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- Music Man
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- Cyrus Farivar
Dave Cuomo, a 23 year-old guitar player and songwriter, struggles to make it as a young musician in New York.
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Piece Description
Dave Cuomo, a 23 year-old guitar player and songwriter, struggles to make it as a young musician in New York.
2 Comments
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Review of Music ManFor of all you who sit behind the desk, and wear nice shoes, commuting on a train to your office… this is a story about “street musician” selling his $5 CD. He wears t-shirt and jeans, and stops his music when a subway arrives. If he gets promoted he advances to a bigger station. |
Transcript
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...
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Shana Sheehy
Posted on May 27, 2005 at 04:54 PM | Permalink
Review of Music Man
Nice introduction to an aspiring musician. Good scene-setting, both in the subway and at open mic. Cuomo's music is fun to hear and catchy. I also love all of Cuomo's quotes, he sounds happy and bright - I'd like to meet him in person sometime. I felt the profile was pretty typical until the interview with Latch - a music executive. That made me feel more like I learned something useful, especially since I'm not near any subways. I also liked the ending where I learned that there's a committee that selects who gets to play in the subway. Who knew? I think this piece would be stronger if it were a little more condensed. Also, I might have liked to have the description of Cuomo at the beginning so that I could have pictured him more as he is during the whole story.