The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, November 14, 2013 - 3B PLAY'A CHATY CULTURE COLUMN A ognitive map ofA2 years a had de ball Sa for the hoping energy the cit would prospe studen At wh assum( the lig Hoove State s walks a beer, in the1 believ mom a gotta g I'mI nor wil footba experi though ing asi Ove I was L Ann A days. I the ch of thet ally ch city fr years a return tion an Arbor It beco worn, I start driftin for a ti what I was in Mat Chavez hopes to earn enough funds to eventually make his way to Tennessee for the winter. Home ess arti sts fn *common musical ground Musicians busk for a living on the streets of A2 By PAULA FRIEDRICH Daily Arts Writer "I like the piano; I like the sound of it, although the pedal squeaks," Al Skinner said, run- ning his hand along the top of the piano in the Michigan Union Art Lounge. "And it has squeaked over the last two years. I don't know why they don't fix it.It's like a $200,000 piano. Why wouldn't you fix the squeaky pedal?" About 20 minutes earlier, Skinner had sat down at the piano in a silent room. A few stu- dents perched on couches and at tables, with their books and lap- tops out. Every turn of a page was amplified by hollow acoustics until Skinner started in on the piano. Next to him, Lou Rockin- feller sang. Skinner covered the squeaky pedal by playing forte as Rockinfeller belted Journey's "Open Arms." Their music envel- oped the room as notes over- lapped in echoes, bouncing off the tiled floor. Skinner and Rockinfeller are homeless musicians. Skinner said he has been coming to play at this piano in the Union for about 20 years. Rockinfeller calls himself "a drifter," just passing through Ann Arbor. As the weather chills, he'll move on. They all got their start with music early in life. Rockinfeller said he started singing in high school while trying a slew of other instruments at the same time. Skinner said his dad played piano professionally, so "it's in singer than anything," he said. (his) blood." But Skinner himself But Chavez's favorite instru- never pursued a career asa musi- ment is his first: the guitar, cian, though he'll play in bars which he started playing when every now and then. he was 15. His relationship to "I make money occasionally music is eternally evolving and and sometimes I don't, but I play responding to what's going on in anyway," he said. his life. Rockinfeller said music's draw "There's been times in my life is impossible to escape. "Once when my guitar has sat in the you catch the bug," he said, it corner, and I haven't touched it," stays with you forever. For Skin- he explained. "But then there's ner, it's a way to relax and a way been times in my life when it's to meet people that "make his really all I've had to live for." day." Right now, it's incredibly He met Rockinfeller by chance important. Chavez was evicted at one of St. Andrew's Episcopal six months ago and is still trying Church's daily breakfasts. to figure out where to live. He "He was just jammin' some said lengthy waitlists for shel- SLionel Richie at first, and then he ters mean he'll probably spend started busting some Journey," the winter in his car, unless Rockinfeller remembers. "And he makes enough money to get then I went, 'Hold on, guys - I down to Nashville. He said he can't leave yet. I gotta go sing."' had $600 saved up until recent- Skinner added,"I was playing ly, when his car got towed, and a Journey song, and you came up he had to start his savings again and started singing and I'm like, from scratch. 'This voice, are you kidding me?"' But music does offer him a At the corner of North Uni- way to make money and help versity Avenue and State Street, feed himself and his wife. It's another homeless musician, Mat not always easy, especially as Chavez, lets his notes drift into temperatures drop, but Chavez the cold nighttime air. He sings said he's out playing every day. and plays guitar, mostly per- He said he sets monetary goals forming alternative songs from for himself, usually $40 a day. the 1990s. He said he hopes to "Sometimes I do much bet- finance a drive down to Nash- ter," he said. "My best day ever, ville, Tenn. as winter moves I made $165. That was on the in. For now, he's facing his first fourth of July. My worst day Michigan winter with only his ever, I made seven bucks in six car for shelter. hours. It was awful." "I find it's what the people Chavez said panhandling is with the money grew up with," often more lucrative than busk- he joked about his song selec- ing - performing for money on tion. the street. However, he still pre- Chavez, too, said his own fers to play music. voice is what attracts people "People might give a pan- and, consequently, what helps handler money, but they kinda him earn the most money. look down on them and a lot of "I've always been more of a people feel like this is sort of an honorable thing to do," he said. Skinner, on the other hand, thinks music brings out the gen- erosity in people. "People always take care of me. I've never gone starving. I've never been without what I wanted or I needed," he said. "I mean, everyone is always taking care of me. Because people love music and they love musicians." Rockinfeller agreed. He said music has helped him travel the country and even international- ly. He told of the time he toured with a punk band on a two-week tour