A capella, train performers, and tourists

On my way home from work on Thursday or Friday on the R train, three “Gentlemen of Color” (presumably “should be” “called” “African-Americans” but I don’t know if they originate from Africa or South America{making them American-Americans, I believe} or somewhere else altogether), got on the train and were collecting money in exchange for some delightful gospel music, a capella style. Their cheerfulness and joviality, combined with my obsession with a capella music, led me to silently join in adding (still silently) crucial harmony missing without the typical fourth member that any respectable group (Backstreet Boys, N*s*y*n*c, etc.) would have. (I laughed when I listed them as respectable groups, too.)

See, I, being a native, am accustomed to these periodic interruptions by dancing troupes, drummers, violinists, Mariachi bands, and, if one is lucky, an Asian person playing an unidentifiable musical instrument I have never seen before. Most tourists are highly unprepared for these unexpected intrusions of their personal space. On this particular day, there were two such Asian tourists (most likely a father & daughter combo) in my car when the impromptu church choir began. They started laughing hysterically, completely red in the face and unsure what to do.

This story has no ending, really. It was just funny to me.