Thursday 8 March 2012

THOSE little MIRACLEs of the CREATIVE LIFE



  I'm sure that many creative folks out in creativeWORLD have had this miracle happen.
  'Nothing new under the sun' sort of miracle happened to me yesterday and i'm not referring to the incredible Spring like weather that suddenly swept up from the HAMericanSouth.
  I'm speaking of an every day type miracle where 'focus' is the key that unlocks the need. There i was cycling my 25 k's daily around town sucking in the fresh river air, keeping my legs a whirling dervish style on the pedals and my mind focussed on the final scene/credits of my doc. when i spot this 'perfect man'. I mean this perfect man playing an accordion for some street coin for my doc. ending.
 Perhaps some of u know that British war tune Vera Lynn made famous 'We'll Meet Again' but sung best by Johnny Cash. Well there was this sad beat up man all ragged and rugged, playing his version of that tune and missing a few notes here and there soooooooo i cycled right over to him. Listened, dropped a few bucks into his cup and when he finished introduced myself to AccordionJOHN. who took out his paw to shake my hand and I mean 'paw' this guy had the hands of a wood chopper who spent his life cutting, thinning, cording tree on tree all winter long without gloves but, of course, this was real life and he never cut a single cord of wood in his life but he did labour his early years and now, disabled, was making enough for a pack of smokes by playing his accordion on the street.
  I left my camera at home so asked if he'd give me time to go home get it and return i'd give him enough moola to buy his pack of smokes. I cycled back, returned with my little sony HD cam but he was gone .... i biked up and down the street but no sight of AccordianJOHN. So sad but still focussed recycled my steps and there he was at the Quicki Mart with coffee in hand waving to me.
  John gets a free coffee with a free hotdog at the Quicki Mart so goes there for lunch and for his smokes.
 As we return to his playing bench area, he tells me his life story in ten minutes and i'm thinking this guy is another doc. - in fact he's the man; he's a perfect rugged street image for the 'edge' type of docs i'm making and seems to be cooperative enough ... anyway, he plays but won't sing the tune. Not only doesn't he know the words but considers himself a instrumentalist NOT a vocalist - now that brings a smile to my face as i listen to his unusual version of 'We'll Meet Again' - You see his right arm was broken by some idiots, he tells me, so he can't play for too long but i manage to convince him to continue a bit longer and get a medley of tunes from him including 'Home on the Range' which will fit the opening of that same Homeless doc. and that encounter was my miracle of yesterday in my focused creativeWORLD.
 And of course he gets the moola to buy his pack of smokes... what's known as a 'Fair Trade'.

p.s. that footage is log&captured and i'll cut it in today and see if it works