Catey Shaw

I thought I saw her across the street; a girl with blonde and pink hair is hard to miss. I called her and we met at the end of the block. She introduced herself, her girlfriend, and her bird, Ketchup. We took a seat at a nearby bench. She placed her basket down and than looked up, smiling. It suddenly struck me, that strange sensation of feeling as if you know someone already even though you first met him or her on the Internet. I came across a You Tube video of her a few weeks prior and, after hearing her voice, knew I wanted to meet…

…we comfortably found ourselves in conversation as we realized we both studied at The School of Visual Arts. She currently attends, majoring in fine art. For her, singing and painting are two art forms in which she is best able to express herself. In both mediums, she creates stories through self-portraiture. She believes that this allows for an accessible product for the general public. In regards to her music, she maintains an organic and positive melody, which makes for a more relatable song. But, if one wanted to read her lyrics, there is a deeper narrative that can be extrapolated. She began writing when she was eighteen and discovered that she had more to say than she felt just painting would allow. It was also around this time that she moved from Virginia Beach to New York City. She began singing and playing her ukulele in the subway, something she continues to do today. A literal underground scene, the subway has become a venue for struggling artists to be seen. It is there where she met her manager. He had seen her when the train doors opened and, after getting off at the next stop, decided to go back and give her his information. They’ve been working together for about four months now and are planning to sell her soon to be released EP where they met…

…I suggested we walk into Central Park. As we sat down, our discussion quickly turned to topics such as Justin Beiber, legalizing marijuana, bullies, New Jersey, and the media. Although I didn’t want to end our talk, it was getting late and I had to leave. They escorted me a few blocks downtown. As we walked, I noticed an old Mercedes waiting at a light. The driver was blasting Frank Sinatra’s song “My Way” on his radio. I turned to look at him and we smiled at one another in appreciation. I thought about how appropriate a distraction that was as we continued walking…

-Jessica Glick - New New York