How Artists Can Create Momentum With Limited Resources
It’s a late-night in Brooklyn and I’m on the way home from a client’s album release show on the lower east side. It’s been a heavy week, one of those moments in life when a cluster of people you know pass away seemingly all at once. My emotional awareness was certainly peaked.
As I stood on the platform awaiting the train, I made my way to the far end of the platform past the point where anyone typically stands. I wanted to be alone to gaze at the city skyline in the distance and think of those who were lost. I was off in my own world when someone tapped me on the shoulder and said: “Can you spare some change?”
This is when I met Omar.
Omar had been out on the street longer than he could actually remember, but from the looks of him I would gather it was a year or a little less. There was still a glimmer of hope in his eyes, but the point of no return was growing close. He‘d been avoiding shelters as he didn’t want to get into physical altercations, and he was using the J train as his bed. After I slipped him some cash, he started walking away and, for some reason, I asked, “Is there anything else you need?” He paused for a moment, walked back towards me and slightly whispered, “Yeah actually there is…do you know anything about music?”
