About Undercover New York

    This site aims to showcase the talents of NYC's amazing street performers, musicians and artists. Busking is an old and honorable profession that has started the careers of many famous people - including Benjamin Franklin, B.B. King, Blue Man Group and Bob Dylan. We're lucky enough to enjoy a 365-days-a-year festival of the best street performers in the world! So, completely inspired by them, Undercover New York is part homage, part support, part community, and part charity.

    Read more on our mission, become part of the fun, give us a donation, or view the unique Performer Map of New York City Note: there's no money involved and no advertising, I'm doing all this for free. :)

    Here's the first draft of the promotional video for Undercover New York. It's our only performance piece, so enjoy it! Also, feel free to link to or embed it. It's probably the most complicated video I've tried to produce, so do give me edits if you find them.

Performances

Acapella Soul AGAIN! – But this time with interview

Man, I love these guys. I can't say it enough. They are fantastic. Not only that, but they seem to ...

New York’s Easter Day Parade (yeah, I know it’s a late review)

Thanks to my grandmother's untimely death (well, there's never a timely one), I had my entire family in town for ...

Hello, my name is GioSafari. I am a street performer.

It has been just over a week since I moved to NYC, in hopes of making a living from street ...

Finding Walls Inspiring with Os Gemeos: Graffiti Hallucinations on Houston and Bowery

Wow. The New York Times article about this creation is essential reading material if you're going to go to see ...

Thank Thoth

In Central Park with my brother who is visiting from England, I wanted to impress him with my work and ...

Cenicienta/Cinderella at the Naumburg Bandshell

A free, outdoor, bilingual (Spanish/English) performance of the popular children's story, Cinderella. With some guy in a wifebeater shouting at ...

Acapella Soul, Again, Outside the Met

I was lucky enough to be passing the Metropolitan Museum again while Acapella Soul were out on the block. Last ...

Nine months of (mis)adventure busking in NYC subways

- By Gio Safari It’s been a long time since I last wrote for UndercoverNY. I have been very busy with a thousand different projects – I’m not sure I’m even exaggerating! – and this website was out of commission for a long time. Now that it’s up and running, better than ever, I thought [...]

Chris Zedano

Medium: Photography Location: Staple Street Email: Contact Phone: 631-805-5109 Website: www.staplestreetproject.com www.chriszedano.com www.intimatenyc.chriszedano.com Bio: Chris Zedano’s interest in photography emerged while he was processing images at a photo studio. His enthusiasm intensifies after witnessing a friend’s passionate commitment to photography. Chris bought his first manual camera when he moved to New York City in 2002. [...]

Jack Diamond

Medium: Jack of all trades, but oil paintings Location: South side of Union Square Website: www.absolutearts.com/artfin Email: jackdiamondart@aol.com Post Apparently this man has done most things in the art world, from the screen to the stage to the canvas. I think he’s from the West Coast. His stuff is catchy and very professional looking. A [...]

The Dirty Urchins

Medium: Folk Rock/Indie Location: The Mall, Central Park Email: info@thedirtyurchins.com Website: www.thedirtyurchins.com If there is such a thing as the Undercover New York “bump”, I’ve reserved it until now. The Dirty Urchins, the the form I found them, were just fantastic. They were missing one of their number (I think the guy’s name is David [...]

Agua Clara in Times Square NYC

Medium: Andean Music Location: Times Square Email: nyaguaclara@yahoo.com Phone: (646) 207-4272 Website: www.nyaguaclara.com I’m pretty amazed with the Zoom H2 (the tool I use to record all the artists I meet. Not that it made them sound better than they already were, but that this outside performance on a fairly windy day in Times Square [...]

Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra

Medium: “Hot and Sweet” Jazz Location: 5th Avenue Easter Day Parade! Email: michael@dreamlandorchestra.com Phone: (646) 201-6624 Website: www.dreamlandorchestra.com Bio: Michael Arenella & His Dreamland Orchestra is an ensemble steeped in the hot-dance band tradition of the Jazz Age. Their size ranges from a full dance orchestra to smaller incarnations. They play their “Hot-and-Sweet” music anywhere [...]

New York City Float Committee

Medium: Breakdance/acrobatics Location: Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park Format: Ages that range from about 8 to 48, with a Michael Jackson impersonator to boot Website: (Michael Jackson’s) Myspace Email: (Again, M.J.’s) sclark0034@aol.com Phone: 646-401-2371 Post These guys are hilarious, well trained and professional. Their routine is faultless, funny and f%^&ing dangerous. Well worth a watch [...]