Frank, your taxi dancer series is just pricelss! In addition to
those, you sure had a productive weekend!
It is sure fortunate that I am lazy and hard to get out of the house. With my equipment (1DS MkIII, 70-200/4 IS), shooting style, and location ('mere steps from' Soho, the Village and Tribeca) I could easily shoot more keepers in a day (until burnout) than I could possibly PP (Chris was right to call me on this) or anyone but maybe Quercy and Peter would ever be willing to look at.
Maybe I'll do a dump later (have to work today) of the unposted keepers from this weekend. I'm working harder at raising my standards and dumping shots right now than anything else.
Of course, there is a downside. You and bughunter put more into each shot and learn more from it. I get emotionally exhausted just from the parade of life that I'm in the middle of. I often just pause, and close my eyes, and get centered, for it is such a circus that one can literally lose one's self in the spectacle.
About NYC musicians: When my daughter was a Juilliard student, she
and two friends worked their way up the street musician hierarchy to
the spot in front of Zabars. This little trio was joined one day by a
violinist with the Chicago Symphony, which was in town at the time.
He played with them all afternoon. I learned about it because the
woman who was in charge of the Carnegie Hall Playbill (or whatever it
was called) happened to take the scene in, took some photos, and was
kind enough to track down this Mom and mail them to me. New York! New
York!
Great story. As you know, Julliard is the hardest school in the country to get admitted to, half the students never graduate, and still most of the graduates perforce cannot count on splendid careers as performers. A sweet young thing at church bowls me over as a celllist, but she has already been turned down by Yale Music School, and although she has studied at Juilliard for years, the betting is she won't get in there either. Given the wicked odds against a solo career, a part of me would almost rather she gets into a great, well-balanced regional university like Northwestern or Rice. You and I can do as we like, but the arts for young people is kind of heart-breaking today.
--
Frank
http://www.sidewalkshadows.com 
