The Drunken Piano Man

Monday May 11, 2009

Anatoly, who I met Sunday through Andrei, invited me to his band's practice for the morning. He came and picked me up, and we were off to the club for my new experience! It was a little bit unnerving as I stepped through the doorway, where the heavy metal door had just swung open, and down into the little space that served as a club on weekends. Off to the right was a bar--the band members had started in on the drinks, even though it was only 10:00 am, complete with a round of Vodka.

We then went into a little side room that had been sound-proofed. The door was covered with a thick Russian rug to ensure silence for those outside and upstairs. Practice started and they sounded really good. I spent some of the time searching for new vocab words to improve my Russian. I then decided to step back out into the bar area to write down my list of new words. As I was searching through my dictionary, one of the guys not playing came over to see if he could help. I asked him which words were used in which situations. It soon became clear that this was a fruitless endeavor, however, as he was drunk. The conversation was really strange, and I tried to talk him into laying down on a different couch because he said he didn't feel very good. He kept trying to put his head on my shoulder and hold my hand.

Luckily, Anatoly came out at the moment and I stood up and went over to the piano. I played Fur Elise for those outside the side-studio. The drunk guy came over and asked if I would teach him to play. I tried to teach him the simple part of Heart and Souls, but it wasn't taking well. He kept turning to me and saying, "But, I'm drunk, how am I supposed to learn this? Come on, I'm drunk." Followed by, "But, please teach me, come on, can't you teach me something?" I would try and play a scale slowly to appease him, then I would just start playing on my own, thinking he'd given up, only to hear repeated, "But, I'm drunk, how am I supposed to learn this? Come on, I'm drunk," followed by, "But, please teach me, come on, can't you teach me something?"

And that is the story of how I tried to teach a drunk man to play the piano. Crazy, crazy times with Russian vodka and the effects thereof. Sasha called not long after this and asked if I'd be free later that day--yes, I assured him, I would. I somehow didn't feel bad leaving the club.