A year later....

Just a short update. Almost a year to the day I got him the accordion, I ran into Dillard at the corner of Sutter and Stockton. He wasn't looking too happy, though he had earned about $10 or so. I took a quick video:

As with most such situations, it's not been smooth sailing for him. A good chunk of his income goes to the hotel room.  A few months ago he was accused of breaking into a car in my neighborhood, and pleaded guilty on the advice of the public defender to a lesser charge and got probation. Unfortunately, this also means that he can't hang around the neighborhood anymore; since this area was his "home" for so long, it probably hurts him a lot to be forced to stay away.

I just bought a CD player, and am burning a couple of CDs of accordion music (some of the popular standbys: Sinatra, Dean Martin, etc. as well as some Hindi songs). My goal is to get him to start playing more of the popular stuff, so he can at least make some money.

Once in a while he'll call me up and ask for a burrito. I tell him to meet me at the local taqueria, where he gets 2 burritos ("one for today, and one for tomorrow"). One of these days I'm hoping the second one is for a special lady.... :) Sure, it costs me about $20, but the way I see it is: I'd much rather spend the money on Dillard, than buying somebody a drink at the bar. At least Dillard is way more appreciative... ;-)