The Detour Project

Culture Is Right In Front of You

A couple of weeks ago, my brother bought us tickets to go see Green Day’s American Idiot as an early birthday gift to me. It was a really awesome gesture, and a complete surprise. My birthday isn’t until May, but he heard me mention in passing that I really wanted to check it out and so he got us tickets. An afternoon with my brother is the best gift I can imagine and I’m incredibly grateful for his kind and thoughtful gesture.

He picked me up and we grabbed lunch at a place across the street from the Opera House before the show. We were seated upstairs, in front of the windows with a perfect view to the Opera House entrance. As we talked and ate and watched people filing into the theater, I noticed a guy on the sidewalk playing a trumpet for the people passing by. I wasn’t sure if he was homeless or not, but he looked pretty tattered.

I watched as most of these people who were supposedly there to support culture walk right past him – not paying any attention, not making eye contact, not sparing a dollar to drop into his jar. A few people dropped some cash, but most of them just walked on by.

I said to Jim “look at all these people, supporting the arts, dropping $80 a piece for tickets to this show, completely ignoring the culture that is right in front of them. When we’re done eating, we’re going down there to give him a few bucks and listen to him play.” And that’s exactly what we did. We walked across the street, dropped a few bucks into his jar and stood there listening as he played a pretty decent version of the theme song from The Godfather. It was really cold out that day, and there he was, playing his heart out for all of these people, most of whom seemed to care less. His eyes were watering, from passion, or the cold, or possibly a combination of both.

After he finished the song, he took a short break to talk to us. We told him how much we dug what he was doing and he said “thank you”. He asked if we were brothers, and we told him yes. He told us that he could tell, and that it made him happy to see two brothers spending time together. He told us that he had a brother too, who played the saxophone and was a few blocks away somewhere, playing his instrument too. I asked him if they played every day, and he said yes – wherever and whenever there was an opportunity.

I asked him what he thought about all these people who just walked on by, not paying him any mind, or sparing a dollar or two to support what he’s doing. He said he doesn’t really think about it. He said “some people dig it, some people don’t. Some people drop a dollar, and some people don’t. I’m out here for the music man, it’s about the music for me.”

I shook his hand and we headed into the theater for the show. I couldn’t help but think about how awesome his attitude about it all was – that at the end of the day, it was about the music for him. I was grateful that he was there, and for the music and the conversation that he shared with us.

I hope that next time you see someone like him, out in the cold, out on the street, playing from the heart, that you will consider supporting his art by giving him a few moments of your time to listen and maybe a couple bucks too.

Thanks for reading, and thank you Jimbo, for an awesome show and a great afternoon, I love you man!

Cheers,
- D