Melissa Elledge: A Stage Dreamer

The sounds from the underground

Melissa Elledge, 35, is a fixture in the underground world of subway musicians. A full-time subway busker, a term that means to play music or perform for voluntary donations in the street or in subways; she has been busking since 2009 and plays 7 days a week for approximately 4 hours a night.

She earned a master’s degree in classical piano from New York University, and briefly taught piano to make a living. Her busking career began when her mother gave her an accordion as a gift. She then started getting offers to play in bands, even though she didn’t have any experience playing the instrument. Nonetheless, her experience playing the piano allowed her to quickly transition to playing the accordion. Her sky-colored

By the early 80s she formed her own record label, as a way to expose musicians to a wider audience. She has been busking since 1999, and saw it as a way to get out and play, “money isn’t what it used to be,” she said, “so I might as well start performing in public spaces. I didn’t understand what that meant though. So the few times I tried, I felt I already had decades of being a stage performer. So it was a little daunting to me because, why aren’t these people stopping.” She also performs under MUNY, a music program sponsored by the MTA. MUNY showcases performers in the subway and train stations. The program allows for musicians to bypass unclear restrictions while busking. For instance, Gabrielle Castellar, 27, explains that it’s legal to perform in the subway stations, however, it’s prohibited to use amplification. Under MUNY, however, there are designated spots throughout New York City, where musicians can perform using amplifiers and are considered lucrative due to heavy foot traffic. Some of these areas are Grand Central Station and Times

Castellar, who plays guitar and his fiancé, Crystalla Gonzalez, sings, has been busking on and off for 5 years. He is not a part of MUNY, this is not for lack of trying. Musicians who wish to be a part of MUNY have to undergo a competitive audition process. However, this hasn’t stopped Castellar from busking. Being a subway musician has its benefits and consequences. “The busking life can be romantic, but it can also be very risky and maybe, some might say, degrading,” said Gabrielle, “because you can have a heckler come up to you and say you suck or have somebody give you a very dirty look . . . it’s so random and so spontaneous that you don’t know what will happen.” Elledge has had her own misadventures while busking. Two years ago, while she was performing on the downtown-bound platform of the F-trains 14st Station, a woman who’d been in Elledge’s audience, reached inside her accordion case and walked away with some money. Elledge then confronted the woman who then punched Elledge in the face and left her with a bloody nose. What’s more, it’s not uncommon for men to expose their genitals to her, or for cops to tell her to stop busking. Those threats aside, she keeps playing. She relishes the expressed attitude of people–their “thank you,” the delight on their faces–from people she presumes wouldn’t necessarily like the sounds coming from her accordion. She expresses delight when people start freestyling