The Piano Man

I found his card stuck inside this piano. It simply read, "Piano Tuner/Teacher" along with his number. So I called to see if he was still in business. Given how out of tune this piano was, it must have been a long time since he paid a visit.

He returned my message with a very deep confident voice, starting the conversation with, "Yes, I still teach piano; how can I help you?"

Just like radio personalities, you never know who you are really listening to and you are a little shocked when you meet them for the first time. Ideas were preconceived based on a quick discussion about my requirements for a piano teacher and his responses resonating in a deep baratone voice. He was quite a mystery.

At noon, this gentleman presented himself as the piano tuner, dressed quite professionally in coat & tie, dress pants, and highly polished shoes. His pants were tucked into his black socks. Carrying a hefty tool box he immediately went to the piano and started taking it apart. I was equally fascinated with both this dismantling of the piano and with the fact that he chose to shave his beard differently on each side. He had roughly 20 colored pens in his chest pocket, which bulged like a balloon since he also kept his business cards there, too.

He was quite fascinated with the fact that we recently relocated from New Zealand, asking me loads of questions like who discovered it, why are the islands shaped the way that they are, what does whangeri mean, and he drew a map on one of his cards to ask if Christchurch was located precisely where it actually was. He moved on to world politics, the plight of our educational system, why the economy is in the toilet, and how he has ties to Washington after he helped Isreal and some othe country I can't remember figure out how to deescalate an arms conflict. He wasn't boring.

Two hours later, he finished tuning the piano and gave a few amazing demonsrations of how this baby grand should always sound. Amazing. And yes, he played Billy Joel's The Piano Man.

I think he'll teach the kids some great moves.