>>> 🎼 ..... The Grand Piano ..... 🎼 <<<

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This is Part I of the Story

🎼 ..... The Grand Piano ..... 🎼

It‘s been a few years. However, I remember the experience as if it was only yesterday. It was
the time when I started to-just-travel-around-the-world. Wherever I liked, I stopped for a few
days to dive in the sea, to listen to the existing rhythm of the region or even to get to know a
person. It was the time, when I began to discover myself. I did uncover areas that until then
had been waiting under a heavy blanket of fear. I lived those days 'wild' -- like an adventurer.

Although I preferred to go far away with my GT -- the interior was then my safe place and
refuge -- from time to time, I felt also drawn to destinations that one only could reach by
ship or plane. My first flight was a long-haul flight to the Philippines. After I had survived
that endeavour, the big planes became my friends ... not least because I loved to catch
the attention of the flight attendants.

One of my middle long-distance destinations was in the south of Turkey, a small place called
Kaş. In ancient times, we named it Antiphellos … we still find traces of this time. The area
displays this past with an unashamed grace and among the inhabitants; it is never quite clear
whether Greek or Turkish blood predominates. I love this place! The fact that the nearest
airports are in Antalia and Dalaman makes this place unattractive for package holidaymakers,
who are reluctant to make the long transfer. Thus, a paradise for a special kind of people
has developed there and, as in every hot country, the 'real' life in Kaş only begins when the
sun has already sunk into the deep blue of the sea for a few hours.

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This is Part II of the Story

There is a large square in the centre of Kaş. It is bordered on the south side by the harbour
and the open sea. Traditionally, this is where the restaurants and cafes are to-be-found, and
once a bank holiday has indicated, it becomes the People's Festival Square. In the side streets,
almost all of which lead to the sea, there are a few music cafes. In these, live performances
can be heard again-and-again, and as a rule, they are performed between door and door.
Therefore, the visitors sit both, inside and outside the café. Kaş loves blues and light rock,
the music of the 70s. A paradise for those who started their future in the Love & Peace Era.
It also makes the H.E.A.D. (high-end audio device) superfluous … completly. Kaş vibrates at
night and even women with blonde hair can frequent this place alone without the risk of
being 'stupidly' hit on. I spent many terrific hours there and got to meet some special people.

In the streets at night hangs the heavy scent of jasmine and the beguiling fragrance of angel
trumpets. After a few days, you simply forget your everyday life. For me, 'dreaming-while-
awake' begins in such moments and I like to follow it. It is what we preferred to do as children
and too often forget to do as adults. Floating around in the sea during the day and listening
to live music at night, bathing in oriental scents ... it is paradise, pure and simple.


>>> I went for Scuba-Technical-and-Apnoea-Diving there...

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This is Part III of the Story

"Live is but a dream within a dream.... "

Not from me, but true nonetheless. Edgar Allen Poe wrote it. On one such night, closer
to dreams than everyday life, I met a very special person ... although this was not in Kaş.
I had met the lady during a walk on the beach and heard her play in a live concert. She
has the beautiful name Akari ..., which means 'brightness' or 'light'. Akari is the daughter
of an American father and a Japanese mother. She is a pianist and also writes her own
compositions ... loves both, jazz and blues. She told me that she sees herself as past
conflict between two nations. I told her that conflicts between mother and father often
brings a very healthy immun system in the children....

That evening there was a grand piano right in front of the adjoining garden. The doors
were open and so the interior and the garden merged into one. I had once again wildly
thundered through Europe like a man possessed, had visited the southern tips 'Gibraltar'
and and left 'Sagre' behind me. Still before Lisbon, I met Akari, who invited me to her
performance.

"And very many remain forever clinging to this cliff,
cling painfully all their lives to the irretrievably past,
to the dream of the lost paradise, which is the worst
and most murderous of all dreams. "

_______________________________________________Hermann Hesse

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This is Part IV of the Story

"But how, when we make our most beautiful dreams, our life?! I find it amazing that we
can have all our moments - every single one - in absolute abundance. To perceive time
as a linear process is a dilemma. In this we experience the ups-and-downs of life... must
wait for the tide and linger in the ebb. How if we anchor our perception in the infinite? "

That evening, I sat in the garden in front of the café and listened to the melancholic,
wistful playing of a magnificent artist. And even though many things may have already
taken on a life of their own and changed in memory ... one thing has remained. The
intensity with which I was able to perceive the interplay between acoustics and visual
impression.

The lighting reduced to a minimum. There was a spotlight directed at Akari. The black
lacquer of the grand piano -- hit by a Ferrari-red laser, as if the upper frame edge of the
flap, which protects the keys when not in use, had been painted red. Akari wore a black,
velvet dress with long thin straps. Her shoulders, back and arms revealed fine-pored,
fair skin. Her rather petite figure and fine limbs gave a transcendental impression.
Akari's long and silky black hair and the lines of her eyebrows gave an exceedingly
coherent image. This only -- and deliberately -- wonderfully and expressively 'disturbed'
by a lipstick that was also Ferrari red. If I have had not, long since been trained in
discretion, the outcry of overflowing happiness would have drowned out the play
of the notes presented.

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This is Part V of the Story

🎼 ..... The Grand Piano ..... 🎼

Although the concert was not overly long, I could hardly wait for it to end. I was looking
forward to seeing Akari by my side again and showering her with my enthusiasm. With,
not a single doubt in my mind I just knew that eventualy that would happen. Unlimited
eccentricity.

In the trees in the garden, the cicadas or crickets were singing their songs. There was
a smell of grilled fish, meat and rosemary. The wind brought alternating hot air and
somewhat refreshing breezes. It seemed to come from all directions. Eventually I
realised when Akari rose from the wing, that there was a transparent bowl with water
and open caper blossoms ... filigree beauty wherever my eyes looked.

I waited patiently - in dynamic anticipation - but Akari left me to my longing. I was
about to get up and leave when she finally came over to me on the café. I felt my
heart beat in my throat and joy rise in my spine. I stood up and offered her a seat
next to me. Under the gaze of her audience, Akari took a seat as if it was the most
natural thing in the world.



🎼 ..... The Grand Piano ..... 🎼

"...normally I don't go among the audience after
a performance ... but, that was impossible today.
You were beaming so much, I just had to come!"

"I don't usually go to concerts either but after we
met on the beach I couldn't help it and just had
to come. And, what you saw was just a reflection
of what you accomplished, Akari. It was a breath-
taking play for the senses...!"

We spent the rest of the evening and part of the night still in the café. Due, to the fact
fact that Akari had made her appearance, a bonus were given, but eventually we had
to leave too. In other words, we kindly shown the door. We would have gone through
the whole night, and then had breakfast together -- well, it turned out differently...

THANK YOU
michael



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>>> The images displayed are NOT from the concert. They are my creation, though.
>>> I wrote it during my first registration, here on PPG. It is an edited version and
the first one was without images.