Raggin' Piano Boogie

As I watch my life the experience of wonder and amazement never ceases. I enjoy practicing everything that is about passion and desire. At age fifty I began to embrace a new way of focusing with daily commitment and structure in order to pursue my Wildest of Dreams. I accepted the process of life and my abilities to have enjoy, be creative, express myself, be responsible and to contribute. Now, my desire is to release everything that I have to offer for the world.br/>
People have hounded me over the years as to what I am about. The question drives me crazy because my life is many things and everything changes on a daily basis. From the core of my soul I strive to give and accept unconditional love. I am about fun, music, visuals, art, entertainment, my dog, friends, playfulness, nature... promotion and commercialism too, with a desire to communicate understanding, inclusiveness, and respect to the world... and a lot more. To be consistently progressive in mind, body and spirit is a goal of mine. I want to express myself creatively, freely in ways that do not offend or create fear. I do enjoy walking the fine line of conventionalism and societies structured acceptability's. In living life on its edge, this is where I find everything the juiciest when it comes to challenges, discoveries, clarity, growth, and change. I enjoy my personality with all sense of self, vulnerability, weakness and strengths. I want to share my life's experience, strength, and hope with whoever is open to it. To understand and accept relationship in all its form is fundamental to my life. My greatest passion is to manifest gratitude.

In 2005, I was laying on my living room couch watching television. Oprah was on the tube. I was feeling almost dead in my dirty, sweaty white t-shirt as potato chips crumbled onto my big fat stomach. I was stuffing them into my mouth. At two hundred fifty-seven pounds, I was growing into a forty-five inch waist and having difficulty with my strength. I could barley walk even once around the local football field. There was no energy for me and I was beating myself emotionally to death. Here I was fat again, and again and again. I have lost weight and gained weight many times in my life. There was no direction in my life and also practically no contact with my adopted son who had gone off individualizing into a marriage. Single and feeling alone, turning fifty in a month, divorced from ninety-nine percent of my family after finally accepting that relating to them was a lost cause... most of my friendships fading into black holes of nothingness.... as a life long nurturer I felt completely drained, there was nothing in my soul remaining to contribute. There was no money and no jobs because I was avoiding them. Totally burnt out from doing the same things over and and doing it all on my own... ahh yes, I had hit bottom again. How many times can a person hit an emotional bottom in life? Age was the only difference this time around. I said to myself, "Danny, you're going to drop dead, you better start living life and with the passing of time you know how fast the next twenty five years will move."

Then, on the television, Tom Cruise comes out and jumps all over Oprah's couch exuberantly expressing his love for Katie the new woman in his life. I thought, yikes, is that for real? Is he acting? Who cares, look at that passion. Look at the ability to express that passion. Danny, you have that passion. What the hell are you holding onto it for? You are almost dead, for Christ's sake! You can show that amount of passion Danny, you know it. Why are you not living life like them? You know you want it. Who cares if he is making an ass out of himself, just look at his ability to express that passion and how great it is for him. Then as I watched Tom and Oprah passionately interact, I thought about my past references with Oprah. I had observed Oprah from a distance since the eighties when the movie "The Color Purple" came out. The visual beauty of the movie on the big screen really stayed with me but more importantly, I experienced an emotional connection. I saw in the movie my own emotional and abusive life experience outside of myself. It was right in front of me for the first time ever. I kept saying to myself, "that is me, that is me." I have not wanted to see the movie again but an awareness of Oprah was created through the experience that was not to be forgotten. I remembered when Oprah went on the Optifast diet and a big deal in the media was made of it. In always looking for a quick fix I copied her and went for the same route. I lost sixty-eight pounds in two and a half months. It was amazing and fun for the length of time it lasted which was not very long. I continued to watch Oprah's struggles from a distance. I listened to sound bites through the years of how she was keeping the weight off and moving on with her life. Then one night she made a guest appearance on some talk show in a red dress that put me over the top. I said to myself, Just look at her, she looks fantastic, she is as hot as it gets. She really managed to get a grip on her health. You did not, Danny. She is the best example that you have experienced for better and for worse. If she can do it, I can do it and there is just no rationalization otherwise. I accepted another human being in my life to trust and align myself with through example, at least through the entertainment window. I am no dummy, the girl must have her issues and she is human like me so I know that she must have incredible difficulties just different from mine. It's the struggle that is the same. It was the end of Oprah's "Wildest Dream Season" but I said to myself, Danny, before it is too late, go for your Wildest Dream. It's almost too late but you're not dead yet. Here you have someone who is "walking the walk;" align yourself with the winners at the top. That is where you belong. Just do the best that you can.

I told myself, you are here to enjoy life, and you are not on this earth to suffer. Deprivation does not make sense when your life has been inserted into all the beauty and fun that surrounds you. You had better start having a good time before it is too late and fuck what anybody else thinks. Fuck them all if they cannot take a joke. You have built into your life people who know your true character is good, who trust your motives and who love you unconditionally. Thank God for that. You have worked long and hard to rid your life of repression, depression, judgment, self-flagellation and criticism. You know better now, you can trust yourself and who you are; you are a good person who works as hard as he can, you are highly spirited and motivated by nature. There are countless examples of self-empowerment that you have created for yourself to draw strength from. Make strong decisions and choices now. At that point, I adopted a strong, permanent, passionate attitude that is still with me today. The word I use to describe my source of this strength is "grace." I finally accepted the concept that enjoyment and fun is in the process of life... not just in life's accomplishments. I said, "Danny, experience the process." In the past, I had made goals while focusing on the end results and as a result, there was no process, so I end up with nothing, the results were nil. I made the decision to give it my all, do the best that I can and accept what "is" no matter what. I made the decision to adapt the slogan, "it is what it is." Whatever... everything will always be better and always be worse. It is all about the process.

My best friend at the time was my dog and his name, Boner. He had been in my minds eye since age five. Bo was the first dog in my life and he sat on top of my piano while I performed. He brought an incredible amount of joy to everyone and never failed to win any person over even if they were afraid of animals. I wanted for the world to meet Bo before he retired. Bo's life clock was ticking as well as mine. I decided that whatever time we had in life's future together was all that mattered and every minute of that time was going to be about enjoyment and fun together. Also, I decided I was going to pursue completely my Wildest Dream with Oprah and become the best person I could be while having fun, reaching the highest heights possible, having fun, creating enjoyment for myself and others, having fun, sharing, being part of... and having fun with through a thought process that says, "it is all happening in this moment; who knows what will happen next." The first year was a year of many firsts. Every single accomplishment, every change of life style resulted not from discipline but from the release of repressed desires and learned self-empowerment.

It took fifty years to hurt bad enough to learn and want to let go of everything that was holding me back from pursing my Wildest of Dreams. The biggest of my Wild Dreams came to me over twenty five years ago. As a self promoter I had just begun a full time career performing Ragtime and Boogie Woogie piano music outdoors. My stage... a piano on the back of a pickup truck. I named my entertainment vehicle Raggin' Piano Boogie. The dream Wildest Dream I had was a nebulous dream of my streaking (clothed) on the Raggin' Piano Boogie truck across the Superbowl field for fun entertainment. It was like a ninety second sound bite, a wild performance of Boogie Woogie piano playing. I decided to manifest the dream and bring it into reality, it reappeared from my subconscious at age fifty.

The changes in my life for the journeys first year were truly awesome. I built into the dream additional creative thoughts that had been floating around from the past twenty years with no specific expectations attached. I had a big vision for the Raggin' Piano Boogie truck. The idea was for a one-of-a-kind, a unique performance concept vehicle a high-tech truck that was toy transformer-like where you push buttons and the speakers rise and parts of the truck fold in and out in different ways to create adjustments for all kinds of weather, performance, and travel. Energy efficient with video capabilities and screens on the sides so people can see their reactions as I drive by. The new truck is with hydraulics so it bounces with the music. Can we talk fun? It is not a super large truck but dramatic and spectacular for its size. The feel is approachable, not pretentious, down to earth and interactive. The style is fit for all types of piano music and performers. It might be the truck to use for the superbowl field dream, maybe not but most definitely the truck is for use in other fun, large venues and also creates small cameos within movies and television shows. The new truck is a musical "Where's Waldo." It is interactive and inclusive; piano players with all levels of expertise play on the new truck. As a result, the dream is shared with many people as they participate in it and contribute to it as well as reap from it.

Through the course of my dreams, now with Oprah's Harpo productions in mind, merchandising comes into play. I have always enjoyed the idea of having a little remote control Raggin' Piano Boogie pickup truck that people can operate to run around on their floors during parties just in case they cannot afford to book me in person. Everyone can use the toy which holds musical CD's for different types of piano music. There are published books and calendars and art work in this dream about my relationship with my dogs, myself, my work and career.

I decided to make a videotape of myself every day and send it to Harpo Productions (Oprah) requesting participation financially and the influence to create my Wildest of Dreams. I prepared myself to do whatever was needed. I had never before actively pursued public interviews and rarely talked on camera. I was too afraid while always in a state of waiting for the right time. Now was the time. The details of my doing it for the first month are fairly ridiculous. I was really nervous even though I was alone. I taped while sitting on my living room sofa. It all involved lights, a stepladder, closet shelving, tape, and paper with big words written on it to hang from string and tacks in the ceiling above. It was stupid until I just got used to the idea of, "it is what it is" and gave up on any self-made prompting aids. I learned how to turn the taped video into a DVD which, for a person who has difficulty with electrical inputs and outputs was quite an accomplishment. I thought, I want Harpo productions to know as much about me, how I work, what I've done, what my strengths and weakness are to establish the best working relationship possible. The DVDs were to exemplify my commitment to the dream, my work, and career. I started to send Harpo my archived career materials, my ramblings of creative writing, all my promotional materials through the years along with fresh never seen photos everyday. I did that everyday for two years. Hahaha, that was my commitment. I sent over 730 unique DVDs and thousands of unique photos. I did it every single day, no matter what. After having gone to bed and right before and falling into a deep sleep all snuggled up with the lights out sometimes I realized that I forgot to do the tape that day... I got out of bed and made the taping before going back to sleep. It was work for me, fun work and I had never before consistently worked for two months everyday let alone two full years! My attitude always, "when Harpo responds it will be when the time is right not when I think the time is right and an "lets go for it" response is the only response I want." Meanwhile the DVD commitment I now realize created a strong and needed daily anchor for myself and the creation of my dreams. All the video's were created in one take, no repeat try. "It is what it is." That was and still is the motto. I thought, I want to live everyday and I will make a statement to the world that I am living everyday by completing at least one task no matter what... every single day. The task: taping of the video, transfer to DVD, creating the promo and the mailing. Simply remembering to do it on some days was a major accomplishment. They say a habit takes 90 days? Well I was still waiting for the habit to kick in after a year. I was amazed that I could continue doing it all while traveling on tour down South after Hurricane Katrina, especially when I was sleeping on the ground out in Saint Bernard's parish in New Orleans. When I am committed, I am committed. I have now overcome my discomfort in communicating through a camera lens.

