I've been meaning to try and come up with a meaningful-not-just-knee-jerk-shoot-from-the-hip-reactionary blog entry (I'm not really so good with those...) about what I've noticed regarding subway Ipod use as a function of commute time. The basis being that when I am on the train at 6:30 a.m. with the Humpers-which I loosely define as anyone who couldn't do their job very well in a wheelchair, laborers, electricians, home health aides-there are very few ipods present, but if I take a train with the Eloi, at around 9am, you see them a lot.
An interesting facet of the New York morning rush hour is that it lasts until 10am, the last hour filled with graphic designers, PR and advertising people that just must be in before 11...
Anyway, that was all blown out of the water tonight when I got on the G train at 11pm. I was listening to my own Eloi-pod, rockin' out to a song by the Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World, the Supersuckers, and their song "Nitroglycerine", when the eyes in my bobbing head looked over to see another dude's head bobbin' out on the other end of the otherwise empty platform.
Okay. Cool.
Then I looked across the tracks to the opposite platform and many of those folks, thought they were heading the opposite direction, were feelin' it just the same. There were at least ten people rockin' out in that subway station tonight. And while yes, there was a far greater percentage of ipod listeners in the sparse population of the late-but-not-too-late subway riders tonight, the biggest change was that they had probably all had a drink or two and were actually moving to the music. In very, very small ways...a head bob, a foot tap...but with impunity!
There is hope for us yet.
Nitroglycerine. Dude, awesome song. Can't stand still listening to that. Thanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteOhhh Yaaa, your part of the P.I.T!
ReplyDeleteInteresting breakdown on who takes mass transit when. Where I'm from, most people who could afford an iPod would consider it too declasse to use mass transit. The local transit authority is hoping to put in a light rail system, and have to push it as a sophisticated, big city kind of thing to get any interest up.
ReplyDeleteNellie makes a good point. In a lot of major cities, there doesn't seem to be the stigma (maybe too strong a word) of using public transport as there is elsewhere. When I take BART there are a wide variety of people using it; same thing with the NY subway. I don't think that holds true for other areas.
ReplyDeleteI think it has do with the mindset; there are the people who could afford to take a cab but feel that using mass transit is more urbane, or more sophisticated or more hip?
blogs go better with pictures.
ReplyDeletehinthint
though this one sounds like a scene that should have been in Shaun of the Dead (which I finally saw, yay!)
iPods and cell phones seem to be the trenchcoat and hat of the now. something almost everyone seen in public 'wears,' a tool of sameness in this day of individuality.
what? grrr, daylight savings is messing with me.
What is it with people? Just get on the train and get where your going. Who cares how or what you look like? It's that petty egotism rearing it's ugly head, and doesn't that makes for a better person?! lol
ReplyDelete(heart)m, I'm with you, pictures do go better! Like whiskey that needs a sling.