A feel-good story

[avery1@houston.rr.com]

Phil, 

I agree with you. Fred is a wonderful pianist and a great guy on top of it. I've tuned for him many times over the years, primarily when I still lived in San Angelo. He performed with the orchestra several times while I was servicing the pianos there. 

A year or two ago, I found out from his newsletter that he was performing in a town a few hours north of Houston, so I decided to attend. I drove up and got there in time to hear the rehearsal. The piano had not been tuned yet and even after the rehearsal, no one showed up to tune it. Fred got hold of the symphony manager who called their usual tuner and found out he wasn't going to be able to do it. 

After leaving there the next day, I was going to Beaumont to work, so I had all my tools with me. Fred asked if I would do it and of course, I did. 

After the concert & reception, he invited me back to his motel room where he and the conductor were going to have a few drinks. I enjoyed the concert and had a good time afterwards. 

Hopefully, one of these days, I'm going to be able to get him here to perform and give a Masterclass. I think he'd be great with the students. He also does recitals at museums and ties in his music with the art work. I believe he also does performances at public schools, too. All in all a great guy! 

Avery 

----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Bondi <phil@philbondi.com>
Date: Sunday, February 20, 2005 7:57 am
Subject: A feel-good story

> I think we need one right about now..

Snip