Tom Swafford – 7th Ave

Day 3: Thursday, Feb 3
After having stayed up far too late to complete my first “Dollar A Day” entry, I still had the idea pretty fresh in my mind when I woke up this morning. Determined not to let today get away from me, I arrived at the 7th Ave subway station with my dollar at the ready, prepared to strike early and strike fast. I didn’t really notice anyone on my way into the station, but when I arrived at the platform I spotted a gentleman by the name of Tom Swafford playing the violin. I mulled over whether I should give Tom a dollar, I was a little hesitant at first because my initial goal of this experiment was to give to people who seemed like they were in some kind of dire straits. Tom had an expensive instrument, a CD for sale, and while I’m fairly certain he’s not a millionaire, I’m guessing he most likely has a roof over his head. Well, despite my misgivings, turns out that Tom is one talented guy, and I’ll be damned if I didn’t give him a dollar for his fine fiddling (along 3 or 4 other people who were waiting along with me). After doing a little investigating on the Internets, I discovered that Tom Swafford is actually a fairly accomplished musician and composer. He received his BA in music and clinical psychology from Tufts University and has played with the likes of Guster, Emmanuel and the Fear and his own 11 piece string ensemble, String Power (just to name a few). Well Tom, if you Google yourself, (because I’m assuming you have an Internet connection), you now know that you got a dollar from me along with some free publicity.

PS Stay tuned for tomorrow’s edition where I try to give a dollar to someone who is not a musician!