Harmony

One of the (only) things I love about the subway system in Toronto is the ever changing line up of musicians that play in the underground.

The stop where I get off for work has a variety of performers who rotate through. One guy plays the steel drums, another guy plays Latin music on the guitar, another act is a duo who wear prison outfits and do stuff from "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", and my favourite guy who plays jazzy stuff on a wicked silver jazz guitar. Oh and there's a guy that plays this. He wears sunglasses and pretends to be blind but I know he isn't. I guess that's just part of the mystique of his act.

So back to my favourite guy on the metal jazz box. I really like this dude for several reasons. The first being he's a wicked awesome guitar player. The second, he's ALWAYS got a smile on his face.

I know from experience how hard it is to play for people who just don't give a shit and are probably doing everything they can to tune you out.

But this guy really gives it. He performs for us. All of us. Including those of us wearing ear buds and blasting music from our MP3 players into our heads.

I'm one of those people. Ever since I received an iPod as a gift a few months ago, I listen to it everywhere I go. I don't ever play it so loud that I can't hear my surroundings. But I do have it at a volume that provides me a shield from the rest of the city's rush hour buzzing.

I have noticed an interesting thing happens whenever I come across him playing at my stop. I'll come up from the subway platform with my music playing in my head and without fail, whatever he happens to be playing, it will be in the same key as the song I'm listening to.

The first time it happened I thought it was a funny one-in-a-million happenstance. But then it happened again. And again. To the point where I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. I actually stopped walking to listen to what was playing in my head, and to what he was playing for the crowd.

It matched. Perfectly.

And my smile matched his. Perfectly.