quote:

No, I wasn’t. Is that where the worst of it happened?

Oh, yeah ....

quote:

Originally posted by Piano*Dad:
BTW, I seem to recall Larry regularly badmouthing Cindy, but not in the viscerally intense and stalking-worthy way that others have described.

My recollection is that it was very much like his reaction to anyone with left-leaning views that they were willing to express, but that it got worse after he was banned here.

quote:

Originally posted by QuirtEvans:

quote:

Originally posted by Piano*Dad:
BTW, I seem to recall Larry regularly badmouthing Cindy, but not in the viscerally intense and stalking-worthy way that others have described.

My recollection is that it was very much like his reaction to anyone with left-leaning views that they were willing to express, but that it got worse after he was banned here.

: shrug :

If a tree falls in the forest . . . .

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
I may be the only one here who actually met Larry. We were in a baseball trip to Atlanta and I decided to swing by his shop.

The most memorable thing about that visit was learning that Larry in person was exactly the same as Larry on line.

So much for those on TNCR who've expressed variations of an (alleged) conviction that the opposite of your observation was true - that the "real" Larry was "just an old Teddy Bear".

I was surprised to see that there was a Yamaha dealer sharing the parking lot. There were several cars parked in front of the Yamaha place but only one in front of Pianos, Inc. A sole geriatric Town Car was parked next to the door at Larry’s place. Brown, IIRC.

I had brought my daughter. We were shopping for a nice grand and we wanted to see the Bechstein (the only Bechstein), see what made it so great and perhaps hear him play it. Classically trained, you know.

But it was not to be. The Bechstein was enshrined on a platform, and no one, not even Larry, would ever play it. If it had an action it you couldn’t prove it by me.

What I was presented with were two short rows of budget grade Chinese and Eastern European spinets. Not consoles, spinets. I get that this might what sells in Atlanta but it was a huge disappointment.

I was then treated to a one sided diatribe on how the Koreans were destroying the wheel cover market. My daughter was left to fend for herself. That situation did not work for me.

We exited promptly and I never paid any attention to anything he said ever again.

[edit] There was indeed a five pedal Wing Landfill Upright next to the front door. I thought it was the most interesting piano in the place.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
I was surprised to see that there was a Yamaha dealer sharing the parking lot. There were several cars parked in front of the Yamaha place but only one in front of Pianos, Inc. A sole geriatric Town Car was parked next to the door at Larry’s place. Brown, IIRC.

I had brought my daughter. We were shopping for a nice grand and we wanted to see the Bechstein (the only Bechstein), see what made it so great and perhaps hear him play it. Classically trained, you know.

But it was not to be. The Bechstein was enshrined on a platform, and no one, not even Larry, would ever play it. If it had an action it you couldn’t prove it by me.

What I was presented with were two short rows of budget grade Chinese and Eastern European spinets. Not consoles, spinets. I get that this might what sells in Atlanta but it was a huge disappointment.

I was then treated to a one sided diatribe on how the Koreans were destroying the wheel cover market. My daughter was left to fend for herself. That situation did not work for me.

We exited promptly and I never paid any attention to anything he said ever again.

[edit] There was indeed a five pedal Wing Landfill Upright next to the front door. I thought it was the most interesting piano in the place.

Very interesting, Steve. Now that I haven't been looking for pianos for quite a long time, I admit to being slightly disappointed, though, at not getting anything of a physical description of him. (I dare say many, especially women, would feel similarly)

Not that it would be appropriate to paint us a word picture of him, kind of novelistically. He so clearly did NOT want his image displayed online.

But then again, even if it were acceptable to describe him physically, I've noticed that not everyone is gifted at such narrative. (Call me sexist, but I think that's true of more men than women.)

Perhaps you'll forgive me when I tell you I've lived several decades butting my head against the verbal stone wall of my sons' lack of skill at human descriptions.

(Example: Mom: "Oh, you finally met her in person! What was she like?"
Son: "...Nice.
Mom: "Oh, come ON! You can do better than that."
Son: "Well, she wasn't exactly what I expected. She was kind of like an old hippy... maybe."
Mom: "But what did she LOOK like?"
Son: "Um". (Furrows brows, looking pained). "UM....She....had...brown...hair."

(Mom gives up)

Anyhow, I guess Larry is entitled to his carefully guarded mystery persona, not being a celebrity (And thus not entitled to the privacy ordinary mortals deserve, as their price of fame).
Well, maybe in our circle, he was a celebrity - hero or villain, depending - but not otherwise.

All this is making me just more convinced that his activity on the Coffee Forums was very important to him (including way before it devolved into so much discussion - of everything). That he really got a LOT out of bringing this rough tough, sexy, winner persona to life (as HE perceived his impression) and acting him out in our society.

It was kind of like a role-playing video game in which he could hone his character to perfection, painting it with evocative brushstrokes. He created that man as he wanted and needed to be seen - a wise-cracking, tough as nails, heroic figure (including being unabashedly mean when his inferiors needed to be put in their places.)

I don't think he got away with anything like that IRL. The famous cartoon gag-line comes to mind: "On the internet, noone knows you're a dog."

Wait, he was a piano dealer in Atlanta??

Yes.

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
Wait, he was a piano dealer in Atlanta??

Many years ago. Not in at least a decade and a half though.

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
Wait, he was a piano dealer in Atlanta??

See, you would have known more if you had hung out at TNCR ...

quote:

Many years ago. Not in at least a decade and a half though.

Ahh, ok. Not him then. I was wondering if I had talked to him on the phone because when I was piano shopping in 2019, I considered making a trip to Atlanta (although I ended up not).

I remember him as being a big, light haired, Irish-looking guy.

quote:

The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones.

― William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

A thread in TNCR - RIP-Larry. I saw quite a few posters there that I hadn't seen online for quite awhile (not that I regularly visit TNCR).

Big Al

quote:

Originally posted by big al:
A thread in TNCR - RIP-Larry. I saw quite a few posters there that I hadn't seen online for quite awhile (not that I regularly visit TNCR).

The names came flooding back, distant personages now.