Throughout every new experience I now have newfound desires and willingness to communicate and work with others. This fact has completely transformed me. I have created more openness for myself to accept my daring nature, to include audience into my world along with a willingness to initiate conversation and ask others to partake in my dreams. As time progressed with the DVD's, I developed the aspiration to include others in this Wildest Dream. I asked Bob, my mailman of over seventeen years to speak in one of the videos. He picked up the Oprah envelope every day from my mailbox to deliver it. He asked Oprah to give me my Wildest Dream and told her I am worth it. He also that he was tired of picking up the same envelopes every day. My lifelong old neighbor in his eighties across the street said, "Oprah he's weird but give him his dream anyway." My high school music teacher is still in my life; he and his wife put their two cents in. I still have the same family doctor who delivered me from the womb. On my fiftieth birthday, I went for a physical. He told Oprah that he has known me my whole life and that I am physically fit and able to accomplish the dream. My dentist and his staff participated while giving me a root canal. I took the video camera to jobs and entire families yelled the call for my Wildest Dream. Friends of over thirty-five years are on the tapes; my niece and her children joined in. On and on it developed and I realized how fortunate I was. I realized that I have many life long relationships and they are all different and exist with different levels of intimacy. Whereas in the past I would look to fulfill everything a relationship can offer from just one relationship, I can now appreciate the individuality of different relationships in my life. There are over 50 significant relationships on the tapes.

After a month, I thought, how can I include more people in this Wildest Dream? How can I show Harpo productions that this is a cool Wildest Dream and that people want to see it materialize? During the last presidential election at the time, for the first time in my life, I became politically active and went door to door to get people out to vote. I was a door slammer by nature so it was a major experience to have learned that the majority of people are not as nasty as I have been in the past. People generally are willing to talk with an interested person. So, with that chutzpah behind me I decided to collect signatures of support for my Wildest Dream from people who have seen me perform throughout the years. I thought it would need to be a large number of signatures to be impressive so I settled on 50,000. I stopped at 32,200 because the weather turned too cold to write signatures. But, in just 33 days of performance... during five-hour periods... I collected 32,200 signatures. I laugh when I think about it and how wonderful people were. Very few said no and there no more than four who were outright nasty at the request. Some people signed it just to get Oprah to spend her money.

I began the signature campaign with Fourth of July parades I had performed in by running through neighborhood backyards of families that I have grown up with throughout my career. I have been doing some of the parades for fifteen years continuously so I knew people would be receptive. I would enter their yard and they would see me and stop, stunned... and say, "look its the piano man." I would start my spiel and they would again stop and say... "he's talking!" In all my years, they never saw me off the truck or heard me talk. I got thrown out of one backyard picnic because I was taking the attention away from their baby's first birthday party. Unfortunately, I did not see the cake lit with a candle on it. They said, "get out of here, you're wrecking our daughter's first birthday party." I thought, "everyone else here is glad to see me." I felt like an ass. After that incident I said to myself, "I think its time to go home." As I started back to the truck I rethought the situation and said to myself, "you gonna let one mistake stop you when you have time to hit another ten houses?" It was fun insanity and bodacious.

During the following weeks, I was set to perform in Ocean City, New Jersey, for family nights on the boardwalk. Each night I readied my plan and set out eight clip-boards all over the truck containing ten blank template sheets for each clip-board. The sheets had lines for forty signatures. Every sheet stated my Wildest Dream. I had a pen for each clipboard along with several spares stored in the piano bench. I would play for about a minute and a half of music, stop... turn around and scream to everyone that I needed for them to sign the sheets to tell Oprah that I have a cool idea and she should join me with my Wildest Dream and to create a better truck... I would pick up the clipboards and throw them out to people... jump out of the truck to grab the clipboards out of their hands when I saw them signed and then I would pass the boards onto the next person... all the while saying hello to people I haven't seen in twenty years, past clients telling me that I played at their house fifteen years ago, and old students saying, "you taught me piano thirty years ago." I was very patient with people who needed me to stop everything for further explanation. All the while, I kept the boards moving. I had my goddaughter help me one evening and she said at the end of it, "please don't ever ask me to do that again." I had a good laugh with that statement because I had really kept her moving all night, non-stop. I had an incredible amount of fun interacting with people and it was especially sweet to see little kids want to sign their names while sitting down on the boardwalk to write. After I flew past the wave of people around me I would gather all the clipboards... reset them with fresh paper and pens into their positions on the truck... jump back onto the piano and start the cycle all over. I had to keep reminding myself to stop and drink water because I was fast and furious in my pacing and I had trouble stopping for just a second from my focus. Fans started to bring their families to the truck to sign. Through the weeks, people would come from out of town because they had heard about my Wildest Dream and wanted to sign my paper of support. While on the boardwalk a woman working in a nearby tourist booth and a guy who owned a nearby french fry stand who also happened to be boardwalk association president started to get jealous and together they created trouble because of the attention I was getting. They called on one of the towns rent-a-cops to complain and chaos ensued. Self-centeredness blinded then from seeing a win-win for everyone. They we oblivious to the fact that everyone was enjoying what was happening... except them. I wore a yellow "live strong" band on my wrist every night to fight off any negative energy. Those two people were a constant reminder of my past. As a child my siblings did the same thing to me. If I did not suffer in life along with them, I was to be destroyed.

As I was driving home that first night I thought, "the audacity" and then at a stoplight a group of kids pulled up next to me. They started screaming for me, yelling about how great I am with my dog and how much they love us. "Man, you're the greatest!," they kept yelling. I felt very grateful. I went home and looked up the word "audacity" to check its meaning as I felt confused by my feelings associated with the word. The dictionary said, "bold" and I thought, Yeah, I'm bold, that is me, there is nothing bad about being bold. Bold is my nature. Tonight I had the opportunity for the first time in my life to express my boldness as a person completely and the overwhelming majority of people approved of it. Wow! You see... meek, humble, victim, subservient never fit for me and those qualities are what my environment and everyone around me tried to repress spiritually throughout my formative years. Thank God my spirit is strong or I would have been dead today from that pressure. My nights on the boardwalk with people supporting my dreams translated into a complete and wonderful living validation of self. I am trusting my abilities more and more everyday. I have embraced my tenacious nature for the good.

In the beginning I made a personal commitment to become healthier by losing two pounds a month through diet and exercise. I had lost fifty seven pounds after two years and sent my seven inch battle scar'd belt loop to Harpo as proof of my continued effort to sustain a healthy body as well as a healthy mind and spirit� I sent it with a note saying, "Oprah, I am not just sitting on my butt waiting for my Wildest of Dreams, I am working my butt off and here is the proof." That was sent along with an organized, filed and cataloged five hundred gig hardrive of all materials and tapes that had already been sent individually just in case any correspondence had slipped through mail delivery cracks. Filing and cataloging is an ongoing time consuming challenge for the journey. Fourteen individual friends also sent a letter to fourteen different producers at Harpo Productions detailing everything up to the two year point point. The 32,200 signatures of support were sent. For the first time in my life I have been unconditionally accepting my expression of self as a human being as well as my ability to create and explore and be fully aware, especially through music. I have experienced a union between my dream world and reality. With that understanding, I have been able to extend myself in relationship to life as I know it. Most importantly, I have made a conscious decision of commitment to my personal health for the longest time periods in my life to date.

I have a physically healthier lifestyle as a result of living my Wildest of Dreams through better choices and decisions, planning, nutrition and exercise. My health may be the biggest accomplishment to sustain in this mind body and spirit dream journey of mine. For me, food and weight are core issues that I have struggled with from the beginning. As long as I am overweight, life is a drudgery with no fun, no success on any level. As a child I was given the sense that if I was to be overweight I would not be liked by others and I would have no worth so I avoided everyone by staying on the circumference of life. I have battled with my health issues as a yo-yo dieter for my entire past. I have now been successfully moving forward day by day even though sometimes I do not feel it and do experience regression. I no longer diet or deprived myself. I "pull out all the stops" concerning everything I have ever learned about food and the tools that successful people use for healthy eating habits and I use them. I better negotiate needs for myself. I prepare. I have rid myself of guilt and shame when I act impulsively or seemingly without choice. I have accepted and let go of the negative behaviors and thoughts concerning regressions when they happen. Exercise is important to me with a simple twenty-minute walk or exercising even when sick. I walk my dog, enjoyed working out at the gym when I had my home, I take advantage of any opportunity for strenuous exercise. My record for walking around the football field that I could not walk around once when the journey began... thirty two times around the track! I have newfound stamina. I used to have difficulty in becoming sick every time I exercised. I have learned that it was because I never breathed correctly, overexerted myself and never prepared my body for exercise. I now practice yoga techniques for stretching and have developed the habit of breathing correctly, deep, full and through my nose. I have discovered the greatest joy in life for me is found in one simple breath of fresh air.

The pursuit of my Wildest of Dreams created a mission with clarity... to create Fun, Friendship and Respect with Musical Empowerment and Inspiration... at no cost, with no fees, tips or solicitation and without commercial, organizational or political affiliation. The Traveling Piano uses synchronicity and spontaneity to create music for people to discover. No looking to perform or entertain, the Traveling Piano is out to create one-on-one musical relationships. The Traveling Piano finds unusual environments where a person would be surprised to find or not expect to find such novel creativity. The following is a description of a Traveling Piano experience. Someone will be hiking down a forrest mountain side and begin to hear music. They will first wonder what it is they are hearing and then think they are hearing piano music, try to decipher if it is in fact live piano music while somehow knowing deep inside that it is... as they wonder at the same time how it could be coming from inside the woods. They may think they are in heaven. They seek out the music. With a slow and curious pace they will enter out of the forrest trees and into an open field where they discover the source... a truck with a piano, a dog sitting on top of the piano and a piano man creating an improvisational flow of piano music from a stream of consciousness. They are swept into the present moment through the discovery where I hold space for them and sweep them onto the piano seat for a personal musical experience of their own. It only takes a moment, sometimes just one musical note will create a fun memory that will last a lifetime. Usually, I take a picture of it all and on request, everyone gets their picture via email or the website. One more situation... the Traveling Piano will be sitting on a city street creating music as a person is walking home from work after a stressful day at the office. The experience will instantly change the perception of that person's bad day into a good one. A Traveling Piano interaction will begin. Neighbors will look out their windows to see where the music is coming from. They connect with the friendliness. Soon they find themselves outside with us. The Traveling Piano brings people together. It creates reconnections with neighbors who know each other but have not seen each other in years and it is a great introduction vehicle for neighbors who have never met. People love to gather around a unique experience to share and be together with it. The most common statement I hear is that the Traveling Piano creates smiles and makes people happy.

I have been simply manifesting in real life the types of dreams that are created while a person is sleeping. Like when someone wakes up in the morning and says, "wow, I just had the craziest dream!" While visiting a small town in Kansas I found myself several miles off the main road. I was parked on a dusty brown dirt road. It was next to a field of deep green wheat blowing in the breeze. The field blended into a beautiful yellow sunset. A twenty year old girl named Hila from Israel sat at the piano creating random musical notes. My friend Ryan stood on top of the piano while playing the violin. While in Texas I was creating music by a lake harbor. A beat up old pickup truck drove in next to the Traveling Piano. Out climbed three rough looking women smoking cigars. Within three minutes, two of them were on the piano seat exploring musical notes while the third girl climbed on top of the piano to begin hula hooping! Crazy stuff? I am glad I have pictures with the website blog to prove it.

