Joe (on left in above photo) travelled to Los Angeles to attend the west coast premiere performance of his Triple Flute Concerto by the La Mirada Symphony (south of LA) on Saturday, October 20, 2007.
While on the west coast Joe visited with Yale alum friend Alan Rickmeier (bassist in the San Diego Symphony), Juilliard alum friend Andre Briere who plays Principal Bass with the La Mirada Symphony and long lost Juilliard friend Nathaniel Ayers (on right in above photo). Joe also visited with author/journalist Steve Lopez.
Steve Lopez has written a wonderful book about Nathaniel Ayers, "The Soloist" and DreamWorks is producing a movie based on Lopez's book about Nathaniel's life. The book is now available and the movie will be in theaters by the end of April 2009. To view a current (July 2009) LA Times article about Nathaniel click here. To view the video of Nathaniel's speech at San Franscisco's NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) conference in July 2009 click here. If you would like to hear Nathaniel play some trumpet and cello click here.
Above are some photos: The first photo is of the actors in the movie "The Soloist" - Jamie Fox and Robert Downey Jr with Joe, Nathaniel and Adam Crane (formerly with the LA Philharmonic administration). The second photo is that of Joe, Steve Lopez and Nathaniel. And the third is of Joe and Nathaniel -- meeting after over 30 years at the October 20, 2007 performance of Joe's Triple Flute Concerto in La Mirada, California.
