The Bobby Blow Controversy

Krikor Daglian
February 28, 2003

I was witness to an interesting exchange tonight while waiting for the 1
train down at 23rd street. There's this blind guy who sits there sometimes
and talk to people, or sings. He has a sign around his neck explaining why
he's there, but I forget what it says - something to the effect of "Hi, I
talk and sing to people." I remember hearing talk about how he used to be
a barber, but lost his sight, so he can't cut hair anymore.

Anyway, when I get down there, he's arguing with some other man who'd given
him money. They're arguing about whether the Bobby (the homeless guy) is
doing cocaine. Actually, at first they were arguing about whether coke
muddles your mind or makes you sharper, Bobby arguing the latter, quite
vehemently in fact. I'm not sure how long this has been going on, but
everyone is watching them - not watching them directly, necessarily, but
standing around, passing glances, staying close enough to hear the whole
thing go down. I position myself accordingly.

They debate cocaine's effects for five minutes, before the accusations begin
to fly. Ironically, Bobby's accuser actually looked to be more of a drug
addict than Bobby himself. After the argument reaches its height, the
other guy walks away for a bit (which Bobby perhaps didn't realize for a
minute or two, as he kept arguing, or maybe he was just shouting out loud).
Eventually he comes back and accuses Bobby of blowing a whole SDI (or SD
something) check on coke (or something like that), and that he has friends
who knows where he goes to do it, to which Bobby replies that he has 54
thousand dollars in the bank, to which the other guy asks why he has to ask
for money in the subway, to which Bobby replies he doesn't ask for money,
just sings, and if people want to give him some cash...

Anyway, I don't know who was right, and while I kinda like the blind guy,
his name is "Bobby Blow", so...