Please join me Saturday October 24th at 7 p.m. as we welcome the new piano to the Areopagitica Book Store’s cozy “back room.” That’s at 3510 N. High Street near Oakland Park.
To celebrate its arrival, I’ll play and sing some classic (not classical) piano tunes. So far, the eclectic song list includes tunes made famous by folks like the Eagles, Bette Midler, Harry Belafonte, Judy Garland, the Beatles, Dan Fogelberg, the Everly Brothers, and even Jiminy Cricket.
To keep the spotlight on the new piano, we’ll also play a bit of “piano trivia.” Light refreshments will be served, and we’ll have a couple of surprises for you. The evening will end by 9 p.m. so you can go out for that pizza you’ll probably be craving.
It’s a totally free concert, but we’ll have a tip jar out, in case you feel like contributing to what we think is a darn good cause: helping send my wife Randi to the Dominican Republic for 10 days of volunteering with the International Medical Alliance. As she did last February, Randi will once again be serving as an interpreter, helping a team of volunteer doctors, nurses, and medical students as they provide rare medical care to impoverished Spanish-speaking villagers.
And, back to that new piano. It’s a generous donation to the Columbus Folk Music Society from Ann Fisher and her family. Now that they no longer need it, the piano will be available to accompany the growing myriad of special events at the book store. They include poetry readings, the monthly Columbus Folk Music Society Coffeehouse, the regular Saturday night mini-concerts sponsored by book store owners Rebecca and Doug Rutledge, a newly-relocated Thursday night musical jam session, and even dramas and musicals put on by the new Columbus Civic Theater.
First things first, though. See you Saturday October 24th at 7 p.m., and we’ll see if those piano lessons my parents paid for 50 years ago were a waste of money or not.