Music for the Masses

July 7, 2006 3:18 AM

When an accident becomes a community attraction... It's not one of these, but when some lads from Sheffield couldn't fit their piano into their house, they inadvertently created a new concept - the 'street piano'. Start your own street piano community today!
posted by altolinguistic (25 comments total)

What if it rains? Wouldnt the poor piano rot away?

Also, us northerners rule :-)
posted by 13twelve at 4:15 AM on July 7, 2006

I heard this on the Radio 4 'Today' show the other morning and thought it was a lovely idea. The website doesn't mention the inevitable run-in with boneheaded local bureacracy, and their unlikely triumph.
Good for these guys, and hopefully we'll have our own in Jericho soon too - I know just the spot for it.
How do they keep it dry I wonder?
posted by Flashman at 4:16 AM on July 7, 2006

hahaha. A great idea. Don't miss part 2
posted by ajbattrick at 4:37 AM on July 7, 2006

Great story, thanks for postin'!
posted by Atreides at 4:47 AM on July 7, 2006

Flashman how about just outside frevds?
posted by verisimilitude at 5:31 AM on July 7, 2006

Beautiful.
posted by empath at 5:46 AM on July 7, 2006

13twelve: The stoodents sound like they're from down south -- especially as they think Sheffield is the far north!
posted by i_cola at 6:01 AM on July 7, 2006

Tha is the coolest thing EVAR (well, ok, maybe not, but...)!! I tried to look up the location using Google Maps, and was shown a place a bit west of London...can someone assist me in figuring out where the hell this place is? I wanna visit.
posted by notsnot at 6:05 AM on July 7, 2006

How much inclement weather can a piano take, even covered by a tarp? It must be looking pretty rough on the outside by now. Doesn't humidity mess with the inner workings?
posted by a3matrix at 6:14 AM on July 7, 2006

Just a beautiful feel-good story. Gives one a little piece of hope for the world. :-)
posted by ryran at 6:15 AM on July 7, 2006

There's a piano on the corner of Monmouth and Carlton streets in Brookline, MA. I think it might be related to Death Wish Piano Movers. At least there was a few years ago when I lived in Boston.
posted by sohcahtoa at 6:17 AM on July 7, 2006

can someone assist me in figuring out where the hell this place is?

Here. Obtained by the terribly complicated manoeuvre of typing the address from the article into the google maps search field.
posted by George_Spiggott at 6:31 AM on July 7, 2006

Weird - I live about 5 minutes away from this place and I've neither seen nor heard anything about it. Still, I fucking hate students so it's no big deal.
posted by longbaugh at 6:33 AM on July 7, 2006

Or here in satellite maps form... crap, that's some high resolution imagery. I mean, can someone actually find the piano there? A piano should be big enough to show up, unless it's on the south side of the street where it would be blocked by the houses.
posted by GuyZero at 6:34 AM on July 7, 2006

That's assuming that they've updated the satellite photos since the piano has been out there.
posted by puke & cry at 6:36 AM on July 7, 2006 [1 favorite]

crap, that's some high resolution imagery.

That's because it's not satellite, it's interpolated from the feeds from thousands of CCTV cameras.
posted by George_Spiggott at 6:38 AM on July 7, 2006

The pictures are so good you can even see me leaning out of the window of my attic bedroom window with a high powered sniper rifle. Die student filth!
posted by longbaugh at 6:48 AM on July 7, 2006

Still, I fucking hate students so it's no big deal.

Me too, especially after living opposite a student union for three years. But this lot seem okay.

Unlike the shower of twats who got a free piano from FreeCycle and later decided that, since they couldn't be arsed moving it to their new flat, they'd just set fire to it in a bid to become 'internet legends'.
posted by jack_mo at 6:50 AM on July 7, 2006

Verisimilitude I was thinking of the little square at the end of Canal Street - a couple of Sundays ago St. Barnabas even had a bit of their church service there for some reason - but yeah, the pavement outside Freud's would be good too. Now, how to procure a piano?
posted by Flashman at 7:00 AM on July 7, 2006

great story, but what a lame site

we need pictures!

yes I did see the gallery
posted by beno at 7:11 AM on July 7, 2006

Now, how to procure a piano?
posted by Flashman at 9:00 AM CST on July 7 [+fave] [!]

This sort of request/activity is custom-made for your local flavor of Craigslist I would think. (Although oxford's listings are fairly sparse... it might require a go to London)
posted by Ynoxas at 7:22 AM on July 7, 2006

Maybe there needs to be regional variations:
i.e. Berkeley CA would probably be better served by community bongo drums, Aberdeen with some bagpipes, and maybe Rammstein by a community steel bar to bang on things with.
posted by Flashman at 7:33 AM on July 7, 2006

this reminds my of my idea some time ago, to have an out of doors community kazoo.
posted by nola at 9:55 AM on July 7, 2006

This is a story that gives me just a titch of the warm fuzzies.

Those freecycle boys and their piano burning, though...that gets me a bit angry.
posted by redsparkler at 10:53 AM on July 7, 2006

What an incredible story! I need to find a way to make my town more musical.
posted by buriednexttoyou at 6:58 AM on July 8, 2006