Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Your Guide to the Best East Coast Concerts This Summer
I created this gallery of East Coast summer concerts for NBC. It got picked up in all ten local markets. Here are links to each of them:
NBC NiteSide NiteByte Posts
I posted more clips on NiteByte today...
This one is published in New York City:
This one is published in Miami:
This one is published in Washington DC:
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Lisa Kudrow Gives Advice to Recent College Graduates
The amazing Lisa Kudrow at the Webby Awards.
Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer
By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
Actress Lisa Kudrow recently spoke at the commencement ceremonies at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. While most graduation speakers talk about what lies ahead in the students lives, Kudrow focused on what lies within each of them. She attended the Webby Awards last night and talked about what she felt was the best thing for young people to remember.
“I told them that everyone has their own path,” Kudrow said. “I wanted them to remember that their 20’s is a time for them to encounter crossroads, but it will all work out.”
She said that her speech focused on letting the students know that they aren’t alone in what they face after graduation and even though it may not all be easy, “moments of doubt are just moments.”
Kudrow graduated from the college, with a degree in biology, in 1985. She won this years’ Webby Award for Best Comedy: Long Form or Series, for her web series, “Web Therapy,” which is currently in its third season.
Inside the Exclusive Webby Awards Gala After Party With Ne-Yo
Ne-Yo performing at the Webby Awards after party.
Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer
Here is my gallery for NBC from the Webby Awards after party:
"The Office" Star B.J. Novak: Working With Steve Carell Is the "Greatest Privilege"
B.J. Novak, aka Ryan from The Office, was the host of this years Webby Awards.
Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer
By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
"The Office" star B.J. Novak, who hosted the 14th annual Webby Awards in Lower Manhattan last night, said working with sitcom co-star Steve Carell is the highest honor in the business.
"Working with him is the greatest privilege in comedy," Novak said on the red carpet at the Webby Awards.
The actor, writer, and comedian confessed he was nervous to fulfill his hosting duties for the award show that closes out Internet Week because celebrity critic Roger Ebert was in the audience.
"I'm so scared to host tonight because Roger Ebert is going to be in the audience," Novak said. "The entire time, I will be watching his thumbs for any movement in the right direction."
He added, "I will be composing his review in my head so my mind will be going."
Hosting duties at this year's award show isn't the only recent connection the actor has had with the Internet. On this year's season finale of NBC's "The Office," Novak's character, Ryan, decided to create a social networking site called "Woof" that links up all other social networking sites for a monthly fee of $12.95.
"It's the worst idea I've ever heard," Novak said, laughing. "But he's a smart guy and it will be good for him."
This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.
PS-22 Chorus Named Webby Artist of the Year
PS-22 students got a standing ovation.
Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer
By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
The school chorus from PS-22 in Staten Island -- a group that boasts millions of YouTube page views -- was honored as Artist of the Year last night at the annual Webby Awards.
The fifth graders, whose renditions of pop hits like Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" have made them viral video wunderkinds, performed Ne-Yo's hit single, "Closer," on stage after being presented with their award by the R&B artist himself at the ceremony held at Cipriani Wall Street.
"We lost hours of time at work watching these kids online," confessed award show host and "The Office" star B.J. Novak.
The cast of the reality web series "The Specials" also won big last night, taking home the honor of Best Reality Web Series. The group traveled to New York from the U.K. just to accept their Webby.
Critic Roger Ebert won Person of the Year -- and kept his speech brief. "Veni. Vedi. Vici," he said, meaning I came. I saw. I conquered.
This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.
The 14th Annual Webby Awards
Lisa Kudrow (FRIENDS), Dylan Ratigan (MSNBC), and Arianna Huffington (Huffington Post) on the red carpet at the Webby Awards 2010.
Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer
This was a phenomenal event and I met some amazing people, including Lisa Kudrow, B.J. Novak, Buzz Aldren, Amy Poehler, Roger Ebert, Ben Folds, Gilbert Gottfried (with the Aflac duck in his arms), Neil Pasricha, and the band OK Go!
