TV Auditions Add New Note to Subway Musicians’ Scores

Dozens of subway buskers today will get a chance to rise far above their normal stage as they audition for a new reality television show.“NYC Sound Tracks,” an eight-episode series produced by Madison Square Garden Networks that had its debut Sunday, is holding open auditions in Foley Square. The show’s first three episodes will be a documentary-like study of subway musicians’ lives, and the following five will involve whittling down a group of 16 entertainers to one winner.Although many subway musicians don’t know about the competition, those who do are caught in a bind. They are at once uncomfortable with the idea of competing against fellow buskers and eager to raise awareness of their music.“It’s a real community down there,” a guitar player and singer-songwriter who has been playing in the subways for 13 years and has entered today’s competition, Theo Eastwind, said. “When you look at other competitions like ‘American Idol,’ none of those people really know each other, they’re strangers to each other. In this competition we all know each other. So that’s a big difference.”Mr. Eastwind, 28, said he was mainly interested in competing in order to “promote mass transit artists,” but he added that it wouldn’t hurt his CD sales.Two brothers who have been playing together since they were 16, Heth and Jed Weinstein, have also entered the competition.“It’s a little awkward,” Heth Weinstein said. “There’s maybe only a hundred people in the city who do what we do. It’s a whole family out here.”An MSG Network spokeswoman said the subway musicians will be judged not only for their ability, but also for their viewer appeal.Rather than having judges critique the contestants and select the winner, the “NYC Soundtracks” producers have decided to hand those decisions to viewers, who will vote online. The musician who wins the competition will be the opening act for one of the concerts at Madison Square Garden this fall.“Most of the guys in the subway don’t like competition,” a harmonica player in the Union Square station, Lester Schultz, said. “They just want to make money.”For other subway musicians, such as Dave Johnson, 39, who plays the blues in Times Square, the risk of spending a day auditioning in lieu of making money may be too great. “I hate to do things for free,” he said, “but I might go.”

TV Auditions Add New Note to Subway Musicians’ Scores

TV Auditions Add New Note to Subway Musicians’ Scores

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