Hello! I am Ray Suges, musician, writer, street philosopher, widely known since 1991 as Chicago’s own Ray St. Ray, The Singing Cab Driver.

I have been working on an unusual project.

ANXIETY SOCIETY: How Our Future was Stolen is a story-social commentary-musical audiobook serialized for podcast. it offers remarkable insights into how the world got to be the way it is. I'm no scholar, not an expert, hardly an authority on such matters. I am literally a wandering troubadour, just a poor old artist, highly self educated and only the most qualified person in the world to be me. 26 episodes will present original music, allegories and explanations of the world as I see it, told in my own baroque style. My purpose is to entertain, provoke thought, encourage discussion, inspire and stir to action.

It's basically a creative non-fiction book. The lyrics make good poetry but you probably want to hear how the songs go.

I love Chicago. I love singing to people in a taxicab. I live to make their day. Ask any of the 100,000+ passengers who experienced me. I AM Chicago. More of a performance artist than just a taxi driver, I was never in this for the money. But expenses do need to be covered.

Rent, utilities, the price of everything has gone up in the last ten years. Everything except the taxicab rates in Chicago. Many taxi drivers don’t even make minimum wage and automatic payment apps have really cut into my tips. Ride-share services have pirated much of the business and my income has suffered from apps that control 90% of the fares imposing Kafkaesque complications in their dispatch policies.

For the last five years I have been writing more than cab driving, barely breaking even. A 390 page podcast script is complete and most of the backing tracks for 28 songs are ready for vocals to be recorded and mixed.

Now personal finances are so precarious that I am asking for help.

I’m 74 years old, driving a taxi 6 or 7 days a week for 35 years and am still too broke to catch up on rent and bills, feel on the verge of eviction and homelessness, let alone afford the expense of new equipment, IT services, legal stuff and taking time to record. With even some of this handled the first episodes can be recorded and posted in a matter of weeks.

This undertaking is totally homemade and unique. I have been working on it for fourteen years, writing the script for five of them. Any donations will go towards keeping the lights on while getting this epic 93,000 word, 26 episode audio experience released to the world.

All contributions are welcome and greatly appreciated. Please help me out with whatever you can and spread the word.

Thank you for believing in me and my project.