Fifty Days Underground

April 2, 2014

Who inspired today's broken heart song?

A woman who walked in on her husband with another woman in their home, and then punched him in the face. She married an Englishman and gave up everything she had in the The States to be with him. He cheated on her within a year of their marriage. She desperately tried to get him to stop his affair, and was fighting becoming a two-time divorcee at 28-years-old. She was emotionally and physically depressed, and lost 20 pounds in two months.

After meeting with a spiritual advisor, she finally realized she had to discover her own self-worth. Before she knew it, she filed divorce papers and was on a plane back to New York City. She entered a fearless phase in her life where she didn't care about finding a career or about finding a man. She only cared about living and discovering who she was and what she was capable of. It was the freest time of her life. She had so many stories that she started Broke Betties, a blog for broke women and their romantic escapades in New York City.

Burn In Hell is a terribly fun song to play. I can't sing it without smiling or laughing. When I read this woman's story, I became so enraged at the person who did this to her. So I wrote this very angry song. It has more curse words in it than I even know how to use. Cheating has always been something that I've never really understood. I can't even fathom going through what she went through. I want to make clear that this woman never said she wanted this person to burn in hell. That was my own infuriated interpretation. I feel like it's the best song for anyone who needs to unleash their fury.

Where did you play?

Jay Street — MetroTech

How much did you earn?

$36.86

Did anything unusual happen? 

Someone gave me $20 again! I actually didn't notice until I was packing up my instrument, and saw the bill lying in my case. I am completely stunned by this person's generosity and if they are reading, I want to say thank you times a million. What an incredibly thoughtful donation. People in general were really nice today. I think the warmer weather is putting everyone (including myself) in a happier, positive mood.

Quite a few people picked up cards today. I missed playing with Seth and Sean immensely today, but it was also nice to interact with more commuters again. One woman with curly hair had a beaming smile on her face while I played, came to give me a donation and said she really enjoyed my music. That meant a lot to me.

I had one woman ask me where I got my business cards made, and then tried to get me to purchase more through her company, haha. Props to her for salesmanship! I must have a thing for putting people to sleep with my music because there was a man who closed his eyes as I was singing. He started swaying and falling asleep. I actually thought he might fall over! 

Did you meet anyone interesting?

I met a kind woman who approached me to give me a donation, and told me that she really loved the 'You Are Loved' song. She said it reminded her of her sister who is all alone and really sad. This touched my heart so I gave her a card, and told her that I would love to write a song for her sister.

I met a man who walked up to me with a lot of respect. He gave me a donation, and said being a subway musician is tough work. Turns out he used to perform as a guitarist in the Paris metro.

What's the best advice you received from a stranger?

No advice, so fun facts:

Some people looked really confused when I was singing today's song. I felt awkward singing some of the words!

I created a newer and improved sign for my keyboard last night, and think it helped attract more people today.

A sketchy-looking man kept lingering around. He left and came back a few times. Ah, New York City.

How are you feeling?

I'm pretty exhausted, actually. Something really exciting happened today! I was invited to perform for some senior executives at MTV. This stemmed from the documentary I was a part of a while ago. It was being shown to the executives today, and they asked me to come play before their meeting. My wonderful friend and talented cellist, Danielle Merlis came to play with me. It was the strangest setting either of us have ever performed in, an office conference room! But we both had a blast. We got to see the documentary as well which was really cool. :)

As a result, I got home a lot later than I usually do so I'm feeling behind on my work. I have yet to write tomorrow's song so I will likely end up performing during the evening rush-hour tomorrow and try to write a couple songs during the day. Although I'm loving every moment of this project and meeting so many incredible people, it's exhausting and I will be ready for it to be over when the time comes. But for now, I'll continue to soak up the fact that I get to do what I love almost everyday.

I've started to think of what I'll do after this is over. Thinking about the future has gotten me into trouble before, haha, but I know I can't ignore it. I have a few ideas, but I've learned that as much as I wish I had full control over my life, I really don't, and I have to trust that everything will be okay. On that note, I am going to try to catch up on some sleep. Until tomorrow.

© 2014 Kelly Bazely