Queen's Park? Osgoode? Union? King? Queen? Dundas!

I tried Queen's Park station first. A man was playing the accordion in the performance space, with no TTC Musician's License in sight.

I asked him if he had a license, but he didn't speak English. I gave up and kept going.

Next, I tried Osgoode. The construction of the new elevator was noisily underway, with a constant high-pitched whining sound that would be impossible to rise above.

Now I was making my way steadily south along the horseshoe-shaped loop of the downtown subway line, hopping on and off trains. The next performance location was Union.

I hauled my guitar and amp up the stairs, listening intently.

I could hear a violin. So back down I went.

King Station?

A free busking space, but virtually no people. Having gone to all this trouble, I might as well go to a spot that's populated.

Queen?

I had heard that this performance spot was always free. And I could see why.

It was directly behind a pillar.

And in front of the pillar stood a panhandler, coffee cup outstretched. (Okay, this is really bad feng shui.)

I returned to the street, looking at my watch and realizing I'd spent forty-five minutes looking for a place to play. I bought a paper from the Outreach saleman at the streetcar stop, intending to go home.

And I thought: you can't give up now.

So I walked through the mall to Dundas subway station.

I hesitated, listening, outside the corridor that links the northbound and southbound platforms. Sure enough, I heard an acoustic guitar and a man singing "Suzanne".

I could tell it wasn't Billy James, the fabled original TTC musician whom I suspected had played in this corridor when I was young. But it was definitely a busker.

I had already spent a fair bit of change on other buskers today, and on TTC fares.

But I needed to connect with the singer. Before entering the corridor, I fished out another dollar.

He was busking without a license and was happy to give me the spot. We talked for a few minutes about music and songs and this life. He held a TTC Musician's License for many years, decided it wasn't for him and quit, but has recently returned to busking. He wished me well and continued on down the line.

When I finally started to sing, I was so grateful I found myself positively beaming at the people passing by.

($21.52)