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TX: Dave Cuomo is a 23 year-old amateur guitar player and songwriter. He came to New York six months ago looking to become a successful musician. He's made it as far as the subway.
[Music, subway interrupts, Cuomo continues, fade under]
TX: Today at the Columbia University subway stop, things aren't going so well for him -- he's only made a few dollars in his first hour of playing. However he's drawn the attention of a few people, including one girl who stops to listen. Graduate student Britta Jensen has seen him play a few times in the subway.
AX: Right now he's singing something that's more of a, I don't know, a harsher, angry style of song and then he'll sing ballads that are really sweet. He has really good control of his dynamics, his musical dynamics. And it's really hard to find like, an artist in the subway who has that amount of versatility.
[Music out]
TX: Cuomo first learned how to be a street musician back in his hometown of Boulder, Colorado. Things were easier there.
AX: They loved me in Boulder, you know? It was a bright sunny street and they were all, you know, there were college students and tourists. I'd been living there for years and I lived two blocks away and I was local, it was mine -- I owned that street, I felt like.
TX: He graduated from the University of Colorado last spring. And like any bright-eyed graduate, Cuomo had to figure out what he would do with his life. He decided that he wasn't a "suit guy". Cuomo wanted to be a musician full-time.
AX: I come to New York, because it's the promised land of street performing in the subways. It's everything you wanted when it was street performing. It was just cold and mean, and I just made a little bit of change every day. That was my whole plan for making a living -- I was like, I have a job anytime I want to! It really just sucked. It killed the idea in my head. I just felt so disillusioned with everything.
TX: Cuomo didn't give up. He tried out various downtown subway lines, but he just couldn't figure it out. Two months into playing in New York, Cuomo reached one of his low points.
AX: Another time I was down there, I still wasn't doing very well. I played an hour and made a dollar. This guy came down and said "How long are you going to be here?" and I said "I'm done, it's all yours, it's not going well at all." and he was like: "Man, if you're not making 20 bucks an hour, you're doing it wrong." and I was like "Well what am I doing wrong?"
TX: They started playing, but a train rolled in right in the middle of the song.
[Subway rolling in]
TX: The man told him to stop and gave Cuomo his first bit of advice.
AX: "When the crowd comes you play a song and when the train takes them away you stop. Every train is a show. Every train is it's own little audience. It's each like, it's own set." I was like ok, so that's my first tip.
TX: Then, Cuomo got his next tip. Play music that people can recognize.
[Music post of "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen, fade under]
TX: In the subway, Cuomo covers folk musicians songs like Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". Similarly, Cuomo's own songs tend to be thoughtful and melodic. But he says he's most inspired by 1980s punk bands like The Clash and The Ramones -- a far cry from his own music.
AX: Punk music is folk music. Folk is punk. To me, distortion, it' s an asthetic, you know? It's a piece of clothing. The drums and everything, it's a piece of clothing. If you play The Ramones a little bit slower, it's a Bob Dylan song. The lyrics are a little funnier. [Laughs] I mean really, you can take a Bob Dylan song -- when I play "When the ship comes in" I feel like I'm playing a punk rock version of it. 'Oh the time will come out.'
[Music post, fade out.]
[Bring up AMB of club, fade under]
TX: In order to draw bigger crowds and to get noticed, Cuomo gigs at open mics in various bars and clubs around the city. Tonight he's playing at The Baggot Inn in Greenwich Village. Amos, the Baggot Inn's host, welcomes the crowd.
AX: It's Open Mic Night at the Baggot Inn. Terry's your bartender. He's going to help you not be sober.
TX: The club has a large expansive room in the back that could easily sit several dozen people. There are only about six people left by the time Cuomo gets on stage.
AX: Hey everybody! Thank you New York! [Cuomo singing, fade to black]
TX: The Baggot Inn isn't the only place that Cuomo plays. Often he can be found on Monday nights at the "Anti-Hootenany" at the Sidewalk Café in the East Village. This is a step up from the Baggot Inn -- it draws more musicians and larger crowds. Cuomo and other musicians know that Sidewalk's manager, Lach, has many connections inside the music industry.
[Fade up Sidewalk AMB]
TX: Lach has been in the music business for the last 20 years. He says he's launched artists like Beck and Nellie McKay from his club to the big time. Lach adds that Cuomo has been impressive so far.
AX: My impression of him so far is that the gives the impression that it's still 1965 at Folk City. And in some way he's almost a torchbearer, a curator of that kind of style, sort of Phil Oaks with a bit of pep to it.
TX: Lach adds that in order for Cuomo to mature as a musician, he needs to move beyond his models.
AX: I'm very interested to see what he comes up with next and also how the scene here will affect the chances that he takes with his songs.
[AMB fade out]
TX: Until Cuomo manages to get beyond the non-paying world of open mic stages, he needs money to survive. For several weeks before Tax Day, Cuomo worked for an accountant. Recently he got his last check and his tax refund, a total of nearly $1400. That should keep his rent paid for the next three months or so. The money he makes in the subway goes toward food. Last week, Cuomo made $50 in two hours playing at Union Square, one of his best days so far. He's been quite happy with what he's been able to achieve in six months.
AX: I play a lot more at home and it's really nice to know you don't have to go to work. I've been thinking about how natural it feels like. My whole life it always made sense, you go to work and do something you don't want to do for eight hours a day but I always thought it would be weird to not do that anymore. But it just feels like what I should be doing.
[Subway AMB fade under and out, Cuomo music up and under]
TX: Back at the Columbia University subway stop, Cuomo is at it again. For $5, he's selling his self-published CD, entitled "Three Chord Plan of Redemption." He sings that he's got a "six string gun and a suitcase of words."
[Music post, fade under]
TX: He's something of a scrappy guy. He stands at five foot one and wears t-shirts and slightly rumpled slacks or torn jeans when he plays. He has a short scraggly beard and his dark hair sticks out from under his old-style newsboy cap. In front of him is his open guitar case, which has several rumpled dollar bills in it. He's also giving away copies of his new 28-page zine, called "Urban Folk." It features interviews with other amateur musicians and CD reviews.
[Music fade to black]
AX: The whole idea is to make folk not seem boring anymore. I think we need to retake the word folk and make it something exciting for people again. That's why I like Urban Folk -- it's like oooo but it's urban, it's kinda dirty and streetwise, see?
[Music up, fade under]
TX: Next month, Cuomo will audition before "Music Under New York", the administrative body that sponsors select subway musicians. If accepted, the city will give him an official place to play in one of the larger subway stations like Times Square. There, Cuomo will get more room, more time, and hopefully, bigger crowds. Until then, he's got the new issue of Urban Folk to worry about. It's due out June 1.
[Music post]
TX: Cyrus Farivar, Columbia Radio News.
[Music post]
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