With a new violin in hand, I walked into a nursing home for seniors in southeastern L.A. County, eager to see the look on my buddy Nathaniel’s face. A once-promising career as a classical musician was ...

Inspiring, relevant and real, the story of Nathaniel Ayers, a schizophrenic but wildly talented Juilliard-trained cellist living on the streets of downtown L.A., captivated Los Angeles Times readers ...

Nathaniel Ayers and Yo-Yo Ma chat in a dressing room at Walt Disney Concert Hall in October 2006. (Francine Orr) I was driving through Westlake, on my way to pay Nathaniel Anthony Ayers a visit at his ...

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts. Nathaniel Ayers, the musician whose battle with mental illness was ...

The unlikely friendship between Steve Lopez, a Los Angeles Times columnist, and Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless musician, has inspired newspaper columns, a book and now a movie starring Robert Downey Jr.

With a few forgivable missteps and obligatory dramatizations, The Soloist portrays schizophrenic Nathaniel Ayers, or as he prefers it, Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Junior, in a richly nuanced and ...

You can learn more about the story of mentally ill musical prodigy Nathaniel Ayers in a 12-minute segment of a March 60 Minutes broadcast than in the 109 minutes of The Soloist. But what a wonderful ...

Meet Nathaniel Ayers, LA's most famous homeless man. He trained at Julliard before succumbing to mental illness. John talks to LA Times columnist Steve Lopez, who chronicled Ayers' struggle. Meet ...

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts. ‘The Soloist’ will be released on DVD on Tuesday, and it will feature ...

It's impossible not to be moved by "The Soloist," starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx. The true story of a newspaper columnist and his friendship with a schizophrenic street musician in Los ...

Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. co-star in 'The Soloist,' based on Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez's book. It's called "The Soloist," but a movie, like an orchestra, is only as good as the ...

Well, at least it washes away the bad aftertaste of Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind. Though far too shapeless and impersonal, Joe Wright’s The Soloist does a better than credible job of confronting the ...