Mt Vernon OH

I always wondered how is Ohio. Most Californians or other urban dwellers like to put down the Midwest. Often i feel that they think if you live in CA or NY you are special, lucky (whatever that means), well to do, damn smart, open minded, chosen, etc. After visiting so many places i fall in love with each of them even if feel like getting the ... out of there (this was mostly caused by the quality of the hotels ; ). Lots of of my "open minded" friends forget to open one more door in order to become really "open". This country is amazing with all its differences which i am not planning to except but i see the beauty in them. Today after the concert Keeth and i we were sitting at the bar with a couple of people from the venue. I led our conversation to the quite controversial direction in order to "test the waters". It was fun to hear radical (for me) theories. What i enjoyed the most was the natural way of communication and naiveté. I took very non PC position (being myself) and was truly interested in discussing something that polite citizens do not. I am sick of trying to break the ice and BS for hours and have the most boring (trying to impress) cocktail conversations. In the middle of Ohio, in the bar i had the best time. These people laughed at me also they were shocked and had very interesting questions.I loved it. But let's go to the morning. 

I went for a walk in downtown Mt. Vernon. What about that?

checked out my venue (not the one on the right ; ) 

and was ready to cross the street but all of a sudden i saw this. Wow!!!!!!!!! Ohio!!!!!!!

 

I looked for more but the rest was just cute historical buildings and

empty streets.

At the student concert ... hmmm .... i had to be very creative in order to keep their "close" attention ; )

I know i always say that but the venue blew me away again. Great Steinway.

and sold out.

My friend who toured the country a year ago told me that Mt. Vernon is one of his favorite places. I thought "good for you". But that was one of my favorites too. I could feel the breathing 1000 seat hall audience. The piano sounded gorgeous. I played my best so far.  

For the Moonlight Sonata i had a ... disco ball. Ok, call me Liberace. I don't care! I like to entertain. The light engineer was very excited and so was i.  Although the camera could not pick up the reflections. You still can see the ball, ha ha ha. 

Having the audience members on stage and playing with them are always a crowd pleaser. They were very funny!

At the end i was signing everywhere. Well, not exactly ... just CDs, programs, postcards and the the piano. 

I just received a cute FB message from somebody in the balcony. 

"Thanks for a great concert in Mount Vernon tonight...come back soon! (name) in the balcony!

Any time, dude! 

Ohio left the best impressions for me. Maybe people think and live different lifes but who said that mine is right.