Do you like Jazz? Bob and I love jazz! Recently met and shook hands and admired a man named Cyrus Chestnut. He seems quiet and gentle and soft-spoken and can play the piano like it has 888 keys...the high notes he barely seems to breath on to get angelic sounds...the deep notes he bashes and can make rumble like the darkest thunder.
In the middle notes, he gnarls his hands and climbs them like zany tarantulas up and down the keyboard fast and furious. I think he's amazing! Some of you know I got a baby grand piano from Bob a couple of years ago for Christmas! I have an amazing teacher, Tammy Kimbell, in Newnan, Georgia. She is so patient and accommodating to my crazy schedule. I had never taken piano and did not read music, so it's been a busy two years. I am still a Major Piano Klutz, but having fun and appreciating artists such as Tammy, Cyrus, and her beautiful daughter, Emily, who interns for us at Gallopade, is a college freshman, has a Nashville recording contract and did a gorgeous holiday CD, and a little birdie told me that she took a freshman class and sang (opera!) and they yanked her out and put her in a graduate class that will perform Carmen in the spring. If you know an artist, tell them you appreciate them today! As I heard a musician say this weekend, "Thank you for supporting live arts. I never take it for granted that people actually show up when I perform." As a writer, I know how he feels! Bob and I also love the John Pizzarelli group, especially his handsome brother, Martin, and his uber-talented dad, Bucky, who performs like a rock star at age 82! Bob and I are headed to the Atlanta Symphony Saturday night. Never pass up any chance to see "art" in the flesh...whether it's a kindergarten program, local little theater, or Carnegie Hall; you'll never regret it! Oh to be on Bourbon Street in New Orleans any Saturday night!
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