From: f h <boyboy_8@YAHOO.COM>
Reply-To: f h <boyboy_8@YAHOO.COM>
To: F_MINOR@EMAIL.RUTGERS.EDU
Subject: completely off topic
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 19:10:36 -0800
Hi gang, this is totally off topic so forgive me. I
was watching tv last week (a rarity for me nowadays)
and CBC TV had a special on Oscar Peterson. He was
filmed playing live in Toronto quite recently, as
there was a big jazz conference in town and he was
honored and so he played with a small band at Roy
Thompson Hall. Well, my jaw dropped open at what I
saw. His left hand is entirely crippled and could not
move. His right hand was a shadow of what it used to
be able to do. This is age and arthritis. It was the
saddest thing I'd seen in so long, a very great man
reduced to a small fraction of what he once was. I
could not help but wonder what he was thinking, in
terms of deciding to perform in public, when he really
could not. It was terribly sad. So, why do I post
this? What would of come of Gould, I wondered, if he
had been really crippled, like Peterson, with a
debilitating disease? I cannot imagine Gould
performing either on recordings or live (!!!) with
anything less than 100% ability.
Comments?
best regards,
Fred Houpt
(who thinks the world of our beloved Oscar Peterson)
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