Play Me, I'm STILL Yours!

On Memorial Day I took a bike ride around town and ended up at Union Station. I decided to use a Starbucks Gift Card I recently got, so I got me a Frapp. This was my first time since May 6 that I've been at Union Station, so the sight of the empty space next to Starbucks caused my heart to ache:

:(

After I consumed my Java Chip Frappuccino and a blueberry oat bar, I was considering curtailing my bike excursion and just taking the subway the rest of the way home. But something in me decided to just continue riding home via Cesar Chavez and Sunset. So that I did.

As I rode up the hill on Chavez near Grand, I passed by Ramon Cortines Performing Arts High School and looked wistfully at the empty space in their front gate where their street piano once stood.

Only it wasn't empty. Could it be?

Yes, the street piano is STILL THERE!

Some of the decorations were torn off, and the bench was almost ready to come apart in two pieces, but the piano was still in a playable shape, and no noticeable bad keys. So of course I did the honor of playing it, playing a few original tunes that had popped into my consciousness lately that I never got to play at the street pianos. I even composed a few riffs here and there.

A man walking a dog approached. He heard the music and thought I brought the piano by myself. I told him about the "Play Me, I'm Yours" installation in two sentences (Been doing it often enough, I have it down to a T now...). He was Tony Hernandez, a math teacher at Foshay Middle School. I told him about my Journalism school days at USC and how we got to tutor the kids at Foshay and helped them put their school paper together. He shared with me his frustrations as an LAUSD teacher. He lived up the street, at the Orsini Apartments. I asked if he played and offered the piano to him, he told me he only played "a little" and didn't take it up. Then he went on his way.

"Play Me, I'm Yours" is gone, but the interaction from the pianos lives on!

Since the installation ended, the L.A. Chamber Orchestra auctioned off six of the street pianos, and donated the rest, most of them to the host organizations.

Here's a list of the remaining, publicly-playable pianos that are still at their locations, as of June 2, 2012:

• One Colorado, Old Town Pasadena
• Glendale Community College
• Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood
• Cortines School of the Visual and Performing Arts, Downtown L.A.
• Chinatown Central Plaza (Will remain until 6/21, and return on 7/28, 8/11 and 8/25)

(Bear in mind that the quality and playability of the pianos is subject to the new owners)

Last week, I went to the Hel-Mel Art Walk in East Hollywood and met Andre Miripolsky, the artist who designed the Egyptian Theatre piano. I told him I played all of them and he was glad to meet someone who played the pianos He told me LACO donated the piano to American Cinematheque, who didn't know what to do with it, so they plan to leave it there "until it falls apart."

If you know of any street pianos still standing, please leave a comment below! I will update the list accordingly.