Drowning Not Waving

Saturday I went to a folk concert that started at 11 in the morning for no reason I could understand. The drummer of the second act played the coffee table, a birdcage, a tupperware, a lampshade, and some other stuff with a mic and an amp. It was remarkable to watch. He was cute too. Which helped.
The third act fell apart. He played a ukulele and had a sampler. He looked battered. At first I thought he might be nursing a hangover. His lip had a healing cold sore or a cut on his lip, and it arched sort of strangely when he sang. In any case, I liked his first song, and I like him. For his third song, he tried to play Let's Stay Together. He blushed and then I think he started to cry. I was sitting about a foot and a half away from him, but everyone noticed something going on. He re-started a couple of times, but he couldn't get past the first line. I don't know why.
Whatever was making him waver, it got to me. My eyes filled up, but I was embarrassed. So I drank some water, which I choked on.
He made it through the Al Green as his last song. I wanted to tell him how affected I was by the whole thing. I bet he thought that he had failed, that whatever was making him unable to play sappy songs had gotten the better of him. The Russian has a quote he is using as a touchstone for the show he is curating: "One can make out of failure a powerful strategy for working, like the bad magician transcending illusion."
– Vik Muniz
The musician, his initials are AV, but I can't remember what his name, is created something completely unexpected and moving out of his failure. I kept it with me for the whole day. I should track him down and tell him.