"It's A Bunch Of Baloney"

At the article on The Olympian about the Lennon Piano event, the first "comment" that came up was someone saying, "What a bunch of baloney." It made me laugh, but then I thought I have to respond. So I did. Here's what I said:

Well, you know, to comment on the previous statement, "baloney" or not, it was a stunningly gorgeous day in the northwest. The sun was shining brightly. The air crisp, cool and dry.

Olympia was a jewel in the sun. The shady, expansive downtown park sparsely populated with kids, dogs and sunbathers, the character-filled storefronts on the clean streets, the Chinese restaurant with the HUGE portions, the hotel with the brown on brown rooms.

And the close friends and extended family who attended the event were very sincere people. We talked about Bill, how he was a very smart and involved person. And even with a supportive family, the violence that was visited upon him destroyed him.

Photo by Toni L. Bailey/The Olympian

I was more than humbled to have been asked to perform. As a musician who grew up idolizing The Beatles and who believes in the power of the kind of relentless non-violence as idealized by John Lennon, to play this piano, the very one on which he composed "Imagine" was the kind of once in a lifetime fantasy no self-respecting songwriter would ever turn down.

If that's baloney, serve me up a big deli-sized sandwich.

PS The photos by Toni L. Bailey are breathtaking. But am I really that old? Oy.