A few summers ago, I was with some friends under a sea of stars, giving a eulogy…for a piano.
I’d taken piano lessons as a kid, and throughout middle school and high school, I dreamed of being a jazz musician, but I kind of dropped off. When I bought this piano, it was the first time I’d had one available to me since I was in high school. But I didn’t buy it to play it. I bought it to burn it.
The burning piano was for a music video I directed for a friend, the incredible singer-songwriter Philip Labes.
When we started planning this, we all agreed it felt sacrilegious to burn a musical instrument. We did our best to find a piano beyond repair, and we made sure to let anyone we were getting it from know what we planned to do.
When our free (plus $100 for delivery) piano showed up, the wood was warped, it was missing a few keys, but it still played beautifully.