Raggin' Piano Boogie
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Since 1987 |
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HELP! A new Carburetor is needed. SpotFund: Long Live the Traveling Piano Spotfund Venmo: Dan Kean @TravelingPiano 2156399378 - Paypal Direct: Paypal - And of Course this Website Contribution Page. Contribute Or email me for snail mail.
May 18, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
01. I'd like to keep this Traveling Piano Journey going to reach the forty year age mark with the same truck since day one. That would be in 2027 will not happen without the financial support needed. My contributors, the few that there are always have been and certainly not large amounts of contribution, have been dropping off, the world is tightening up as the billionaires take whatever most people have for themselves with blatant greed and... people are distracted with the horrors, chaos and everything else not good happening, to us all. I could go after the morons in denial for money needed but those are the types who never gave to begin with.
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May 17, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
 02. My physical, mental and emotional capacity to go after Traveling Piano funding myself is dwindling to almost nothing. I do not feel the inspiration and/or self empowerment or worth with my present limitations. But, as far as myself leaving this world... no problem I've no time set to reach. When it over its over. I feel completely fulfilled in life. That happened many years and I remember the very moment of realization. It was after Bo had passed, I was hiking in Glacier Park, Montana by myself while standing on top of the world. Mo... I want for him to keep going also. He reached my desire of at least fifteen. His back legs are almost useless. He has lost the ability to climbs stairs totally last night for the first time. I know he is a little freaked out by it and his lack of ability to move around as desired, to explore and do what he wants but at the same time he also knows I am right here to help him in any way needed and our total commitment and love remains. Still, he knows he's about to go. |
May 16, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
Mo is losing his ability to stand up on his own from his laying down position on the floor and has now lost the ability to climb the stairs on his own. I know he is disappointed about that. I can see it in the way he looks at me. He has always been a dog on the move never stopping and always running everywhere non-stop to see what he can discover. I used to compare him to a bull in a china closet. His time here on earth is coming to a close and I feel very alone in that. Everyone else I know is having their own deep personal issues with death and with everything else going on in the world. I just cannot burden them with more grief. No matter how much I prepare myself, my grief will be deep, I hope I can live through it. The challenge is not to bring it on while there is still time to enjoy our being alive together. I do not want to waste the joy right now in the present moment. I've been through several near death experiences with Mo. With the practice I have had, one would think I'd be ok with this last, final time period.
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May 15, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada |
May 14, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
While we still can concerning the heat, Mo and I parked at a popular intersection around the corner from where we live on Las Vegas Boulevard at Charleston Boulevard. There were not many people walking around or in the high rises a few blocks away who usually open their balcony doors. The energy all around us was kind of weird and disjointed. Maybe that was just in my own brain but for the most part people ignored us and that was fine with me. I was able to play the music super loud so I know it was heard for a quarter mile in circumference. It felt good. Even though it was not too long a time playing, it was exhausting to do. |
May 13, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
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May 12, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
We stopped to visit our friend Trudy while she was giving out resources in the homeless corridor of the city and of course shared the Traveling Piano. It was as windy as it can get. There was a 12th step meeting there and so I attended my first in a long while. Some of the members came over and got on the piano to play. As I get older people are looking more and more different. When I was younger I used to observe older people and how they looked and acted different from people around my age and it was not because of their age it was because of the difference in time periods of life. In the fifties it was total Leave it to Beaver television show uniform and squeaky clean. Now it is total grunge. I liked it a lot better somewhere in between. |
May 11, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
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May 10, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
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May 09, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
