| Soon to be a major motion picture starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Foxx.
Now a major motion picture—“An intimate portrait of mental illness, of atrocious social neglect, and the struggle to resurrect a fallen prodigy.” (Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down)
This is the true story of journalist Steve Lopez’s discovery of Nathaniel Ayers, a former classical bass student at Julliard, playing his heart out on a two-string violin on Los Angeles’ Skid Row. Deeply affected by the beauty of Ayers’s music, Lopez took it upon himself to change the prodigy’s life—only to find that their relationship has had a profound change on his own life.
Annotation:
Beginning in 2005, Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez began chronicling the genius and hardships of Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless schizophrenic classical musician he discovered on skid row playing virtuoso music on a battered violin with only two strings. Over the years, Lopez became intimately involved with Ayers, a gifted musician, who was one of the few African-Americans to attend Juilliard but ultimately dropped out due to the increasing chaos of his mental illness. Through Lopez and other members of the community, Ayers received numerous second chances, playing in local downtown music venues, receiving housing and a beautiful cello, and finally performing at the lavish Disney Hall. However, his remarkable journey was marked by many bumps and setbacks, including a disheartening manic outburst during a performance. In this bracing, fascinating, heartbreaking, and redemptive biography/memoir, Lopez describes his complicated relationship with Ayers--frankly examining the self-serving sides of his own charity--and paints a vivid portrait of a man who lost everything except his love for music. In 2009, the book was made into a major motion picture starring Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx as Ayers.
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