Poor Piano - Long Goodbye

[Amskeptic]

I am truly such a wimp. It took me just a day to fall in love with this piano all over again, but what circumstances I found it in. The front bay window was boarded up, as was the sliding door (not to keep crooks out like I was told, but to keep the piano in, why else would the back door be flapping open in the breeze?). You may remember the little celing lantern and that view out the window in my prior videos, here, you can see the claustrophobic plywood choking out the light and trapping in the almost unbearable 130*heat. This piano cannot tolerate this. Yet it remains, and I do not put my foot down and demand that it be moved to climate-controlled storage. How can I? I am some transient itinerant.

I tuned it up, and what a mess. Six tuning pins could not hold the notes as the pin block shrinks in the dry heat, one string spooooooooiiiiiiiiinged right off the bridge anchor, and the movement is getting more inconsistent. The pedal cluster (trapwork) you can hear creaking with every application of the sustain pedal, and the entire lyre is loosening.

But the sound, you can hear that piano trying to sing, even under the inexpert monkey banging brought to it by yours truly. I do not understand the creative process, but this Long Goodbye composition built itself by itself. On my last night in Pahrump, after hammering in the new torsion arms, I arrived at the piano at 11:30PM and played and cried and prayed and cried and talked to myself most fiercely until 2:30AM when I said to this piano, "I am not worthy of you. I am sorry that my tenacity, to prevail past the clutching ignorance that keeps you imprisoned here, is just too damaged, but I love you and your sound" (and I do LOVE the sound of this piano). I will not initiate an adversarial legal fight that was promised by the probate lawyer to range between $3,000.00 and $15,000.00. I played this piano (first brought home by my grandmother in 1913, refinished in the mid 30's when my own mom as a girl marred the finish, given to my dad in 1963, rediscovered in 2006) over and over with questions of what the future will bring this thing? Like my dad, this piano was loved fiercely at the end, this I know:

http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x133 ... odbyea.flv

[zblair]

So much was represented by that poor piano and letting go of it is letting go once again of your very recent and beautiful memories. Be kind to yourself brother. Please.

I am sorry once again for your loss.

p.s. you are NOT a wimp

[RussellK]

Truly that piano is a part of you and your past. I'll bet if it were appraised it wouldn't have a huge amount of dollar value and yet someone can't see past themselves enough to do the right thing. I know you would have restored it to its rightful grandeur. Sometimes it just doesn't seem right the way things are.

[upnorthman]

Colin, If time permits on your visit you will have to take a 5 min. ride to my old man's to play on the old baby grand that was my grandfathers. It sits to quietly in the basement all by itself. Hopefully my dad will retire and take it back up again.

[mattg]

I would be pretty freaked out if I heard that piano playing in the middle of the night in the desert. I am thinking of a narrative set to the music - deep beneath the stars, as I contemplate the future, I am awakened to the sound, permeating from desert floor....

[glasseye]

I would be pretty freaked out if I heard that piano playing in the middle of the night in the desert. .

Indeed. "The Ocatillo Prelude"

[zblair]

Mattg, GREAT IDEA!!!! I say we create or at least storyboard that at Maupin 2009

We certainly have the collective talent:

Video production: Neal & Cheryle
Audio production: Jeffrey & I
Photo stills: Glasseye
Musicians a plenty!

p.s. I know Colin would have to buy into this, but a year from now it will most likely be easier for him to broach this topic, yes?

[mojo]

This is so sad. I'm sorry you had to let go of something you were so passionate about.

[Amskeptic]

This is so sad. I'm sorry you had to let go of something you were so passionate about.

I am attempting to appeal to the hearts and minds of people who may not understand the deep passion of creative endeavor, and who most certainly do not understand Quality as built by Steinway in their heyday. That means that my fiercest articulation of doing the right thing for the piano falls on deaf ears. I haven't given up, but I did pre-emptively bid adieu to that beautiful instrument. The future shall unfold as it unfolds, I can only hope that I understand the whys and wherefores better than this current confusion and disappointment.
Colin

[bottomend]

Shame about the piano... It does posess a sonority in the lower midrange that is stunning. It speaks...

[hippiewannabe]

......I am attempting to appeal to the hearts and minds of people who may not understand the deep passion of creative endeavor, and who most certainly do not understand Quality as built by Steinway in their heyday. That means that my fiercest articulation of doing the right thing for the piano falls on deaf ears......

We didn't get a chance to talk about this on your visit, but I have experience in settling estates. I found the biggest key to success is keeping emotions separate from monetary values. Each item has a market value, but the hiers also have different levels of emotional attachment. You can come up with a scheme for parceling out the non-financial assets that lets the heirs negotiate or make choices where they can trade off financial gain and emotional satisfaction in such a way to maximize utility and minimize hurt feelings. In any case, be sure to keep track of the value of your labor and travel expenses that have gone to help maintain and restore the piano, they should be part of the pie.
Good luck, and remember that even with the memories attached, at the end of the day it's still just stuff.