Thumpless

[gordon stelter]

     Yup. I live in the 5th poorest county in the
U.S., poorer than New Orleans' infamous 9th ward. 
I moved here in 1986, after 6 years in a  monastery,
when the head monk threw me out for singing "The Best
Things in Life Are Free", in the kitchen. ( De Silva,
Brown, Henderson, "Good News", 1927. )  He barked: "If
you like music so much, why don't you move to Athens,
with all the other musicians !!!" 
     The town is deceptive. Seat of the University of
Georgia, it was created as a  place for the plantation
owners to send their sons for an education. Their
mansions line Milledge Avenue ( frat houses nowadays )
and, at first, it looks like a very  prosperous place.
But right behind the fancy houses on the main streets
are all the 1 and 2 room "slave shacks" of the
original slaves and their descendants, still there,
doing the dirty work for minimum wage. ( Though the
Mexicans are doing much of it, today. ) Hence, you
have a massive population of dirt-poor people, and a 
very few wealthy ones who are used to having others
work for them for free, or next to it. ( Though
millionaires, they generally think that $25/hour for
house-calls is exorbitant. )
     Add to that the fact that most of them own pianos
merely as status sybols, to be tuned once a decade,
and never played or regulated, and you have a  really
lousy place to be a piano technician. I intend to
leave this fall. exactly to where, I'm not sure, yet.
     Thump


--- Ric Brekne <ricbrek at broadpark.no> wrote:

> Time to move perhaps ???
> 
> Cheers
> RicB
> 
> PS... Looking very much forward to Rochester and
> getting the chance to attend a <<National>> again.
> 
> 
> 
> ----------------
> 
> 
> Sorry, again. I know it would have been a 
> wonderful, informative time for me. But I live in an
> extremely economically depressed area, where pianos
> are just not a  priority for many people, and,
> regardless of how I apply myself,  my "bottom line"
> reflects this.
> 
>     Thanks again!
>     Thumpster
> 
> 


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