The Soloist A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music Hardback - 2008

by Steve Lopez

A moving story of the remarkable bondbetween a journalist in search ofa story and a homeless, classicallytrained musician destined to be a majormotion picture from DreamWorks, starringJamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr.

When Steve Lopez saw Nathaniel Ayers playing hisheart out on a two-string violin on Los Angeles'skid row, he found it impossible to walk away.More than thirty years earlier, Ayers had been a promising classicalbass student at Juilliard ambitious, charming, and alsoone of the few African-Americans until he gradually lost hisability to function, overcome by schizophrenia. When Lopez findshim, Ayers is homeless, paranoid, and deeply troubled, but glimmersof that brilliance are still there.

Over time, Steve Lopez and Nathaniel Ayers form a bond,and Lopez imagines that he might be able to change Ayers's life.Lopez collects donated violins, a cello, even a stand-up bass anda piano; he takes Ayers to Walt Disney Concert Hall and helpshim move indoors. For each triumph, there is a crashing disappointment,yet neither man gives up. In the process of trying tosave Ayers, Lopez finds that his own life is changing, and hissense of what one man can accomplish in the lives of othersbegins to expand in new ways.

Poignant and ultimately hopeful, The Soloist is a beautifullytold story of friendship and the redeeming power of music.