Whilst many favour the harmonica or occasionally the guitar, Jack was known to travel most of his life with an elegant Grand Piano on his back, which at times led to much playful ribbing on the part of his contemporaries.

Born in Tennessee to his own parents, Steinway and his family were often forced to, in his own words, ?bend over backwards to make ends meet.? Whether this referred to literally making their feet touch their heads like a human donut, or to a more metaphorical monetary goal was never made clear, but one thing was certain: Bending over backwards was a poor way to earn a living. Jack and his family would often stand on street corners for hours, flexing and contorting for all they were worth, only to walk away with a few meagre pennies from disinterested passers by.

At the age of fourteen, increasingly disillusioned by the family trade (few people, if any, wanted to trade families with the failed junior contortionist), Jack struck out on his own and took a job as a bar tender in a strip club.
vic varjabedian

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