Unlikely friend, advocate

Ayers had left Julliard at age 21 after suffering a breakdown; now he was in his 50s and had been on the streets most of his life. You can't change that behavior and lifestyle with just a pill and a clean apartment, Lopez learned. Somewhere along the line, Lopez found that he was asking questions less like a journalist and more like a family member. As a result, "The Soloist" puts a deeply personal face on the world of mental illness, offering a very human drama that is hard to put down.

Crossing a line

Lopez's columns got the mayor and an inter-governmental task force on the skid row case after many years of not so benign neglect, although, as he notes, nothing short of universal health care, a living-wage economy and housing for all will cure the blight of homelessness, and none of those things are likely to be on the task force's agenda.

It's also worth noting that Lopez's personal advocacy for Ayers ensured that that homeless musician received consideration and opportunities unavailable to most other skid row denizens, including hiring a lawyer for Ayers and arranging a backstage meeting with famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma. But this ended up demonstrating less about the value of having a big-time columnist in your corner (except perhaps for the Yo-Yo Ma part) and more about the importance of having a friend watching your back -- which is something most homeless schizophrenics lack.

To his lasting credit, Lopez crossed the line on this story from dispassionate journalist to advocate. He deserves congratulations for being the one person who did not avert his eyes and walk past the grubby man with the violin.

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Edward Humes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, is the author of numerous books of nonfiction, most recently, "Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul" and "Over Here: How the G.I. Bill Transformed the American Dream."