One day I posted a update on Facebook that said, "Does anyone in New York know where I can find a lobby or something with a piano? My fingers are itching and I already packed my keyboard for shipping... :/" Question for my musicians out there - do you ever get those urges? Sometimes I really feel like singing, but I find I'm in public and it scares me. After I posted that status, a friend of mine commented, "Why don't you go to a hotel or whatever and tell them you'll play a night for free?" I thought she was nuts. It seemed silly at the time, but a week later I went back and her comment had three Likes and a follow up that seconded her suggestion.
So I searched hotels, called a few numbers, pretended to be someone hired to play the piano, tried to reach the people who book the "lobby entertainment," and it was all for nothing. I wound up just walking inside, sitting down, and playing the stinking piano.
And it was splendid.
On my way out, the 22 Project came to life - in reverse. A man stopped me just outside the hotel lobby. He was outside for a smoke break, but I'd seen him indoors. He said, "You play beautifully." I thanked him, and he followed with, "You are very good. And I know music."
I asked him, "Oh really? What do you mean?"
And that's how I met Mike, a man whose son runs a recording studio in Malibu, California. He just started, and the place is booming. Apparently small business isn't in trouble in the music industry – of course, big business in the music industry is in enough trouble for everyone.
Mike, the man with the musical son, wouldn't let me take a picture with him because, I quote, his "wife would be very, extremely upset" with him. He said I could write about him as part of the 22, and so here he is. I'm looking up that studio the minute I get to CA.
Wow I remember this! Did you ever look up the guy with the small music business?
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