This is really a reworking of yesterday, so please move on - as you have already spent enough energy thinking of something polite to say!
Despite an afternoon out walking, and collecting an assortment of images from which I am unable to select, I've found myself still lingering with the music self portrait theme. I felt that I had compromised the shot, in order to fit it into an album cover.
I grew up learning the piano, and love having Mum's piano around the house even though it gets little play. It is a great surface for reflections though - so at least it is getting some use.
Secretly, though, I have always wanted to be on the drums, the bass guitar, the double bass or the saxophone. I had hoped to borrow a friends sax for this shot, but that didn't work out so here I am with the harmonica. This was acquired at a harmonica concert/workshop which was much more exciting than it sounds. Having reminded myself now, of how haunting a sound it can create in a blues piece, I think It is time to learn some more.
I prefer to use this shot for my music portrait of me, and with the words of Billy Joel's Piano Man in mind, I submit it as a self portrait entitled shades of life .. which is, after all, the very thing that music in its entirety portrays.
It's nine o'clock on a Saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There's an old man sitting next to me
Making love to his tonic and gin
He says, "Son can you play me a memory
I'm not really sure how it goes
But it's sad and it sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man's clothes"
Sing us a song, you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feeling all right
Now John at the bar is a friend of mine
He gets me my drinks for free
And he's a quick with a joke or a light-up-your-smoke
But there's someplace that he'd rather be
He says "Bill, I believe this is killing me"
As the smile ran away from his face
"Well I'm sure that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place"
Now Paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a wife
And he's talking with Davey who's still in the Navy
And probably will be for life
And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessmen slowly get stoned
Yes they're sharing a drink they call loneliness
But it's better than drinking alone
It's a pretty good crowd for a Saturday
And the manager gives me a smile
'Cause he knows that it's me they've been coming to see
To forget about life for awhile
And the piano sounds like a carnival
And the microphone smells like a beer
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
And say "Man, what are you doing here"
very clever to double it with the album cover challenge. now you look like a famous musician, harmonica, album and all.
i should like to learn to play the piano with both hands. one of the goals i have for next year when i am retired. i should try and get a second hand piano/organ before the year ends.
i should like to learn to play the piano with both hands. one of the goals i have for next year when i am retired. i should try and get a second hand piano/organ before the year ends.