Steinway piano/"pinemom"/Terminal City

[the crossroader]

"Carla", the grand piano WILL be there, no question. Everything dialed in to get her there is in place. As soon as I hit the Playa, she's belongs to Terminal City and from there, well.....

Cheers!

[Elliot]

Wonderful, Crossroader! Latest word from Terminal City is that another pianist is joining Apokiliptika.

Oh, and I now have a clapped-out no-brand Baby Grand -- so we could have a "duel"!

[Lassen Forge]

Could you imagine...

TWO flaming pianos reanacting the famed mid-air collision of, well, pick one.

The timing would have to be spot on.

The crowds say...

SMASHING!

[EspressoDude]

that would likely require some "special effects" coordination by our beloved "CPT. SMASHY" of Terminal Cities Playawaste Raiders..

[Elorrum]

Could you imagine...

TWO flaming pianos reanacting the famed mid-air collision of, well, pick one.

The timing would have to be spot on.

The crowds say...

SMASHING!

oh, the humanity!

[Elliot]

We could announce the performance as the Hindenburg Concerto?

[Elorrum]

lol! good pun

[ygmir]

could they be suspended from a big frame, set alight, and, swung together, like "clackers"?..................

[Elliot]

Ygmir, that's a pretty good idea! I expect to have two scaffolding towers in my camp. Only 20 feet high, but that might be enough. I'm thinking we'd need a beam connecting the two towers, and suspend both pianos from the center of that beam. I do have a 25 foot beam.

Not sure about using fire in camp, though. But instead we might be able to hear the sound of hundreds of strings colliding -- and do it many times!

Say... there is a free Baby Grand in Auburn right now -- on Craigslist (Sacramento or Gold Country). It may be identical to the one I have. I'm inquiring, but it is kind'a far from home. Ygmir?

[Elorrum]

give them each a foam rubber bat and , oh yeah, they aren't alive.

Ferrante and Teischer do thunderdome.

[ygmir]

Ygmir, that's a pretty good idea! I expect to have two scaffolding towers in my camp. Only 20 feet high, but that might be enough. I'm thinking we'd need a beam connecting the two towers, and suspend both pianos from the center of that beam. I do have a 25 foot beam.

Not sure about using fire in camp, though. But instead we might be able to hear the sound of hundreds of strings colliding -- and do it many times!

Say... there is a free Baby Grand in Auburn right now -- on Craigslist (Sacramento or Gold Country). It may be identical to the one I have. I'm inquiring, but it is kind'a far from home. Ygmir?

yeah, that'd be plenty high, I think.
pull them back, tie them off. douse with petroleum distillates, ignite.....as they crash together, it'd prolly make sweet sounds of strings and impact, fire and sparks.........a perfect ending.

I bet we could set it up away from campers, maybe even out on the playa, past Esplanade.......

I could probably get that piano, but, would have to store it under a tarp outside...........
Let me know what you find out.

[thisisthatwhichis]

Geez.... I think there's three in the mix already..... what kinda concert ya got goin on here......

[pinemom]

oh my

[ygmir]

Geez.... I think there's three in the mix already..... what kinda concert ya got goin on here......

menage' a piano?

[Elliot]

Craigslist is absolutely awash in free upright pianos. I may grab a couple more, and we smash those rather than the far less common Grands.

[oscillator]

Annea Lockwood Marathon!!! Yeah!

http://www.annealockwood.com/compositio ... plants.htm

[ygmir]

yeah, but......the thought, nay, vision, of two, grands. suspended, flaming, hurtling through time and space........crashing, the strings playing that final, flaming, staccato note as the break and burn..........the carcasses, hanging, flaming, the occasional "twang" as another string breaks....the pieces falling, lilting to the ground, ablaze still.......the smoke, the sparks...........


or, we could play the spoons like on Hee-Haw........

[dragonfly Jafe]

yeah, but......the thought, nay, vision, of two, grands. suspended, flaming, hurtling through time and space........crashing, the strings playing that final, flaming, staccato note as the break and burn..........the carcasses, hanging, flaming, the occasional "twang" as another string breaks....the pieces falling, lilting to the ground, ablaze still.......the smoke, the sparks...........

if you stuffed them each with 100 lbs of raw bacon, you could also feast afterwards...

