28 June, 2017
We’ve
been on the road for almost two years now and, amid the
daily load in, sound check and performance, I always try to find
time to explore the streets in the vicinity of the venue. Sometimes
they can be quiet areas of the city – a tree-lined suburb or an
empty park – but I often find myself in a dynamic part of town. I
take out my camera and hope to capture a moment. Sometimes shots
fall perfectly into place, and an eye glances towards my lens at
the precise moment that I click the shutter.
The US is a perfect place to wander and find beauty in the
strangest of scenarios. I remember in Detroit when a man came up to
me with a $20 Canadian bill. He was topless; his ripped shorts and
toeless shoes made me wonder where he’d been, or who he’d once
been. He was frantically waving the note and screaming that he
would take $5 US dollars for the Canadian bill. I stopped him in
the street, disregarding the parental advice of never talking to
strangers. I offered him a $20 US bill in exchange for his $20
Canadian note, under the condition that I could take his
photograph. I could sense his confusion: I had offered him four
times what he was asking of me. As we exchanged the notes, I
noticed his three missing fingers. I took his photo and I hoped the
money would help him, but knew that it was a drop in the ocean. He
walked on down the street shouting, “I got twenty dollars!”
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