My stories about this event will follow...
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Inside the Glam Webutante Ball
Attendees enjoying the evening at the Webutante Ball.
Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer
Friday, June 4, 2010
NBC NiteSide NiteByte Posts
I just started an internship with NBC in the NiteSide department and I absolutely LOVE it! Here are the links to the four NiteByte stories I've posted in my first week at my internship at NBC NiteSide.
These two are posted in New York City:
This one is posted in Miami:
This one is posted in Washington DC:
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Review of the book "The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood"
By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
People who live in what are typically considered the ghetto neighborhoods of America, and are fighting drug addictions, are often seen as the hopeless group that should be ignored. They are seen as people who won’t ever change their ways because they are happy using and dealing drugs and choose to continue doing so.
But in the book The Corner, by Ed Burns and David Simon, this belief is challenged by the stories of members of an inner city drug world in Baltimore. These stories are told through the eyes and voices of those who know it best because they are living it—those dealing and using the drugs.
The characters in this book are undeniably not the most admirable people in the world, but they defy the stereotype that they aren’t looking to improve themselves. While their lives may be disgusting and disturbing to outsiders looking in, their emotions can be shared and felt just the same as anyone else’s can.
Most of the people in this book want a better life for themselves, which is seen when Fran, the mother of the main character DeAndre McCullough, tries repeatedly to get clean. Often times, she is desperate to escape the world she lives in. When there was a problem at a rehabilitation center and there was no room for her to stay, she emotionally breaks down.
“I can’t make it. I can’t. I can’t go back.”
After she leaves there, she says she cried “like she hasn’t cried in years.”
When Fran is clean, she values life and desperately wants to stay away from drugs. She wants this for her children as well, which she expressed to DeAndre in a letter.
“Life is beautiful and natural and you may not get another chance. … If you don’t need yourself, I need you.”
Fran does beat her drug addictions time and time again, but when she returns to her neighborhood, she eventually falls back into her old ways and begins using and dealing again.
The father, Gary, began using drugs when he and Fran divorced. He wasn’t proud of who he was. He would often expresses how emotionally draining being a user really was for him and if he could change it, this isn’t who he would be.
“I’m a drug addict. That’s what I am. Who would wish for that? Who would choose that for their life?”
This furthers the point that Burns and Simon are capturing on the corner—the drug world is not always a chosen place to be.
Because of the lives his parents lead, DeAndre McCullough basically falls victim to the world around him. He is a high school student and at the age of 15 is already a drug dealer in the neighborhood.
“And off he goes, a fifteen-year-old entrepreneur on his daily commute to the office.”
Being in this world forces DeAndre and Tyreeka to grow up faster than they should because of what they see and do on a daily basis. But at the base of it all, neither one of them has grown up at all. She is 13 and he is 15 when they start having sex and before she knew she was pregnant, they both believed that having a baby would give their lives a purpose.
“The production of a child … would guarantee some tangible evidence of a brief existence.”
To believe as young teenagers, before they are even able to drive, that the only way to give their lives meaning is to bring another life into the world is heartbreaking. As the authors show, this is not something people would choose to experience or put their children through.
While Tyreeka was giving birth to their son, DeAnte, DeAndre was high on marijuana. But the birth of his son does make him want to change.
“I got to be a father to him. I’m gonna do better for him than got done for me and I’m gunna be up there with him so he knows who I am. My child gonna know me.”
But patterns aren’t easy to break and DeAndre falls right back into the world of drugs, waiting and hoping for someone to help him break the cycle.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
President Barack Obama Greeted by Protestors on his Visit to Cooper Union
Joseph Kohn standing with signs outside of Cooper Union on Thursday.
Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer
By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
“We came here today to tell Obama that we want to live in peace with our neighbors,” Joseph Khon, 22, said. “We want him to stop dictating foreign policy, especially in Palestine.”
