"This is your New York"...

...so read the advertisement on the side of the tour bus driving down 14th Street.

That slogan kept running through my mind as I took in the scenery around me. The setting sun shining on the buildings. People-- so many people-- walking on the sidewalks; some tourists, others residents. And then the subway.

So hot. At least 95 degrees on the platform. No joke. Maybe even hotter. Still air; not even a breeze.

But across the tracks on the other platform, a makeshift band. Just a guy with a drumset and a guy with a saxophone. But they were playing their hearts out.

And all of a sudden, I realized how much their music was uniting us as we waited for the subway. My first clue was the couple that started dancing. I smiled, looked around, and saw other people tapping their hands on their legs, bobbing their heads to the beat, or grooving by themselves like they just couldn't help it.

This is your New York, I thought to myself. And I couldn't help but smile-- especially when I realized that I, too, had been tapping my foot to the beat of the drum.