In Tuesday’s (7/26) Denver Post, Douglas Brown writes, “The 17 pianos sprinkled along the 16th Street Mall attract talented tourists playing Mozart, little kids tapping away at ‘Chopsticks’ and downtown workers on lunch break taking stabs at Billy Joel tunes. And then there are the regulars, the men and women, many homeless, who plant a cup and hope their songs persuade passers-by to open their wallets. They make music for money but also, simply, because they can. They are musicians without instruments. Playing is at least one way of escaping from a daily grind fraught with headache and peril. … The Downtown Denver Partnership began placing pianos along the mall in late 2009, said spokesperson Sarah Neumann. All of the instruments were donated; the partnership received many of them just by asking on Craigslist. They started with eight pianos but grew the roster to the current 17. All of them are painted to match the seasons by local artists. At night, partnership employees cover them with tarps and lock them.”
Posted July 26, 2011
