Last Night's Gig

[bitflipper]

Last night I met a fellow who's been playing piano for 32 years, with a penchant for honky-tonk. He's the bartender and owner of last night's venue. 32 years on the keys, but get this: he only took up the piano at age 60. I can only hope that I have as many intact brain cells at 92. Interesting guy. I suspect he has mob ties. Meeting him was the highlight of the evening.

Lake City Way used to be a major highway into and out of Seattle. Nowadays it's one of those too-busy "stroads", a daily rush hour traffic jam and site of many accidents. Reminds me of Hayward, CA with a few more trees.

But sandwiched between the chain retailers and car dealerships there sits an anachronistic anomaly that bills itself as "Seattle's Last Roadhouse". Built in 1932 and looking like it hasn't seen many major improvements since then, it's a local landmark. I've driven past it hundreds of times and never really given it a second thought beyond "you don't see places like that anymore". There's no readerboard, just a small hand-made sign out front that reads "Live Music Tonight".

This place is unusual for several reasons. They're only open one day a week, from 7:30 till midnight. They don't serve food or mixed drinks, just beer and wine. It exists solely for live music. Guests pay $10 to get in. There's a large dance floor but most of the patrons sit and listen to the band, and applaud enthusiastically. As well as generously feed the tip jar. It was a treat. Looking forward to going back there.

Owner John Spaccoratelli:

[Grem]

Great story bit. 

Hope you get more gigs there.

[Byron Dickens]

5 minutes ago, bitflipper said:

Last night I met a fellow who's been playing piano for 32 years, with a penchant for honky-tonk. He's the bartender and owner of last night's venue. 32 years on the keys, but get this: he only took up the piano at age 60. I can only hope that I have as many intact brain cells at 92. Interesting guy. I suspect he has mob ties. Meeting him was the highlight of the evening.

There's a fair amount of research showing that playing an instrument does all kinds of good for the brain.

[bitflipper]

7 minutes ago, Byron Dickens said:

There's a fair amount of research showing that playing an instrument does all kinds of good for the brain.

I'm putting a lot of hope into that being true. My father, his mother, his sister and my mom's mom all died from Alzheimer's. Every time I forget where I left my keys, I panic a little.

[Grem]

6 minutes ago, bitflipper said:

mom all died from Alzheimer's.

My wife's mother has this. And she fears the same as you bit.

I am starting to see it in her I think. Things shes told me a few days ago she will tell me again. In the same way, same words. She's starting to figure out my expressions because she will add, "Oh, I already told you this."

She plays piano and guitar. Can read music. Sings.

[bitflipper]

On the upside, dementia does allow you to enjoy your old record collection as if they were all new. Wouldn't you like to hear Dark Side of the Moon or In The Court of the Crimson King for the first time again?

[Monomox]

34 minutes ago, Byron Dickens said:

There's a fair amount of research showing that playing an instrument does all kinds of good for the brain.

there's a fair amount of research (by me) showing that what a fair amount of research says is good in general doesn't do anything for me

😉

[pwal³]

My dad has mixed dementia and my mum undiagnosed dementia of some kind

And playing music on an instrument is like physical maths

[John Vere]

I just turned 70. I still love playing live. Last night at 7PM the owner of the local Brewery called to ask were I was? I said you booked me for next week, not tonight,,, pause, and then she said oh my god you are right,,, any chance you can still make it?  I said sure why not. She said they would set up their house PA. OK

I grabbed my Guitar,  laptop and my road case that still had everything from the last gig in it ( hopefully) and by 8PM I was playing. The house PA was a old Yamaha Box mixer and a set of even older Roland 10" speakers. Oh well,  not much low end.  It's a supper noisy brew pub all echo's anyhow nobody will notice. They were super impressed that I could show up totally unprepared and jump right in with out any issues other than desperately trying to squeeze something nice out of the PA. But that's what comes with 48 years of doing this stuff.  I didn't have time to create a playlist so I played my list in alphabetical order. I skipped songs I didn't want. It's an interesting way to make a set list. IT worked. Started with All my lovin and ended with Whiter Shade of Pale. 

It's not just to keep your brain active I think it fends off arthritis in the fingers as well. My hands look gnarled up but they still do the trick. Muscle Memory. 

[bitflipper]

Yeh, it sure beats golf for an old-guy hobby. Although I suppose both teach you patience.

The youngest member of my band is about to turn 30. He rarely gets stressed over musical things, mainly because he's got the deserved confidence of a superb player. But he does stress out over his non-musical life, e.g. girlfriends, roommates, inconsiderate bosses, and of course, money. The rest of us are all over 50. We mostly only stress about which part of our bodies will fail next. 

[craigb]

Yeah...  Unfortunately, my mother (who turned 94 last month) appears to be almost gone.  It's come and gone before, but lately (last month) it's really gotten bad.  VERY hard to have my daily talk with her; nothing is real.  That said, she's mostly happy from her fake reality, so I guess there is that!  🙁

[John Vere]

I spent my last 5 years before retirement working in a care facility as an Activity worker. I know at lot more about dementia than most people would.
Music was definitely the one thing even the most far gone souls could hang on to.  I had people who were none verbal sing along with me.  It was a weird and wonderful job. 

My Mom got true Alzheimer’s at only 62 years old. My Dad about 10 years later had strokes which is different but same sort of symptoms. I was the prime Caregiver for my Dad, he kinda looked after Mom. But that’s what caused his strokes, the stress. 
Their diet was terrible and they were both obese sat around didn’t do much.  
You need to keep a very close eye on you folks if you are their only contact and support. People fall through the cracks.  Old folks can put on a good front and fool you into thinking everything is just fine. 
Defiantly check the fridge for rotten food.  

So my advice if you want to dodge the bullet is stay healthy by eating right and keep busy. Take up new hobbies.  Don’t watch TV. That definitely leads to brain rot. 

[Gswitz]

Bit, these posts make me very happy. Thanks for them!

[bitflipper]

10 hours ago, JohnnyV said:

Music was definitely the one thing even the most far gone souls could hang on to

For the two years my dad was in a "memory care" facility, I'd go in and play piano for the residents during their evening meal. Great gig; free pudding and you can repeat numbers all you want.

Interestingly, most of them reacted very positively, even those who would otherwise spend their days staring off into space. One lady had been a classical pianist, and I had a conversation with her about what it was like performing in the 1920s. Afterward, her caregiver told me she hadn't interacted with anyone in months. So I totally concur with your assertion that music appreciation lingers to the end, even after losing basic mental facilities such as recognizing your children or feeding yourself.

[bitflipper]

Sheesh, this thread sure took a somber turn. Sorry about that, I only wanted to share an enjoyable experience.

In a couple weeks we're playing a 25th-anniversary high school class reunion. We'll be playing 50-year-old songs to people who hadn't even been born yet when they were current. Fortunately, rock 'n roll is timeless. To quote Homer Simpson: "Everyone knows rock attained perfection in 1974. It's a scientific fact."

[57Gregy]

57 minutes ago, bitflipper said:

To quote Homer Simpson: "Everyone knows rock attained perfection in 1974. It's a scientific fact."

Didn't he also say Grand Funk was the greatest band of all time?

[bitflipper]

He said a lot of things that were, um, not well-reasoned. 

"And how is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?"

[craigb]