LA Times article

[Mark Schecter]

Here's my favorite part:

[Elliott remembers working in New York in the '80s and frequently going 
to Carnegie Hall "10 minutes before a performance — the audience is 
seated and the piano sounds terrible. It's survival. You can only rely 
on your brain and your ear. You have to go through it as quickly as 
possible, bring the thing together to be usable. And it's not possible 
with a machine. Every piano's not the same. To make it sound beautiful 
and resonant, you don't take the same approach."]

So this guy frequently takes care of the piano at Carnegie Hall, yet it 
sounds terrible. Knowing this, he shows up 10 minutes before showtime. 
His brain and ear are so spectacular that he's able to go through the 
thing and make it usable, even beautiful and resonant. That's what I 
call taking care of the situation. Good thing he's not dependent on a 
machine. If he were, he'd never be able to finish in time. Especially 
with the audience watching.

What a load.

-Mark Schecter