I visited the Opera House in Lexington last week. This is a beautiful performance venue that was rehabilitated in the 70's. It can hold 350 or so patrons. Performers (last 30 years)who have been there include Dizzy, Brian Wilson, Tommy Emmanuel, Allyson Krauss, etc. It was a vaudeville theater; them a movie theater for 100 years.

In the 70's, during renovation, I bought the small Edward W. Powers piano that had been used for performances for many years. I didn't want it to disappear. Now the venue is looking to get it back, and I'm glad to donate it to them.

While visiting, I recalled one of the interesting times I played there. I was a last minute sub for Dizzy's bass player, in the late 70's. The job was the first of his two shows. The bass player, a young Jamaican who played a new (at the time) Alembic,that would only work for about 2 hours on the internal battery.The guy had a power inverter, plugged into the wall. His flight was delayed.

"Dizzy" was a real showman, changing things to include a turn of just the changes so I could learn them before he played. He was great...captivating the audience and holding my hand thru the rough spots.

The job was early on a Saturday. On Sunday, as usual, I flew out to one of my Square D Company studios...Cedar Rapids, I think. There, in the St Louis airport, sporting the butternut leather jacket and black leather pants he often wore was Dizzy, waiting for his flight to the next gig, reading the paper and mouthing every word...that little white goatee bouncing up and down.

When he looked up, I said "Man, I enjoyed the gig last night". His face lit up. "Yea, man? Where was that" ?

That's when I learned where he got his nickname.

Stay healthy, everyone!

Russ (also dizzy) Lay

Hilarious