One of my Busking List bullet points has been to play on Comm Ave the day of a game. If you know me, this seems out of character: I hate crowds, Sox fans are terrifying, and I tend to wilt in the heat. As I’ve been busking, though, I’ve come to enjoy playing for unusual crowds, and playing for a bunch of sweaty dudes in snapbacks might be the last place you’d expect to see someone like me. Plus, baseball is practically a religion here in Boston, and for all my frustration with Sox fans I figured I could find common ground with a few of them.

I got to Kenmore at 11am. While the platform was empty, I knew I’d be fighting with the train and passengers to be heard. Plus, after a week of overcast skies, playing en plein air seemed like a good idea. After I bought a bottle of water I set up a pitch in front of the 7-11, since it was out of the way of traffic but still audible. After I had set up, I realized that I was a few feet from two homeless people. I felt badly about this, but every other pitch was either in direct sunlight or in the way of foot traffic. I hope I didn’t take much money away from either of those guys.

The Fenway crowd was tough. I thinksome of it was me. My set has a lot of ballads and lesser-known songs by big artists, which might not engage Sox fans. Later on in my set I tried to win people over with “Sweet Caroline”, which got mea few smiles but no tips. I also had a “fan” who stood a little too close to me and clapped and sang along. I looked at everyone on the street except for her, and she eventually left.



The crowd wasn’t entirely indifferent. When I wrapped for the day I made $11–over my goal, yay!–and made some new friends. My favorite part of my set was looking up and seeing a young couple slow-dancing to “I Melt With You”. I felt as though I’d been beamed into the music video. I don’t feel like I was successful enough at this pitch; I played for an hour and a half, but I didn’t engage with the audience the way I hoped. I will have other opportunities, and I hope I will do better next time.

In my continued search for a regular pitch I headed to Hynes Convention Center Inbound on Friday night. My last experiences busking at Hynes were fun, and I had high hopes for my third full set.

My expectations lowered a bit when I got to the pitch and saw a fan and a recycling bag screwed to the ground. I understand why the T installs fans, and it’s not to inconvenience buskers; at the same time, I was worried about how the fans would ruin the sound. (Plus, I hate how the T bolts the recycling bins to the floor.) I moved down the platform, out of view of the staircase.

The set passed slowly. I started treating it like an open rehearsal, running through songs I’m playing at an open mic on Tuesday and practicing some new songs (like “In-Between Days”). I didn’t pay much attention to a pack of teenagers with musical instrument cases until someone yelled out “YOU GUYS! Why aren’t you TIPPING her?” A girl came forward and left a silver dollar in my case, and everyone else threw in change. This is one of the few times I haven’t been offended when someone left pennies in my case. I’m guessing the kids were enrolled in a summer program at Berklee.

As with my previous busking sessions, this set at Hynes felt good. (I especially loved seeing how people on the train reacted to me–lots of smiles and waves.) If I had to choose between Hynes and Copley for my regular pitch, Hynes would get it in a walk. However, the fans and the lack of accessibility to the pitch makes me want to try another station. This Friday I’m going to head back to Prudential for the first time in a year.