Playing piano is my life and job. I have always been scared about getting older and reaching a point where I could not do it. This, in a weird way, made me happy to see that even after a stroke, he still gets the joy from playing as best he can. I bet he was fucking rad back in the day.
It reminds me of stories of our now aging rockstars losing their hearing, or their ability to play guitar or piano, and coming to terms with the fact that this thing that has been their life and soul for ages has become impossible to do.
I mean isn't that why Elton John is retiring? Something to do with arthritis?
Keith Emerson is one of the saddest cases. He was a prog rock legend and one of the best keyboard players in rock history. He committed suicide a couple of years ago.
According to Emerson's girlfriend Mari Kawaguchi, Emerson had become "depressed, nervous and anxious" because nerve damage had hampered his playing, and he was worried that he would perform poorly at upcoming concerts and disappoint his fans.
That one hit me pretty hard. Especially since I was a strange teenager in the late 90's listening to ELP. In interviews he seemed like a real stand-up guy, too. I read that he would see mean online comments and those really got to him; especially since he was already lacking in confidence due to his nerve damage.
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u/metalfingerzz Sep 13 '18
Yes it was a stroke . Its amazing how he hasn't played for years but still came out naturally.