of Spain. After the time was up, the band's record label said it was time to go back to the United States, but Rockin- feller said he and his bandmates weren't quite ready. "I don't even need your label. I'm gonna do it just on the kindness of the Spaniards," he recounted. "And the Spaniards kept saying, 'Dnde estis que- dando?' Where are you staying? And then I said, 'You know man, we don't really have a place to stay. We're going to stay in the car.' And no, no, no, 'Tn vas a quedar aqu.' You're going to stay here. With us." The three musicians all agreed that music is special in that way. No one can say they don't enjoy some type of music. It's a unifier, and Chavez said that's one of the rewards of bus- king. "When somebody comes up, even if they don't have anything to give, they're interested and they're impressed and they seem to care," he said. "I've never been one to strive for attention, but at the same time, it's fun to go and stand on the street corner and find the people who care." MUS Drake's latest video opens, not with his own song, but with the bluesy sounds of Memphis, Tenn. Royal E+ Studios. A 10-minute- Worst long joint Behavior venture by Drake and Drake frequent Republic collaborator Director X, "Worst Behavior" gives us a short but memorable tour of Memphis as Drake lip-synes in front of old houses and local businesses. A skit placed in the middle of the video is the longest segment, with one of Drake's buddies awkwardly and hilar- iously chatting up Memphis- based rappers Juicy J and Project Pat, trying to get them to listen to his demo tape, but unfortunately unable to even get their names right. hen my mom and I Alice Lloyd. Ihad absolutely no drove to Ann Arbor idea how the Alice Lloyd area for campus day four connected to the rest of cam- tgo, the administration pus such as the Diag and the liberately chosen a foot- Michigan Union and South Uni- turday versity, which I had just spent a event, weekend exploring. Of course, the driving to Alice Lloyd can be 'of different than walking, but it's y so strange how vividly wrong entice my memory is. The graveyard ctive isn't even present on that ride ts. up Observatory. All I see is a at I JOHN winding road lined by thick, e was BOHN verdant woods on each side. ht at There's a concept already r and for what's going on here: cog- treets, a guy jokingly nitive mapping. We develop, up to the car holding out over time, a sense of connec- encouraging me to join tions between different locals pre-game festivities. I ina given space. But until that . e I said something to my point, our understanding of that long the lines of "Well, I space might look more like an ;o. See ya." archipelago. Welcome Week not even into football, freshman year, Ihad no idea ll this column be about how Dave's West Side Books 11, nor was that my first was tied to Alice Lloyd. One day ence of Ann Arbor, even I got on my bike, and the last I often return to it feel- vivid memory I have is passing if it is. by the Dental School. At some r a beer the other night, point, I cruise past a sign for a amenting to a friend that bookstore and decide to make rbor feels different these a stop. 've written before about Sophomore year of high anging infrastructure school, I came to Ann Arbor for city, how it has actu- an acting competition. So dis- anged into a different connected was that experience om even just a couple that, when I walked into the go. But presently, I keep School of Education freshman ing to how my percep- year of college for a psychology td experience of Ann exam, I thought I was experi- has changed over time. encing the building for the first 'mes more familiar, more time, when in fact, it was the more used. The second location of that competition to feel at home, I start three years ago. g toward this nostalgia Now, in my senior year, a me when I had no idea lot of that sense of excitement was doing or where I and being lost in the world town. has waned. Main Street, State Street and South University are pretty well connected in The map my mind. Ihave a sense of spe- cific directions of getting from Comet Coffee, to Braun Court, to Vault of Midnight and back miliar worn to Backroom Pizza, a circuit I have never actually taken, but with time. very well could. Yet, I still hold with me that archipelago Ann Arbor from my first days here. I'm r recalling the declined sure everyone has his or her t Hoover, which has some own map, unique in its lack of cte to the actual layout resemblance to the city. And, city - a row of houses lit- I'm sure, everyone has their with people, red cups and own spots of knowing and not- : fences - the light turns knowing. I still don't under- and the memory goes stand North Campus. Perhaps some landscape Ican't I'll keep it that way. Perhaps, I ize these days. I'm pretty don't even have to try to avoid e turned right onto Hill, cognitively mapping it. It'll rmemory of the meeting just happen. I mean, seriously, and State looks different. what's going on with North t even sure what it is. Campus? be far Afte beer at sembla of thec tered w orange green a on into recogn sure wi but my of Hill I'm no Months later, before leav- ing the city after orientation, my family takes a ride up to my freshman year residence hall, Bohn is feeling nostalgic. To reminisce with him, e-mail iobohnoumich.edu. FOLLOW US! @MICHIGANDAILY