A major paradigm shift in my life was experienced through the pursuit of my Wildest Dream to musically streak across the superbowl field. During the beginning period I had purchased an old Jaco Pastorus jazz bassist record album that I had not heard in many years. When I received it in the mail I was surprised to find that jazz guitarist Pat Metheny wrote the credits for the album. If I were to say that I have a musical idol it would be Pat Metheny. The two had worked together in the seventies at the beginning of their careers. While reading the CD credits, I remembered that Metheny was to come out with a new CD so I went online to see if it was there. I found it. It was a Friday morning when I received the CD in the mail and I took it with me as I drove into Philadelphia for a last minute unexpected appointment. I wanted to listen to it immediately. My first impulsive thought on hearing the music was, "this is important music; you need to hear it live." Then, I synchronistically saw a billboard on route I-95 advertising that Pat Metheny was in town on that very night to perform at the Tower Theatre. I drove home, going back and forth in my head as far as what I should do. I went online to see if any tickets were available. There were tickets but only on auction sites and it was too late to get them. as it was about 7pm with the concert at 8pm, I would need to leave immediately and the chances of making it in time were not good considering I would be dealing with Friday night rush hour traffic into the city. I would then need to fight my way through the city to get to the other side and after that find parking at the last minute. I would also need to find a decent ticket at the box office. I decided it was important enough to go for it. I let synchronicity take over and as a result had no problem with traffic, found a free parking spot directly across the street from the theatre and a second row front and center seat ticket that no one had claimed. As you can imagine I was incredibly excited. Pat and his band performed the new CD in its entirety and then continued with my most favorite influential compositions from his past. By the end of the concert, the energy was so intense for me that my head had sunk to the bottom of my seat. For the first time in my life, I had experienced music totally. There was no musician and no listener; there was no self and no ego. It was all about the music. The only thing in my existence was music. Music in of itself... this was without question the most powerful life experience that I have had to date. I had experienced my first complete relational musical experience, the connection and the essence of music between myself and another person.

I came home and sat down at the piano. I was in a very stunned state of mind from the concert as I played one note on the keyboard. I said to myself, This is music, this is my music, who is to say whether it is good or bad or whether it is enough or not. This is me, I am what I am. Many people have played this note and made their music from it and now I am playing this note and making my music from it. It is what it is and I like it. Then I started to move around on the keyboard hitting notes. I stayed unafraid and allowed myself to just explore and hit keys without being judgmental for the first time in my life. I have always wanted to think "out of the box" and now for the first time I was thinking and creating music "out of the box." I started to improvise a few minutes every day, enjoying it more and more, totally amazed with every moment that I was doing it. I never wanting it to end and always stopped while still enjoying what I was doing in order to make sure I would want to come back for more. After a few days I said to myself, You need to start sharing this immediately and playing in public so you don't set yourself up to never be ready or good enough, just put whatever you are capable of doing out into the world immediately. A week later, I was in a hotel at the Jersey Shore and I just sat down and started playing the piano. No one was around. It was my first time in public. The receptionist asked for my card and the next day the hotel called me for a job as a result of my music. The job eventually fell through but it was clear that I was on a new fantastic life track.

After entering a local music store I began to mess around playing on a few keyboards. The sales guy came up to me and complimented me on what I was doing. I told him what happened with the Pat Metheny experience. He said he had tried to see Metheny in concert four times but could never go inside the music hall and in fact he had flown to Colorado once to try and see him in concert. I asked him what his problem was. He said he was afraid. I asked, "afraid of what?" He said that he was afraid that he would not be able to handle the intensity of the music. It dawned on me at that moment what had happened to me musically. I had been completely overwhelmed and totally consumed with the music on the night at the Tower Theatre concert. Sitting there, well actually by the end of the concert laying there with my head pressed against the bottom of the seat, the music had entered into my soul. Pure music entered into my being and I courageously accepted it opening myself up as a channel for my own personal music. Painful is a word that comes to mind. I felt that I could not contain life as it was happening with the music. Nevertheless, I accepted the music with body, mind and spirit and thus began the ability to create music through myself. Music for the sake of music, what a concept!

I went searching for venues to play in. I did not care about getting paid, I just wanted to play. I found all the hotels and clubs that had pianos were too uptight to even let me near their instruments. I thought, I will create my own audience via the Internet in order to make my music available for listeners. I needed to make a commitment to a performance structure to set motivation in place for myself just like I was doing with the DVD' for Harpo Productions. I thought if people are looking to hear and expecting to hear new music everyday that would help motivate me to continue and eventually I could find a way to make a living from it. While I was creating obligation and expectation for myself which will always drive my motivation to a certain degree... my thoughts were more about doing everything in fun through sharing and having connection to life. I almost begged friends to come and listen to me play at home. A few did but the idea was too unconventional for most. I figured out how to record my music from the keyboard to the computer and upload it to my website. It is amazing to me that I have been doing that everyday since January 1, 2006. I have been following through with my commitment. You can find a fresh piece of music everyday from the website on the "New Music Daily" link. Again, "it is what it is," I plan nothing in advance. Whatever comes out of my head is delivered in the moment, there is no second take, and the music has its specialness as well as flaws. My music I think about like a baby who is making sounds and beginning to move around and maybe just starting to crawl. I want to be an example for people who are afraid to express themselves because they think it might not be good enough. If I, as a life long musical pro, can put myself and my music out into the world as immature and raw as it may be sometimes, and not worry about what others think, anyone can. I want to empower people to create music for the sake of music and to not focus so much on the acceptability of it. I wasted fifty years over fear, worry and rejection. No more of that. I can truly say that thank God I have found myself and in having found and experienced my true nature and soul here on earth, I did it before I died. I mean it. I have physically expressed the essence of my soul here on earth and now I have the opportunity to experience it with other "like" souls. I was feeling that to share as much as possible the creation and expression of my music was the way to go. No matter how much that happens, everything for me now is icing on the cake.

I would like to state a little musical history. When I first started to perform on the back of a truck I thought I needed a costume to help make what I had to offer into an act even though I was never really interested in having "an act." I wore a Blues Brothers-type hat with dark sunglasses and a light colored striped suit. People may have liked it but I did not. I would have preferred to be naked. It was too hot with the hat and all the clothes. Sunglasses were part of my costume to hide from people because I was so insecure. I never got into the Elton/Liberace genre of dress up performance, not that there is anything wrong with that. I did go with the piano man Billy Joel working-man feel with a shirt and tie. That desire came from just wanting to be part of the crowd, a regular guy. I have never had a conscious desire to stand out although I do enjoy attention. I was always very conscious that the Raggin' Piano Boogie truck was my stage. If another pianist were present, I would invite them to play on the truck only if they knew how to play Ragtime, Boogie, or Stride piano. Anything else was taboo. I have never been insecure about my ability compared to someone else's. I have always wanted to enjoy other pianists as I would want them to enjoy me but the Raggin' Piano Boogie truck was for Ragtime and Boogie Woogie only! Everything about my persona was crafted to protect myself from appearing as a vagabond or a tip the piano man type of street musician. (not that there is anything wrong with that :)

Before my present journey I had never played the piano for my own enjoyment. It was to impress people or to learn something or to prepare for a job. I played for other people's enjoyment, I played for work, I played to get out of doing the dishes after dinner as a kid, but there had been less than ten times in my life when I played simply for my own pleasure. I now love to play the piano just to play the piano. I now play the piano for my own enjoyment. It is very fulfilling! I had never been able to improvise because I felt the music would be stupid. It would never be right or good enough. I was scared to death, too fearful of criticism to try to improvise. I never learned to play by ear because I never took the time to do it. I have been very impatient with myself in the past. In all twenty years with Raggin' Piano Boogie I never played for a seated audience. All my bookings were for parades where I passed by or for events where other things were happening simultaneously. God forbid anyone gave me their full attention. My life was all about "work arounds." Up to the time I began to play with the Raggin' Piano Boogie truck I had made my living from reading sheet music note for note. There was never deviation from the musical page. Any creativity to be, was expressed through my feelings and rhythmical ebb and flow. I would find special piano arrangements to express my technical expertise.

At thirty years of age I accepted a reality check for myself. I was never going to get anywhere and have a solid money making career in music if I could not do anything else but read sheet music. I thought, if I played the piano from a truck outside I would be forced to memorize at least some music. The wind would constantly blow the pages around. I had no concept or feeling of any ability to create music of my own. The idea of shape, form or structure still scares me. My closest friend Gertrude, who was an eighty year old retired schoolteacher and also a past music student of mine helped me to accomplish the task of memorizing one hour of sheet music. She helped me to pace the learning process and gave me all the unconditional encouragement that I believe can possibly exist. With Raggin' Piano Boogie I presented myself as a specialist of Ragtime and Boogie Woogie piano music. I chose to only perform music that had no words. That way I could avoid all the troublesome issues of everyone constantly asking for their favorite sing-a-long song. By saying that I specialized, I could work around the impossible need to learn different styles of music and I could also demand higher fees. Every once in a while during performance, I would forget to play one of the songs in my repertoire. In missing the playing of a piece of music during one performance I often lost the fact that I had ever played it to begin with. It went "bye, bye" in my memory for years. Eventually something triggered the memory of it, and then I had to decide if I wanted to go through the hassle of learning it again from scratch. I never learned to play by chords or use chord structure as I have always had difficulty with memory. The repertoire I played was learned by rote. Twenty songs I played for twenty years. I looped that same hour set sometimes eight times a day. I stayed creative through different performance situations and environments.

In the beginning my one-hour of music had so much youthful nervous energy infused that when I performed, I played through the hour in an easy forty-five minutes. It was torturous for me to drag it all out to a full hour which I felt necessary because I was always afraid that people would complain from hearing the same music over and over. People continuously begged me to slow down. They could not hear the music because I moved it so fast. Twenty years later that same hour took one hour and fifteen minutes to play. A product of age that was for the better, musically speaking.

I never before understood or wanted to understand musical hobbyists, amateur sideline musical performers or anyone who would just play for their own enjoyment. If someone studied piano, it was to learn something and do something for an end result, a goal other than just for themselves. As a teacher in the past, I knew my students played for their own enjoyment but I never really understood that. Isn't that unbelievable? This helps to explain my past concerning lack of ability to enjoy any process in life. I never connected learning with enjoyment. In my mind, seeing as the experience of playing for my own enjoyment did not exist, it could not have existed for anyone else either. I realize now that kind of thinking was egotistical. I really never wanted to even give a second glance to street musicians who play for tips. Losers, wanna be's, I thought. While down South in New Orleans I finally "got it"!!! Musicians were playing music on the streets simply to create music. God, it was fantastic. I now have no problem playing music without getting paid for it. In the [ast it was all about music for money to give me a sense of self respect. Playing music just to play music, wow. This is where it gets confusing and complex as I need to make a living and I want to continue doing that through music. It is all a process and I am going to continue loving the process because the process is part of my Wildest Dreams".

As the transition began from Ragtime and Boogie Woogie music to improvisational, my world opened up to invite other forms of music onto the truck. A new era began with new music unrelated to Ragtime or Boogie Woogie piano music. I changed the name of the truck from Raggin' Piano Boogie to a more appropriate name, the Traveling Piano and at the same time I became more of the person I had always wanted to be which is inclusive. The desire to share with other musicians, the call to create new music on the Traveling Piano truck, it is all part of the process of this Wildest Dream. As never before, I invited other musical players to utilize the Traveling Piano truck as a platform for their performance. I now feel secure in my ability to give greater license to other styles of piano music. Everyone, expert or not, who wants to play on the Traveling Piano truck can perform anything that they want to. The invitation is inclusive for all age groups and levels of sanity. A young girl vacationing from Canada climbed on board to perform some beautiful impressionistic music. An older guy sat down and played "Laura's Theme" for his wife. That particular night was their wedding anniversary and he had courted her by playing the song on their first date. People played their weekly piano lesson exercise. A young guy climbed up to play some soulful Billy Joel. In the park, a college music major stepped up to try out her recital piece which was a Bach English Suite. New life on the truck began during the very first summer. I began to feel secure in my ability to give greater license to life in general. Next came the creation of "Piano Jams." An itinerant outdoor piano venue for parks, on the beach, in the mountains... the sky is the limit where everyone can gather for musical fun. The "piano jams" were short lived and all inclusive for every level of player from students to pros, amateurs, hobbyists, any age, any style of music. Through time I continued to feel more secure in my ability to give. The Traveling Piano is about sharing.

