The G train will feel more like the soul train thanks to a new songwriting contest rewarding crooners inspired by The Brooklyn Local.
The cross-borough line — which links North and Brownstone Brooklyns with an at-risk service extension — is the muse for musicians in a Brooklyn Brewery-sponsored competition in which unsigned acts compose “G-train-inspired” ditties and submit videos of the tunes for a trip to Sweden and a shot at international fame.
Singing straphangers have until 5 pm on July 24 to submit songs of any genre using any instrument via YouTube or Vimeo.
Brewery staffers will then narrow down the submissions to five finalists before online voters choose the winner via the company’s Facebook page. The winner earns a ticket to Sweden for the Debaser music festival in September — a concert that promises to bring Brooklyn acts such as the Hold Steady to Malmo and Stockholm.
Contest organizer Ben Hudson said the G train is the ideal subject for an artistic contest because it’s a loved-but-infamous Brooklyn icon and a hub for diversity.
“All sorts of wonderful people ride the G,” Hudson said. “It’s inspiring.”
But the G train is also in dire need of help.
The contest comes as a five-stop extension of the so-called Brooklyn Local — which brought service to the Fourth Avenue–Ninth Street, Seventh Avenue, Prospect Park–15th Street, Fort Hamilton Parkway and Church Avenue stations — inches closer to its last stop.
The city could cut the stops when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $257.5 million Culver Viaduct rehabilitation project wraps up, terminating a popular initiative that ushered in an era of one-seat between Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Fort Greene, and Clinton Hill, and Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, and Kensington.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Charles Seaton said the agency will determine whether to cut the five-stop extension “closer to completion of Culver Viaduct reconstruction.”
Asked if any other trains have inspired an impassioned songwriting contest he channeled a Duke Ellington tune.
“Just a song; ‘Take the A Train,’” he said.
Reach reporter Natalie O'Neill at noneill@cnglocal.com or by calling her at (718) 260-4505.
