I'm the Piano Man

Of course, today in class you were treated to either Harry Chapin's Taxi or Springsteen's Meeting Across the River. Both narrators were flawed characters, one a stoned cabbie and the another a Soprano wannie-be who's about to do something illegal to make a quick two grand. Other than you're ability to riff on these rock classics, I hope you didn't miss the other point,that being that interesting characters are often flawed ones, their flaws revealing certain inherent weaknesses in the human condition like greed, ambition, jealousy, etc. In many cases, they're aware of their faults, sometimes try to correct them, but fail and fail again or maybe they succeed and amend their ways forever. This doesn't happen in the course of a four-minute song where characters are "static" and don't change a bit, but in YOUR short story . . . . Well, here you have more than four minutes to put these characters to the test, place them into a situation where they are faced with an internal conflict to TRY to change, and depending on your own inclination, they can fall flat on their face or lift themselves out of the mire.

Do I take requests? Someone shouted out for Billy Joel's Piano Man in class today, I think. Sure. I know a little Billy Joel. Imagine this guy's life, playing songs for lovable drunks in a cheap bar--part-time entertainer, part-time philosopher, part-time psychologist. Here's my short story. It's part interior, part dramatic monologue, and I talk to my flawed but interesting customers, listen to their sad stories, and pick certain songs to play to lighten up their otherwise humdrum existences. One of my piano favorites is Hoagy Carmichael's Stardust. Another is Dave Brubreck playing You Go to My Head. Or Antonio Carlos Jobim's The Girl from Ipanema. Before last call every night, I close my show every night with a sing-along to, of course, Piano Man. Come on in to my piano bar and I guarantee that you'll feel better.