I took the now named Traveling Piano down South to the hurricane affected areas of Louisiana and Mississippi in order to present the opportunity for fellow pianists to utilize the piano on the truck. I was looking for people who lost their piano in the storm or had no access to a piano because they were away from home volunteering, or for whatever reason. The idea was that, "if you are jonsin' to play the piano or just want to take advantage of a musical experience, experience something to break up the monotony of your present day, here is a piano for you to play on." I enjoy watching other people do what I do especially if they are enjoying it for themselves. Having other people share in my experience is comforting for me. It was a release for everyone down South who played on the Traveling Piano truck. They played for their own enjoyment, for friends, family members, a group or just to be able to say that they played on the Traveling Piano. A most joyful moment I had was to experience an eighty-three year old blue eyed, dark skinned, retired Mississippi school teacher who played Gospel Boogie her entire life. She climbed onto the Traveling Piano truck to play some piano because her, "piano got washed away in the storm". She was able to grasp the opportunity in the moment and "go for it."

When disasters happen my first impulse is a desire to be helpful. In the past I had often resigned myself to being powerless. That was convenient for me. With Hurricane Katrina I was able to act with newfound power through my awakened passions and desires and recognize for myself that when someone is in need, I much prefer spending personal time verses communication with the sending of a card, or money through an organization. I am a person who enjoys one-on-one interactions. After all the major drama, hype for contributions and the holiday season... the time seemed ripe for me to facilitate my new-found sense of self and what I have to contribute through my work. I toured down South to spend time and visit with people, to stimulate the communities and economy personally from the inside out. The goal was to convey to everyone I met that they are not forgotten and to create value for communities in the welcoming home process. With a Traveling Piano truck having almost 200,000 miles of use and on its last leg... a truck that no one believed would make it because of its leaking oil and a bad carburetor, I was able to pick myself up by the seat of my pants and extend what I have to offer to others... create a positive, inclusive, refreshing and fun presence for everyone I met. The Traveling Piano gave people a jolt out of their reality and created many soundbite performances at no cost. These appearances were presented for residents, groups, and individual volunteers all working hard to cope with or recover from losses. My idea was simply to help lighten spirits and communicate a sense of caring and respect for as many people as possible through the energy of music with my dog Boner, the Traveling Piano concept and myself. In addition, I was synchronistically able to provide a new piano for the Boogie Gospel piano lady and contribute 1800 pounds of food to the area.

I created a positive exercise in my life. I had been booked over twenty years repeatedly in local communities and traveled overnight for performance only twice. A parade was not a parade until the piano man and dog passed by! I had received about $250 in contributions for the project and found the ability to create an adventure by following my heart and letting go of stifling fears. The three week journey was without assistance and without structure or any specific plans. There was no idea of knowing what would happen from day to day, where I would be staying, where I would perform. I traveled to locations I have never been to before. The journey down south was amazing for me. I stretched my life's comfort zone to develop and trust my motives and character and all of my life experiences. My sense of self was strengthened in body, mind & spirit in learning how to empower a more fulfilling healthy and playful relationship with myself. I have found myself, my soul here on earth through music and people by accepting the discovery of my true spirit through creativity. I was able to step out of the complacency of many years to create my own brand of support to those affected by the hurricane down South. The gift I received resulting from the ability to follow my heart and intuitively trust my motives was the ability to let go, to disassociate permanently from what was a seemingly pathological lifelong feeling of being alone. I no longer feel alone. I was tortured almost continuously with that feeling as though it was attached to me like a heavy ball and chain for my entire life up to now. The feeling is gone forever. I have developed a renewed appreciation and worth for established relationships while finding room to create new ones. I gained the ability to perform music stronger and longer than ever before as in a record three hour and twenty-eight minute non-stop full energy mode performance for an audience in the hundreds of thousands for a Mardi Gras parade. With my newfound ability to experience the flow of life I was able to take advantage of an unexpected opportunity to physically climb to the top of a tree house to chill out 200 feet in the air on a platform made of bamboo and string. I was given the opportunity to experience for the first time as a viewer and also a participant, the unique culture of Southern music, food, and Mardi Gras. I was welcomed into personal family lives.

My Wildest Dream is a true adventure. I now experience daily, through music, an eternal amount of creative potential full of constant discovery and expression along with an infinite ability to give and share with others. I enjoy myself while expressing my emotions when I play. I can be as intense, angry, loving, sensitive, inquisitive, goofy and as stupid as my spirit moves me to be and... I am fully aware that everything I experience and all expression is limitless. There is always more, more, more, more and more to be had. For someone like me this is pure utopia. I free myself from repression; my psyche untwists and gains a sense clarity and peace through creating music. My music now is all improvised within a stream of conscious. It started out with about two minutes a day and now I can go on for hours non-stop. Never, before had I played the piano on a daily basis for more than two weeks straight. Over the years I had gone months between bookings without ever touching the keys. When a job would come along, a couple of days before the job I would bring the sheet music out with the metronome to re-learn the piece and get my fingers back into shape. Sheet music was the only musical tool I used. There have been many times when I went into a job cold after not having playing for weeks and I tell you I was petrified. Now I play music nearly everyday and do not need to remember anything to create it.

With the idea of creating and recording music everyday outdoors my mind speaks to me constantly saying, "make your practice of music in public." Wherever I am, thoughts of, "this is a good spot, that would be a good spot, etc..." plays in my mind constantly. I am always scoping out new places to create music. There is a constant awareness of desire to freely share music and performance with others, to experiment and have adventures in fun, friendship and respect. In the beginning I sought out only safe environments because I have more fear of being caught doing something wrong or against the rules then I do in being confronted with flat out rejection. Being caught for me has always translated into shame and scorn resulting in ostracization, not good. The first venture outdoors to improvise landed me in a perfect place. It was the local cemetery at two in the morning. It was an amazing and beautiful experience on a quiet and spacious rolling lawn with a full moon, millions of lightning bugs and a zillion mosquitoes. A carload of kids drove into the area and parked. They spent about two minutes discovering the sounds of strange piano music as they walked towards the Traveling Piano truck. When they saw that the sound was coming from a dark silhouette that looked like a man playing piano on the back of a pickup truck with a dog sitting on top of the piano they freaked and ran. It was very funny. In the first two months of improvising outdoors I found sixty different places. Initially they were all hidden from open view in parks, by rivers, on deserted beaches and city streets, vacant street corner lots, below elevated trains and on jogging trails. As time passed I ended up in more public areas like residential neighborhoods, shopping center parking lots, etc... There have been spurts of true dare. For example, I driven to and parked the truck to create music on the top step of the Philadelphia Art Museum. A few days later I was in the middle of Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square at two in the morning. Through crowds of people I drove the truck into the center of Washington Square in New York City and also into Times Square where I created music until the swat teams arrived. (which happened after about three minutes) The music takes on my experience of the specific environment and its energy, the visual aspects, size of the space and all movement and sounds natural or otherwise. When authorities discover the Traveling Piano in what normally would be a restricted area they usually turn a blind eye and we are just left to "be."

I create music for people to discover and this is a most important aspect of the journey... people's discovery as well as mine. Spontaneity and synchronicity are major elements in the creation of a Traveling Piano experience. With my sensitivity to rejection came a talent to find places and environments to play in that are non-intrusive and where people discover the Traveling Piano on their own terms. An expertise for inserting the Traveling Piano into just about anywhere without initially drawing attention is something I enjoy to the fullest. At all times of day... morning, noon and night I go out and play music first and foremost for myself. When I enjoy... other people are naturally drawn into the energy and enjoy for themselves. Ninety-five percent of the time someone discovers us. Both Boner and Mo hanging out on top of the piano has always helped to put people at ease when they discover us but through the time period that I was without a canine partner and all by myself with the truck... the experiences were even greater. When people discover the Traveling Piano they are swept into the present moment. I then extend the gift of myself to hold space for them in order to facilitate an experience of discovery, curiosity, understanding, wonder and to be stimulated with intense freedom to explore joy through music. My teaching talents and natural instincts to nurture fully emerge. I am easily able to encourage and empower.

With the Traveling Piano, I specialize in having fun with people who have never before played on a piano because they thought they could not. I specialize in putting people at ease who would normally be too fearful to try and play on a piano. I most enjoy facilitating creativity for people who have been psychologically damaged from music lessons when they were young. The Traveling Piano becomes an opportunity for people to "step out of their box" and have a new life experience and almost everyone does. My focus is all about being present in order to enjoy one single note of music and to stay with a single note of music for just a moment in time. As a result others have the same experience. I am able to extend myself to people through trust. Intuitively people know that I am a person who knows about fear and repression. I tell them my story and they learn about how I have moved out of a life long rut and how I have moved past the remnants of my own old damaging ideas and thoughts. On the Traveling Piano, "it is what it is" and all is good. No one can make a mistake. There is nothing but the fun of relationship musical and otherwise. Music is music. One note is music. "It is what it is." In the past I was so impatient with myself, it was not possible to care enough to take the time and listen to individual sounds. When I began to improvise by enjoying the sound of one note, individual sounds... I discovered a lack of fear and newfound desire to listen and explore. The Traveling Piano is all about "let's have an experience together." All is good. On the Traveling Piano there is no such thing as a mistake only musical discoveries. While driving through local neighborhoods, youngsters jump onto the truck just to experience the creation of banging musical sounds on the piano. I'll never forget a lady in Dallas, Texas who sat down, created her first sound and began to cry. "I have always wondered what my DNA would sound like musically" she said. For me the situation was hilarious, but it was a true and most worthwhile experience for her. I was not about to deprive her of any discovery she made, her truth, her accomplishment through a single musical note.

A bird creates a few sounds and that is called music. If a person creates a few sounds can that not be called music? If you press down a key on the piano are you not playing the piano? Hence, everyone can play the piano. I often remind people that it is called "playing" the piano as in playfulness and one note of music is right, enough, and good. I encourage people to erase any ideas of wrong, not enough or bad and most especially... to have a sensibility of "screw em' if they can't take a joke!" The first time I played a single note of music and totally embraced the miracle of that music it lasted about sixty seconds before I began to feel stupid. As soon as I realized that was happening I stopped. There was no way I was going to destroy the fantastic feeling I was having. The next day after about sixty seconds with a single note I began to feel bored. As soon as I became aware of the impulse to bore myself I again stopped for the day. I always stop creating music while I am still enjoying the process so I would want to come back for more again and again and again. Sometimes I stop myself when I do not want to stop so I want more. In the beginning I thought, "It takes two minutes to take a dump everyday... I can certainly allow myself sixty seconds a day to be ridiculous, insane, stupid or whatever with music. Even better... to be in love with, care about, considerate and interested in music for sixty seconds a day." Sixty seconds a day is a very short amount of time. Anyone can give a daily minute to music in their life and that is how it all started for me. The secret is in the word "everyday" the decision to embrace and stay consistent. I was clear and honest concerning my desire.

