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Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Justin C who wrote (62841)	6/1/2002 10:19:16 AM
From: Rambi	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 71178

We had the most wonderful time in Jefferson eighteen years ago! It was our first weekend away without the boys and we had heard what a lovely town it was. We stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast in a little guest house that served incredible muffins and spent the day wandering through all the antique shops. That evening we went to a pizza place owned by a friend of one of the partners in Dan's law firm who had left law to open this restaurant. It was packed because in addition to pizza, he had a piano and and banjo and he passed out song sheets for singalongs. We introduced ourselves to him and he brought over drinks on the house, and we settled in. After a while he came out on the little stage and said sadly that the pianoplayer hadn't shown, and could anyone play the piano? Dan waves wildly and says, My wife can! You get free drinks, says the man. I am agreeable. Free anything sounds good. They had song sheets with chords and I am a pretty good improvisor and to any old pianoplayer, things like On Top of Old Smokey and Darling Clementine arent terribly challenging. For the first few free drinks anyway. After that it all gets a little blurry- As did my technique. I do remember a large flamboyant woman getting up, grabbing the mike and saying CAN YOU DO BILL BAILEY? SURE! I say because of course I think I can do anything at this point. She used to be a lounge singer way back when, and every weekend she came in to relive her glory. We do a raucous and interesting version of Bill Bailey. I suspect we were playing and singing in different keys, but who cared. Dan leads me away at midnight and we stagger back to the house. The owner had invited us to attend church with him in the morning which seemed like a great idea after 42 free gin and tonics, and a very bad one at 8 the next morning. But we crawl out of bed to attend services at this delightful small church and sing hymns loudly while my head throbs in time with the antique organ. People were coming up to me after the service and saying how great I was when I played Grieg in boogie last night. Did I do that, I ask Dan horrified. Oh yeahhhh, he says. You played a lot of interesting things. We take leave of our new friends, all 100 of them, and head off to tour some of the historic homes which are so beautifully restored. In one house, there is a roped off Bosendorfer, a huge ornate instrument. The tourguide tells the tour that Brahms once stayed there and played this very instrument. Then she says, Does anyone here play? I roll my eyes warningly at Dan, and then a voice from the back of the tour says, SHE does! I saw her last night at the pizza place! So I get to play this amazing Bosendorfer. I play Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag, which is the only thing I can remember at the moment, without the inspiration of or perhaps becuase of the 42 gin and tonics. I worry that Brahms is offended. I wonder if the place is still there- and if the woman still sings Bill Bailey on Sat nights. ANd if they would still give free drinks to an itinerant piano player.....