Man on the run

posted 02:11 PM Tuesday, November 17, 2009

By: Chip Chandler

I'm not sure if Ian Parker, our guest piano soloist for this weekend's concerts, is a fan of Willie Nelson. But to hear him talk, Ian sure lives up to the spirit of Willie's signature "On the Road Again."

"I'm on the road about nine months a year. I'm much more comfortable living out of my suitcase," Ian told me a couple of weeks ago. "When I'm back in my apartment in New York, I don't ever take the clothes out and put them in the drawer.

"I love always being on the run. I love the fact that I don't have anything stable, no 9-to-5 position. I get to be running around and watching how the world goes," he said.

"Maybe there's a bit of me that's lost because I don't have that sense of home, but I like that, and I'm in a position right now where I like not having that."

And when he travels, he likes to immerse himself in his new location.

"There's nothing more exciting in the world," he said. " I love to travel,  love meeting new people, trying new food. I always try to do the local thing, experience it."

"I love that this is a limitless and boundary-less world to be a part of."

For more on Ian, specifically more about his thoughts on Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1, check back tomorrow.