it doesn't have enough troubles already!).

Welcome in the new age of politics, not as usual, but of Corporate will. Big blow to the little guy, how they will be able to succeed without being 'bought' has now entered into a Super Hero world of reality....

destruction in Haiti

no words, deep sadness, how much more can Haitian people withstand.

My heart goes out to all and I wish Haitians and families there and around the world strength in recovering and rebuilding.