For nineteen years I held myself back from creating a website. I have wanted to have a website since the first internet web page came out. As with other thoughts concerning the career I had going... I held off on creating a website by telling myself I am not going to do anything that may jeopardize the goals. This was a joke because I was never quite sure what the final goal was. I was fearful of coming across as not professional or cool enough. I was fearful that one negative criticism would destroy my entire career. I was fearful that someone with more capabilities would take the concept to a higher level and I would become worthless. I wanted Raggin' Piano Boogie to be the best. I wanted to present myself with the best that I could do. I wanted to understand everything there was to understand before building the website so I could approach the project with clarity and totality. I wanted to avoid feeling overwhelmed in learning. I did not want to start it, only to stop in the middle and give up. The site needed to represent me, everything about me, everything� to the fullest, from the start. I wanted to present a completed project from the start. I felt that I did not know how to communicate clearly what I wanted in order justify paying someone else to do it. Finding someone who would have the patience for me and who would seek to understand whatever it was that I was thinking, and then decipher that was too much of a daunting task. I realized that enough money could have done the job if I paid, but "enough" was not in my reality as I always have lived financially by the skin of my teeth. So... there you have it. I think that is enough to not move forward, don't you? But,,, I did move forward.

I tried to work with a few people to create a website all the while beating myself up because I was not strong enough to get what was needed. When I failed in working with other people, I thought it was always my fault. I dealt with ridiculous challenges; for example, the Raggin Piano Boogie website animations. I would try to describe over the phone and by email to a Canadian web designer what I was looking for and then he would in turn try to describe that to an immigrant Romanian animator who had no American sensibility whatsoever. As a result, I would ask for a picture of Las Vegas that would arrive with a picture of the statue of liberty in it. (one of the casinos has astute of liberty replica on its property) Pictures of hot girls walking the streets were requested. I was sent overweight ladies eating ice cream cones ignoring the Raggin' Piano Boogie truck while walking away from it. The concept was to have sexy showgirls climbing all over the truck and me and adoring Boner, tall buildings, lights, etc... At one point, I thought the animator was trying to piss me off but, when all was said and done, I think there was a major language and culture barrier.

A web designer friend of mine who teaches web development helped me with a simple website structure. Anything would do; I just had to get the thing going. I had to keep it basic considering my tendency to complicate. I have difficulty if I leave a project for a few days. Going back to it necessitates starting from scratch. I often create a completely new approach without knowing what I am doing. I tend to think backwards from having dyslexia. I can get very overwhelmed and confused. A friend set up a website structure so that I could understand and learn on my own, keep track of folders, change, add and delete, and most importantly publish the information as needed everyday. What has resulted is a massive collection of daily blogs, writings about my dog, health, music, experiences and interactions with people. There are pictures out the wazzoo, over 30,000 as of this writing. Seeing that many people have cameras and Iphones with them these days, pictures of the Traveling Piano are constant. I began to ask people to send me their pictures for my logs which did not happen so I began to take pictures for myself. I began to photograph people and the sharing of those pictures has become as fun as it can get for me. So many interactions happen in a day it would not be possible for me to remember everything without pictures for review at the end of each day.

To log my experiences and write about them daily is integral to my journey. I have always had a deep seated interest in writing. Any writing I did was usually in the form of a complaint to someone or about something. I have read very little throughout my life. Before actually working with my website I wrote about the organization of my thoughts, made lists and dabbled in learning how to write. The commitment to update the website everyday since I began in 2006 with journaling has helped me to stay grounded and focused. My writing everyday serves as an anchor for the journey. The website is meant not only for myself but to benefit other people through my strengths and weaknesses. I write and write and write to stimulate interest and desire. The website is constantly growing and I experience a lot of joy and fun in seeing the results of my work. It is the actual process of my Wildest of Dreams. I do not focus on what I should do, or should not do with the website. I focus on "it is, what it is." I focus on being honest. I focus on trusting my motives and myself. I focus on my desire to be a good person and to express that fact. I focus on contribution. I focus on the fact that it is a work in process and only the first draft. Even if it ends up being the last draft, the bottom line is I can say that I have accomplished what I set out to do. I have a working website that I love. Everything now is icing on the cake. I have always enjoyed a lot of icing and everyday more icing is created. I may never be satisfied.

I took on a web server with lots of space for business but I use it all for journey content. From the start, I decided not have any banners or outside affiliation or endorsements on the website. Sometimes I do include links connected to actual daily interactions or experiences. I consider my singleness of purpose... the mission statement. I consider this critical in order for people to trust my core intent. This has not been an easy task to uphold as in the year 2010 there were over two million hits on the website. With no income and my refusal to appear needy (because I am in fact not needy)... there were only a few contributions made to the journey and they were all small. Never the less there is also no selling, collection of fee's or solicitation for tips in association with the Traveling Piano. I can claim a clean ass with no obligations or expectations or inquires concerning my motives. I prefer living in providence. I have found it easy for people to trust, embrace and accept what the Traveling Piano has to offer when there is no financial, organizational, political or commercial agenda involved. My dog and I stay in the homes of friends and strangers we meet when possible. Many expenses take care of themselves. This is what happens when a person lives in providence. Remaining finances from the sale of my home which happened several years into the journey help defray costs of fuel and ongoing upkeep. What happens if all funds should run out? I will do whatever is necessary to continue but most importantly I work not think about any problems that can enter into life. Why bother? I live a life that works... spontaneously and synchronistically and has been working successfully that way for many years now. There was a time when I thought about creating a non-profit organization named "Have Piano, Will Travel" to provide continued no cost musical experiences for all who need some uplifting of spirit in their lives. An online store on the website was developed to raise money through the sale of my significant belongings. I began to create branding ideas and learn all about sponsorship and grants, etc... the results always turn out, "Keep it Simple." The making money oriented lifestyle... did that done that already.... I may do it again but not now as of this writing and in the present moment.

Structure has been most difficult for me; I really have had none for the first fifty years. I've read and studied how to and have made lists, set goals but I have not had the ability to prioritize and stay focused with decisions and choices. The making of them to begin with involves almost pathological difficulty. The ability to make decisions and choices in of themselves were never taught to me and in fact were repressed throughout my formative years. Everything in my mind switches tracks constantly. To sit down and plan out in my mind, go through exactly what I am doing or what I need to do no matter how much I try to relax and breath, if it is more than one or two things, I have yet to discover any natural ability. To express what I need or want to do aloud takes forever. When I get things going I become so excited that I spin out of control with a sense of being lost and overwhelmed. I go into an overload mode with feelings of joy, confusion, chaos, loneliness and abandonment. What is crazy to me is the fact that... when I am performing in the moment, I am doing and thinking a zillion different things consciously at the same time without a problem. To plan and structure music or performing is another issue. I now gain ability on a consistent basis to make decisions and choices for myself. It happens through constantly reminding myself that I have desire to share and stay connected with the world. The mental, physical and spiritual aspects of my life all work together as one unit. I believe that truth and honesty always works for the better, always. I remind myself that I have made more strides since this journey began than in my entire life to date. It has been through the acceptance of who I am and the ongoing, unraveling discoveries that exist in my world.

Some people would like to diagnose and label me with every mental malfunction in the books. Labels are not helpful for me and never have been. I have always known this. Words like "discipline" were used constantly by my role models, educators and mentors. I developed a disdain for that word because it was always used in association with repression born of fear and assumed or projected concerns. I have learned that the energy associated with the idea of being compulsive and obsessive is in fact the same energy as being highly spirited and motivated. Same energy, different labels. If I must choose word labels to communicate, I'll choose the more positive approach to energy. Through my Wildest Dream, I realized that my spirit is motivated through desire. I am a one hundred percent good person and my desires are all one hundred percent good. No one but me, myself and I can tell the absolute truth about my desires. I can assure you that the truths of many other people have been presented to me to embrace for myself and I have examined them all to death, many times. I strive to balance my desires and never judge them as being bad or wrong; sometimes they go out of whack but therein for me lies all the fun in my life. I enjoy the challenge of being consciously aware and it is in the wackiness where I find the levels of accomplishment that can be created. I am no longer fearful of my desires as a result of accepting the pursuit of my Wildest of Dreams.

I have worked very hard to whittle down the length of periods in my life that I lose the where-with-all to function. I am not a man without his demons (if there is such a thing) and I have gone through years of functioning on life's edge barely able to survive. I have now succeeded in working through what were once periods of years, months, days and now only a few hours sometimes where I shut down with no ability to complete a simple task. I have been functioning progressively every single day since the beginning of this Wildest of Dreams pursuit. In the beginning, my goal was to achieve one task daily without fail and that task was to create my Wildest Dream request on video. By the end of the first year, not a day passed without completing at least ten tasks. During the first year of my present journey I lost my entire archived life long career... all of my office data, creative writings, photographs and video. It took seven years of work full time to gather it all together and sort it all out. I had just finished the entire process and lost all of the data during the final hardrive backup. I did not crumble. After addressing the accident fully I told myself, You are doing the best that you can do, there is nothing further to be done and there is nothing that you can change. Do not look back. Move forward to the next task of the day. After about five minutes of mourning, I cried and chose to move forward to the next task. I am living in my Wildest Dream and this is a good thing. I have worked through depression, feeling overwhelmed, major disappointments, self-destructive behavior; I processed the death of many close friends and continued to live my life through it. When my expertise of creating distractions came into play, not once did they deter me for a full day from pursing my dreams, not for one day. I now have experience and successful practice in consciously self-motivating myself every day. I have been developing an ongoing excitement for life everyday. I now enjoy and experience life to the fullest everyday, discovering constant creative expression through the freedom in exploring my natural desires without fearful critic or judgment. I can better articulate everything. I now actively working to show and convey the clearest view of who I am as a person and what I am capable of achieving, my limitations, and room for improvement, my commitment, abilities and expertise. In experiencing life with its joys and difficulties I do not give up or let anything stop me from moving forward and consciously sustain a full progressive life and most importantly, I have fun. The journey of my Wildest of Dreams has facilitated a complete paradigm shift for my life.

I have learned to enjoy myself through the acceptance of, "it is what it is." I allow my creativity, enjoy it and move on with it and through it. I have reached a higher level of self-confidence in my desire to relate with people and to present myself as an artist. I have achieved the ability to negate mental, physical and emotional fears that have stunted past growth and I have created experiences to give me the strength to rise above insecurities originating from myself or anyone else assigning false motives to my endeavors. I have reached a higher level of healthy detachment from self-destructive family behaviors without guilt or manipulation of any kind on my part. I trust myself. I have begun to connect with and relate to people one-on-one in a new way, with more responsibility and respect. I have lost my fear of approaching people to ask, to give, to involve myself with others. I am having fun. I have learned to enjoy diversity in relationships and have stopped the seeking of one person in my life to satisfy all of my needs. I enjoy the relationships that I have developed with more gratitude and the acknowledgment of their worth. My life was renewed in my trip to Louisiana and Mississippi with the ability to establish several new and unique personal relationships.

