Raggin' Piano Boogie
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August 31, 2024Las Vegas, NevadaI have always said, it is what it is and this journey... for better or worse... my goal is to stay true to myself and as honest and transparent as I can be. This months blog shows how I am functioning these days. It is all over the place. There is little rhyme or reason, order, consistency for the blog entires but it continues onward and that is how my life is at the moment. The journey is still thriving, happening, and my life confusing as it may seem. Although, it has always been confusing. But look at what has been accomplished through that confusion!!! Actually there is a little bit of everything here in this month... my personal history, music career history, the history of the Traveling Piano, community outreach, sharing resources with the homeless, nature, diversity, inclusion, different environments, my photography, music, fundraising, politics, friendship, fun, respect, empowerment, inspiration, process... 
 We made it through August. It has not been easy, not one bit with temperatures typically 110º and higher every day. September will stay hot but probably not as severe as it has been. I want to get out with the Traveling Piano! The piano and speaker and equipment I hope will work once I put it all back into the truck. I had to remove it all because it was getting fried. Under the protective black canvas tarp temperatures were hitting 150º or more. It all sits in my bathtub because my room is so small. In and out, in and out everytime I need to take a shower! |
August 30, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
While the truck is out of commission as a result of the heat, I am inserting into this blog random writings of the musical biography I have been working on... (the musical beginning) One of my most fearful jobs ever was to create music for the dedication of the Eugene Ormandy Room in the Hershey Hotel across the street from Philadelphia's famed Academy of Music Concert Hall. The room was filled with top classical musicians from around the world. There I was on a platform in the center of the room at a grand piano playing George Gershwin's music from sheet music. Ricardo Muti, who was leading the Philadelphia Orchestra at the time came to sit at the table next to me and waved with his hand... "no music, no music." The event organizer had a talk with him and then he quieted down while giving me a begrudging acknowledgement. While on break in a hallway I heard a guest talking to the woman who hired me saying, "He's not very good." The reply, "But he looks great doesn't he? That was very funny to me. I was the handsome centerpiece for the room, a flower arrangement and nothing more. That is when I realized that the music business is much more than just about music. |
August 29, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
While the truck is out of commission as a result of the heat, I am inserting into this blog random writings of the musical biography I have been working on... (the musical beginning) Money has been an important aspect of my professional musical career. Money translated into respect for me. While other pianists we're out playing for $50 a night or taking whatever was offered, I spent my time all week looking for the one $500 job for that week. This was my way. Most others succeeded better than I did with the constant income while I often floundered in the all or nothing mode. Personal respect from working relationships has always topped money, music or persona for me but... the feeling of musical respect came from money first and foremost. It gave me a sense of worth, incentive and fun. |
August 28, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
While the truck is out of commission as a result of the heat, I am inserting into this blog random writings of the musical biography I have been working on... (the musical beginning) In suburban Philadelphia, an area called the Main Line, I became a society pianist. As a house pianist for several wealthy clients, I was no good at schmoozing and playing the politics of high society. I did not want to. My ways have always been respectfully and intentionally too straight forward and down to earth. My memory issues helped destroy that kind of work although it lasted ten years. I would be playing for a new client house party and then their friend would hire me for the next weeks party as their house. While at the second party, the original client would come up to say hello and I would innocently ask if we had ever met before. I could not remember names and faces from week to week and have never been good a faking exchanges with people. I had no filter. Now I am better but, that took lots of years of practice. |
August 27, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
