Entertainment

If You Can Make It There: Acts Try Out for NY Subway Spots

Published

11 years ago

May 20, 2015

Seth Myers of Receta Secreta, carries his bass away from the stage after auditioning for judges in Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall in New York, Tuesday, May 19, 2015. About 70 musicians and others showed up Tuesday at the station to vie for official permission to set up their acts on an underground platform or walkway. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

VERENA DOBNIK, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s a rite of spring: performers auditioning for the privilege of doing their thing in grubby, noisy subway stations.

Seventy showed up Tuesday at Grand Central Terminal, vying for permission to set up their underground acts for tips. They appeared before a jury of musicians and transit employees in the elegant Vanderbilt Hall above the train tracks.

This year’s motley musical crew, from countries around the world, will soon find out who won the right to be part of the Music Under New York program run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the nation’s biggest mass transit system.

“I always dreamed of arriving in New York City,” said Oliver Dagum, a Philippine-born U.S. Air Force sergeant stationed in New Jersey who left the military last week. “I always believed that there’s something between me and the city. It’s amazing. It’s grandiose. I feel uplifted.”

He said playing in the subway system is a gauge of how good he is.

“If you’re able to convince one or two rushing people to take the time to listen to you, that’s the biggest acknowledgment,” he said.

Dagum switched his military uniform for a woolen cap and guitar at Grand Central, a long way from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan where he once served. He sang a mellow “Sunday Morning” by Maroon 5.

Drummer Louis Conselatore, an Ivy League law school graduate who worked as an ordained Unitarian minister, played his five-minute stint with two other musicians who call themselves the Viva Vallenato Badass Accordion Band.

“Two of us are Italians, one of us is Puerto Rican, and we’re all from New Jersey and we fell in love with Colombian music,” said Phil “Felipe” Passantino, the accordionist. “It has a rhythm that’s very infectious and makes people dance and laugh. It’s a peasant’s music, poor people’s music that springs from the soul.”

Three hundred performers entered the Music Under New York contest months ago to even be selected for Tuesday’s live, six-hour contest. The jury picks about two dozen winners, who’ll rake in up to hundreds of dollars a day when they’re dispersed at subway spots around the city. It’s illegal for unapproved artists to perform in the subway system.

Jacinta Clusellas, a Brooklyn resident from Buenos Aires with a guitar, wore giant blue wings on Tuesday to reflect a short story by the Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario.

“It’s about a man with a brilliant mind who had a hard time expressing himself, and he said, ‘I have a bluebird trapped inside my head,'” she explained.

The man kills himself, she said, leaving a note that reads, “I leave the door open to let my bluebird fly away.”

Clusellas attended Boston’s elite Berklee College of Music.

After all, some of New York’s finest musicians don’t appear at Carnegie Hall. They also practice and practice to get to a subway station.

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21st Annual Taste of Soul: California’s Largest Black Street Festival Comes Alive With Culture, Music and Connections

The 21st annual Taste of Soul Family Festival drew over 300,000 attendees to South Los Angeles for a massive celebration of Black culture, food, and music. Spanning the Crenshaw Boulevard corridor, the free event featured roughly 350 vendors, offering everything from Southern cuisine to professional health services and job recruitment opportunities. While headlining musical acts performed across three stages, the festival also served as a vital platform for small business entrepreneurs to reach a vast audience. Organizers are now addressing reports regarding several incidents that occurred during the festivities. Read more.

Published

17 hours ago

November 3, 2026

Post News Group

INSIDE Danny Bakewell Sr. (left) and Pamela Bakewell (right), longtime community leaders and organizers of the Taste of Soul Family Festival in Los Angeles.

The 21st annual Taste of Soul Family Festival brought hundreds of thousands to Crenshaw Boulevard in South Los Angeles on Oct. 17 for food, music and a celebration of Black culture. Visitors could shop with small businesses, enjoy live music performances, speak with health professionals and learn about job opportunities.

Presented by Bakewell Media and the Los Angeles Sentinel, the free festival stretched along the corridor from Stocker Street to Obama Boulevard. The Sentinel estimated attendance at more than 300,000. The day also marked founder Danny J. Bakewell Sr.’s 80th birthday.

“We call it a party with a purpose,” Pam Bakewell, the founder’s sister and a longtime festival organizer, told California Black Media (CBM).

The enticing aromas of barbecue, fried chicken and catfish filled the air as food vendors served up a tempting array of Southern favorites, including cobbler and other desserts. Vendors also offered clothing, jewelry, books and beauty products. About 350 vendors and sponsors participated, including approximately 80 food vendors, Bakewell said. Businesses came from across Southern California and as far away as Chicago and Atlanta.

“In one day, an entrepreneur has the opportunity to showcase their business to hundreds of thousands of people,” Danny J. Bakewell Jr., president of the Sentinel.

Chase offered vendors training in marketing and financial management, followed by a reception.

Experienced vendors also helped newcomers. Pam Bakewell cited Cobbler King, a longtime participant who shares lessons from his early festivals about preparing for crowds and building a business.

“We want everybody to be successful,” she said. “We can’t guarantee that, but we give you the crowd.”

Kaiser Permanente served as the festival’s main medical provider. St. John’s Community Health sponsored Children’s World, where children played games while families received preventive care and information about follow-up services.

St. John’s provided flu shots, fluoride treatments for children and clinic sign-ups for physical examinations. It also reported distributing more than 10,400 bags of diapers.

CBM hosted a booth as part of its California Black Health Journalism Project, a yearlong, solutions-oriented reporting initiative to advance health equity for Black Californians.

Dr. Deidra Beckles, who practices family and internal medicine, and Adriana Westby-Trent, Ph.D., a licensed clinical psychologist, held “Ask the Doc” conversations. Both are with Divinely Restored Health & Wellness. The booth drew steady traffic as they answered attendees’ health questions. Visitors received a “Your Wellness Matters” T-shirt.

The Sentinel promoted a developing jobs platform, inviting attendees to post resumes and connect with employers. Bakewell said about 350 people signed up along the boulevard.

Three stages offered music for different generations. The Bakewell Media Sounds of the Soul Stage featured Thelma Houston, Switch and headliner Midnight Star. Tony Cornelius, son of “Soul Train” creator Don Cornelius, introduced Midnight Star and appeared with eight veteran dancers from the television show.

The Radio Free KJLH Music Stage featured Lucky Daye, Alex Isley, Allen Stone and Terisa Griffin. On the Brenda Marsh-Mitchell Gospel Stage, MAJOR. served as host and performer. The lineup included Deitrick Haddon, local choirs and a youth performing arts ensemble.

During the festivities, ABC7 reported two stabbings and an hours long Los Angeles Police Department citywide tactical alert.

Pam Bakewell said police told organizers the incidents occurred outside the festival boundaries. She said organizers are reviewing safety measures with security personnel and police.