Smithville swing savant explains why he’s throwing in the towel By Kevin Curtin, 10:00AM, Fri. Dec. 28, 2018 Tweet print write a letter “Excruciating.” That’s the word Glover Gill used to describe the sensation in his elbow as he yanked open and shut the bellows of his gigantic tango accordion at a recent gig. A nasty case of tennis elbow, sadly, is a secondary malady for the pianist/accordionist/composer, who helped ignite a foreign swing craze two decades ago in Austin with his band 8 1/2 Souvenirs before becoming an internationally recognized tango performer and scoring Richard Linklater’s celebrated 2001 film Waking Life. Gill’s got a very cool-sounding, but not cool-feeling ailment called “trigger finger” in four of his digits. It occurs when tendons become inflamed so they can’t pass through the pulleys inside your forearm and hand. “When I close my fingers, the joints get stuck and won’t reopen without great pain,” explained the native Texan via phone from his home in Smithville, where he raises ducklings in his free time. “That ruins your concentration when you’re trying to play piano.” Worsening over the past two years, Gill’s trigger finger sent him to MDs and hand specialists. Additionally, he’s tried holistic medicine and steroid injections. One option the multi-instrumentalist isn’t entertaining: surgery. “I am loathe to get my hands cut on, even if it means not performing anymore,” reveals Gill. Thus, the maestro delivers a last performance this Saturday night at the Continental Club leading his international swing troupe 8… [Read full story]
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