Khon and other members of the group Jews United Against Zionism arrived at Cooper Square before the president came and even though Obama left Cooper Union in the mid-afternoon, Khon and his group stuck around.
“Not only does the president need to know about our message, but so do other people,” Khon said. “According to our teachings, everyone should be working together in peace.”
Other members of the Jews United Against Zionism joined Khon in holding banners with their message printed on them in hopes that the president would notice what they had to say. But they were competing with many others.
Stacee Evarts, 36, held a poster with the words “Stop Harming Mother Earth” in block letters above a printed picture of the Earth that was surrounded by hand-drawn hearts.
“Today is Earth Day and all Obama cares about is money,” Evarts said. “He needs to get his priorities in order and make changes to save our planet.”
Evarts said she believes that this is a problem that affects everyone and is surprised that Obama is not doing more to help solve it.
“He has kids so he should want to look to the future for them and their kids,” Evarts said. “If we don’t have a planet for them to live on, money won’t even be a concern.”
But Devon Conoley, 20, had a different agenda.
“It took forever for me to even get to this point because of the traffic and now security won’t let me cross the street,” Conoley said as he watched the president’s motorcade of black SUV’s go by. “Yes it’s great that Obama is here, but I wonder if he can write me a note saying he’s the one who caused me to be late to work.”
Monday, April 26, 2010
Artistic Statues Mistaken for Suicidal Jumpers
By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
What looked like a naked man stood extremely close to the edge of the Empire State Building's 26th floor. His naked body was rigid and tipped forward. A woman looked up and screamed, "Oh my god! Someone call 911! He's going to jump!
But it wasn't a suicidal man. It was a statue.
The statue is one of 31 statues that make up the "Event Horizons" art exhibit, created by British artist Antony Gormley. Each statue is 6 feet 2 inches tall and can be found on ledges and rooftops of buildings, while four of them are at eye-level around Madison Square Park. The statues are causing confusion to many New Yorkers.
"I don't get why it's naked or who this is," David Park, 75, said as he tapped the legs of a statue with his wooden cane.
The metal statues, brought in by the Madison Square Park Conservatory, were made from a mold of Gormley's body. They appear rusted and stiff, with their arms to their sides and fingers pressed tightly together, as if Gormley was in a tense pose when the figure was cast. The statues on the ground are looking straight ahead, while the ones on the building ledges are looking down at the streets below.
Details on the faces of the statues are minimal - the eyes appear to be shut and there is no facial expression or lips. There are eight flat circular knobs, about the size of silver dollars, which were used during removal of the molds from Gormley's body.
While the figures on the ground are made of iron and weigh around 1,400 pounds, the ones on the buildings are made mostly of fiberglass and weigh about 75 pounds. Many Flatiron pedestrians believe the statues, perched on the buildings, are suicide jumpers.
"I started to get out my phone to call the police when I saw it up there," Margaret Jones, 36, said as she pointed up to the statue on the Empire State Building. "Why else would someone be that close to the ledge if they weren't going to jump?"
"I looked up and saw a man standing near the edge," Catherine Zimmers, 38, said. "I had an instant flash to what happened when people were jumping on 9/11, and my heart dropped."
While the New York Police Department could not provide an exact figure of how many people call about these "possible jumpers," one police officer said at least hundreds of calls have come in because of the statues.
In a written statement, Gormley said that the intent of this exhibit was not to cause people to be alarmed, but to get them to slow down and notice their surroundings. People are certainly noticing the statutes, but many are not enjoying the experience.
Gormley came to New York City in August of 2009 to scout out locations for his statues. Together with representatives from Madison Square Park Conservatory, Gormley decided that placing the statues as close to the edge of the ledges as possible would help with visibility and would add a dramatic effect.
When Zimmers was told about this, she shook her head in disbelief.
"Why would someone do this to the people in this city?" Zimmers said. "I still have nightmares about those people who felt there was no way out but to jump. I don't need a reminder just because someone feels they are being creative."
