You might need an umbrella on the moon.

lets paint this town red and light it on fire

Harmonica Tom

Tom plays harmonica all over Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA. I had the pleasure of meeting him this evening in between a couple of songs. We got to chatting about everything under the sun and after about 20 minutes it finally donned on me to interview him for this project.


Brynn: Do you mind if I ask how old you are, Tom? You don't have to tell me...
Tom: Let's just say I was on the streets in the summer of love; '69. I was doing a lot of drugs and a bit of soul searchin. I didn't know what to call myself until I read the term "hippie" in the paper. "Oh," I thought. "That's what I am." That was year the term "hippie" came to be.

B: How long have you been playing harmonica?
T: I've been playing this thing for over forty years. As I set out on a long hitchhiking odyssey, a buddy gave me one and I haven't put it down since.

B: Tell me about your travels.
T: Oh, I've hitchhiked over 40,000 miles. From Florida to New York to Colorado to California and then to Florida again, through Philadelphia. I've been to a number of festivals and met a lot of other musicians and street people.

B: What has been your favorite live musician?
T: Either Woody Guthrie, or I always loved the Rolling Stones. Saw them at Woodstock.

B: And tell me about your involvement with the homeless community.
T: For about eight years I've had an hour long spiel on an NPR carried syndicated radio station where I talked about the homeless and policies regarding the homeless. I've also hosted an informal newsgroup for the street papers of North America. There are a lot of really good ones out there.

B: What is a piece of advice you think everybody should hear?
T: Celebrate, don't dominate. Life is short, let's be kind to one another.

A bystander: Is that like, your motto?
T: No, I just made that up.

Tom is going to be giving me harmonica lessons later this week!