The crowd at Boxcar Books Sunday evening looking for live entertainment may have wondered what it was in for when it saw a projector and screen set up next to the guitars and amps at the front end of the store. The crowd didn't need to worry -- no lectures were on the evening's agenda. Artist Andy Friedman and long-time friend and folk-blues musician Paul Curreri stopped into the bookstore and community center, 310A S. Washington St., for the second time in their "Make a Living" tour. Friedman and Curreri, who met at the Rhode Island School of Design, have been playing bars, bookstores and theaters around the country together for a year and a half.\nCurreri took the stage first, a slight man not quite dwarfed by his acoustic guitar. He gave the crowd gem after gem of country-blues melodies, his voice going from sweet, on the song "Greenville," to strong, to whispering conversation, and, occasionally, to yelling. A self-described soft-spoken man, Curreri has a strong singing voice, although he has never taken voice lessons. His singing was punctuated by timely outbursts from his guitar. The smile on Curreri's face after each song assured the audience that he loves what he does. \nThe projector was the instrument of Friedman, who, in his set, displayed to the audience a collection of Polaroid photographs and accompanied them with anecdotes, observations and advice on life. His burly frame silhouetted in front of the store's window, Friedman, a resident of New York, seemed an unlikely figure to be sharing such insights into life as "perfection is nothing more than what actually happens in the world" and "I'm looking for a parking lot to tear down, and I'm going to put up paradise."\nFriedman, trained as a painter, said he "wanted a way to look the audience in the eye." He wanted to get up and perform his art, as a musician would perform his music and he emphasizes that "pictures don't have to speak for themselves. The picture and myself are both the work." Friedman's desire to be a musician-style performer is evident in that all of his books are released under his and Curreri's label, City Salvage Records.\nAlthough Friedman and Curreri share a record label and tour together and have been friends for a decade, their two sets are not meant to complement each other. \n"There's no conceptual link," Friedman said. "We're on the road as if I were a musician. We're friends."\nAsked what the future holds for the Make a Living Tour, Curreri said, "I have a feeling we'll be doing this the rest of our lives."\nFriedman and Curreri were joined by local folk musician, Justin Vollmar, who performed a variety of slower-paced, quiet tunes with simple, straightforward lyrics. Vollmar has been doing shows for three years, because folk music is like "telling stories. I like the images in songs." Vollmar also plays with local Christian rock band Mt. Gigantic.\n-- Contact staff writer Jennifer Jackson at jj1@indiana.edu.
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