Studio Quest Begins in Earnest (with video)

It's so easy to perform as a rock star. Seriously, you've got a killer sound system, lights, wardrobe and thousands of people in front of you who already love you and know all your songs.

You know what's hard? Kickin' it to the streets of the naked city un-amplified. It's great vocal training, for one thing, because you really have to push it to be heard over the din of trucks, horns, revelry, subway trains, car stereos and whatever other cacophony happens to be happening. Plus, you have to have major balls to do it in front of a bunch of total strangers. I literally bled for my art last night; Miss Burnz, my axe, has blood spatter all over her because I was hittin' it so hard.

Why did I do this? Well, I had planned on a couple of open mics last week but chickened out because I wasn't sure if I could perform without drinking. To prove to myself that I could, I took the toughest gig in the world: busker.

I started with a few covers at the Times Square subway station, and several tourists threw money at me within seconds of my starting to play. I thought I was going to be rich, but it dried up quickly. Oh well -- covered my train fare home anyway.

From Times Square it was an easy shot on the E to West 4th Street, but the spot I had in mind had been taken by this cool woman with a great voice and a lot of chops. I jammed with her for one song and she got money, but I was tuned a half-step sharper than her and didn't want to re-tune so I headed out to the street and found a nice spot where I sang and didn't make a dime. Actually, I didn't even have my case open because it just wasn't that kind of scene.

Sometime after midnight I headed to Penn Station to wait for the LIRR back to Flushing. Started talking to this drifter, Nate, from Arkansas who was sort of inspiring in a way. He was totally cool with the drifting life, said it was freedom -- no bills, no possessions and whatnot. Anyway, I got this great idea to "play the Garden" and take video of it. Nate obliged. I chose "This Land is Your Land" because I figured Nate would appreciate it, and he did. This is the result:

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I actually drew a bit of a crowd and got a nice round of applause upon taking my bow, but you can only hear the very beginning of the applause because Nate cut out a bit quick. It's cool, though. I bet most rock stars wouldn't draw a crowd or applause performing anonymously and un-amplified like that.