Gormley developed a large following in Europe after the release of his statue "Angel of the North," which became one of England's most famous statues. After a similar "Event Horizon" display along a London shoreline in 2007, Gormley decided he wanted to create an exhibit for New York City. This is his first public art exhibit in the United States.
Patricia Shiplett, a visual artist from Saskatoon, Canada, has been studying Gormley's work. She didn't think she would get to see the exhibit in person unless she went to London, but she said she was thrilled to see it on her trip to New York City.
"I think they're actually beacons to what's happening in the world," Shiplett said. "I think they're placed there to sort of observe mankind and maybe have us think a little bit about what we're doing with the world."
Others simply enjoy the experience of searching for the statues.
"It's like a puzzle trying to figure out where they are hidden on the buildings," Alexa Kinsley, 20, said. "I like it."
The statues are on exhibit until August 15.
This article and slideshow were published on the New York University Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute's website, Pavement Pieces.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Bridal Gown Designer Takes Another Path to Success
Bridal gown designer and owner of Dress as Ritual, Stacia Adams.
By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
Aspiring dress designer Stacia Adams, a tall woman with simple style, both in her appearance with unpainted fingernails and only a touch of makeup, and in her fashion designs, sat at a desk working on her latest design.
Her long, dark fingers held a Pentel pencil, used to sketch in one of the many design books she keeps on her desk. She switched to a Prismacolor marker, and the bright color brought the design to life.
Adams is one of many people who are trying to break into the fashion industry as a gown designer, but at the age of 29, she hasn’t made it yet, and statistics show it won’t be getting easier for her anytime soon.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2008 there were approximately 22,700 employed designers in the country, and the employment of fashion designers is projected to grow by only 1 percent between 2008 and 2018, making this a very competitive industry.
Despite the odds, Adams is still going after, what she calls, her passion in life.
A study done by the USBLS shows the majority of fashion designers start out by working for another designer in order to gain experience and an understanding of the industry before they open their own business, which is the path Adams followed.
After obtaining her associate’s degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology and her bachelor’s degree from New School University, both schools in New York, Adams went to work for designer Carolina Polokova, attending fashion events and cutting garments.
Because Adams feels so strongly about having creative freedom, she decided to open her own business instead of working for someone else again. She now owns and runs her own bridal business, Dress as Ritual.
Because Adams feels so strongly about having creative freedom, she decided to open her own business instead of working for someone else again. She now owns and runs her own bridal business, Dress as Ritual.
“The clothing label was created to liberate women from restrictive clothing and offer dresses that symbolize spiritual practice,” Adams said. “Dresses actually empower women and are a symbol of our identity.”
According to Dorothy Silver, the director of sales and merchandising at Kleinfeld’s in New York City, launching a clothing business right now in a recession is challenging, but she believes the bridal business has a better promise for success than other clothing industries.
“There will always be brides getting married every year, so the future in bridal will always be strong,” Silver said.
Dress as Ritual hasn’t drawn in the buyers Adams is desperately seeking and she feels she’s trying everything she can. She’s hoping getting her masters degree at New York University might be the answer.
“At NYU I am learning how to be a relationship builder and make connections with influential people,” Adams said. “These people can help me send a message (about my business) to those who matter.”
The USBLS says those who want to run their own business often combine an undergraduate degree in fashion design with an advanced degree in business, marketing or fashion merchandising, but this is where Adams differs from her peers. She is going for a degree in a field that studies are finding is dwindling due to the state of the economy—public relations and corporate communication.
"My leap from fashion to PR was a combination of hard work and passion," Adams said. "I believed in my unrealized potential as both a professional communicator and a fashion designer."
Adams did not disclose the amount of debt she has, but between the cost of materials needed for her business and paying for school, money is tight. She relies on student loans to cover her tuition at NYU, which as of spring 2010 was around $14,000 per semester. She runs an alteration service from home to help her finance her business.
While Adams says she does plenty of alterations, she prefers to focus on the promotion of her original designs for her company. Silver said self-promotion of dresses is important and even though there are major showcases for newcomer dresses to be seen, it is a tough industry.
