Centerville OH

I was waiting for the concert in Centerville OH. It meant that i will stay in the house of my parents in law. My best groupies Lily, Andrea and Caterina drove there from Chicago too. 

When you have in laws: father - italian, mother - venezuelan ... you will never be hungry. There are seconds and 3rds for everybody. Giuseppe will keep saying "mangia mangia" untill you are ready to explode.  Grazie Pepe! I am in heaven!!! (This is my 3rd pork chop) 

After few hours of eating we had a little siesta with Lily, Caterina and Sofie to make sure the calories are distributed evenly. "Hey, Caterina, don't lean too much on your cousin Sofie!"

The next day everybody was in their pajamas. There was more food and more siestas. I even forgot that i had a show at night. My piano was tested and approved by experts.

Not bad!

but where is everybody?

oh! here they are. Let's have fun, say quick good byes to the family and ... drive for 3 hours at night to the next destination. 

Long night! 

Oil City PA day 2

Since there was a mess with the schedules we woke up early for nothing. Our faces were not happy because we both are maniacs of sleeping in. K and i decided to split up and clean our souls. That gave me an opportunity to explore the town. It was quite strange. There were not any people there ... Empty ... but there were lots of beautiful churches. There were four of them within 2 blocks.

The presence of God was powerfull. 

Catholic churches make me happy. You can recognize them from miles away. The Gothic era left a strong imprint on their architecture. Even if it was dark ages i still think that it was very romantic! Hunchback and Esmeralda. 

Also the library was stunning. 

Now i know why California is called wild west. 

Oil City was founded in 1860. There was first commercially successful oil drilling in 1859. This was very thriving community until Penzoil, Quaker State and others relocated elsewhere and left this town in very bad economic shape. Lots of welfare. That explained the empty streets and very few restaurants. 

Nobody goes out. Empty cafes.  After not memorable lunch  i went back to my hotel. On the way i didn't make any friends.

Before the concert instead of practicing i spent talking to the sound engineer lady. I sat at the piano under the concert lighting carelessly pressing random piano keys and she stood by the stage. We didn't say anything important but it was very peaceful and laid back atmosphere. For a split second i thought that i am really enjoying this scene. It was just us two strangers shooting the breeze in a huge hall waiting for the first audience to appear ... and they did. 

Oil City PA

Pennsylvania! I am packed and ready for you!

The drive to Oil City PA was very claustrophobic. I had to talk to the hand a couple of times.

The name Oil City is sooooooooo not inspiring. But ... what a surprise!

Wow! This looks like Lithuania

Not anymore.

It seemed that i had a serious competition there. 

Tomorrow is my turn to show what Lithuanian cowboys are capable of. 

Lancaster OH

It is scary that there are some days which are full of events but they are erased from memory immediately. I wonder if my hard drive is too full of information. Sometimes i feel that i lose perception of what is important. There are so many events of the same sort following each other that they seem to change only the names and dispose the previous ones. It is funny that i know what will happen tomorrow. I just don't know how it will look and how will it sound. Next day the same but new. I never in my life experienced such a prolonged routine. I sound so cliche. I sound like any corporate soldier. It is not true. I love my life! It couldn't be better. This tour is an indulgence of the moment and the change.

"hey kid, you don't even know what life is planning for you. you gonna die just like the rest of us. somebody with music and somebody without it. its all in your hands".

its worth to try it

...

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. 

Saginaw MI

It was one of these days when we had to drive and play the concert on the same day. Along the road there was enough stimulation for the eye.

Since we we had extra 2 hours on the road I really wanted to stop and to explore the area next to Huron lake. It didn't look like the beach of Ipanema but it definitely had a character. I felt like in Chechov's novel. Very lonely.     

Finally we got to Saginaw and went straight to my temple. 

The venue was incredible! 

New C7 Yamaha piano felt really good and  the sound/light crew was fast and super cool. The funniest thing was the lady on the organ who opens every concert at the "Temple". She played music of the 20's and 30's on this original pipe organ. She was pipin' ; ) 

Poor Keeth was very cold with his t-shirt there. I guess getting these great shots kept him warm.

After the show we had business dinner at the hotel restaurant with the concert promoter and then crashed. Next day was 5 hour drive to Ohio. OMG! 

Alpena MI

Michigan was gorgeous! Since i drove and K was sleeping i found an excuse to stop and enjoy the nature.

The autumn did amazing wonders.

I realized that for me it is necessary to experience the change of seasons. If i don't, then it seems that i loose a great spectrum of emotions produced by all these changes. I want to see the nature die ...

... and later to enjoy its rejuvenation. I want to shovel the snow and not go to the damn gym. California makes me anemic. Its seems that people who go through the changes of the seasons are more flexible. Alpena MI was the cutest little town. Everything was done tastefully and the people were beautiful. The concert for the high school kids was the most enjoyable experience. I talked with them about romance, played some music from Twilight and of course my "top hits". 

At the end i had standing ovations at the ... high school. That's unheard of!!! The afternoon was for business and pre concert naps. Someone managed to combine both.

I couldn't be in better mood on the way to the show. 

The sound check was short because the hall had great acoustics and didn't need any improvements.

The most time we spent doing some adjustments in the ceiling in order for me to make a dangerous acrobatic maneuvers. My plan was to fly above the stage and to land in front of the piano.

Everything worked perfectly.

I am alive and ready for new adventures.