While the truck is out of commission as a result of the heat, I am inserting into this blog random writings of the musical biography I have been working on... (the musical beginning) By my mid twenties I hit bottom with my drinking and drugs and began to get sober. As a result, I drifted away from the bar and restaurant scene while transitioning into being a society pianist. I had head-shots made for promotion. My first and only tuxedo purchase was made and it was one of the most expensive to be had. My expertise was in creating music for large banquets halls filled with 400 or more people. I could get an entire room to stop talking and eating at their tables in order to applaud instantaneously. All the large Philadelphia insurance companies would hire me for every self-celebratory event they had. Sometimes they we're monthly. The Red Cross would hire me and pay $350 an hour for their banquets and fundraisers. This fee, back in the 80's was very high and it was during this time I observed non-profits developing industry loaded with money. The United Way also, they all knew how to spend the contributions of others in need, on themselves. They would rationalize with, "you need to spend money to make money." That concept has never worked for me in an ethical way. I became an honorary Boy scout from playing all their fundraisers in Philadelphia. They had at least eight a year. As a child I was a failed boy scout. After going to a few meetings I could tell there was just no chance of my fitting in. Fear ruled. |
August 26, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
While the truck is out of commission as a result of the heat, I am inserting into this blog random writings of the musical biography I have been working on... (the musical beginning) At age twenty one I began to drink. Life as I knew it stopped and I fell into a pit of sexual self-loathing. As a gay man I wanted to kill myself as I could find no validation, understanding, support or acceptance of who I was through the nature of my spirit. The music lessons and church playing continued, sort of until it just all crashed in just a few years time. Parents of students stuck with me even though I would not show up some weeks to give their kids a lesson. I did not even call to cancel. No one knew what was going on in my head even though I tried to seek help through counselors and therapy. The worst place I reached out to find support was the church I grew up in. That is another sad/angry story for another time. After being out late on a Saturday night drinking and looking for sex, I would then wake up with just enough time to race to my Sunday morning church organ jobs and then fall asleep on the organ keyboard as the preacher was giving his sermon. That would create a major stir and happened more than once. Many people thought it was funny. Sometimes I would not show up for the church service. This, not because I was hung over but simply because I forgot. A few days later I would remember that I missed the church service. I was a mess! My mind was in a state of tumultuous humiliation, chaos, fear, suffering, desire for what I knew not, and confusion. A sense of self did not exist to grab onto and build from. People we're amazingly tolerant and patient with me while having no clue to what was going on but I could not rise to the occasion and better myself. The drinking kept me down. |
August 25, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
While the truck is out of commission as a result of the heat, I am inserting into this blog random writings of the musical biography I have been working on... (the musical beginning) In restaurants and bars I did everything to avoid applause. The situation was too intimate. I was afraid of personal attention and the entertainment expectation to keep the attention going. In a large banquet hall I was just part of the entire event not the center of attention. While drinking and hanging out in bars non music related, I did nothing but look for sex. I could not get enough attention for myself and sought validation through sex while looking for relationship through it. My work as a musician in of itself never felt validating. Getting paid for it was validating but nothing more. After finishing up and leaving a musical gig, I would head straight for a nightclub. In my truck I always stored a separate set of clothes. While driving I would tear off my tuxedo and redress into my bar clothes as to not miss a minute and reach the club before last call... to party and feel normal. I did not realize until I found sobriety that normal for me translated into drunk. I was living the downtown, inner city high life but never really felt part of anything about it. I lived in a fog of loneliness as a musician always looking for sex and drinking to feel ok about that. None of the people I knew we're really friends. My night life, family life, musical jobs, friends I grew up with, every part of my life was disjointed, there was no cohesiveness and no one had a clue to who I was from the inside out. |
August 24, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
While the truck is out of commission as a result of the heat, I am inserting into this blog random writings of the musical biography I have been working on... (the musical beginning) I enrolled in a community collage that had the best rated music department on the east coast and dropped out after one and a half years. I just could not apply myself to study and practice with any seriousness. I was hired to direct the musical "Company" for Vassar college in New York. People we're always trying to put me into positions that would elevate my talent and person. I failed every time. Vassar lasted less than a week. That was way over my head. When I turned twenty one I was hired as the star of a small cabaret show in Center City Philadelphia. It was called Scott Joplin and friends. The director was a Ragtime Pianist named Don Kawash and he was determined to turn me into a pro. My fear was ridiculous. It was a three person show with myself and two singers. The singers would walk all over my body as I laid on the floor on my stomach to try and help me to relax before every show. It never worked. On stage I would blank out completely into nonexistence and they would need incorporate that into the show to create some humor with it. "You piano man, its time to move into the next song." I played the shows run but never got comfortable enough to enjoy doing it. |
