In this Wednesday, April 15, 2020 photo, choir director and neighbor Pam McAllister, left, encourages musician Paul Stein, center, to invent timely words to his songs as Stein entertains neighbors with an accordion concert from his stoop in front of his Sunset Park, Brooklyn home during the coronavirus outbreak in New York. Stein's partner Elena Schwolsky listens, lower right. "I enjoy playing live music for people, and I can do that without leaving my house," Stein says.
Then, on television, the retired public-sector lawyer and political activist saw people around the world rallying: “I saw people in France and Italy banging pots and pans out their windows, clapping and singing from balconies. I wanted to do this in my neighborhood. “His stage is the steps leading up to his building, his stoop. “For as long as people have been hanging out on their stoops and socializing with their neighbors, they’ve been doing it from their stoops,” he said.
Stein had played on his block before: scary music for the children on Halloween while his partner Elena handed out candy. This time, he alerted the neighbors with a telephone call. At 71, he’s in a high-risk group. So, he didn’t want to encourage a get-together at close distance.Stein calls his impromptu concerts the “Emergency Accordion Stoop Extravaganza,” or “EASE.” He decorated a construction helmet with the words “Accordion Extravaganza” on the front and “Keep Back Six Feet” on the back.
Day three....
Some people may be ok with all these “free” concerts by neighbors but I would want to tear my hair out
One of my neighbors is giving me a concert… With a chainsaw, LOL.
I'm reminded of a Tom Waits statement.
Brooklyn is a poo hole.
This is a little classist, as a native brooklynite, I can tell you most people don’t have a stoop they can lounge on.
I would literally want to k*ll myself