Metro Opens Doors to Artists

Entertainers Audition For Gigs Near Stations

All journeys on Metrorail begin with the same introduction: "This is the [color] line to [terminal station]. The next station is [hopefully, yours]."

Should riders expect anything different when Metro officials invite the public to perform for them?

As acts walked through the door and moved to the center of the judging room at Metro's downtown headquarters last week, Michael McBride, the transit agency's art program coordinator, rarely deviated from his greeting: "Thank you for coming out today. You will have three minutes for your performance. We may stop you at any point for a variety of reasons. Please begin when you are ready."

Next stop, stardom?

For the second year, Metro and the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities invited local entertainers to display their talents outside subway stations for the MetroPerforms! program. At auditions, the performers, like riders on any given train, reflected the diversity of history, talents and quirks of the city's residents.

Take DJ Flex Mathews -- a.k.a. Dathan Harbor at birth 27 years ago and contestant No. 12 to the judges Friday.

DJ Flex sported an Andy Warhol-inspired hoodie, which substituted the rapper ODB for brightly colored copies of Marilyn Monroe, and, oddly, a Yankees baseball cap. He must not have been concerned about giving pause to the judges as they pictured him performing outside the Navy Yard Station with Nationals Park in the background.

But any concern about his Yankee loyalties were mitigated by his talent. A regular on the District music scene, in recent years he has emerged on the national stage as an act on the Vans Warped Tour and as an opener for hip-hop star Lupe Fiasco. At the audition, he rapped about pride for his neighborhood, Columbia Heights, revealing that he avoids Target and would have preferred an Applebee's to Ruby Tuesday.

Not everyone was, like DJ Flex, a newcomer to the competition. Last year's MetroPerforms! pilot program received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the public, and several artists who got a spot enjoyed it enough to audition again this season.

"It went really well," Flo Anito said of her set at the bustling Gallery Place-Chinatown Station last year. "People kept trying to tip, but of course, they aren't allowed to."

Artists chosen for MetroPerforms! receive a $200 stipend per two-hour performance.

Judging contestants this year were McBride; Aisha Davis, Desho Productions president; Gloria Nauden, D.C. arts and humanities commissioner; Doug Yuell, Joy of Motion Dance Center executive director; and events producer Jonathan G. Willen of Willen & Associates. The criteria included expression, form, stage presence and experience.