August 23, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
While the truck is out of commission as a result of the heat, I am inserting into this blog random writings of the musical biography I have been working on... (the musical beginning) In high school I became the choir accompanist and actually did some school choir coaching. Everyone in school and my neighborhood knew me as a good piano player. I never understood how people who had never heard me play would think of me as a good piano player. When I was complimented always I would discount the compliment and say that I was not good. I had been taught that boasting about myself and appearing conceded was unacceptable in life. That translated into never being able to accept a compliment and it also served to validation my own self respect which was in the negatives, below zero. I had won several competitions in my earlier years and wondered why I was picked. I figured that was because I was so nervous that I threw them off with my charm. As I matured I began to realize the nervous energy communicated my intense passion and desire to do good and be accepted, part of. I spent three of my four high school years in the music wing of my high school forging passes, fake excuses, brown nosing with the music director, school nurse and school secretaries to get me out of classes. I went to two gym classes in my entire four years. I was petrified all the time. |
August 22, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
While the truck is out of commission as a result of the heat, I am inserting into this blog random writings of the musical biography I have been working on... (the musical beginning) Also, at age fifteen, I began to give piano lessons in my neighborhood. I did not know what I was doing and simply stayed one lesson ahead of the student with the piano books I used. After putting advertisement flyers in neighborhood mailboxes, I began to collect students and my teaching career took off. I realized that a teachers job is about inspiring and to empower self-learning more than anything else. At one point, I had fifty two private students a week and I held many recitals for them. My passion for sharing and creating self-worth was fanatical. Money was not the main drive for me but it was fun to collect it and money gave me a sense of self-respect through the transactional exchange of it. I gave lessons in peoples homes and enjoyed seeing how other people live. Also, the relationships we're more personal. |
August 21, 2024Las Vegas, NevadaWhile the truck is out of commission as a result of the heat, I am inserting into this blog random writings of the musical biography I have been working on... (the musical beginning) My piano life began with my sister who had taken piano lessons. With my mothers prodding, she tried to teach me when I was eight years old. My sister was my godmother. In my family, that set up a "special" relationship. Unfortunately all relationships for my sister were indoctrinated with obligation and expectation as was the entire families life in every way. I must insert here that both of my parents did love us all unconditionally but on the surface it did not look that way. When push came to shove they always acquiesced to our needs in the ways we needed or wanted but it did take both a push and shove. I could sense a lack of sincerity with my sister and as a result it did not work out. Formal piano lessons began when I was ten years old with school nuns. 
 My mother suggested I take music lessons and said as a man I would need to be very good pianist for people to respect me as a man. I had nothing else going for me. All validation and reassurance in my life came from my mother and she gave me lots because I agreed to take lessons and especially because none of my other four brothers had any interest in art or music. Learning was and always has been difficult for me. I would study with a teacher for a year, stop for a year and for some reason kept going back and forth with different teachers year after year until I was twenty years old. The good part about that was in my learning something different from every teacher but never enough from any one. There was nothing to learn from any teacher that I could not trust. I needed a genuine feeling of partnership and respect in a teacher, student relationship. |
August 20, 2024Las Vegas, NevadaI miss traveling and taking photos. While the truck is out of commission as a result of the heat, I am inserting into this blog random writings of the musical biography I have been working on... (the musical beginning) My professional musical career started at age fifteen as a church organist and piano teacher in 1970. I began playing the organ for the Diocesan Roman Catholic church that I was raised in. I say Diocesan because there are about forty different kinds of Catholicism covered under the umbrella of the Pope in Rome. The Diocesan Roman Catholic's are the most authoritarian in nature and have always been political. They paid me nothing. Music was not really important for them. How ever little there was existed more out of a sense of obligation and expectation and nothing more. When I found out that every other church in existence gave their organists an offering and that music was a big deal for them, I forced my church to hand over $5 per service. Soon after, a better church came along. That was my first real music job and was for a "low" Episcopalian church verses "high" Episcopalian. 
