Playing Piano for "People and Stories"

I have two friends named Mimi, and by chance both are part of an organization called People and Stories that asked me to play some solo piano for their spring fundraiser. The forsythia was blooming in vases along the edge of glorious Mackay Lounge at the Seminary, and a grand piano was waiting to be played as people filtered in.

One small admission: I'm more of a reed player than a pianist, but people seemed very happy with the string of original piano pieces I had prepared for the occasion, pieces like Will a' the Wisp, This is Love, Anyway, and Dorothy's Garden. Some of these I play and talk about on my youtube channel. There's always someone who comes over and wants to talk at length while you're playing, and I was glad to see that my chops are good enough to carry on a conversation in the midst of performing. 

The fundraiser event was very impressive--well attended, with a very articulate and moving expression of the organization's mission by one of its leaders, followed by a reading and Q and A by famed author Jennifer Egan. She kept the audience spellbound through her reading, the sort of rapt attention where you could have heard a pin drop. Egan is a gifted writer and an equally gifted presenter. It turned out to be their best attended benefit to date.