When Steve Lopez, a newspaper columnist for the Los Angeles Times, sees Nathaniel Ayers playing his heart out on a two-string violin on Los Angeles Skid Row, he finds it impossible to walk away. So begins the book jacket blurb for The Soloist, Steve Lopezs book that resulted from that first glimpse which evolved into a movie released last fall. I couldnt walk away from the book either. (I have not seen the movie.)
The scruffy violin only had two strings and looked like it came from a dumpster, but what Lopez heard was pretty good. He knew the violinist had to have had some serious training somewhere along the way. The man was obviously homeless but wasnt playing for money; he played with such heart and soul Lopez would return to the street corner again and again, and in the process eventually won Ayers trust enough to share his life journey with the world.
I have never met Ayers, but I feel like some distant intersections with my life made me connect on so many levels that I wanted to briefly recap the story of this intriguing and endearing man who has lived a life of so many challenges.
Ayers struggles with mental illness, and he had to leave the very competitive and elite Juilliard School of Music after he crashed with paranoid schizophrenia. At Juilliard he played for awhile in the same orchestra with Yo-Yo Ma, the world famous cellist who even at that time was in a different league in terms of skill, according to the book. My own daughter, a music/business major, met and chaperoned Yo-Yo Ma when he did a guest gig for the symphony where she was working.
My other very loose connection to Ayers comes from my own interest in and research in the area of mental illness. The agency I work for completed more than 50 in-depth interviews for a TV documentary on mental illness, Shadow Voices: Finding Hope in Mental Illness. We interviewed many persons and families about mental illness, along with experts in the field. Because of that work, we have participated in or attended several conventions of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), where Nathaniel made an appearance at last years convention, playing his cello on stage to an admiring audience. I know they were admiring because at the previous years convention, I had enjoyed the supportive atmosphere when newswoman Jane Pauley spoke to more or less the same audience. If you have any doubt, the organizations newsletter described Ayers two standing ovations as electrifying.
But enough about my connections; I only used them to explain why Ayers story intrigued me so.
Ayers truly had a promising career in music standing before him, but the book hints that the stress of such a competitive atmosphere may have helped lead to Ayers mental breakdown after several years there. After Lopez begins writing about the musical genius of Ayers and his unfortunate homeless situation, musical instruments begin to pour in from readers for Ayers: violins, a cello, even a piano. Along the way to finding a measure of coping and success for Ayers, Lopez and Ayers both experience many triumphs and crushing disappointments, but neither man gives up, as the book jacket says.
You can guess that the sympathetic Lopez set out to help or rescue Ayers from the streets, but Ayers ends up helping Lopez even more in terms of the things Lopez learns and the deep friendship (though not perfect) Ayers extends.
And that is where we readers come in: there is much to learn about the complicated and heartbreakingly difficult world of mental illness, particularly where schizophrenia is involved. We should never write off peoplenor think we know how they should live their lives. And finally, it is music that forms a powerful bridge between accomplished writer (Lopez) and failed musician (Ayers)and connects them in ways so that success and failure become unimportant. Whats important is how we reach across the many difficult issues or barriers that separate us from other humans, and find ways to connect.
More stories about people coping with mental illness can be found at www.ShadowVoices.com, the documentary we produced on the topic. You can comment there at my column on the Web page, www.thirdway.com/aw or write to me at Another Way, Box 22, Harrisonburg, VA 22803. (Include the name of your paper in your response.)
You can also visit Another Way on the Web at www.third way.com. Melodie Davis is the author of seven books and has written Another Way since 1987. She and her husband have three adult daughters.
