Raggin' Piano Boogie
| The TRAVELING PIANO Information Page | READ THE DAILY LOG - Flight of Peregrinating Musical Exploration! |
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Since 1987 |
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HELP! A new Carburetor is needed. SpotFund: Long Live the Traveling Piano Spotfund Venmo: Dan Kean @TravelingPiano 2156399378 - Paypal Direct: Paypal - And of Course this Website Contribution Page. Contribute Or email me for snail mail.
April 30, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
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April 29, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
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April 28, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
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April 27, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
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April 26, 2025Las Vegas, NevadaLast night I had little sleep not just because I am feeling crazy but because I knew I had a commitment to get up and did not fall asleep in time to feel rested. I scheduled a pickup for food at the vegetarian food bank and would need to stay for the entire time they were distributing food to create music for everyone because... thats what I do. I wrestled in my brain with myself all night whether to follow through or just cancel. It did not matter if anyone else cared, it was a matter of my following through with something I said I would do. I do not need any food in fact, I have no room for any food. The alarm went off and I said fuck it, I am not going. 
 A half hour latter I jumped up, shaved, brush my teeth, threw Mo into the truck and off we went. We came home with seven large boxes of huge potatoes, onions, carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, almond milk, rice and beans while I thought... why did I do that? Now I will need to cook it all and then take it out to serve for people on the streets. Like I have time (or energy) to do this??? I've told myself over and over that I am done. Each time I say, the last time. Its been eight years now. I asked all the people working if they wanted a group Traveling Piano photo. They were like, naa... and that suited me fine. |
April 25, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
Last month while driving my front windshield started to flap. The metal striping holding the glass blew off. It happened once before several years ago. This was just another piece of stripping, a bigger piece! So, it is being held on with gorilla glue and duct tape. A new windshield would cost about $400 and finding the striping needed from a junk yard will be almost impossible because the truck is so old. And then today... I find a huge crack in the windshield glass from top to bottom. What was once a performance show piece, the Traveling Piano truck is now old and dying. It may be past the point of return without any possibility or rebuilding. Just like myself and Mo... life is doing what it does on us all.
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April 24, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
With my living space of only 400 square feet, not much can fit into that. So, the gallery supplies and a lot of what I need to use on and off has been stored in my friends Eric and Mary's garage. That has been for several years now. Mary's sister lives with Mary and Eric. She is an absolutely wretched bitch who dominates Mary. Mary dominates Eric, lol. Mary wants the space back because the sister has been bitching on her about it. The sister does not like Eric and hates that Mary and I love each other so, she does everything she can when any opportunity presents itself to try and sabotage our relationship. She knows in making me move my stuff out, that will hurt both Mary and Eric and, it does. The solution... Mary and Eric are paying for a storage unit for me to rent. It is a small 5'x8' space that will be totally packed but, it is also only a few blocks from where I live. Mary and Eric's garage has been a half hour away. I will be better able to access to my possessions. Also, when they go away, I can't go to the house with the witch living there so this solves that issue also. But, I just hate that the witch uses me to hurt them and gets away with it everytime.
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April 23, 2025Las Vegas, NevadaA guy contacted me to play on the Traveling Piano while visiting here in Las Vegas. He lives in New York City. Because of the rise in public pianos over the years, people think that I operate the way the other projects do. What I do is not a "project." I am not a non-profit. I am not out to be an online piano influencer or like others who try and copy me for self-centered promotion. Sometimes people think that the Traveling Piano is a vehicle for them to perform on and that I exist for them, something they can take advantage of for free and at their conveyance because I will benefit in some way. Well, that is not what I do, have ever done, how I work or what I am about. This blog over the years states and shows exactly what I am about. 
 Yes, I may drive someone down the strip playing the piano but not before I meet them and get a feel for the situation. And, I am flexible for people but not available 24/7. The Traveling Piano is not a performance vehicle for people to create entertainment on. It has always operated as something discovered, a surprise to come across. It is a synchronistic and spontaneous experience. I talked with the guy briefly by phone and could feel him wanting for me to be impressed by him, lol. Our get together never happened. He blew me off and again... drives me crazy when I make plans with people and they do not follow through or even tell me that they are not going to follow through. That will never be acceptable behavior for me. My time is valuable and I do not state that in a boasting way. |
April 22, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
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April 21, 2025Las Vegas, NevadaMy friend Trudy who has a homeless outreach non-profit... I joined her where she was distributing resources today at an apartment complex in Las Vegas with the Traveling Piano. There was a couple I know who was helping her out. I knew them from when they were homeless on the streets. They now have had a place to live and have been set for a few years. This is a rare happening for me and I feel so much love for people I run into who have made it through hell to a better place in life. I had an interaction with another guy, he commented on how much he needed our meeting today. I could feel his love for me. A woman got onto the piano with her live five foot long pet snake. She played on the piano with the snake around her neck. I could not get a photo good enough to show it. My ability to move fast enough to capture unique situations is not what it used to be. 