 The higher ups had more attitude with lots of pomp and circumstance. The church I found paid $15 a week and were desperate for both an organist and choir director. As a result I got away with not needing to play, I really did not want to learn how to play the organ pedals. That lasted for over a year. It was nerve wracking enough just to get through with the most basics. Fear dominated and suppressed most of my musical advancement. The entire congregation applauded the first time they heard one of the organ pedals play. I learned how to be a choir director as I went along. I had no idea what I was doing. Church weddings we're big money makers for a little work and wedding services ranged from $15 to $100. On a subconscious level many years on, I realized that I was looking for Jesus as a church organist and through my time doing that, I played for thirteen different religions. For most of them, I was a substitute. |
August 19, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
It is a daily focus to not focus on the world at large as my main focus in life. I become amazingly angry when I think about how human beings can be so awful, vulnerable, self-centered, greedy, controlled, manipulated, used and willfully so. What has been happening here in the US with fascists having taken over the republican party is just terrible. And how religion is being used as it has been throughout human history is worse. Truly religious people would never allow themselves to be sucked into fascism. Those people who just do not care. My mind keeps going back to Syria and the Ukraine and how the writing was on the wall as to what was coming for them and how that writing could not have been clearer for here in the USA. Most people just put their heads in the sand in denial. AI is taking over our lives faster than anyone can possibly imagine. It feels like an astroid is heading directly for us to destroy everything. So what am I going to do about that? Turn my anger, hate and rage into love, music, relationship, validation, reassurance and respect... one on one with people as much as possible one day at a time, that is what I am going to do. And... enjoy Mo as my consistent partner and companion with the time he has left here on earth with me.
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August 18, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
Everyday I need to remind myself that I am taking this month off from working with the Traveling Piano because the temperatures are too hot not only for myself and Mo but concerning the music equipment. There is really no choice. Every so often there is a breeze at dusk and its only like a 100º and I think... I could do an hour of music playing in this. But, the piano and amp are out of the truck and so that keeps the decision made. There is no way I can put it in and constantly take it back out every time the is a short period of doable weather. Thank God I have a keyboard in my room to play when I feel squirmy with a need to create some music. I am getting fatter and losing my strength and stamina from not getting the musical workout that happens when interacting with people or from my nature hikes with Mo. So it is. Everyday is about adjusting and embracing life on life's terms. I just posted over 300 more photos to the latest Traveling Piano Photo Gallery of over 100,000 journey photos here on this website. Check them out. |
August 17, 2024Las Vegas, NevadaIt all began with lots of plant based fake chicken and beef I had. I needed to soak it all in serious cajun seasoning and also barbecue seasoning to try and give it some taste. Then I fried it all in oil and butter. Still, there was the disgusting texture to get past so I added beans and rice. To make it more colorful and tasty, healthy... corn and sliced carrots we're added. It began to process into a major "whatever" for people living on the streets... seven gallons of "whatever" to distribute. Had to go purchase some forks and food containers and while at the supermarket I thought "that fake meat is not going to cut the mustard" so to speak. I purchased a huge bar of cheddar cheese to cut up into cubes and enough pepperoni to take control of the taste and flavor. It was too dry so I added a gallon of salsa. It is astounding how much less stamina, energy and strength I have now heading for 70 years of age compared to just a few years ago. 
