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PROGMAN View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Piano Man
    Posted: May 18 2005 at 10:13

He was in the News lately, Police took him to hospital, his clothes were soaking wet.

Nurses gave him paper to see if he would identify himself, he just drew a picture of a piano and nurses allowed him to use the piano and were stunned with what he played. He is known as the Piano Man is that story extrodinary or what.

True Story it's in the News.

CYMRU AM BYTH
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James Lee View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 18 2005 at 21:29
I'm sad that my first response was "publicity stunt". Maybe I'm too jaded.
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Arsillus View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 18 2005 at 22:42

Originally posted by James Lee James Lee wrote:

I'm sad that my first response was "publicity stunt". Maybe I'm too jaded.

Me too.

We'll see.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 19 2005 at 06:28
I read it too, great story!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 19 2005 at 06:46
A Publicity Stunt what a funny way to get into the Music business wonder if he knows Prog.
CYMRU AM BYTH
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 19 2005 at 10:11
Fantastic response to 'piano man'
Medway Maritime Hospital  photo of the mystery patient
The mystery patient is described as tall and thin
A helpline set up to identify a mystery man who stunned carers by giving a virtuoso classical piano performance has been inundated with calls.

The man has not said a word since police picked him up wandering the streets of Sheerness, Kent, in a soaking wet suit and tie on 7 April.

His social worker Michael Camp said the man, in his 20s or 30s, is usually very anxious but "comes alive" at the piano.

Orchestras around Europe are being contacted to see if they know him.

The National Missing Persons Helpline is appealing to anyone who recognises the man to come forward.

Mr Camp said there had been a "fantastic" response.

"We have had one definite lead, but I haven't had time to follow it up yet.

The first time we took him down to the piano he played for several hours, non-stop
Michael Camp
Social worker

"A name has been given of a possible person from the Sussex area.

"We had one of these before, from the local area, and it sounded promising but... we'll just have to wait and see."

The man's talent came to light after staff at the Medway Maritime Hospital gave him a pen and paper in the hope he would write his name.

Instead the patient, dubbed The Piano Man, drew very detailed pictures of a grand piano.

The man shocked staff with a performance of classical music after Mr Camp showed him the piano in the hospital's chapel.

Mr Camp said: "When we took him to the chapel piano it really was amazing. He has not spoken since the day we picked him up.

"He does not make any sounds but I think I can communicate with him through tiny nods."

The man has since written music, which has been verified as genuine.

Mr Camp added: "It is extraordinary. The first time we took him down to the piano he played for several hours, non-stop."

Several lines of inquiry have been followed, and the hospital brought in interpreters to see if the mystery patient was from Eastern Europe.

He is now being held in a secure mental health unit in north Kent while an assessment is carried out. Mr Camp said he was "extremely distressed" and may have suffered a trauma.

'Very frightened'

Karen Dorey-Rees, adult mental health manager for the West Kent NHS and Social Care Trust, said the mystery man was very vulnerable.

"He is not talking at all, he is very frightened," she said.

"We are aware that he is a very vulnerable man and we would be putting him in a dangerous situation if we let him go."

She said that the labels had been removed from every item of clothing the man was wearing when he was found on The Broadway in Minster, Sheerness.

The case has drawn comparisons with the 1996 film Shine which depicts the story of acclaimed pianist David Helfgott who suffered a nervous breakdown.

Ms Dorey-Rees was unable to say what music he had played.

"Nobody was skilled enough to recognise the music, they just knew it was classical music and he played very well."

Anyone who has information about The Piano Man is urged to call the National Missing Persons Helpline on 0500 700700.

 

-BBC News

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goose View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 19 2005 at 13:05

Quote The man has since written music, which has been verified as genuine

Genuine what? Genuine music?  They found who he was, anyway.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 20 2005 at 09:43

^ Not as of last night. Several possibilities but nothing solid.

Damn you, PROGMAN for getting me hooked on this story!

(05-19) 12:04 PDT LONDON, United Kingdom (AP) --

Clues have been offered by the hundreds, but authorities have yet to crack the mystery of the "Piano Man," the hospital patient who won't talk and feels most comfortable at the keyboard or writing music.

Some 300 possible identities have been suggested for the tall, blond man who was found wandering distressed and dripping wet in southeastern England on April 7, health officials said Thursday.

"We have had an overwhelming response from the public, both in the U.K. and abroad," said Adrian Lowther, spokesman for the West Kent National Health Trust, which is caring for the man.

He said authorities have had more than 700 calls and 150 e-mails offering information, "and this will take time to work through. We are unable to confirm reports about his identity at this time."

Social workers said a tip from a Polish mime living in Italy, who said the man is a French street musician, proved false. Dariusz Dydymski had said he was "99 percent certain" the pianist was named Steven Villa Massone, but Massone was found living in Nice, France.

"I found out this morning when I saw in the Italian papers that he had said that man was me," The Independent newspaper quoted Massone as saying. "I didn't understand what had happened and suddenly I had lots of calls asking if I was the pianist."

Reports that surfaced in British newspapers Thursday speculating that the man could be a Canadian eccentric have also not been verified.

Social worker Michael Camp said such speculation was pointless.

"Names are being bandied about. It's not very helpful," Camp said. "It's a long process and I understand why, in the absence of any information from us, people in the media are coming up with things."

The man, who remains in a psychiatric unit in Dartford, is still drawing pictures and writing music of his own, Camp said.

"I don't think this is somebody who was living a normal life until April 7 and suffered a trauma," he said. "I think it's somebody who has been tipped over the edge."

Hospital officials on Monday released a photograph of the man, who is tall and thin with blond hair — possibly dyed — and believed to be in his 20s or early 30s.

When he was found, he was taken first to Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, where he drew intricate pictures of pianos for staff and performed parts of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" and the music of John Lennon on the chapel piano.

Because he won't speak, he is not receiving counseling, but he is allowed to use a piano provided by a tabloid newspaper.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 23 2005 at 06:01
To all Prog bands without a Keyboard player give Piano MAN A JOB WITH YOUR BAND!
CYMRU AM BYTH
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