I felt compelled to go create music for a short while. Mo and I hid behind a wall in a large empty parking lot around the corner from our place where there was shade. I was feeling scuzzy as I had not taken a shower so interacting with people was not on the agenda. Although, on some level I was jonsin' to interact with people. The sun was setting. People walking down the street could hear the music from a half mile away at the Stratosphere Casino. Two guys visiting Las Vegas found us in total awe of the synchronistic discovery. One guy lives where Mo came from, in a small West Virginia town called Berkeley Springs. It was a home base for this journey for about eight years. The other guy was from Richmond Virginia where I had my first overnight gig with the Traveling Piano back in 1989. Small world, eh? I played music for about a half hour and interacted with them for about 15 minutes. That knocked the energy out of both Mo and I. |
May 08, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
There has been a growing urge from within to paint and draw. I think, what do I want to draw and why? And then I think, whatever needs to come from within. And then I think, you better get the materials to use before they disappear with all the tariff shit going on. After that my mind goes to intent and the idea of keeping it simple. Then, selling my artwork comes to mind. In keeping it simple the idea of one word to communicate and the feeling about it comes to mind. Maybe a visual of one simple item and the feeling from that. This would be a start. When I journal, I am having a conversation with myself, my soul, my intent from within. I've tried to stay with all that concerning this blog. Of course I also at the same time thinking in terms of "all," for the good of all, always. That intent, I constantly strive to remember and manifest. Do you believe in the concept of... for the good of all? |
May 07, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
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May 06, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
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May 05, 2025Las Vegas, NevadaIt rained today and then the sun came out. The air is very cool and humid, rare for Las Vegas. It is different and totally pleasant. I am laying low and taking it easy as instructed concerning my teeth. I had an extraction today. There was a tooth bridge which no longer exists. There is no longer anything on the left side of my mouth in the back to chew with. My insurance will cover nothing more than the extraction. And now, with our social system being dismantled by trump, the medicaid and medicare for those that cannot afford to pay for medical costs is being taken away. It would cost $6,000 to repair my teeth and thats not with implants. What a bad joke. 
 I am so fucking angry at the trump supporters who have empowered the complete destruction of American society. As republicans and those alike take way, steal from all of society for self-centered gain and show pleasure for, justify, rationalize the suffering, death, inequality and everything that has made the USA great for the last 250 years, wow I am just so pissed. The experiment of social democracy partnered with capitalism has failed. It is what it is, not that I need to accept that. I will continue to work within the framework of the original American Constitution for my life. |
May 04, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada |
May 03, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada |
May 02, 2025Las Vegas, Nevada
Yesterday I went to help my friend Trudy distribute food and resources for the homeless for a May Day event in the homeless corridor. It was for a service complex that I have little experience with so I wanted to feel it out first before I shared the Traveling Piano there. It was too hot anyway but... I met a volunteer spending her 50th birthday in service for those on the street so I had to give her a Traveling Piano moment! After getting home a bridge holding four teeth together feel out. I can hardly chew food anymore. With the government insurance I have, the co-pay would be $6,000 to replace it. Coming to grips with the fact that my life is getting near the end now at seventy years of age... it is all about acceptance and enjoying what there is while losing it all at the same time. Chewing crunchy food has always been a joy in life. Time to let go of that. |
May 01, 2025Las Vegas, NevadaI have been derelict concerning my blog entries for the last two months. For the first time since 2006 I have gone off the rails. There are many reasons. Dealing with the Traveling Piano Fundraising Photo Gallery and its start and end was a shift for me in several directions. Seeing the same people everyday and working in an environment with them specifically the meth addicts living on the street was a no, go. Not only did they steal from me after years of service for them (no surprise, its the nature of the animal) there was just a lot of immaturity all around with kids working in the same space which as a bar and club and I am too old for that. Doing it all on my own physically was just too much in mind, body and spirit. 
 The politics of the world must be addressed every day because the end of the world in of itself is at stake for so many. When I fill in the blank days of this blogs last two months, most of it will be political. This is my journey, it is what it is. The music of it and my life has been playing out in different ways now. The heat... Mo can no longer be on top of the piano once the temperature reaches eighty. As a super old pup, he can hardly deal with it at any temperature now. For myself, 80 degrees now feels like 90. Add any humidity to that and forget the idea of functioning. Although, with the photo gallery, was a great spot had I been able to handle it. The heat would have ended it no matter what. |