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April 20, 2025Las Vegas, NevadaHere we are and it is Easter. This is the first holiday I can remember not taking the Traveling Piano out and doing something special with it specifically for the homeless on the streets. The energy, strength and stamina to do anything did not exist today. I want to share what gives me comfort today. My mother who was Ukrainian turned me onto the fine art of painted Ukrainian Easter Eggs. I've always loved them and found the opportunity to get a few for myself from the Ukraine. This is very special for me to have been able to support someone living there in the Russian genocide of the country but also to have and enjoy them for myself and the loving memories of my mother's love for Ukraine. Her family escaped the Holodomor, the last genocide that Russia created when they starved millions of Ukrainians under Stalin's reign. Along with my crystals, rocks, my vintage Christmas candelabra and a porcelain hummingbird my friend Gertrude who has passed, she gave to me many years ago... I feel comfort today. 
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April 19, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
I will, in fact get this blog up to date. A lot has happened since March 17th, the last blog entry and... this has never happened before for such a length of time, not blogging. Eventually it will get updated. Accepting what is and adjusting to how much I am able to do these days well, I just do the best I can. I attended a political protest today here in Las Vegas, part of a national protest to stand up against the dictatorship America is sinking into completely. It tuns my stomach. It drains my ability to live this journey. There is no way I am going to ignore it. I've contacted as many family members as possible to tell them to speak out. Not one, will. In fact they are distancing themselves form me more because they just do not want to disturb their social circles. They are stupid fools. When the time comes that they want to speak out, it will be too late. |
April 18, 2025Las Vegas, NevadaThe Traveling Piano Gallery is finished. There are several reasons. The heat over the past week broke the straw so to speak. I just can't work with the piano in the sun and Mo certainly cannot handle it anymore. Eighty degrees feels like ninety and the sun is just too strong. Keeping up the gallery by myself... it is just too much. The city would not allow me to setup there unless I paid and/or they controlled what I do and when. Fuck that. There are drug addicts that hang out at the spot everyday and their energy wears on me. They keep people who are not drug addicts away because of course they are not safe to be around. There are two specific homeless drug addicts living on the property who I have known for years. They were originally helping to build the gallery and people who I have given to over the years big time. 
 They have fucked up our relationship royally. Surprise? Drug addicts will always sabotage a good relationship. The situation has turned dangerous for me. I can either retaliate or detach. They have stolen from me and have been bad mouthing me to what I call an angry dyke bartender and her lover who also work on the property. Being gay myself, I have no issue in using that terminology. It is what it is, the specific character is a breed I know well. They all joined in the dysfunction of trying to damage my reputation with immaturity and were becoming meaner each day. As a seventy year old man with lots of experience, I know there can be no win in the situation for me and... I am just too old to deal with the shit. It is why I choose my present life. To get away from all that. |
April 17, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
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April 16, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
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April 07, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
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April 6, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
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April 05, 2025Las Vegas, NevadaA mother contacted me from back east saying her son who plays the piano, she is bringing him to Las Vegas for a graduation present and was wondering if I would allow him to play on the Traveling Piano. Well, of course! But I told her to have him contact me because he is grown up now and I wanted for him to create the relationship with me. He did but was full of questions like how long could he play on it, would I drive him down the street, he could not give me a time, etc... I told him I would be as flexible as possible but had to also deal with the Fundraising Gallery. I wanted to meet first to see what we could do together. I am not just going to tell a stranger that I will drive them down the street playing the piano before I meet them. 
 There are many factors to consider along with the spontaneity and synchronicity to experience. The stamina of a piano player feeds into the situation. I need to get a feel if someone is able to do it. Playing the piano while driving on a street with traffic is not as easy as it may seem. We had today set and somehow it got all messed up. I could sense a lot of control issues going on which was creating chaos for their visit to Las Vegas. It didn't happen which was kind of a pain in the ass for me. I invested interest and put it into my plans. It is not like I have nothing to do or think about in life and when I say I will do something, following through, which I always do takes a lot of effort. |
April 04, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
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April 03, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
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April 02, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
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April 01, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
Someone I know from the past called to make sure I am ok as I've not made a blog post since March 17th. Here I am thinking no one reads this blog! I should no better. Many people, many more than I could imagine read this blog or come to check in from time to time. I've got parts of the past month done to post, photos from all those days not yet processed, I've been slowing up and there is just so little time. My priorities have shifted to getting the art gallery set up and working with the Traveling Piano in connecting with people there. The gallery will probably be done just in time for the hundred degree weather when I won't be able to use it. Wouldn't that be how it goes? I've been working in a brain fog more than ever before. |