 It took four full days to prepare the cutting, storage, cooking and of course working in the small space I have did not help but... job done! It was gone in less than two hours. We delivered it all at sunset so I did not die from the hundred and ten degree heat. Mo came along and I had lots of cold water for him. For anyone really hungry it was fantastic. For those not starving but in need of a meal, it was good. For me... passable. But, what was more important than the food was all those glad to see us and the relational exchange of appreciation, caring, validation and respect. I do not remember any of these people specifically every time I see them but they remember me and Mo and the Traveling Piano for sure! It is almost unbelievable how many people bring up past times of sharing everytime we cross paths. The music, the hot chocolate and marshmallows at Christmas, the homemade soup from five years ago, etc...! People bring up the past with gratitude all the time. It is disturbing to see so many more... normal looking old people especially women who you would find in a nursing home laying a towel down on the sidewalk to sleep on for the night. |
August 16, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
While the truck is out of commission as a result of the heat, I am inserting into this blog random writings of the musical biography I have been working on... (pre-traveling piano, freelance pianist era)At age eighteen I began playing piano in bars and was the house pianist for several high end restaurants in center city Philadelphia. I worked as a free lance pianist. As a dinner pianist is was excruciatingly difficult not to overpower a room with my playing. Most of the time was spent holding myself back to the point that sweat would drip down my back inside the tux I was wearing. Sometimes I would be hired in a bar to do sing alongs which I was never comfortable with. There was too much personal interaction with people and I was scared shitless of people asking me for songs I did not know and could not fake or find the sheet music for fast enough, etc... Singing was out of the question for me. It was just way too fearful. The first time I ever tried to sing in a bar, a patron turned towards me from the bar counter and threw their drink at me glass and all from across the room. That was the end of that. Just creating background music that had a presence was best for me. |
August 15, 2024Las Vegas, NevadaWhile the truck is out of commission as a result of the heat, I am inserting into this blog random writings of the musical biography I have been working on... (the musical beginning) Whenever all eyes are on me with full attention for the sake of performance I just bank out. I had accompanied people like Carol Channing with Hello Dolly on the Ocean City NJ music pier and for the star of Evita on Broadway in a Jerry Lewis telethon at the Philadelphia Convention center... events like that we're always a disaster. My mind would go completely blank during performance. With Evita I mistakenly turned two pages of music at once and never found my way back as the singer had to go into talking the song through as the orchestra I was playing and trying to lead turned into total turmoil. With Carol Channing I began playing in a different musical key than she was singing. She slowly turned around with her back to the audience while giving me a "what the fuck are you doing" look. Even back to my beginnings in high school I was chosen to give the esteemed graduating class musical performance solo. 
 In the middle of playing Beethoven' s Tempest Sonata I just ended up banging random keys until I stopped. My high school music teacher was very pissed. "I could have given that spot to several other people!" As I write this, just a few years ago I was asked to play the Maple Leaf Rag onstage in a large concert room of a thousand people. This is a music piece that I have bragged about for years as being able to play even while taking a shit. I new it that well. As my mind went blank on stage I just began speeding up the performance, stumbling along the way, repeating sections without knowing what I was doing in a race to the end while praying I would make it. When I was done, the audience just looked at me stunned... "What was that?" What it was... was humiliatingly funny and sad at the same time. It was my worst self humiliation and embarrassment that many people were not even aware of. |
August 14, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
While the truck is out of commission as a result of the heat, I am inserting into this blog random writings of the musical biography I have been working on... (pre-traveling piano, freelance pianist era) I always waited, procrastinated, whatever... until the last minute to go job hunting when needed. That became like a habit, a cycle. For example when Thanksgiving came around every year and I had no bookings for the holiday season I would race like a maniac to create a christmas promotional flyer, roll it up and secure it with red ribbon and then distribute them in neighborhoods as advertisement for house parties. I must admit that the time sensitive rushing was fun. The soliciting, creativity and uniqueness of the offering was fun and the results when a job came in through the marketing was super fun! |
August 13, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
While the truck is out of commission as a result of the heat, I am inserting into this blog random writings of the musical biography I have been working on... (Raggin' Piano Boogie performance era) "My goal was to book myself into large events where I would not be front and center or under a spotlight so to speak. I wanted to stand out uniquly in a larger picture. I enjoyed the idea of creating the energy and ambience that helped to describe an event and wore dark aviator sunglasses to hide from people looking at me. With the sunglasses I wore a black brimmed hat with a light weight, white pin stripped suit for performance on the truck. Black and white and color promotional photos were taken to be used for press releases. I was looking quite dapper! The look was to convey a professional performer, a succesful and stylish working piano man." |
August 12, 2024Las Vegas, NevadaWhile the truck is out of commission as a result of the heat, I am inserting into this blog random writings of the musical biography I have been working on... (Raggin' Piano Boogie performance era) "My first job was for an Apple Festival in Peddlers Village, Lahaska PA. They had booked me for $500 back in 1987 sight unseen. A deposit fee of half was sent before I even had the piano in the truck. The money was the push needed to follow through. I had a new red pickup truck and the piano I grew up with in my house. It was one of a kind in size. It fit in the back of the truck with less than an inch of space to spare on both sides. This booking felt providential for me, a sign to keep pushing forward. Before the first job, I took the piano out for some test runs. 