“Every bridal market I go to has a section at the shows where they showcase new talent,” Silver said. “Some make it, and some do not.”
Adams likes to design when she has a specific goal in mind and tries to find inspiration to work on her designs as often as possible.
“Nature inspires me, and I think healing is a huge inspiration,” Adams said. “I rely on esoteric teaching as well as fashion pioneers (for inspiration)."
For Adams, these fashion pioneers include Iyanla Vanzant, Marc Jacobs and Oscar de la Renta. She says the vision behind her dresses makes her unique and will help her achieve her long-term goal of having a storefront in SoHo alongside designers she feels her style is similar to, such as Vera Wang, Yoshiko and Ana Sui.
“I like to keep things fresh and in the moment,” Adams said. “Fashion is really about what is happening now.”
Silver says that no matter the economic situation, many designers don’t make it because of their lack of originality.
“You have to realize that most (women) have no idea or don’t care about the designers name,” Silver said. “All she cares about is how she looks in the dress. It’s the collection that has to stand out.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Aspiring Actor Serves Drinks to Bide Time
James Quinn serves drinks at Ad Lib.
Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer
By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
The Broadway shows were all finished up for the night, and theatergoers and actors trickled into the Ad Lib bar in Midtown for a couple drinks and dessert.
This was the busiest time of the night for bartender and aspiring actor James Quinn.
Quinn talked with the guests about what plays they saw. He knew details about them all and even sang some of the songs from the musicals. He was smiling, but it was bittersweet. Quinn wishes he were on stage instead of behind a bar. His days are spent at unsuccessful auditions and his nights are spent mixing drinks.
"The thing about being a struggling actor is that you're just always one audition away ... from going from unemployed to employed forever," Quinn said.
A study done by Actor's Equity, an actors' union, found that 88 percent of their members in New York were currently without acting gigs.
And at 41, Quinn is much older than many of his struggling counterparts.
"Sometimes it makes me feel bad about myself that I haven't made it yet," Quinn said. "But I still keep trying."
According to the United States Department of Labor, the majority of acting jobs available for men go to those between the ages of 18 and 28. And mature roles usually go to established actors.
But these statistics don't make Quinn want to give up his dream.
"I'm committed to it at this point," he said. "I've come too far to turn back now.
Casting director Donna DeSeta, who also owns Donna DeSeta Casting Agency in Manhattan, said despite the odds, there is still hope for older actors.
"We are always looking for new interesting and gifted actors," DeSeta said. "We look for actors that are not identified with any given type of role or character."
But acting wasn't always the dream career for Quinn. He majored in English at Fordham University in the Bronx. Quinn, who lives on the Upper West Side, said he was painfully shy well into his 20s. Quinn recalled an experience while he was still in school where he decided to completely ditch a class after being just three minutes late.
"I didn't want to walk in late because I didn't want people to look at me," Quinn said. He said that people now laugh in disbelief when he tells them he was that shy for the earlier half of his life.
When Quinn was 25, his girlfriend encouraged him to try acting to get him over his social phobias. It wasn't until a tragic accident took her life that Quinn went to his first audition.
"She inspired me not to care what people thought and to be happy being me," Quinn said. "Acting makes me happy."
DeSeta says that the path of becoming an actor is not for the faint of heart, and it should be done only by those who find true happiness in what they're doing.
"Acting is only for those who can find no satisfaction in any other profession," DeSeta said. "A big break is kismet."
The first role Quinn got was as a firefighter on the soap opera "One Life to Live." He was a recurring character for about a week, which was two full days of filming.
"After being on 'One Life to Live,' I knew this is really what I'm supposed to be doing," Quinn said.
He returned to the set of "One Life to Live" a few months later after the director specifically requested him.
"He said that I did what I was told and didn't get in anyones way," Quinn said. "At that point, I was just happy to be acting."