Meditation or prayer in order to gain or keep focus and consistency has always been difficult for me. All growth in focus or consistency has come from the acknowledgment and acceptance of small step accomplishments in my life. Usually and still every morning even after years into the journey my tendency is to wake up with a negative impulse or thought. As soon as I can remember or become aware everyday I think about my journeys mission. I say to myself, "fun, friendship, respect." If I am having a troublesome time I say the words out loud. If trouble still exists I attempt to feel... fun, friendship and respect. Then I think and say, "thank you for my bed, thank you for the walls, thank you for the ceiling, thank you for the toilet, thank you for the shower head, thank you for the water..." I gratitude myself into each and every day.

The second year, after our amazing adventure to the Katrina affected areas down south... while sitting on my living room couch I said to Boner, "well buddy, what are we going to do now... how will we keep the fun going?" In the twenty years of performing with Raggin' Piano Boogie we had traveled to Florida once and only on three other occasions stayed overnight away from our home base. The idea of travel for a longer period of time and to distant unknown areas would be fun with my buddy but not alone. In that moment of thinking a new dream came through for me. Seeing as Boner was getting up in age, I wanted the world to meet him and to share our partnership as long as he was around. I wanted to share my dog's love and our relationship while we were still together... with the world. Every night after work, to wind down before going to sleep, Bo sat next to me while I found myself watching reruns of the television show Will and Grace. I had never before seen the show and found myself with a good belly laugh after every episode. What a great way to end each day. When the shows run was over, Megan Mullally who had played a character in the show found herself with a talk show out of Los Angeles. I said to Bo, "Megan has been part of my dream with her comedic humor, lets blow the whole Oprah thing out into the open. Travel to LA... get onto Megan's show and ask her with her audience to be on one of my Oprah DVD's saying, "we support Danny's Wildest Dream! It would be fun and ridiculous and what would I have to lose?" Also, now with the idea of Traveling around, I had always wanted to go to Alaska. "Lets travel up to Alaska first and then down the west coast towards LA." More purpose was needed. "Travel to different communities where musicians never travel or where people never get to see a piano man." No fees, no crap, no obligation or expectations...it would be fun for everyone all around. Boner would be a big help in buffering my introductions to people and communities. "Who doesn't trust someone who has a super friendly dog, who is only looking to give and share and is not looking to get anything as a result?"

The agenda was almost set when my friend Cory called. When I was down south last year I met Cory a Canadian who was one of the first six responders to hurricane Katrina. He is a free spirit, an action hero out to change the world through love, care and playfulness. He helped set up the first soup kitchen in the storm disaster area. We met and bonded instantly. Cory told me about a kayaking trip of his off the middle west coast of Mexico a few years back. He had found himself docked at a small remote fishing village. The people ended up adopting him as family. He has been going back every year with the same agenda as I have... fun, friendship and respect. He called to suggest I visit the village with him. I had been thinking about going north to Alaska but ended up going south. Cory had sent me a link to a movie called The Secret the year before. Coincidentally, I found it after we talked and I watched it. The movie is about the laws of attraction. I learned nothing new but the movie totally validated and reassured for me everything that I have ever innately known. I went into a convulsion of tears and gratitude when it was over.

The plan was set... drive down to Mexico and then up to LA to be on television, open my Wildest Dream to the world and then have the world meet piano dog Boner while we were still partners. Money was an issue because I had none but that was not going to stop me. I thought, "In the beginning you had no money for Katrina, went anyway and ended up performing for a Mardi Gras parade which landed you a thousand dollars to purchase a new piano for the old lady who lost her's in the Mississippi part of the storm. Why would you worry?" Nevertheless I had to do some thinking about it. A week before I was to leave, a friend told me of a service organization that began after World War II. Its mission is to promote peace understanding and cultural exchange between travelers. Members invite travelers into their homes to visit for the sake of developing friendly relationship. To become a member an interview is needed by an active member. Coincidentally, there was a member living ten minutes from my house and they rushed my process for membership. My papers came the day before I left. The idea of staying with strangers to help proliferate the idea of strangers becoming less afraid of each other became part of my mission. I do not stay with strangers to get a free room. I stay with strangers to create relationship. It would be easier to have my own private space in a motel or bed & breakfast but not as interesting or fun and would help to defray some of the costs.

After watching the movie The Secret something very interesting happened. I was about to leave for Mexico but my house was not in order. I felt pressure and fear. It was about four in the afternoon so I sat down and turned on Oprah. I caught a promo saying, "Stay tuned for the followup on our Oprah show about The Secret." I said to myself, "that's it, I'm staying home until I see that show." (which was scheduled for a week later) The design relieved a lot of tension and apprehension. Who was I answering to anyway? There was no time schedule or restraints. I stayed to watch the show. While watching the show I had an impulse to go online and purchase the transcript, something I had never done before. When I got to the website I saw a banner advertising for auditions being held. They were for Oprah's first ever reality television show called the Big Give. They were looking for contestants to go into different communities around the country to gift them with what they have best to offer. The "biggest giver" would win their WIldest Dream. How synchronistic was that?! Superbowl here I come. Even more... they were to interview applicants in Nashville Tennessee exactly on the day I had now planned to pass through on my way down to Mexico. While standing in line at the audition a producer came up to ask me why I was there. (probably because I was the only one with a dog) I said, "to audition." She said, why, what do you do? I told her I played the piano on the back of a truck. She said, "why do you play the piano on the back of a truck? I fumbled, she pushed with intent... I got intimidated and fumbled more... she said thanks for coming and left! I went through the rest of the process and they didn't even take down my phone number... "Thanks for coming." Ha, that was a no chancer... I went through a brief period of feeling rejected all the while knowing it was not meant to be... yet. The show never made it into a second season and the winner at end turned into several winners... each getting a hundred thousand bucks. I would have said... "Hey, give me my Widest Dream!" It was amazing that the opportunity for my Wildest Dream floated so close and into my life.

On my second day of travel I found myself in Blacksburg, Virginia late at night. I was to stay with my second host. I had no idea about where I was. As I drove through the town in the dark I thought, "This is a pretty cool place for such a rural area." And then, "ahh, its a college town thats why." The name Virginia Tech kept hitting me... "How do I know Virginia Tech?" After about five minutes it came to me. Other than Cory, the only other people I connected with the year before down in the hurricane Katrina areas were a group of students from Virginia Tech. Wow, was I excited. What a coincidence! Before I left the next morning I stopped to say hello to everyone and created music with Boner on the student plaza for about a half hour.

I crossed the boarder into Mexico knowing one word. Hola! The guards at the boarder did a lot of joking at my expense but it was ok. After crossing I had my first Traveling Piano experience hundreds of miles into the dessert with a small enclave of adobe huts. (you can read about it in the website blogs) The experience gave me the biggest "Jolt of Joy" I have ever had. I knew there was to be no fear for the entire rest of my visit in Mexico. The experiences were amazing. The village where I stayed... I was treated with ultra respect. One of the kids, speaking through my friend Cory asked how much a piano would cost. It was totally cost prohibitive for the village and deep down I remember thinking, "shit." It brought back the memory of purchasing the piano for Dorothea in Mississippi after hurricane Katrina. I did not want her question to be a sign that I should repeat that kind of generosity. It nagged deep down and in the back of my head all the way out of Mexico and into Phoenix, Arizona. The piano I was using felt too used for comfort and I think one of the keys was beginning to have a problem. I got to the point where I could not get the Mexican girls question out of my head. I finally rationalized my true desire to gift the village with a piano by telling myself that I needed to get a new piano for Hollywood. I felt it important to present myself in the best light possible. The cost to ship my present piano down to the village was only four hundred dollars. Every penny I was spending was on credit card so I thought, "whats another four hundred when you already owe twenty thousand?" As I was apprehensively or excitingly, probably a little of both handing the shipping guy the money... while he was watching a turned on television set sitting on the counter. He looked at it and said, "thirty two kids just got killed at Virginia Tech.

Stunned I went to sit in my truck. I thought, "there is nothing you can do as you are over a thousand miles away and one day from your goal of Hollywood." When I was at Virginia Tech the students had given me a Virginia Tech tea shirt. I thought, "today, wear the tea shirt they gave you so that when you create music and do your thing... everyone will connect fun, friendship and respect with Virginia Tech verses the bullshit that has happened." Later that day the student government from Virginia Tech phoned me. "Danny, we are going to be progressive and keep joy in our lives". The student government facilitator says, "A music concert had been suggested because Dave Mathews, Tim McGraw and Bon Jovi have called but all we can think about is the love and joy that you and Boner brought here when you passed through here, would you come and be with us?" The worst thing in the world happens and they call the piano man on the truck? I told them I would think about it all the while deep down knowing I had no choice because this is what the journey is all about, but still... I was one day from my Hollywood goal and Boner may never make it to Hollywood and... it was way back where I started from on the east coast. Of course I could not pass up such an honor and began the drive back east. We planned for my arrival to be on the day after all the media left to avoid any media spins that could have been attached to my sole purpose of creating fun, friendship and respect. The Traveling Piano stayed until the end of the semester. Very strange, it was not until two years later while looking at the journeys pictures I realized that the Traveling Piano had spent time at the very spot where a "like" incident happen at a college in Austin Texas ten years before. I remembered people telling me about it when I was there but could not have cared less.

While driving back east I did a lot of thinking. Someone had told me that now was the safest time ever to visit China. The Olympics were to be held the next year and it was known that the government would kill anyone and all family members who brought any harm to a foreigner in order to protect the Olympics. In that moment a thought had come back from twenty years before. I have always known with no reason... that the Chinese people would love my music more than any other people. I assumed it had something to do with the energy of my Ragtime and Boogie Woogie piano playing but now it became very clear. It was not about the style of music I was playing or how I was playing it. It was about the energy of "my" music... my original improvisations, the energy of my spirit. This had been a thought long before its time! Back twenty years ago it was beyond my Wildest of Dreams that I would ever even want to manifest the energy of my own original music. I said to Boner, "well the world did not get to meet you in Hollywood Bo, but they will if i take you to China for the Olympics!" I decided to keep moving forward and take the Traveling Piano along with Boner to the Olympics and create music especially in the rural areas. (in rural areas is where most of my interest lays) And then I thought, "Hold on Danny. How are you going to financially pull this off?" The answer was to become responsible. I decided to sell my house. It was clear that I am being led to continue onward with the Traveling Piano and if I go to China I won't be using the house and also the bills from the last two years needed to be paid off. With practically no outside support coming in it made sense to sell everything I own to fund the journey myself. To this day people assume I am independently wealthy or have a patron or something... not. But still, I refuse to act needy. I do not want donations out of need, I want contribution out of support always believing it will happen.

All the while making plans after we returned from Virginia Tech, Bo and I continued with the Traveling Piano journey in what had been the recently flooded areas of Trenton, New Jersey as well as in the crime ridden areas of North Philadelphia. It took a year to let go of my home. In selling my house, I refused to let go of anything I owned without value and respect as it was all my entire life's possessions, my retirement, everything. I wanted it to be about fun and to feel good about it all. This was to be a celebration. I had a month long yard sale with the Traveling Piano in my back yard. I had several offsite, failed fundraisers. New friends as well as the local television stations and newspapers tried to help with no avail. For a year the Traveling Piano had signs on the side of the piano saying, "Driving to China Need Support." I was not about to let go of life long belongings like a two thousand dollar family rug and sell it to someone for a hundred bucks because "its better than nothing." I ended up giving almost everything away. I paid off my house the day I sold it. This paid off the journeys bills and then for the first time ever I invested the rest. That was the week the stock market crashed... bye, bye a lot of money. A trusted friend ripped off many thousands from me. He was to build a new truck for China, not. A new truck had been purchased but it would not work with the journey for a myriad of reasons. I ended up giving the truck to close friends in financial need while hoping that some day I will get paid back. On and on... A friend was going to help me raise money. That was a flop. I would consider the liquidation of my assets pretty much a failure. It was what it was. Throughout this entire time period the Traveling Piano was operating in full swing almost daily along with the blog postings, pictures and music. The last day in my home was the day the Olympics in China began. It was not meant to be for the Traveling Piano at that time.