 The first hill I drove up, the piano began to fall out of the truck and a friend had to hold it in place until we found a way to secure it. I took the truck into Center City Philadelphia and simply parked by a sidewalk on Rittenhouse Square. While driving to the spot I was so afraid to do it that I cried. Calling a friend on the phone helped. Within ten minutes of playing I was put on the local rock and roll radio station WMMR which felt really great as it gave me the credibility and persona I wanted, that of being "cool" and legitimate. The next day I drove to Independence Square next to the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia where the local radio talk station picked me up. The Philadelphia Inquire newspaper found me and took a photo for the newspaper. On the third day the television cameras arrived. I was off and running." |
August 11, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
There are many projects I am working on while trying to set up a daily routine for everything. I've been sleeping ten to twelve hours a night. There probably are several reasons for that but nothing I feel I can take action on as the sleep is needed, period. But, that only leaves 12 hours in a day. Cooking for myself and Mo takes time, meditation, piano practice, writing, reaching out to friends and posting online, filing and organizing my work, cleaning my room, going for a long walk with Mo in the early morning hours when it is not so hot, taking care of everyday business, time spent in lala land... finding ways to stay motivated... Mo is my largest motivation. I remind myself daily that I am consciously enjoy my existence with him. This is enough. What a joy he is in every moment and a comfort in being by my side
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August 10, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
I tried to start the Traveling Piano yesterday and the battery was dead. I hoped it was from just sitting idle. Luckily I have AAA because there was no one around in my apartment complex to give me a jump. The AAA guy came and said no the problem was not from sitting, the battery is dead but I was able to drive to the supermarket to get some food. Mo stayed home because of the heat. That only about the fourth time ever in our lives. I figured to get a new battery today but again, needed another jump. The battery was over $200 bucks! What the hell? The price for them is through the roof. The experience was just a reminder how I need to find the time to get someone to restore the truck so it can still be used and someone take stewardship of it once I am done with this journey.
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August 09, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
I was 18 yrs old rummaging through the bowels of the The NY Public Library looking through old Ragtime sheet music that was to be discarded. I found "That's a Plenty" Rag and it became part of my repertoire. Somewhere along the way I lost the sheet music but performed it memorized in my head for many a year until... I lost the memory of it piece by piece in my head. For the last 30 years I searched for a physical copy of that sheet music. Last night on Ebay, 3 were found with the highest price at $150! I got it, finally... $20 from a much less expensive seller. Sometimes its just crazy but, sometimes it also pays never to give up. 😍
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August 08, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
As it is too hot to play/work outside and The Traveling Piano is too much in need of repair right now to travel... luckily I have a keyboard in my room. It is not the greatest but I can still create music and must keep my physical piano playing stamina at the best level possible. Online, I found my old piano exercise book from over 50 years ago!!! So for an hour a day... back to the drawing board at almost 70 years of age with finger exercises so I can be in top shape once I get going again on the streets with the Musical Fun, Friendship and Respect... Empowerment and Inspiration... and no Fees, Tips or Commercial affiliation!
