theowne
Active Member
So where do the musicians on the subways come from? Do you have to apply to the TTC or something? Many of them seem well-off enough and I assume they do it for other reasons. Just wondering. Seems like a fun thing to do.
|
|
|
Musicians in the subways...?
- Thread starter theowne
- Start date
lordmandeep
Banned
if they are good they make lots of money...
remember a violin and guitar small group were playing an upbeat tune and this made people very cherry and happy. It wished they came back...
remember a violin and guitar small group were playing an upbeat tune and this made people very cherry and happy. It wished they came back...
299 bloor call control.
Senior Member
you gotta apply and then they have a "TTC Musician Idol" type of deal during the CNE to finalize the selections.
adma
Superstar
junctionist
Senior Member
The most interesting acts get the Bloor station gig.
lordmandeep
Banned
I remember an awful guy who butchered Stairway to Heaven.
adma
Superstar
Yeah. If you gotta butcher Stairway To Heaven, make sure you're a good guy
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Sometimes they do requests. I once asked John Gao, the erhu player, to perform The Butterfly Lovers and he did some of it.
dowlingm
Senior Member
Really? Because I get off at Bloor NB to change to the B-D 4 days a week on average and some of the people are good and others... well let's just say it reminds me of this exchange in "Coming to America"
"Sexual Chocolate!" "That boy's good." "Yeah, good and terrible."
Apart from breaking up the monotony of the commute though, it keeps eyes on the subway system which is more obvious than security cameras.
junctionist
Senior Member
I don't know if they officially choose musicians, it was something I heard from someone, and my ears confirmed it whenever I was there. I don't pass through this station on a daily basis so I'll take your word for it that they're not always great. Alternately, the TTC struggles to pick good musicians like they do with some other non-operational tasks
.Disparishun
Active Member
I remember that years ago there were very, very few musicians licensed to play in the subway, and then one year -- must have been, say, 1990? around there -- they decided to open things up by licensing anyone who was half decent, annually holding a day or two of auditions (at Harbourfront maybe?) for the purpose.
This is vague memory, mind you. Maybe someone else knows with more certainty?
This is vague memory, mind you. Maybe someone else knows with more certainty?
yin_yang
Active Member
i remember reading an article about it a few years back...they held auditions in some auditorium.
dowlingm
Senior Member
Auditions are done at CNE - last year it was Aug. 17
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=761481&k=
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=761481&k=
adma
Superstar
Up until about the mid-80s or whenever auditions/licencing started, subway musicians were non-existent in Toronto...
Disparishun
Active Member
They weren't non-existent, but they were very few and far between. There were something like 5 or 6 musicians licensed. It was kind of nutty.
... okay, just did a Google search. Turns out I wasn't too far off with 1990. Do a ctrl-F on "Ezra" within this article. And you're basically right about being non-existent, but until 1980, says the TTC. Interesting how they tally up the number of people who auditioned, but not the number who were licensed -- there is an analogy to be made with the street food programme, methinks.