Chicago is an amazing city! These people were taking Sake bombs as I passed by and I played a song or two for them. They came over to the piano and we had a Great conversation. Afterwards they offered me Sake bomb and we toasted to Piano Across America! Aug 27, 5:35 PM
My defining moment in Chicago. I walked up to Dublins Restaurant where there were about 40 people eating lunch outside. I told everyone that I’m going to play them a song and I played La Vie En Rose. I received Uproarious applause and it was an incredible feeling! Aug 28 Chicago Piano
It’s only 9 AM and I already got a ticket! My hard drive crashed and I can potentially lose 10 hours of great video. I’m going to be extra cautious today. Life is good… Aug 29
Played in Wicker Park today from 4-9:30. Rough day! The humidity was on full blast and there werent many people out today. I made friends with a ‘recovering’ alcohol who just got out of the hospital today. His name was Billy, but his nickname was Ghost. He hung out with me and helped me move the piano. Aug 31
In the 5 hours I played at Wicker Park last night, I met and conversed with over 20 people!
August 31, 2011 Its true! The piano is an instant ice breaker! Meeting new and interesting people is why I LOVE doing this so much. I dont even care about the money anymore. Its been more about meeting people, gaining wisdom, and spreading that inspirational spirit! Here are some of the people I spoke with last night: 3 people from tumblr- I met ashleeprewitt.tumblr.com/ who was with josephgoode.tumblr.com/ I had spoken with Ashlee about meeting up at a Whole Foods, but never followed through. Turns out she just ran into me! Later on I met partlyaskew.tumblr.com/ with a friend of his. Great people! Darren- Owns a rickshaw and gave me 3 contacts for people who are bicycle engineers. Maybe I can make my own piano bike? Zach - Is beginning his freshman year at Columbia college for composition and music. We exchanged number and will probably end up playing today or tomorrow. Billy “Ghost” - The shirtless man with black glasses that i met while wheeling around my piano. He hung out with me the entire night and told me some crazy stories! He just got out of the hospital for 6 days because of alcohol poisoning and he is a “recovering” alcoholic. He told me that when he was 26 years old, he had a million dollars from the restaurants that his family owned. He blew it all away to cocaine, strippers, and didnt think twice! Now he is on the streets, using food stamps to eat… Alee - is a wonderful friend of mine from college who was riding her bicycle to her house when she saw me. She called my name and hung out for 20 minutes. Alex - was a girl I saw 2 nights ago at some music venue. She works as a photographer and film camera person. She was walking by and I told her she looked familiar. She stepped on my foot the night before. Ha! Joey Ruiz - I met this man briefly for 20 minutes and he told me about how he was once a pro boxer. He told me to look up one of his fights that aired on ESPN . <—An INCREDIBLE fight! He was 19, had over $300,000. He blew it all away on alcohol. He told me that if he would have gone to the championship and won, he would have been dead by now because of he would have spent it all on drugs and alcohol. Rebecca (from New Zealand)- Plays piano and ended up talking with her about my travels. She came back from her apartment and gave me a Bach book of music. Elizabeth and Liz- 2 beautiful girls that have already graduated from college and have been working in Chicago. One had just quit her job because she was unhappy. 2 Mexican girls -They were having drinks outside at this bar and I spoke to them about the piano and my travels. 2 Guys from Toronto- Have been traveling for 2 weeks and they ran out of money…
Doing a little night piano on Milwaukee near the Reckless Records. Come on by! Sept 1
One of the Craziest Nights of my trip! Here we are singing “Dont Stop Believing” with Nikole, Joel, and Julian. Sept 2 Photo taken by the Viewminder. Click here for his side of the story.
One night, I had drinks with a man who had Millions of dollars, a fancy car, and a Beautiful girlfriend.
But there was something missing. In his eyes there was a desire to break free and meet new people, to discover more about the world. He kept asking me questions about my future and my goals: what I was doing in the past. He never once brought up his company or started a conversation about himself. This man was very compassionate and generous, but most of all he was lonely. You can have millions of dollars and still be miserable. Money cant buy you happiness!