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August 07, 2024Las Vegas, NevadaSure would appreciate this someone helping to make this go viral or whomever sees it... making a copy to send to their email lists or to post on social media or personally ask friends, send to possible business who may support/partner/sponsor or to media sources who may be interesting in creating an article or doing an interview, making a personal contribution, etc...  |
August 06, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
Of course it is nothing like it was but I am still doing what I do concerning those living on the streets. It has been a practice in acceptance concerning my limitations with Mo, the heat, my age and physical capabilities but limitations are not stopping us. My friend Trudy from the The Compassion Initiative LV delivers tons of donated Chic-F-Lay chicken breasts and bread, and then I go out and purchase mayo, fresh tomatoes and lettuce and water. They get wrapped in strong tin foil. The sandwiches are awesome! No flavoring needed because the chicken is soaked ad cooked in god awful grease and fake flavoring. In the middle of the night, I take Mo out for a walk with bunches of sandwiches made and cold ice tea, water or whatever I have. This is one reason I need contribution. I live on the lowest basic social security (check that number out) and that is it. This needs to change. |
August 05, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
The piano and speaker has been out of the truck and will stay out for at least another month. They we're frying and the keyboard needed to get fixed again as a result. When it is 115º outside, underneath the truck tarp gets up to 140º easily. With every new piano and speaker generation, the quality becomes less and less. Right now the equipment is being stored in my tub as there is no room anywhere else. I do play music in my room when I can get the energy to set it all up. Setting up and tearing down is exhausting in of itself in my small room. But thank God I can still play. Online I found a copy of the Czerny Art of Finger Dexterity piano practice book that I used when I was a child, lol. I need to practice me some scales as my finger ability is slowing down. Back to the books, as they say. It is not easy for me to be off the truck for so long not doing my thing and this is a first with the length of time. I must trust that I will be up and going and as strong as usual with the Traveling Piano work once the temps come down. |
August 04, 2024Las Vegas, NevadaFor the first time my camera battery ran out of juice not from use but from no use, lol. I really miss nature and taking photos. These are from Bryce Canyon back when. I think I will be posting more "cold" photos this month to remember to remember when it was not 110º or over everyday. I have so many magnificent photos. AI will so take over natural photo viewing because as super quality and sensationalism overtake all that is natural. But guess what? Nothing will replace the replications of what I have viewed in nature, the composites of my photos, the personal creative processing and also the imperfections. Perfection is something to behold but we must remember to enjoy all the rest of what is real in life. Perfection may be something to strive for in life but Imperfection is what drives us. I see it, know it, embrace it and appreciate it. Actually, that is what the Traveling Piano's music is all about. Accepting what is musically, what is fun and fuck them if they can't take a joke. LOL 
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August 03, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
My focus has been with getting ready, organizing myself to fundraise ongoing and strong until I find myself in a secure position with the Traveling Piano to pass onward its legacy. Of course, I've been working on that from the start but this time, it is with my last breath of air so to speak. Becoming secure financially for the rest of my days (not feeling like there will be many), creating a Traveling Piano project(s) in partnership to keep myself interested in new and doable ways... representation, management and large donors wether it be financially or in-kind is what I am out to manifest or... it is all just finished. How to leave out the "or" part as in just do what needs to get done with no "or" option... I just don't know. My mind and life is so tricky to live in. I've always done what needs to get done. The fact that it must be done in my way has always thrown up a lot of roadblocks but I get through them. After all, I'm still going and plan on some more time, going... going... going... with musical fun, friendship and respect... empowerment and inspiration. Travel and nature too...
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August 02, 2024Las Vegas, Nevada
Traveling Piano Pup Mo has never ever, not once while in public refused to obey my command to come right up to me to put his leash on. There are several things needed from me for him to do that. I must not command it in an authoritarian way, I must give him the time to decide for himself on the matter and if he is out of control and about to run for something I must give a strong "sit" command which he automatically has always responded to... so he can get his act together. Now older his senses confuse him. His hearing is a lot less, smell is weak, his eyes have never been good in the dark and his mind becomes focused on what is at hand so sometimes he does not even know I am calling him. Often, he prefers now to be on leash. It is more secure and comfortable for him. He comes up to me to put it on.
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August 01, 2024Las Vegas, NevadaWith the heat, we sleep until mid afternoon and are up through most of the night. I've created a data base for all my contributions... who, when, how, how much, how many times, for what, contact data, history for each file, it goes on and on. It is a merge of seventeen years, something like having a desk piled four feet high with papers to sort through and organize. I cannot stop until I am done or the present work will just end up being another paper thrown onto the desk pile. It is becoming clear that less than one percent of all people have contributed through the hundreds of thousands of personal and online interactions through the years, lol... crying, crying... it is what it is and that fact has not stopped the Traveling Piano. Miracles have always happened along the way to carry us through. I have always received what I need to get by. The reason for so little is that it has been important that contribution for the Traveling Piano be unconditional. That means the desire must originate from the contributors with self-induced effort. No manipulation, obligation, expectation and separate from the experience happening in of itself. 
 Spotfund Paypal Venmo: @travelingpiano Dan Kean CashApp: $travelingpiano Check/Money Order/Cash by Mail: Please Email Me For The Address: dannykean@ragginpianoboogie.com |