The day I sold my home I remember sitting on my sofa when in the moment a wave of fear began to overwhelm me. In that same moment a huge realization came to me. I recognized the feeling clearly. "Danny, the feeling of this energy that you are now defining as fear is the exact same energy you had after you crossed the boarder over into Mexico. Back then you identified the feeling as the biggest "Jolt of Joy" you ever experienced. Why are you now identifying that same feeling as fear? Back then you identified it as the Present Moment, God's space where all miracles happen and they did happen. You said you felt like God because nothing else existed except joy, your life was void of fear, ego... you said jokingly that you felt like Oprah, no harm could come to you! Why are you now identifying that same energy as fear? Don't run away from the wonderful unknown opportunities that are presenting themselves to you in this very moment with this energy that you are experiencing, feeling and have an awareness of. Do not identify it all with fear".

Onward, (I know this will sound crazy), I had over a thousand designer and vintage dresses stored away in the cellar of my house. I had moved them to a new home base which was losing its feeling of security as a home base, and with good reason. I had to do something with the dresses. I found out that Cory, my friend from Katrina and Mexico had gone over to Uganda the year before with a sewing machine. He was teaching kids coming out of the bush who lost their parents from aids how to create hammocks to sleep in, play in and sell to tourists. I decided to take the dresses I had up to Canada and give them to Cory for his agenda. He could use the fabric. The Traveling Piano truck drove into Canada with a heaping load of clothes and with no trouble at all. Piano dog Boner and I played throughout New Brunswick Canada ending up in St John's Newfoundland at the most eastern tip of the northern hemisphere for several months. We had very much fun in Newfoundland as well as the rest of Canada!!! For the next year there was much floundering and settling into a new home base in West Virginia where time was spent working on a cabin I was given to use.

Towards the end of 2009, Piano dog Boner became ill. He was over fifteen years old. It was with the realization that we were both slowing down back in 2006 that the journey began. Bo's age factor became a major catalyst to begin enjoying our life together to the fullest. To seize and savor each moment, to make the best of our relationship until the very end was a priority. The bond between Bo and I was the strongest and most significant worthy relational experience I could have ever dreamed of having in life. It did in fact grow in every single moment until he passed. Even though Boner and I are no longer physically together the love grows. We shared our partnership and what we had to offer for the world to the fullest and with no limits. When my life opened up in the journey... so did Boner's. During the summer of 2005 my best buddy lost his physical ability or desire to jump into the Raggin' Piano Boogie truck. He had been doing it for the last ten years. During the journeys first year Boner was so inspired with renewed energy during our trip down South that he began to jump up once again into the truck and onto the piano. He regained his strength on the very first day. Bo and I had fun together creating friendships and exuding respect all around with and without the Traveling Piano. Our partnership has been a great gift for my life. Bo's spirit for life never wavered. Like myself he wanted to continue living life to the fullest. We could have just sat in a West Virginia cabin loving each other to death but our style was to go out with a bang in loving each and every moment that life can bring. We picked ourselves up and left once more for Hollywood and after a while thought it better to head south for warmer weather. Life was about living in the day, one day at a time and most importantly with the journey. I stayed conscious not to rush the agenda to get into warmer climate. We were focused on the present moment, the journey. Boner and I made it to Springfield Missouri and had fun with the Traveling Piano up until the day he died. Everything worked out as it was meant to be. Our love together, our fun, friendship and respect together here on earth grew up until our very last moment together.

After Boner died over eight hundred emails of support came to me. My home town east coast newspapers created and printed a picture along with an obituary for me. The word was put out online for me. The outpouring of support propelled me forward. We had accomplished the sharing of our partnership with the world. During the time period between our original attempts for Hollywood and China we ended up in Mexico and Canada. While in Newfoundland Canada I had discovered the online community of Facebook. On the day Bo died we had close to four thousand friends from sixty seven different countries on Facebook. Our friends friends from around the world had been following along with us via online. Along with hundreds of thousands of people we had met personally through our years together in performance, news articles and other media throughout the journey and the website, my daily blog web posts and pictures... I can say with glee and fun that the world met my dog while he was living here on earth. I realized through the ensuing days that I had in fact accomplished my dream of having had the world meet Boner before he passed. If I had been too focused on any one goal such as Hollywood several years back only a specific audience in America alone would have met Bo and not the world. If I had been too focused on the goal of Hollywood I would have missed the selling of my home, the China dream... I was able to go with the flow of life and it was fun. I realized through this process how important the "journey to the goals" are. Life is not necessarily about achieving goals. Life is about being, it is about the journey... not that there is anything wrong with achieved goals, they also are necessary and fun.

Interestingly enough, on the day Bo died and having no idea he was going to die that day I had handed the Traveling Piano to Brandon the son of Gary and Dana who were hosting us. I had empowered Brandon to repaint the Traveling Piano. Now twenty something years old, the truck really needed it. Brandon painted the truck beautifully. He lettered it and hand designed fantastic graphics for it all in one day. When I drove out of Springfield Missouri without my dog it was like God, the universe saying, "Ok Danny, a period of life has now ended. Now is the time for a transition and here is a fresh truck for a fresh start." Could anything be more clear and wonderful?

I traveled to Eureka Springs Arkansas and amazingly on the very first day I was able to jump onto the Traveling Piano to play. People joined me without hesitation. Boner was a wonderful buffer for my insecurities when dealing with people but even though... I discovered that I can stand on my own two feet. I have grown in confidence. The following days and weeks ensued with a lot of adjustments some very difficult but never without the support of friends, thank God. The journeys superbowl dream began to come around strongly. The original dream I had was twenty five years ago was before Boner was in the picture. Now with Bo gone the contract I made with myself at the start of the journey was up for renewal. The agreement I had made with myself was to keep money out of all equations while Boner and I were sharing together what we had to offer for the world. ICommon sense dictates there may come a time when I would need to create a new source of money to pay for gas, food, lodging. I began to think about superbowl sponsorship, etc... I have been working to accept and be open to all new possibilities and experiences without Bo. Not easy but necessary if I choose to go on living with fun, friendship and respect.

I landed in Fort Worth Texas. While attending a Kiwanis meeting with my host everyone began talking about the superbowl. It turned out that the owner of the stadium lives there. I thought, "maybe I should stay here for a year and work the dream through the community... try to connect with this guy." And then I thought about the word "work" and how hot and dry it is in Fort Worth during summer. I do not think dreams should be work unless your enjoying the work. Hustling for money to create fun... forget it. A few days later my camera broke. The nearest store that could replace it was sixty miles away. I drove there to find they did not have the camera when they said they did. I was very angry about the waste of time, money and energy to drive there. As I was leaving the shop two women were outside talking about the superbowl stadium. I asked, "what about the superbowl stadium?" They said, "its two blocks away," and pointed to the building! Wow, I drove the Traveling Piano truck up to thirty feet from the front doors and sat shivering. I thought, "what are you afraid of, your here so you can get used to the feel so when you come back it won't be all so intimidating." Then the guard walked up to the truck and asked me to drive back into the parking lot. I did and also sat there playing Boogie Woogie for a half hour while envisioning the dream. How synchronistic and crazy!

The morning I was to leave Texas, I decided I might as well continue on to Hollywood finally, but then a thought came into my head and stopped me once again. "Your priorities in life have been 1. Boner, 2. Nature, 3. Music, 4. People... with Boner gone what the hell are you doing going to Hollywood? You have been dreaming of a visit to Glacier Park for twenty five years!" I made the decision to visit Glacier Park and began to drive north. On the way I stopped in Limon, Colorado a very small town. The family I stayed with, their daughter has been dating a guy who has been setting up the superbowl for the last four years. The next place I ended up in was Denver Colorado where the woman I was staying with is an executive sales director for the company that is the superbowl's official beer sponsor. The guy who deals with the sponsorship is in the office next to hers. My Wildest of Dreams, the dream was surfacing all around me. The next couple I stayed with were Buddhists and affectionately accused me of being a closet Buddhist because of the way I live life. For some reason the conversation stayed in my mind. They gave me their cabin in the mountains to use for almost a month. I needed time alone to process some of the loss I have been feeling with Bo gone. I wanted to also finish the websites picture archives and let go of the past.

While in Colorado the television station did a news segment about the Traveling Piano. I was a little hesitant about having done it because immediately afterwards three people posted "a little off his rocker" type comments on the news stations website. I thought, "why should I open myself up for public criticism through the media? I have no need or desire for publicity or promotion especially with Boner gone. But then... every single day for over a month, no matter what town I was in no matter how big or small, wether I was with the Traveling Piano or not... someone walked up to me and introduced themselves telling me that they had seen me on television and then... they extended their hand in friendship. I have never had this kind of response from being on television in all my twenty five years with the truck even with Boner as a big part of the picture, except for in Canada. This experience was an amazing to me because with Boner having just passed, I had a lot of insecurity as to how the Traveling Piano would be received with just me alone. It was very validating, reassuring and empowering especially in realizing that having had a dog was never mentioned in the news interview.

I made it to Glacier Park and felt amazed to be in it. I realized that I arrived simply from a decision and nothing more. There was no thinking about it, no feeling it, no working towards it... simply a decision to do it. This was the first major journey life experience without Bo and he could not have been with me in any case. The parks rules and wildlife would not have allowed it. I did not find that fact until after I had arrived. The first place I stayed in Kalispell had flags strung across the property. I asked what they were. I was told they were Buddhist prayer flags which I know nothing about. I did not pursue any more questioning about them. They were also inside the house where I was staying. Two weeks later I was driving around the park and saw an abandoned property in the woods. Once again, I saw prayer flags strung across the property. I was drawn to the property for some reason. I thought maybe because it needed care. Then during a discussion with the next person I stayed with, I found out randomly that the Tibetan monks had purchased a lot of property locally in Montana in the area where I was staying. A highly respected Buddhist from Nepal, a monk associated with the Dali Lama had a liaison here in America for the property. During the next week after that I was given the offer a to house sit for a week for new friends. They coincidentally happened to be Buddhists. Unrelated to any information I already knew about... they knew the caretaker connected with the liaison for the abandoned property... the property belongs to the Tibetan monk in Nepal. I went to meet with the liaison in order to explore the possibility of staying on the abandoned property for a few weeks. I told him that it felt for me as though I wanted to give the property some tender loving care. The first words out of my mouth were, "I think Buddha is calling me through prayer flags." It was sort of tongue and cheek but... on some level that I did not understand, I meant what I said. I told him that. I also asked if he could help me to get the Traveling Piano over to Nepal or Tibet as I would like to gift the areas with what I have to offer as well as drive the Traveling Piano into the rural areas of China.

