Artist Expression Violist in the Albertsons Parking Lot

After a day of working on websites, sales calls and winding down the day, a call comes in from Rene Sepulveda and he says, “there is a Violinst in the parking lot of Albertsons and she is really good,  you need check her out and find out her story.” 

At first I’m skeptical but Rene insisted “she is really good! Find out why she is not performing or teaching, why doesn’t Alamogordo have a performance space for free random musicians to come and just play for tips or teach others their skills?”

He bombastically  unloaded on me, “there is talent here, untapped, why isn’t there a place for them?”

I didn’t and don’t have the answers, but decided I’d ride over with him, and explore who this talent was with a violin at the end of the parking lot of Albertsons.

We pulled up and sure enough there was a young man, and a young woman. They looked off the age of a sophomore in college. The young lady was fiddling a way, pop and classical tunes, on her violin. They were at the end of the parking lot, and folks would drive by, and toss them a few bucks, or give them thumbs up signs. They were really good. 

Earlier in the day Kathy Ramsey a contributor to the AlamogordoTownNews.com team had submitted a story asking the question, “who is an artist?”

 In her commentary, she reminded us that Art is all around us. In her commentary she expresses; “Each of us comes to this life with a spark of potential, the pull of curiosity, the senses of awareness, and the capacity for growth. We are intrigued by light, color, rhythm, pattern, sound, and all that we touch, taste, and smell. We know motion, experimentation, and imagination. We seek pleasure and satisfaction. These are the tools of an artist!”

Rene’s call to me to see the young Violinst at Albertsons, proved Kathy’s thesis true; as we were intrigued by the rhythms, patterns and sounds of the violin. And, of course the reporter in me was also curious, of the people behind the music, and why were they  here and why now?

So pen and pad in tow, I disrupted their curb side performance for a 5 minute interview. The duo, on site, were two students traveling and exploring New Mexico from Colorado Springs. They were bother and sister,  Allen and Josephine Davis.

They explained they were on Spring break and decided to explore New Mexico. They love music and they are talented, so they have spent each night at a random place in New Mexico, exploring it, and are paying for their gas and food expenses, by doing curb side performances at night. They said Alamogordo was good to them, and they would stay at the local campground this evening. 

Both are musicians, however only Josephine was playing tonight. She said she was Classically trained and has been playing since she was 7 years old. Her brother Allan, also well trained plays the Base “but it’s not conducive to hiking and road trips,” he said. 

They attend Washington State University; she is a math major and he is majoring in electrical engineering. The both play for the college orchestra and have played in major concert halls. Thus Rene had an ear for talent!!!

These two college nomads said they enjoy music, even more than their potential career paths, and that music will always be a priority in their lives.

This trip they visited Northern, New Mexico, a day ago Carlsbad Caverns, and yesterday they hiked and played music on the cliffs of Gila National Park. She said it was “inspiring to play in the natural beauty of the Gila and the music was heard bouncing off the canyons and ridges.”

Allan was excited that today they visited Sun Spot, the mountains around Cloudcroft and the Space Hall of Fame. Tomorrow, New York Avenue, Alamogordo and the White Sands National Park, and then time to head back home. 

They said “music allows us the freedom to perform and meet nice people and to travel and explore.” 

This young collegiate brother and sister duo are exceptionally talented and those that happened past them at the Albertsons parking lot in Alamogordo Friday afternoon received a rare treat. Raw talent, huge smiles and enthusiastic entertainment are rare finds in a shopping center parking lot in Alamogordo, New Mexico. 

Kathy Ramsey’s commentary today reminded us that; “For most of us though, art is how we live our lives. We can be intentional about this expression and recognize that the same qualities that guide an art master are ours to develop. These are curiosity, courage, experimentation, discipline, persistence, and freedom to express.”

The young talents of Josephine Davis, who in traveling with her brother Allan, reminded those who heard them tonight of those qualities; ”curiosity, courage, experimentation, discipline, persistence, and freedom to express.”

It takes courage to travel to unfamiliar places, and it takes courage to put yourself out on a curb in a strange city and express yourself. That truly is freedom and courage which was driven by their curiosity to explore.

For those of us able to spend those few moments in their orbit of artistic expression and enthusiasm, from these two young traveling performers; they exemplified Kathy Ramsey’s closing thoughts; “It is about moment-to-moment living with an eye for beauty and effort.”

Rene had the ear for the beauty and effort of the moment and wanted to ensure the moment was shared and the positive story was told.

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