MUSIC APPRECIATION ATOP MOUNT WASHINGTON - 1963

I was just starting out in my life, working my way through college, discovering how the preferred class lives. I snagged a job working in the old Mt. Washington Hotel at 6,288 feet above sea level. The Cog Railway  and road were the only ways up the famed rock pile. I worked as a cook with old Tom Williams as my boss.








My roommate and boss, hailed from Philadelphia's Main Line as did the Teague family. Russ Montgomery was my boss and played a grand Grand Piano. It was a classy touch listening to Russ play. He reminds me of Ronnie Aldrich and his twin pianos.








Lately I have enjoyed a marvelous instrument a PULSE II wireless speaker. Coupled up with You Tube, music streams into my existence her at the Poodle. I try to avoid the din of Route 9 and the incessant noise of the airwaves. I have learned there's a front row seat in my music appreciation but my Mount Washington memories are priceless.






It was the night before the Fourth and Boston was suffering from a heatwave. Tons of people came to the White Mountains for relief from the heat. And then a front came through the canyons. Lightening hit the railroad track in a thunderous clap as if it were from Beethoven's Sixth Symphony!








The electrical explosion brought all the overnight population to the knees around the piano. They feared the worse but pianist Russ Montgomery quelled their anxieties with his keyboard. The chandeliers swayed to the tempo of the music. Then came the fury of hurricane force winds peaking out at 90 mph! I was in my glory.








Then on the Fourth we had a visitor..rhyme icing. I volunteered to go out in the storm to check the oil tanks. I had to stand at a 45 degree angle or get blown away. I had a Stilton wrench in my hand.








My tenure atop Mount Washington lasted but a month. I had had enough. Fifty three years later Mr. Montgomery's piano chimes in my memory. It was a night to remember!