[ygmir]

*shuddering at the sheer genius of d J, and, the thought of all that greasy, smokey, bacony goodness*


*oops edit*

[Elliot]

Ygmir, that Baby Grand in Auburn is gone already. Let's hope it was a burner who grabbed it!

An other idea that just came to me, is to take the complete "plate" with all the strings out of a couple of pianos and just bang those together. (The plate is the cast iron frame that the strings are attached to.) That might be the thing to do with a totally unplayable piano.

[ygmir]

how do we light them?...................the "plates", if, they're wire and iron?

It's the flames, and noise, for me................

[Elliot]

No, the plates would be just for banging into each other. The upside is that this could be done many times, until too many strings are broken.

I'm thinking... ... about pianos and fire. Methinks heat would make the strings expand and slacken, so I'm worried we might not get much sound from burning. Now... if we could douse the strings with liquid nitrogen or some such, we might get quite a wild riff!

Realistically, there is a pretty serious moop issue with the burning of a piano. At the top of the list may be the lead in the keys. Yes, piano keys are balanced with slugs of lead. So I'd be inclined to remove the keys before burning. This is super easy to do with the Baby Grand I already have -- in fact the entire action lifts out. I do not know if uprights disassemble as easily.

Even with the lead removed, we'd need a burn platform. Wait... silly me.... You, Ygmir, could just toss the whole piano onto one of the official burn platforms!

[ygmir]

No, the plates would be just for banging into each other. The upside is that this could be done many times, until too many strings are broken.

I'm thinking... ... about pianos and fire. Methinks heat would make the strings expand and slacken, so I'm worried we might not get much sound from burning. Now... if we could douse the strings with liquid nitrogen or some such, we might get quite a wild riff!

Realistically, there is a pretty serious moop issue with the burning of a piano. At the top of the list may be the lead in the keys. Yes, piano keys are balanced with slugs of lead. So I'd be inclined to remove the keys before burning. This is super easy to do with the Baby Grand I already have -- in fact the entire action lifts out. I do not know if uprights disassemble as easily.

Even with the lead removed, we'd need a burn platform. Wait... silly me.... You, Ygmir, could just toss the whole piano onto one of the official burn platforms!

yes, yes I could.........

[Lassen Forge]

:D
No, the plates would be just for banging into each other. The upside is that this could be done many times, until too many strings are broken.

You mean, like playa sized mega-huge Wind Chimes???

I sense an art installation in the making... You game??

[Elliot]

Hmmm... yes, would certainly make One Hecka wind chime!

There is a bit of a hazard in allowing people to go near the guts of a piano. If (no, when) a string breaks, it might snap like a whip and injure somebody.

But I'll be watching for more free pianos near me.

[Lassen Forge]

Open playa... a cable between 2 towers, suspended off a frame, prolly half dozen harps...

Even IF the strings broke they're still attached on both ends.

I could so see this... Seriously - if the harps were 10-15 feet off the playa, it'd be safe. And the sound? Might be pretty amazing.
(And if it was mic'd and amplified? What a concerto of Doom!!!)

Unless the harps themselves broke. And BTW, from what I can tell, uprights are fairly easy to rend, esp. if you're pulling them for the harp, with no consid for the guts.

Will talk to my brother about this... he's the peyanner techie, and he knows how to pul them apart and (Oh, BTW - 23 days and counting!)...

[Elliot]

My dance card is already more than full, so I cannot contribute to that wind chime structure. But I may be able to do something with the towers that are allready planned in camp. Maybe a "concert" every day at Noon. Or use as dinner bell.

[Elorrum]

Ygmir, that Baby Grand in Auburn is gone already. Let's hope it was a burner who grabbed it!

An other idea that just came to me, is to take the complete "plate" with all the strings out of a couple of pianos and just bang those together. (The plate is the cast iron frame that the strings are attached to.) That might be the thing to do with a totally unplayable piano.

did you play with the box at Center camp that was made of I think 3 or four of these harps/plates? One could sit inside while people banged and strummed and thumped on the strings. Very fun!

[Elliot]

Is that what it was....?! I suspect I know what piece you are talking about. I saw something from a distance... several times... and always wanted to go closer but always was in pursuit of some other interesting thing.... So I never got close to it. (BM needs to last TWO weeks!)

Well then we know that the strings are probably not all that terribly fragile. That's good.

[ygmir]

maybe we could mount them horizontal, and, offer them as trampoline/cheese slicers?............