completely off topic

[f h <boyboy_8@YAHOO.COM>]

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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