Often when I meet people for the first time, and they find out I'm a piano tuner, the next thing they say is, "You're not the John Aaron who was in READER'S DIGEST?" I am that John Aaron and I have answered that question thousands of times since February of 1989 when an anecdote about my piano tuning appeared in the popular READER'S DIGEST feature, ALL IN A DAY'S WORK. At that time, the United States readership alone was about 45 million, and nearly every reader must have seen the piece about me, because, of the ten anecdotes that were published that month, mine was the only one that the editors added a color illustration to. With its position right in the center of the page, you couldn't miss it. When the magazine came out I got phone calls for days. Since starting this blog, it is the thing readers most often contact me about. My "fifteen minutes of fame" has been going strong for twenty-eight years!
I actually submitted the item myself because my living room needed painting and I HATE to paint. I had noticed that READER'S DIGEST paid $400.00 for contributing such tid-bits and that was a lot of money in 1989. More than enough to hire a pro and get me out of my upcoming painting chore. So, I thought over funny incidents that had happened to me in my work, weeded them down to ones that were publishable, and, picked one involving a cute eight year old girl. Nothing like buying a little insurance. I typed it up and put it in the mail. In a short time I got a phone call form an editor at the magazine asking how he could contact the girl and her parents to verify my story. If everything checked out, my item was in, and the check was in the mail. Sometimes the good Lord blesses the lazy.
Following is the anecdote as it appeared on page 84 of the February 1989 edition of READER'S DIGEST: "Like Many Piano Tuners, I am a semi-retired professional pianist. One day after tuning a customer's concert grand, I played a few scales in the same manner that a racing driver might open up a car on the track - to see what it can do. After I made a few runs up and down the keyboard, my customers eight-year-old daughter, who apparently had been struggling along with her lessons, looked at me and asked, "Mister, do you have more fingers than I do?"
Besides working on pianos I have played studio sessions for many recording artists. If you would like to HEAR ME PLAY THE PIANO Google Janie Christina. The guy backing her up on the piano is yours truly. You may also E-Mail rockpresspublishing@comcast.net and request free MP3 downloads.
