@article{337723,
      recid = {337723},
      author = {Lopez, Steve. and Hughes, William,},
      title = {The soloist a lost dream, an unlikely friendship, and the  redemptive power of music / [sound recording] :},
      publisher = {Blackstone Audio, Inc.,},
      address = {[Ashland, Or.] :},
      pages = {6 sound discs (ca. 6 hr., 30 min.) :},
      year = {2008},
      note = {Compact discs.},
      abstract = {"When Steve Lopez sees Nathaniel Ayers playing his heart  out on a two-string violin on Los Angeles' Skid Row, he  finds it impossible to walk away. At first, he is drawn by  the opportunity to crank out another column for the Los  Angeles Times, just one more item on an ever-growing to-do  list: "Violin Man." But what Lopez begins to unearth about  the mysterious street musician leaves an indelible  impression." "More than thirty years earlier, Ayers had  been a promising classical bass student at Juilliard -  ambitious, charming, and one of the few African-Americans -  until he gradually lost his ability to function, overcome  by a mental breakdown. When Lopez finds him, Ayers is  alone, suspicious of everyone, and deeply troubled, but  glimmers of that brilliance are still there." "From an  impromptu concert of Beethoven's Eighth in the Second  Street tunnel to a performance of Bach's Unaccompanied  Cello Suites on Skid Row, the two men learn to communicate  through Ayers's music. Lopez collects donated violins, a  cello, even a stand-up bass and a piano with the hope that  Ayers can be swayed to move off the streets, where every  day his well-being is threatened. Their bond takes  torturous turns as Lopez imagines he can change Ayers's  life - finding him lodging, reconnecting him with his  family, taking him to Disney Concert Hall to meet a former  Juilliard classmate. For each triumph, there is a crashing  disappointment, yet neither man gives up. And though it's  Ayers he initially sets out to save, Lopez finds that his  own life is profoundly changed. By turns gripping, moving,  and inspiring, The Soloist is a story about unwavering  commitment, artistic devotion, and the transformative magic  of music"--Book jacket.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/337723},
}