ON NEW YORK CITY STREETS

Walking in New York the other day, I passed Opera Man (whom I hadn't seen for quite a while) back in his familiar neighborhood, though passing out leaflets this time, not singing. (Opera Man -- who was invited to appear on SNL and described by Adam Sandler as one of the inspirations for Sandler's Opera Man character -- for many years would stand on the street somewhere near Carnegie hall, singing operatic arias a capella, with great passion though a very soft voice).

Then a few blocks away, in the west 70's, there was an apparently homeless man, with unkept beard and hair and messy clothes, barefoot, with bags of belongings on either side of him, sitting on the street with his back against a wall, reading the New York Times Business Day section.