Tag Archives: subways

“How the hell can you run a goddamn railroad without swearing? “

I watched two classic 1970s New York City movies this week — Taxi Driver and The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three. And I liked the latter a lot more than the former. Pelham is by far the best Quentin … Continue reading

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The Subway Sings Somewhere — Now In Video

You may remember that one of my songs for February Album Writing Month was “The Subway Sings Somewhere, which combined field recordings of the NYC subway with harmonica and guitar and various loops and electronic treatments to create a song … Continue reading

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The Subway Sings Somewhere

Today’s song is The Subway Sings Somewhere, the latest addition to my new genre of music, “electromonica.” Although this is probably closer to “industromonica.” New York City’s newer computerized subway cars, first introduced about five years ago, have a new … Continue reading

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Goodbye to South Ferry

The old South Ferry station on the IRT is about to be replaced with a new, larger station, so yesterday I roped mary_wroth into a brief photo expedition to the old station. I grew up in the public-transit wastelands of … Continue reading

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Stabbed By An Antique

On a crowded rush-hour IRT local, I said to this woman, “You’re going to hurt someone with that thing,” pointing to the six-inch hatpin with a sharp tip protruding at eye-level from her hat. “I’ve been told that several times … Continue reading

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Service Advisories

This great piece of what the Times calls “Op-Art,” by Evan Eisenberg, is for some reason not at all available online, so I’m reproducing it here. The image is large but worth it. (Update: The Times fixed their site and … Continue reading

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Subway Flooding: Yes, It’s Gotten Worse

As someone who’s been riding the subways for more than 30 years, and commuting on them for about 20 years, I’ve been asking myself recently, “Did the subways always collapse completely every time it rains?” I don’t remember the magnitude … Continue reading

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A Strike Song

Just in time for its conclusion, I’ve written a song about the transit strike. The song is still pertinent, though, since the issues raised by the strike aren’t going to go away when service returns. I’ve taken some creative license … Continue reading

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Then they came for the transit workers…

My grandfather worked multiple manual-labor jobs for much of his youth, and finally “made it” when he got a job for NYC Transit as a token booth clerk. He bought a house and raised his son on that salary and … Continue reading

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