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9th Annual Art-a-Day Challenge, January 2018!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

For Free

So, I have been in Las Vegas the last few days and wracking my brain for ideas. I was going to galleries and shooting some video when I stumbled upon this guy playing the cello on a skywalk spanning the new City Center. He was incredibly good and almost everyone was just hurrying by and not even listening. I was reminded of the Joni Mitchell song "For Free" and began doing this video. This is unedited and I want to work it into a larger piece.


The next song he did was a melancholy and reserved rendition of "I've got you under my skin" by Las Vegas icon Frank Sinatra. A little way into it, I was overcome with emotion and had to walk away. When is the last time you saw a guy crying over a cello recital on a skybridge in Vegas?

3 comments:

Bobi Wilson said...

Lovely. What an interesting cello too. Would love to have heard the next song and sobbed right along with you - you puddin'you.

Corky said...

As the supremely wise James Taylor said "Reckon I must be just an old softie, 'cause I still believe in love. I think the best is yet to come, cause where I'm from is also where I'm going."

Laura Gable said...

Dan, this is so poignant...from the crowds hurrying past without noticing, to the raw emotion of the player and the instrument. Is it an electric cello? I love cello music and have always identified with it's melancholy sound. He was really quite good. Did he notice you filming?? I'd be a puddin' too, I do believe. Thanks for finding him, for filming, and for sharing.