I Should've Learned...

...to play the piano. There are a lot of skills and talents in life that I wish I would've taken the time to develop. Playing the piano is one of them. I never really thought much of the piano at an early age. Sure, it was beautiful to hear some old lady at church play a hymn on, but that was it. Then one summer at church camp in Tifton, GA, I realized the true power of a piano.



The gym we had all of our meetings in had a game room to pass the down time and consume our quarters. Its was also one of the few places you got to hang with Christians of the female variety. To a young man going through puberty, this was a VERY popular spot. Then one day it happened. I was knee deep into a game of Donkey Kong Jr. and even had a decent crowd watching. All of a sudden I heard a racket and noticed everyone was disappearing around me. I played until my game ended and decided to see what on earth could possibly be more interesting than video games and Dr. Pepper. The hallway between the game room and the gym had a small piano, and on this piano was a young man banging away at those ivory keys, and all around this unlikely duo of a boy and an old lady's instrument was what must of been every pretty girl in all of Tifton Georgia that day. With every Jerry Lee Lewis impression the young beauties of south Georgia giggled, swooned and swayed. This young man, was suddenly the Alpha Male of church camp.



How could this be? I was outmatched. This was unfair. How could a young man compete with this? My sense of humor could only get me so far, and to be frank, I was kinda shy and awkward as a young man, so getting a girl to laugh was my best bet. Still working that angle today as a matter of fact. So, along with all the other guys, I returned in defeat to my video games. And everyday for the rest of the week, the young Elton John entertained the ladies. I hope he turned out gay too.



Regardless of what this young man's sexual orientation turned out to be, the fact was that day, he was the man. Not to mention, his talent was amazing. I played instruments growing up, but none had the effect on the ladies like that piano did. And, as everyman can attest, pretty much everything we do in life, is simply to impress women. So chalk one up for that guy. Now, the whole inspiration for this article and trip down memory lane, was because of this video I came across this morning of another talented young man by the name of Greyson Michael
a sixth grader with mad skills on the black and ivory keys. Here he performs a version of "Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga:



Now, I was skeptical at first to even watch the video, because I think very little of Lady Gaga. To quote young Greyson "Lady Gaga is a freak". But her songs are pretty catchy. Well, this young man's version of her song was much better. It look like he is already impressing the ladies as well. This skill will take you far young Jedi master. I'm sure one day you'll be watching a grown up version of Greyson on TV. I look forward to it. As for me, it's never too late to learn something new. Maybe I should buy a keyboard and take some lessons. Who knows? I could be the next "Piano Man".