This story really spoke to me on different levels.
Mostly because, this is a human interest story of an artist that has stayed with his art through all the turmoil in his life. All of us artist go through different periods of struggle and success, this takes it to another level.
A one-time Julliard music student, has now succumbed to a mental disorder and is forced to live on the streets, although he has kept his passion of music alive.
The fact that music was my first love, is another reason this strikes a chord with me (sorry).
This story has the feel of a couple of my all time favorite movies: Shine, Geoffrey Rush portrays the mentaly ill pianist, David Helfgott. Also, August Rush, the story of an orphaned musical prodigy.
I’m a sucker for a great human interest story, and if it’s about music and art, I’m done.
L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez did a terrific story on Mr. Ayers. It is definitely worth a read. Also, see a video clip of the recording session below.
Article in L.A. Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez3-2010feb03,0,3503177.column
To see the video of the recording session: http://kcet.org/socal/2010/02/the-soloist-in-a-duet.html
Hi Rex
I remember hearing about this as it was developing a while back. And it is certainly a powerful story. The fact is, there’s a lot of people like this, with amazing talents that are forced to live their lives in less than ideal circumstances. My band was playing at a private club in downtown LA, and after the gig was over, and we were loading up our gear, we started hearing someone singing from from the other side of the parking lot. He was living in boxes, and wailing out Earth, Wind & Fire lead vocals. And he was nailing them! We tried to talk with him a bit, and there was a definite mental problem of some sort going on. He seemed perfectly content to be where he was, and whether he was ever a professional singer I’ll never know. It definitely had a sobering effect on those of us who happened to hear him.
Thanks for putting this story on your blog. Keep up the good work.
Dave