Suzanne's Mom's Blog

Who wouldn’t love Harvard Square? Although too many sights there are troubling, the square also offers a nonstop showcase of wonders. It’s kind of a mirror of human experience.

The last time I was in Harvard Square, I was meeting Minnesota friends for dinner. I ended up arriving at Harvest restaurant a few minutes after them because I simply had to stop and listen to this musician-inventor play his bellowphone.

From Len Solomon’s About page: “Classically trained musician, inventor, and one-man-orchestra Len Solomon performs a unique recital of music and comedy.

“The one-hour show features your favorite symphonic compositions, arranged for Dog Whistles and Bicycle Horn, plus a chromatic pipe organ devised from plumbing parts and coat-hanger wire, and of course, the ingenious Majestic Bellowphone: a musical masterpiece of Medieval technology! …

“Len majored in guitar and early music at Antioch College, and followed that with two years of playing guitar in a country-rock band in Idaho. He finally gave up the glory of playing for drunkards in bars five nights a week, and went to work for 10 years as a professional cabinetmaker in the Boston area. In 1983, in his Cambridge basement, Len built the Majestic Bellowphone, and he took it to the streets along with his 5-ball juggling routine, taking his place among the ranks of classic Harvard Square street acts.”

Click to hear the callioforte and bellowphone.