There is a great art exhibit in Austin this month. Check out this link to get the full story, but the short version is this -
There are 14 pianos that are stationed around the jogging/walking paths, foot bridges and streets of downtown Austin that are decorated in a variety of ways. They are painted and/or covered in stickers. Better yet, they are all tuned up and completely functional. They each have the inviting message "Play Me, I'm yours" on the front of them. And this is Austin, so people are playing them. They each have a plastic covering attached that can be pulled over in case of inclement weather, but they are just sitting there waiting for people to play them. After the month, they will all be donated to schools and community groups.
Last Wednesday, my friend Felicity and I headed down to check a few of them out. We headed to the Lamar Street foot bridge and came across this one being played by the man below who sang us a couple of songs and gave me his business card. He's hoping to relocate from California to Austin and wanted to check out the town and this exhibit. Robby Ravenwood
And after hearing about mom and Becky playing the piano, and me only able to pluck out Heart and Soul, he invited me to join him. So I did...
Then before we moved on to another one, a mom with her son came along, sheet music in hand, and he played a song (with mom's help)
Then Felicity gave it a shot at the next one we saw.
It was a great afternoon and I'm hoping to see some more of them while they are still out. Hopefully the weather will be nice enough to get Becky & Jesko playing them when they are here next week.
Special thanks to Deborah Butler, who works in the Student Affairs and Vocations office at the seminary for telling me about this exhibit. And to Felicity for a great afternoon of art, music, custard, Waterloo Records, and the flagship store of Whole Foods.
