It has been a long time since I reviewed some the the files in the 2015 folder. Actually, some of the files have NEVER been reviewed after I upload them. One such file is the one I heard for the first time a few nights ago, March 2023.

I open this tune with the declaration, almost just a muttering to myself, “I have been away from the piano for a few days.” I do not know exactly what caused this absence, probably a trip to Morehead to attend to my mother, but whatever it was, it became packed with emotion as can be heard in this piece. Totally a spontaneous representation of who I was (really) at the moment. (April 11, 2015)

(A short note about my youth. When I was growing up in Jacksonville, NC, my parents had a baby grand piano for me in the little house and (almost) smaller living room. As a 10 year old, I never thought this was special. I now know it was. I had a teacher down the street, Mrs. Plexico [thank you dear lady for your enduring patience and 4-6 year tutelage] and worked on learning Ronda a la Turk, Moonlight Sonata…the book I still have and just pulled out to check the name…from 300 Delmore Ct….63 years ago…wow and wow that I get to record this here….but I also remember one night especially well, when the family…my mom and Dad and my younger sister, were all out of the house. My mother loved candles and had them around the house in brass candle sticks. I remember turning out all the lights and lighting all the candles…maybe around 10 or 12…and playing a concert for myself.

This song/expression here played in 2015 and just rediscovered in 2023 is the culmination of that candle light experience.

/Volumes/History 2007-2023/OCEAN JOE’S PIANO/2015/*04April/2047