Family

Blind Piano Player With Accompaniment

by Terry Barlow
01/24/13
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I remember a blind piano player from a jam session one night in San Francisco. In fact, I cannot forget him. He was driven from behind by a wife or girlfriend I never found out which and nobody cared anyway. He was cursing out a compliment to me, at least I think it was a compliment, as I sputtered or stuttered out an improvisation on flute. (I choose to recall it as a compliment but it might have been a little bit of both.) All the while his woman was spurring him on as if with a whip "Come on, play harder! Play higher! Outplay them all! Overpower them all! I don't exactly remember her words, but they were like slashing whips on his back and arms, but nobody told her to back off, no one considered it abusive enough to confront her or try to stop her. We had cast aside all known limits and boundaries. Now what interests me is why this is even coming to mind now. Who is this piano player now? And who or what is driving him or her. What was she trying to achieve vicariously even vampirically through the life and talents of this poor blind obscure piano player in some musty remote wine-soaked corner of a big city.   She finally either drove him to some level of success and fame or condemned him all the way to a deep misery if he allowed it......... Come to think of it there may be at least a little of that blind piano player with accompanying voices in all of us.