From panhandlers to street musicians, not everyone is ready for cashless society
MONTREAL — The sound of Anthony Lovison’s singing echoes through the corridors of the Montreal subway, reaching commuters’ ears long before they see the young brown-haired man and his guitar.
Barely a minute into “Heaven’s Door,” a man walks up with a smile and throws 50 cents into Lovison’s open guitar case — the first customer of the day.
As he sings his way through a repertoire of Snow Patrol and Ed Sheeran songs, more change comes clinking in: four dollars from a man in a suit, some quarters from a girl who looks about 10 years old, and two dollars from an elderly woman with a cane who flashes Lovison a ‘V’ sign.
Lovison, a 28-year-old street musician and Masters’ student, makes a living playing for cash — an increasingly rare commodity as consumers shift to digital-only payments.