He had roles on other television shows after that, including a recurring spot as a bartender being questioned on "Law and Order" and as a hospitalized man on "The Pretender." Quinn was also cast in the play "Epic Proportions" on Broadway, which ran for three months. But he said his best acting job was as a terrorist in "Die Hard 3."
"It was a big movie with a big cast, and I got to be part of it," Quinn said. "That was the most fun I've ever had."
Quinn says that after having a major role, he felt his career was going to take off, but the excitement of it all slipped out of reach when his next acting job didn't come for a while.
The last role Quinn had was in the summer of 2009 as a Russian nigh-school student trying to improve his English in the off-Broadway play "Primary English," which lasted for 25 performances.
Currently, he goes on an average of one audition per week.
As the bar emptied at the end of the night, Quinn cleaned up his area. He stacked liquor bottles under the bar while dreaming of his future.
"I'll have that audition that starts it all," Quinn said. "Until then, this pays the bills."
This is my first story that was published on New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute's publication, Pavement Pieces.
The Broadway shows were all finished up for the night, and theatergoers and actors trickled into the Ad Lib bar in Midtown for a couple drinks and dessert.
This was the busiest time of the night for bartender and aspiring actor James Quinn.
Quinn talked with the guests about what plays they saw. He knew details about them all and even sang some of the songs from the musicals. He was smiling, but it was bittersweet. Quinn wishes he were on stage instead of behind a bar. His days are spent at unsuccessful auditions and his nights are spent mixing drinks.
"The thing about being a struggling actor is that you're just always one audition away ... from going from unemployed to employed forever," Quinn said.
A study done by Actor's Equity, an actors' union, found that 88 percent of their members in New York were currently without acting gigs.
And at 41, Quinn is much older than many of his struggling counterparts.
"Sometimes it makes me feel bad about myself that I haven't made it yet," Quinn said. "But I still keep trying."
According to the United States Department of Labor, the majority of acting jobs available for men go to those between the ages of 18 and 28. And mature roles usually go to established actors.
But these statistics don't make Quinn want to give up his dream.
"I'm committed to it at this point," he said. "I've come too far to turn back now.
Casting director Donna DeSeta, who also owns Donna DeSeta Casting Agency in Manhattan, said despite the odds, there is still hope for older actors.
"We are always looking for new interesting and gifted actors," DeSeta said. "We look for actors that are not identified with any given type of role or character."
But acting wasn't always the dream career for Quinn. He majored in English at Fordham University in the Bronx. Quinn, who lives on the Upper West Side, said he was painfully shy well into his 20s. Quinn recalled an experience while he was still in school where he decided to completely ditch a class after being just three minutes late.
"I didn't want to walk in late because I didn't want people to look at me," Quinn said. He said that people now laugh in disbelief when he tells them he was that shy for the earlier half of his life.
When Quinn was 25, his girlfriend encouraged him to try acting to get him over his social phobias. It wasn't until a tragic accident took her life that Quinn went to his first audition.
"She inspired me not to care what people thought and to be happy being me," Quinn said. "Acting makes me happy."
DeSeta says that the path of becoming an actor is not for the faint of heart, and it should be done only by those who find true happiness in what they're doing.
"Acting is only for those who can find no satisfaction in any other profession," DeSeta said. "A big break is kismet."
The first role Quinn got was as a firefighter on the soap opera "One Life to Live." He was a recurring character for about a week, which was two full days of filming.
"After being on 'One Life to Live,' I knew this is really what I'm supposed to be doing," Quinn said.
He returned to the set of "One Life to Live" a few months later after the director specifically requested him.
"He said that I did what I was told and didn't get in anyones way," Quinn said. "At that point, I was just happy to be acting."
He had roles on other television shows after that, including a recurring spot as a bartender being questioned on "Law and Order" and as a hospitalized man on "The Pretender." Quinn was also cast in the play "Epic Proportions" on Broadway, which ran for three months. But he said his best acting job was as a terrorist in "Die Hard 3."
