Playing for Change (DVD Review)

19 Mar, 2006 By: Brendan Howard

Playing for Change

Sweet Street Music

They play on weekend walking thoroughfares or busy weekday rush-hour sidewalks. They pound plastic cartons or drums, strum guitars or blow trumpets. These musicians play the streets out of necessity for loose change ... or out of love for outdoor music. Playing for Change (DVD $14.99), streeting April 18 from Starlight Home Entertainment, is a love letter to their work.

Filmmakers focused on Los Angeles, New York and New Orleans before devastating floods rendered parts of the latter city unlivable and now partially deserted. A portion of the DVD profits will go to Habitat for Humanity's Musician's Village in New Orleans. Along the way, musicians from each town lay down parts to a musical track that will bring their work together in a single song.

The documentary is perfect for anyone who's stopped to throw a dollar into a hat and wondered about these artists who fight to be heard over the sounds of the city.