Raggin' Piano Boogie
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Since 1987 |
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October 07, 2026Las Vegas, Nevada |
October 06, 2026Las Vegas, Nevada
The shootings a few days ago, I can't get that out of my mind. It was in my neighborhood, at an event close to my heart. With the shooting of teenagers and one dead, the gun violence issue in general, community and government response, etc... That is why I thought it was so on my mind. Actually, I was walking that night and decided to cross the street to the part of the event where the shootings occurred. I was about five hundred feet away from the actually shootings. A strange guy had stopped me from walking on the sidewalk and coaxed me to go inside the new bar right there having its opening. It was a place where I had placed one of the acoustic pianos for the neighborhood last year. It was odd how he was directive and strong in coaxing me to go inside and I decided to do it as a gesture of support. There were only about four people inside. Once inside, I noticed people running down the street. And then we all realized there was a shooting outside. Had I not gone inside the bar I would have walked directly into the shooting at close range. It did not dawn on me for a good day how providential that was. And now of course, I cannot stop thinking about it. |
October 05, 2026Las Vegas, NevadaI went to meet up with some friends and then afterwards felt an incredibly strong desire to take the Traveling Piano out to create some music. It was around 8:30pm. There was a parking spot where a kid was killed and two others shot on Friday through gun violence at the First Friday Event. It was the perfect spot to spiritually manifest more than thoughts, prayers and hollow commemoration. it pisses me off how people turn to rah, rah, "Las Vegas Strong" commercial memes, slogans and marketing. It is getting old people. At the same time all conversation turns to, what will happen to the event? Meanwhile, we hear nothing about how human life has more value then owning a gun or events for profit. There was a television camera up ahead. I was wondering what it was about and then I saw people around a corner. It was the vigil for the 15 year old boy who was killed. I ended up in the right place at the right time and was parked far enough away for the music to not be an intrusion. Afterwards about forty minutes, I took a walk to the vigil. There were only about thirty people there and surrounding it all, at least thirty cops keeping surveillance. How fucking stupid. Again, the city out to show force and to intimidate and to overstate the need for non-violence? It reminded me of the last protest I attended. There were about 60 people and then, more than 70 cops all standing at attention with their weapons. For real, no exaggeration. Nothing is going to get better until we address our gun culture. |
October 04, 2026Las Vegas, NevadaI have addressed social issues in this blog since the start. Social issues are a major part of the Traveling Pianos work. Where and when I have traveled for the last 20 years has been motivated my social issues in every way. Agendas have been through gun violence, the homeless, natural disasters and those repressed to name a few. I used to just spin through it all on this blog with a positive about how my work helps in situations but over the last few years I have felt a need to be more direct concerning societal ills and call them out in more detail. It is a response-ability. This closes a lot of doors for me. But it keeps open the most important doors of awareness, consciousness and the truth in spirit for myself. The way I live my life and express myself is a tradeoff. I've said it before, everything in life is a tradeoff. I made lots of money for twenty years with all that goes along with that. And now for twenty years I traded off the money to be 100% of who I am as a person for the sake of humanity. At this point I really, really, really want some middle ground but am not willing to tradeoff the person I have worked a lifetime to become. There is not much time left for me to find a way to anything else but where I am right now in the present world. |
October 03, 2026Las Vegas, NevadaI know it is difficult for everyone to realize what is happening when they do not see it for themselves or hear about it in the news and when it is not present in their minds but... this is about our families, neighbors and friends. Is there anything more important? People in our society are disappearing. Over 610,000 people have been arrested since trump retook office in 2025. ICE lays hiding in neighborhoods to kidnap quietly and snatch people away in a matter of 90 seconds. Regular everyday people who are taking the trash out, pedestrians taking a walk, those getting gas at a pump while leaving the vehicles behind, picking up children at school, going to church, at the supermarket... 71% are American citizens. Almost 40 have died in custody from lack of care. The republican dictatorship is doing an ethnic profiling for the sake of intimidation. It is an ethnic cleansing by maga Nazi republicans and their supporters. Every month ICE is expanding and it is getting worse. Over 50,000 people were arrested in July 2026 alone. Over 200,000 children have been separated from their parents again over 70% American citizens. More than 35,000 children have been orphaned with no parent as ICE deports their parents without their children. It is happening through a secretive pattern meant to hit a quota and avoid public backlash. The prison conditions will get worse as the numbers increase. Civil servants not deemed loyal enough to trump are fired. Local police are involved in helping this regime. Think about these numbers visually. A superbowl stadium can cram in 70,000 fans. 200,000 children is almost 6 superbowl stadiums full a children separated from their parents. |
October 02, 2026Las Vegas, NevadaI was taking a walk to check out the First Friday event in my neighborhood. I would probably have taken out the Traveling Piano on my street where nothing is happening and for my neighbors but the city hassled me last month because I was not paying to be in a parking spot. I'll show my support for the community and where I create and share music in ways that does not support the Arts District or City with their ways. Parking in lots for First Friday costs $30. They gouge people because they know there are not enough parking spaces. I've not received any support from business in my neighborhood or the city... after all these years of one big "give" in many ways. I think I may be partly blacklisted as I have spoken my mind about how First Friday which was originally a community event. It has now turned into a marketing event thats just no fun. So be it. |
October 01, 2026Las Vegas, NevadaThe US government tried to kill a woman named Christa Oike yesterday and failed. They fucked up their murder attempt. She herself killed someone when she was 18 and now at 50 she has been sitting in solitary confinement on death row for 30 years. Christa is the first women in 200 years to be executed in Tennessee. Capital punishment is a 15th century or medieval solution to a very complicated set of 21st century problems. The Supreme Court ended capital punishment and trump started them up again in 2020. Meanwhile, over 600 death penalty cases have been overturned while people have waited on death row due to prosecutorial misconduct. Putting a women to death says everything about republican fascism. It is inhumane, an arbitrary tool of state control. It is about vengeance and represents some of our ugliest societal impulses and urges. Under the present US fascist republican regime, it is a direct attempt to intimidate and create fear, to show disrespect for women. No one in the general public mentions the mentally sick, emotionally stunted age factor that played in with Christia Pike when she was 18, her terrible sexual abuse since childhood that no one helped with. Why? Because they are too lazy to find the full story for themselves. It is easier to fall for this present bullshit. The death penalty is the essence of cruelty. The state takes a conscious, imaginative human being, gives them a date for their death, has them anticipate it over and over again, and then takes them out and kill them or at least try. Then the person is rendered defenseless as the state deliberately kills. What greater mental torture for a human being is there? Why do we kill people to teach that killing people is wrong? Every fucking person who votes republican or does not vote at all... they will reap what they sow through their lack of respect and/or redemption for humanity. At least nine more people will be legally murdered by this country before the end of the year. Nidal Hasan will be executed by firing squad and it will be public, the first time in 70 years for a public state murder. Fuck! So bad. I am so sorry to be living though this time in a country I have so loved throughout my entire life. It is past shocking. |