LAist: Slice of Life LA: Busking on the Red Line

Zach Behrens

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 01:19:36 -0800

Guest #2, obviously I have no lived in NYC. I lived in Chicago:) And I did busk once during Blues Fest on the Red Line platform in downtown Chicago, only to be busted by the police. Boo!

guest

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 22:49:30 -0800

The subway is pretty crowded in Mexico City, much more so than New York and folks didn't seem to be irritated by the buskers, just by the beggars and hold-up men. -guest#1

guest

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 22:12:34 -0800

It's a constant of red lines, I guess. You see a million of these guys on Chicago's red line, which runs through the really poor south side neighborhoods, through downtown and the Loop, to the hipster neighborhoods on the north side. And yeah, as in New York, these guys are really annoying if you're on the el to get somewhere rather than to get an "experience."

guest

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:07:43 -0800

I can see that you have never lived in NY. On the platforms I am all for it, it can brighten your day and I have seen all sorts, from cellos to the classic andes pipes - But on a crowded train when it's a daily rush hour commute and you aren't a tourist, you want them dead. This works because the LA subway is sparsely populated as it's such a limited system.

guest

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 10:44:00 -0800

What a great scene! I love subway buskers. When I was in Madrid I saw a whole scene from a play with props and everything. In Mexico, buskers are everywhere. My fav were two young boys on a jammed bus playing some pretty-ish metal guitar and singing. We definitely need more of this in Los Angeles.