Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.In Alabama: Isn't It Romantic?
Wearing gloves, Margaret Neas plays the piano in the lobby bar of the Hilton Hotel every night, Monday through Friday, from 6 to 10—longer if the crowd stays lively. To her regulars she is "a legend, the most respected woman in Birmingham."
The cordless microphone passing from hand to hand around the bar is a magic wand, transforming people into singing stars, romantic desperadoes, family. Betty holds the mike for Terry, who sings This Love of Mine. They gaze into each other's eyes. Tenderness seems to rise in a cloud from Margaret's keyboard. A wild, passionate embrace, something along the lines of...
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