Was shooting wild when I passed this lovely brass band performing right on the street for a 4th of July opening for a bank. They were amazing, and this fellow was so talented!

I really love that about Austin, that you can walk on the street and so easily find something unusual to shoot. Growing up in Plano, a suburb of Dallas, was a very comfortable sort of existence but nothing ever seemed to be /happening./ An unusual artifact of living in Austin is that even when you're bored, you still have the sense that something is going on right outside your door. Usually this suspicion is correct. I love the fact that you can walk downtown and the streets are a living museum. Back in Plano the only people you'd see on the sidewalk were joggers or old Chinese couples. Which is sweet in its own way too, but nothing compared to the experience of this street show.

I talked to the guy showed in the photograph - he performed in Beijing in the late 1980's as an 18-year-old with the (and I hope I'm remembering this correctly) Philadelphia Symphony. That's insane. I grew up playing piano since I was 4 and I knew I was a cut about the rest, but never really dreamed of that sort of experience. Hearing him play in the sweltering Texas heat after knowing this intriguing fact made me realize that so often I am missing talent that swarms around me. Austin can be intimidating that way. I love it.