Freaky Story in Griffin GA

Woke up @ 1 pm. Still tired. Lunch. Facebook. Time for sound check. The tech guys were not talkers at all. One of them was completely silent. They both were buff and no smiles. 

I liked that. He was doing his job and i was doing mine. 

The piano was an ancient honky tonk however it worked for this hall. No complaints. I liked the venue.

The audience was very slow to react. Imagine a classical pianist going on the stage and telling with KGB accent that he will play torturous Beethoven.  I would be scared to death. But its ok. I knew they will catch up at the end. I was slowly breaking the walls and enjoying that. In my shows i never had a flop at the end ; ) But today it was like pulling the train with the left overs of my energy. 

FREAKY STORY:

Today happened the most bizarre thing in my concert history. I talked about New Orleans, about 1800's, about the fun that people were having there. Then i played a Ragtime. On the last chord i looked to my left towards the dark stage and .............there was a black face without teeth staring at me from the darkness. I freaked out. I started to talk to him in the mic hoping that audience will understand the situation but the audience thought that it was my act and they were expecting some funny punch lines. Well, they didn't get any because i was dealing there with another "world" who had no intentions to leave the stage. I said politely to him "sorry man, we are here in the middle of something". I felt stupid after i said that but that what it came out from my mouth. For the first time i was caught in such a surreal situation + in real time. The audience were looking at me from my right side, the homeless dude from my left and i was in the middle ... in the spotlight. Its like a worst dream that could happen to a musician. When the security realized what was happening they came on the stage and justified their functionality ; ) After that i told audience that i am not playing ragtimes anymore. I chose Schubert in Tango style. That was better although i still was checking the backstage for new fans. 

Finally the concert was a great success. The audience was riled up and gave me very satisfying roar at the end. The silent lighting guy did the best light show ever. I told him that he had a total freedom during the show and he overcame my expectations. He was so sensitive to the music and changed lighting accordingly. Great intuition. That inspired me to play even more. Also ... he talked to me after the show and told me very nice things.  I was flattered. Silent guys do not say b...it.

Just an exercise for your eyes.