Wow! Now that’s cool. Awesome. As I was going my way today, I thought I was seeing things as I was standing on the F and V subway train lines today. Some V train that looked like it was from Back To The Future pulled into the station. But it wasn’t from Back To the Future. It was some vintage train from the 1930’s that the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority is running every Sunday this month on the V line. Is this train here for the holidays? It almost seemed surreal boarding the subway train as I had to ask the subway conductor if this train was going my way, and sure enough it was. And the conductors were handing out New York Transit Museum Calendars, and people were walking all over and through the train cars taking photographs everywhere. It was a tourist attraction ride back in time and a subway history lesson indeed to find about the history of the six train cars; that every train car was from a different year or decade. And the train conductor and signs posted throughout all other cars said something about “The r1 series car in 1930” that ran up until the 1970’s and that the MTA in now on the r142 series or something like that. Everyone on the trained almost seemed out of place with the vintage backdrop and the party like atmosphere on the travelling museum. I almost wanted to stay on the train and ride it back and forth all day, but instead I kept going my way. What a great ride back in time.
Category Archives: subway
Going My Way?
As it happened yesterday and may happen again tomorrow, so much that I find myself cutting and pasting the same blog entry over and over with no end in sight. Does this mean my friends should find another subway station to play their music in or quit playing their music altogether. Should they quit their day job? And so I guess the Metropolitan Transit Authority trauma drama with my friends really cool drum and horn band who play as part of the MTA Arts For Transit/Music Under New York Program usually starts out something like this: “Dear MUNY Musicians and Performers, the next Call-in will be another double, scheduling for 4 weeks. You did really well last time juggling and projecting your availability. Good luck and talk to you on September 26 or 27 @ Call-In etc.. And also Happy Birthday to Angel Marin of AGUA CLAA, and Natalia Paruz the Saw Lady on the 25th. All the best wishes, and life long happiness to you both!” And so the story goes; can somehow the Metropolitan Terrorize its subway riders going their way Association change it procedures for the harassment of its subway musicians and riders. Is it possible the New York City MTA can somehow free everyone and make its fares free to ride the subway so that all of those underground polizei will not be necessary. This band has been keeping this blog busy with its subway gigs and the many times it has been shut down at the 42nd street Times Square subway station every time they show up to play by the same polizei over and over with no end in sight. This time they were issued a summons for disorderly conduct, to appear in court five minutes after they started playing. And these tickets seem to be discerning, as they are issued to the same person in the band over and over. And by the way, is it possible to have a close all courts day, month and year? Oh, that’s a whole another blog posting. And those prerecorded “If you see something, say something and all bags are subject to random bag searches” messages are a whole another blog posting also. I can cut and paste the the many times I have blah blogged about this topic before and you can read some of the posts here. How do other subway systems in other cities and countries operate. Do these confrontations with polizei and subway musicians happen all the time everywhere. Do all cities follow the same models and procedures for fares and entertainment and are there any trauma drama support groups for these types of situations. Is another world possible? Since when is art a crime and what does this have to do with a No Police State?
MTA polizei and musicians
Is the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority becoming the New York City Metropolitan Terrorizer Association? Can someone remove all of the NYC MTA polizei from the subway system? Can the NYC MTA just make its subway fares free? Can the MTA free its riders and its subway musicians from its system of harrassment? And those “If you see something say something” messages and random bag searches are a terrorize the people campaign in itself. Yesterday I learned that now I should attend this Saturdays April 14th Earth Day event, the National Day of Climate action, http://stepitup2007.org just to help protect my friends saxophone in case the MTA polizei policy issue my friends a summons for playing their music in the subway. The National Day of Climate Action will be rallies and gatherings across the country to call for action on global warming and climate change and MUNY joins the National Day of Climate Action in a marathon concert at Times Square from 10am to 6pm, celebrating mass transit as a major solution to reducing carbon emissions and I should be there to help save their horns from becoming a New York City subway statistic. Since when did my job become horn saver? My friend Welf, from the Underground Horns , a brass band, performs with “Drumadics”, drummers. They have been playing their music in scheduled weekly performances as part of the MTA Arts for Transit/Music Under New York, http://mta.info/mta/aft series . Their music is fun and spiritual. And there is this policy officerial who keeps shutting them down with his volumnmeter who has now threatened to issue them a summons the next time they show up to play which would be this Saturday as part of the April 14th Earth Day Event at the Times Square subway station. So what does one do? Maybe subway musicians get complaints and get tossed out of the subway all of the time. Can one not tolerate art? What ever happened to freedom of speech? Since when did art and music in public spaces become a crime?
For more information about these musicians, you can view the Underground Horns YouTube video at http://concretebeat.blogspot.com , and the Drumadics page at http://myspace.com/drumadics .
And what does this have to do with a No Police State? Happy Earth Day. Peace on earth and goodwill to all mankind.
No Police State Girl 