My friend Ricky is coming to Charlotte today, after a visit with some of his relatives who live in Raleigh. Personally, I've never been to Raleigh before (in fact, the closest I've ever come is on I-85 in nearby Durham), but I hear it's a very nice town. I think I'll go there for the State Fair, but more on that later.

Ricky is my friend from Chicago. He loves jazz music, and he's a very great piano player, in the mold of Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock, and Ramsey Lewis. Well, maybe not as good as these guys, but he's still a great piano player. I've been bugging Ricky to give my new friends piano lessons, but unfortunately, it might not happen, since he's only planning to stay here for two days.

I first got to know Ricky in 2000, when he moved to Baltimore from Chicago. Six years later, he moved back to the Windy City because he really misses home, although he sometimes wishes he were still in Baltimore, since he befriended an older woman, who people call Demi Moore to his Ashton Kutcher. At the same time he went back to Chicago, I moved to Charlotte to start over, and now I'm enjoying my new life here.

In addition to our love of jazz, we also drive Toyotas (I drive a Corolla, he a Camry), and we root for rival ACC schools (I'm a die-hard Carolina fan, and he loves Duke). But there are some differences, too: For example, if I turn on Kiss 95.1 (www.kiss951.com), he'd say something like, "Hey, turn this Kiss crap off! I don't like it!" That's because he hates top-40 pop and rock (the music that you hear on the aforementioned station), so there you go.

If only for one weekend, I would like to do as much as possible with Ricky. I told him to meet me at Northlake Mall, one of Charlotte's newest attractions, so we could browse around the stores and maybe catch a movie. Who knows? Maybe in his next trip to Charlotte, he'll give my friends here some piano lessons...We'll see.

Ricky tells me that if I'm ever in Chicago, I should listen to WNUA (www.wnua.com), the reputed king of Smooth Jazz stations. But I already have a favorite, WSMJ in Baltimore (www.wsmj1043.com), and I like it so much that I wonder why Charlotte can't have a station like that.

Look forward to seeing you very soon, Ricky!