He said that he could offer me three months of meditation study with the top monks in Nepal where I would be housed and fed. I thought, "Huh? Did I mention anything about meditation?" I kept my mouth shut and explored further. I told him that the idea of mediation was interesting but also, could he help me get the Traveling Piano over there. He said that it would not be cost effective but I could stay on for three additional months to feel the situation out and possible create a new Traveling Piano to use over there. It was at this time during the conversation that I remembered thinking a week before... "For twenty five years you worked very hard Danny... studying, taking direction, learning, practicing how to live life in a way the works for you. The fruits of your labor is this present journey. Are you finished learning? Whats next? Are you done? Is it time to die? What is next? What other tools are there to use in order to move to an even higher level of personal life?" At the time, I could think of none. Also, through time my work has been gradually becoming more difficult. Moving forward without piano dog Boner by my side was difficult. I have known the answer is to get even in more "In tune" with my inner self so I was thinking, "as difficult as it is now,without question I will need to develop a stronger focus to deal with a completely different culture, no language skills, less creature comforts, legalities, politics, etc... in China. Three months of mediation would be helpful preparation. The trip may quite possibly drain all the funds I have but the funds are for the journey, so be it. I returned to where I was staying in East Glacier and was telling a friend what had transpired. A tourist from India was standing behind me and on hearing the story interjected that he was in the Indian military and his father was also. His father was part of the elite squad that helped the Dali Lama escape out of China and into India. He suggested that I get my act together in Nepal and then come down through India where he would get me and the Traveling Piano through the gate the Dali Lama came through, where the Indians and Chinese are friendly with each other. During the following days the plan disintegrated but still... The journeys China dream began to come around strongly.

In East Glacier where I was staying a woman told me that I was in an energy vortex and to be careful because I might get sucked into it. I was told the area was full of energy, the best and worst all at the same time. I sort of laughed to myself because the energy vortex concept is just another curiosity that flows in and out of my life. Berkely Springs, West Virginia where I have spent a significant amount of time I was told was an energy vortex. I was on a hill in Sedona, Arizona where I did witness Boner come extra alive on an energy vortex, the same hill, twice. Eureka Springs, Arkansas where I ended up after Bo passed I was told was an energy vortex and then East Glacier. Most recently the first sentence from a new friend on arriving in Dawson City, Yukon Canada, "this place has an energy vortex"... its not like I ask about these places. In Glacier park I was aware that I needed to ride out my stay, there was no leaving until I knew it was time. I had significant exchanges with nature, the Blackfeet Indians and visitors from around the globe. Piano Dog Boner's ashes now reside in Glacier Park. To visit Glacier park was the most fulfilling dream I could have ever imagined. It was without question a force of energy that I willingly gave my life to.

When I was a child my mother had put into my minds eye that I was going to do something special with my life, something really big, something that was to be distinguishable. All my life I wondered about that. What was it, when will it happen, how, what form will it take? In Glacier Park, Montana I found and created my "something special." My experience of nature in Glacier Park went way beyond the physical world. I reached the most simplest of being. Not only in total gratitude was I able to embrace the passing of Piano Dog Boner in the park, the nature of peace an beauty that surrounded me facilitated awareness of enjoying a simple physical breath with no need for anything, period. While sitting on top of the world in awesome splendor I realized that I am not here on earth to work or accomplish anything or any goal. Accomplishment and goals are fun but not the end all of life. I am here simply to "be" and enjoy life however possible and to the fullest, period. I was able to give myself the experience by myself and for myself. That was way beyond my Wildest of Dreams. Through the experience of the earths nature in its purest form, I realized that I am living in heaven.This physical life of mine here on what we call earth is in fact heaven and also my "something special." While in Montana my Wild Dream to take the Traveling Piano to Alaska resurfaced. Even though snow was setting in I thought I needed to go because I was as close as I'd ever be and also the journey might soon end because Boner was gone. I was thinking about spending the winter in Alaska or in Canada and continuing the journey in the spring even if it wiped out my funds. Trouble began at the boarder crossing. The boarder police wanted to believe I was coming into Canada to live and work permanently. I was too honest in telling the unconventional nature of my life... that I am living in a journey with the present moment and was permanent traveler who sold his home. They consistently attempted to apply false motives to my intent until they discovered that my driver's license had expired. Being totally fed up with their shenanigans, I grabbed onto the opportunity to end the arguing and somewhere deep in my soul knew that I had to get back east immediately to not only renew my drivers license, there was something else having to do with my soul that my mind could not tap into. I drove as fast and for as long as I could without stoping. One stretch was for thirty three hours. I played with the Traveling Piano once at night for a small Montana town outside a bar and during one day I was missing Boner so much, I stopped at a random dog pound along the highway to take a pup for a needed walk. I think subconsciously I really wanted another dog but was afraid to allow myself the experience. I was taught in life to love only once. To have another dog would detract from the loyal relationship I had with Bo. He was to be the first dog and last dog in my life.

Heading back east I thought about being with friends for the first time without Boner by my side. I felt the need to spend time with friends in West Virginia before anywhere else. While sharing the experience of Bo's passing on the first night, a woman who I did not know came up to me and said she had a dog that needed a home and knew beyond a question of doubt that the dog was meant for me. I told here absolutely not as I wanted to have more experiences such as Glacier Park that are not possible with stewardship of a dog. She insisted, saying that the dog even looked like me. I used the Traveling Piano as an excuse to visit her home just to meet the dog. His name, Mo. His name caught my ear because of Boners name and my having called him Bo for short. Mo was a little over five months old and had been purchased in a pet store by the woman's daughter too soon after her baby was born. She could not handle Mo's energy and training along with her newborn baby. Mo, an English Bull dog Beagle designer mix, was having difficulty living outdoors in a rural West Virginia backyard with two grown boxers who did not want him around. He had way too much spirit and energy for them and as a result his head had bite holes in it, etc... The first thing Mo did was run up to me, flop down by my side and take a pee. I laughed and thought he was almost too sweet looking for my style. When our eyes first met I was specifically and consciously aware that a moment in time had locked in. A pure connection of spirit happened. The next day I went back and took him to the park with the Traveling Piano. I put him onto of the piano and as soon as I began to create music he looked down at my hands on the keyboard and once again I experienced a frozen moment in time with him. It felt almost like a computer download. I took Mo home that night as an experiment to see what would develop. I could clearly see that he was intuitively smart, full of play, totally trustful like I had never experienced with a dog, had a wonderful sense of his bodily nature and he was in fact inspiring me to love. I said to myself, "If you had to choose the journey or a relationship with another dog which would you choose? Would you be willing to give up this journey for a relationship with another dog?" I choose relationship. In not having a significant relationship with another human being in my life, I told myself I would rather have another relationship with a dog that was as great if not better than I had with Bo than anything else in life even if it meant giving up the journey. As a result soon after, Mo jumped into the truck and onto the piano with no training. I coaxed him three times and that was it. Having looked at his legal papers several times it was not until more than a half year later I discovered that Piano Dog Mo was born around the same twenty-four hour period that Piano Dog Boner died.

The passage of time consistently becomes increasingly indecipherable. More so than ever before I am living in the present moment. First, I began to find myself unaware of hours, then days, weeks and now I only when needed do I think about what month it is. The first few months with new Piano Dog Mo was spent visiting friends and with our becoming acclimated together while constantly reminding myself that there needs to be no rush to do anything. The journey was spent throughout New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and West Virginia. A friend offered a free condo to stay in down in Miami and so there I was heading until a tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri. Boner passed away in that part of the country. I had received so much love through the people I had stayed with during Bo's transition that I felt compelled to manifest some gratitude. Off we went to create some love amidst the destruction. I am so thankful that I have kept a daily log of activities on my website because the details of our experiences were so rich with life. After a few weeks we returned back east and for the first time since the journey began I made two commitments for performing. The Traveling Piano with Mo participated in the first Memorial Day parade and well as Fourth of July Parade since the journey began. We were in communities that have consistently asked for participation every year, it was for friends who have been loyal and appreciative throughout my performance career. Physically, after driving to Missouri and back I realized that if I was ever going to make it to Alaska, if the now twenty five year old Traveling Piano truck was ever going to make it to Alaska it had better happen now. Off we drove. This time I had made sure all my pegs were in order for customs at the boarder to get into Canada, drive as far north as the roads would take us and then enter into the Alaskan bush country. Never the less, Canadian customs once again gave me trouble even more so than last time but finally I did get through. Entering out of Canada and into America was as simple as it can get. For hours and hours I have driven on rough dusty, rocky, dirt, potholed, washboard roads at no more than ten miles an hour. The Traveling Piano just keeps going and going and going. I try not to think about trouble. If water seeps through the tarp covering the truck... water seeps through the tarp. If water fillers the piano speaker in the back, I turn it over and empty it. If a piano key breaks, I breath a lot and deal with it. If the inverter stops working, I purchase a new one. If I need help, I ask for it. I work to spend my time thinking about enjoyment and the sharing of it.

I want to live here on earth and enjoy as many life experiences that are possible and I enjoy sharing how I perceive... how my experiences come to be. I enjoy sharing the process of my life experiences... how they manifest and why from my point of view. My Wildest of Dreams (Streaking Across the Superbowl Field Playing Wild Boogie Woogie Piano on the Back of a Pickup Truck) has been foremost and the reason for this journey. I have been realizing many Wild of Dreams I have had through the journey and on a continual basis as well as how life works for me. A priority for my life is to stay connected to and manifest/create/give to and for my world. I consider a simple breath to be giving. There are many ways to to manifest life for me. As far as with and in the company of other people... it is not in my nature to drop out of society as many people do. This kind of person comes across my path all the time. I have always wanted the feeling of being part of, included in, one of, shared with and to share with other humans... my own species. What is most natural for me? To relate first and foremost to my own species. The right and wrong way to do that... ha, I have found it is all about loving myself first and foremost. I must focus on first seeing the good in myself without any fear or question and then I can see good in others. Whatever negative crap I was taught outside of myself does not apply. I really know how to hate myself and have done a real good job of doing that in the past. My entire life's mission has been to love myself, know myself, enjoy myself. I have learned how to discover myself through, not from other people... a lot of talk therapy, reading and many years of psychoanalysis! I have been crafting the enjoyment of observing and not reacting to peoples behavior, actions words to know what I want for my own life. I have learned and personally experienced three times over the last several years how there is no past, present or future. Einstein proved this and Quantum Physics originated from that discovery. There has been three clear experiences I have encountered since the journey began. I was crossing the street late one night with piano dog Boner. There was a car coming and I was wavering on wether we could cross safely. In not thinking clearly I mistakenly gave Boner the signal to cross the road while at the same time realizing there was not enough time to do it. I gave a most unusual guttural screaming cry as time slowed down. I saw my dog begin to run under the wheel of the car, he was under the wheel as time slowed down, enough to pull himself back and out from under the wheel as it passed. The car did not see us as it was traveling very fast in the dark. In the moment I knew that we had just had the experience of being totally in the moment... an other than earthly space. There was no past, present or future. Another time, I was in a state of excruciating, emotionally confused and fearful pain about life... crying and laying with my dog in my arms. He gave me a lick on my face to bring me into his world. On realizing that Bo was there with me... we were together... total joy was in my arms and in touch with my emotional turmoil but not indulging in it... I became completely one hundred percent sound, safe, secure, content, peaceful and loving with my dog. It was without question the most favorite moment of my life to date. To be in the presence of life and love completely and totally at the same time... there was no past, present or future. The third time, I seemed to have blocked out. I suppose if I invested enough time and energy to remember it would come back to me but it does not seem important enough now... but there was a third time! Anyway, to have had life experiences such as these... beyond my Wildest of Dreams.

The Beginning
And Then...
A Simple Request!
Super Bowl Boogie
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