Laura Cantrell's NYC Subway Map

I was dead chuffed to see that Laura Cantrell, one of my favourite singers, has renamed the stations and lines on the NYC Subway Map to pay tribute to her musical heroines (most of whom I'm ashamed to say I've never heard of) and flag up the free download of 14th Street, a track from her latest album, Humming By The Flowered Vine:

"This map places some the women artists I most admire along the subway lines of New York City, where I live. There isn't much organizing principle, other than the color-coded categories and the kick of seeing Rose Maddox's line crossing Hazel Dickens en route to Brooklyn..."

I love maps, and art made from or about maps. There's Simon Patterson's The Great Bear (1992), which I think was the first instance of someone renaming the stations on an underground map. (The title refers to the constellation Ursa Major, a punning reference to Patterson's own arrangement of 'stars'.) I also like JP 233 In CSO Blue, where he's renamed stars and constellations.

Then there's my longterm favourite Tom Phillips (see his 20 Sites n Years project), and Harry Beck, not a artist but a draughtsman - the man who designed the London Tube map. And ever since I heard about how Damon Albarn from Blur wrote the gorgeous This Is A Low by looking at the names on a shipping forecast map hankerchief, I've wished I had one (see item 80 on this page for a full explanation). It was from Stanfords in Covent Garden - one day I'll get round to going along to see if they still stock them.

Finally, I can't resist quoting some underground map-based innuendo from Friends (when they were all in London for Ross and Emily's wedding):

Judy Geller: Oh sorry we're late, my fault. I insisted on riding the tube.
Jack Geller: Judy? The kids...
Judy Geller: Jack, that's what they call the subway.

NYC Transit: Official NYC Subway Map
Going Underground: Geographically Correct London Underground Map
Amazon.co.uk: Mr Beck's Underground Map

Comments

[stephen walsh]

Hello... Are you enjoying Heartache spoken here?
I wrote it!
Great blog!
Best wishes, Stephen