Recovering in his hospital room after what was in fact a quintuple bypass, Paul made two lists. In the first column were all the things he did not like:
"I didn't want to play for big crowds. I didn't want a boss telling me that you ran over two minutes. I don't want a guy to direct the show and put a lot of pressure on me. I didn't want to do a lot of interviews. And I had no reason in the world to be famous."
In the other column, he discovered something surprising about himself:
"The best fun I ever had was in the little joint where I could do what I wanted to do, how I wanted to do it, play for a few of my friends. It would be great therapy, a reason to get me out of bed. I could always surround myself with young musicians that could play what I used to play or play better than what I played. And I could continue making new friends."
I loved the story and the rendition of "Over the Rainbow" at the end. A great example of aging with grace.
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