The MTA may require a permit to busk on the subway platform, but YOU can busk at Lincoln Center with Billy Bragg on July 27 for Lincoln Center Out of Door’s opening. If you come with your acoustic guitar to the open rehearsal at 4 pm on the Hearst Plaza (in front of Lincoln Center Theater and NYPL for Performing Arts), you can sign up to busk around Lincoln Center. The Big Busk starts at 7:30 in Damrosch Park. All you need to know is a few basic guitar chords, and you can join in the play-along. Or just come and sing along. See www.youtube.com/LCBigBusk to learn more.
You need a permit from the Metro Transit Authority’s Music Under New York to reserve a spot to play music in the New York subway system. The video footage from the 2011 auditions is even more evidence that there is a lot of talent underneath New York City. Some commuters can’t stand street performers in subway stations, but New York wouldn’t be NEW YORK without street performers.
MTA 2011 “Music Under New York” auditions (from the MTA’s YouTube channel).