"It was a big movie with a big cast, and I got to be part of it," Quinn said. "That was the most fun I've ever had."
Quinn says that after having a major role, he felt his career was going to take off, but the excitement of it all slipped out of reach when his next acting job didn't come for a while.
The last role Quinn had was in the summer of 2009 as a Russian nigh-school student trying to improve his English in the off-Broadway play "Primary English," which lasted for 25 performances.
Currently, he goes on an average of one audition per week.
As the bar emptied at the end of the night, Quinn cleaned up his area. He stacked liquor bottles under the bar while dreaming of his future.
"I'll have that audition that starts it all," Quinn said. "Until then, this pays the bills."
This is my first story that was published on New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute's publication, Pavement Pieces.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Street Performer Gets Joy From Music, Not From Money
By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
A young man carries four plastic buckets and a worn wooden drumstick with him whenever he walks the streets of Manhattan. The buckets vary in size and are placed within one another when he is on the move. The largest one has a white plastic piece on the top of the metal handle. The plastic has a splitting crack in the middle that is filled with a bit of dirt. Black scuffmarks scatter the sides of the buckets showing the wear and tear that they have gone through during their journeys.
This man, who refers to himself only as Thomas, stops at the intersection of two streets, looks out into the road and changes his mind. He then turns around and walks back a bit so he is under scaffolding that covers the sidewalk. He goes close to the corner building and takes out each of his buckets and places three in a row, with one further behind the rest. He removes his cap, turns it over, and places it on the ground before he sits down on the largest bucket. He begins to play what he calls his “musical craft.”
Thomas is a street musician and has been practicing his craft for 12 years. He started by playing for fun on the stairwell in his apartment building because of the great acoustics there. He says this is where he taught himself to play and learned what sounded good to him. He started playing on the buckets just as a way to relax at the end of the day.
He eventually got complaints of the noise from neighbors, so he moved to the stairs in front of his building. He later had to move out of that complex, he moved into one without stairs. After that, he started playing on a nearby street corner, but hasn’t stuck to just one location since then.
“I like to move around to find me new people to play for,” Thomas said. “My music comes with me no matter where I am so I can go wherever.”
Since his days on the stairwell, Thomas decided that his music could not only be a stress release for him, but also possibly help other people slow down a bit in their busy days. He says this is why he picks busy areas and also stays near the corners of streets.
“When people have to wait to cross the street, they can listen to me,” Thomas said.
Thomas bobs his head along with the beat of each song he plays and seems un-phased by the people going by, whether they rush by or pause in front of him. Some people throw coins into his hat as they pass by, while a few others stop and listen to him play.
One woman took a dollar bill out of her pocket and bent over to place it into his hat. Her foot tapped as she watched him.
“I like to see these people who just do their thing along the road or under at the subways,” Stacie Nielson said.
Nielson said that Thomas was one of the better talents she’d seen in a while. She said she stops to listen to the street performers when she has time.
“It can’t be easy for them to be ignored when they’re performing a talent,” Nielson said. “But they keep doing it and I admire them for it.”
Thomas says he doesn’t do this for the money, but doesn’t complain about it when people give it to him. He says he thinks people give him money because of his music with nontraditional instruments.
“I get a good sound with the buckets,” Thomas said. “It gets peoples attention because of how different it sounds.”
Thomas has found the buckets in dumpsters and alleyways and is always on the lookout for another one. He has replaced them over the years when they get too cracked or worn out.
When Thomas decided it was time to move on from this location, he stood up and turned over the bucket he was sitting on. He loaded each of the buckets inside the larger ones and then put the $7.29 he earned in the past hour into his pocket. He put his black cap back onto his head and was on his way.
Thomas placed a quarter into the crumbled Styrofoam Dunkin Donuts cup of a homeless man sitting on the ground before crossing the street in search of his next performance spot.
Thomas placed a quarter into the crumbled Styrofoam Dunkin Donuts cup of a homeless man sitting on the ground before crossing the street in search of his next performance spot.
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