I don't know his name, in fact I encountered him only once, over fifty years ago at a Mother's Day family gathering at a German restaurant in White Plains, now defunct, called Maxl's. Germany and the zither go back a long way together, so this clean and simple music wafting through Maxl's was perfect ambience for sauerbraten and ale.
Eventually I got away from the table to get a closer look at the Zither Man. I was a mesmerized ten year-old kid, watching his right hand pluck the strings. while the left hand did its mysterious fretting work. No drama, no applause, just one contented fellow playing what he felt like playing, and presumably being paid for it. Nice deal, I thought.
So I immediately began my zither lessons. Nah, just kidding. In the pre-Beatles early sixties, most kids took piano lessons. By the time guitar lessons became fashionable I was already a few years into piano, and not inclined to switch to anything, including the zither.
Abracadabra, over fifty years zip by, and every weekend now I'm playing ambient dining music at a Long Island restaurant, keeping it as clean and simple as possible. On Sundays especially there's guaranteed to be kids stopping by to check it out, mesmerized by what a pair of knowledgeable hands can do with the instrument.
Surely this scenario goes back many centuries, to whenever "restaurants with live music" got started, be it zither, piano, or medieval lute. It always has and hopefully always will provide ten-year old kids with their first close look at a pro musician at work.
Maybe the Grim Reaper has by now crooked his finger, saying Come Hither Mr. Zither. But I remember him being fairly young at the time -- 20s or 30s? -- so I still imagine that I can track him down, talk about Maxl's, music, ten-year old kids, maybe even a zither lesson.
