Free (#834) 04-14-15

“Your name is Free?”

“Yeah”.

“F-R-E-E?”

“Yeah, like 'buy one, get one'.”

I recently photographed a lady named Five, so why not a young man named Free?

sat at an outdoor table, sipping my coffee. Free was walking by and noticed the camera. He pointed and said, “Are you a photographer?” Impressed by the astute observation, I suppressed the urge to come back with a smart alack answer. “Yes, I'm an amateur street portrait photographer.”

Free was looking for a photographer to record musicians performing. He does Hip Hop, without foul language. Immediately he had his phone to my ear, playing his music. Sure enough, it sounded like Hip Hop, and sure enough, I heard no naughty words. I asked if he knew of Dylan Cox (Stranger #178 https://www.flickr.com/photos/bobdeinphoto/9201707349/in/set-72157627425474507 ) He did not. I explained that Dylan did work for Sarasota Music Now and might be perfect for the project. Dylan has a Facebook page, but Free has an account and doesn't use it. Free found Dylan and “Friended” him.

Free wants to cut a CD and needs about $8,000 for the project. I suggested that a vigorous social media presence would be good. He was not familiar with Kickstarter, a platform for crowdsourcing – raising money from fans. He wants to raise the 8k locally, and then work on social media. Hmmm...

Free is a Sarasota native. He hasn't attended school since the 10th grade, and is now raising himself: hence the name Free. He smiled constantly and looked, well, free.

Bob