Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Jackson Heights Street Musician Woos Passersby with 'Wicked Game'

By Katie Honan | June 3, 2015 8:31am

Stan Houston busks for cash where he thinks he'll make the most money. 

Sometimes it's on Junction Boulevard when people get home from work off the 7 train. Other times it's Ditmars Boulevard at 3 a.m., when people are spilling out of nearby bars.

He wishes he could just play whenever he wants, he said, but he needs the money every day. 

On a recent Monday evening he set up his mic, guitar and amp on the corner of 82nd Street and 37th Avenue, taking cover from the rain under a store awning.

He played hits like "Maggie May" and "Drops of Jupiter," and an original song about love that isn't titled yet. He played inversion chords on his guitar, A and D, to show his range.

(His style is a little less metal than the guitarist who shreds on Northern Boulevard.)

Houston plays in the rain and snow; he said he made a couple hundred bucks during a February snowstorm this year. 

And he plays better with even a small crowd, he said, and tries to play better when people come back to check him out.

"I explain to people, as much as I need the money — and I do — I always give a little extra when I see someone who walks past me and they come back," he said.

"They're giving me something they can't get back, and that's time, and I respect that."