American artist Al Hansen may have performed the first piano drop (and the first "Happening" of any sort) when he dropped a piano off of a four-story building in Frankfurt while serving there with the 82nd Airborne from 1945 to 1948.[1] Hansen later performed a number of piano drops in different locations, eventually concretizing this as a recurring performance under the name "Yoko Ono Piano Drop". These have continued past his 1995 death.[2]
1968 in Duvall, Washington
The April 11, 1968 issue of the Helix advertises two events under the joint name "Media Mash". On the left is a concert at Seattle's Eagles Auditorium. On the right, the piano drop in Duvall.
A piano drop occurred as part of a fundraiser for the Seattle underground newspaper Helix and non-commercial radio station KRAB, the predecessor to today's KSER, Sunday, April 28, 1968, in Duvall, Washington.[3][4] The day's events consisted of the piano drop and a concert by Country Joe and the Fish.[3][4]
The event was first conceived by artist Gary Eagle and musician Larry Van Over. According to Walt Crowley, they had listened to a KRAB broadcast of a recording of a piano being destroyed by a sledgehammer at an earlier benefit for Seattle's Central Area Motivation Program[5] (a predominantly African-American anti-poverty group). However, the KRAB archive site says Crowley must be mistaken, and there was no such program. They conjecture that it might have been a broadcast of a program of theirs in which artists related to the Fluxus movement destroyed a piano with sledgehammers.[6] Another version of the story, in (among other places) Smithsonian magazine, says they had accidentally dropped a piano off a truck and "thought it sounded kind of cool."[7]
In any case, Eagle and Van Over approached Helix founder Paul Dorpat about the idea of dropping a piano from a helicopter.[5] With Dorpat's support, they obtained the 500-pound piano and found a pilot experienced in transporting pianos.[5]
Although they had expected only about 300 people to attend,[5] approximately 3,000 people[8] came out to Van Over's farm in Duvall to witness the drop.[9] The drop, from roughly 150 feet, proved to be more logistically difficult than expected: the pilot miscalculated his slowing down and, in order to keep the helicopter stable, had to release the cable prematurely. The piano missed the pile of logs they were aiming for "by several yards, struck the soft earth, and imploded with a singularly unmusical whump."[5]
Several writers have seen the large turnout for the event as being the immediate inspiration for the multi-day, outdoor rock festivals of the following years.[7][10] The Piano Drop led directly to the Sky River Rock Festival and Lighter Than Air Fair on Labor Day weekend, 1968 (many of the same people were involved).[10][11][9] The more controversial question is the extent to which Sky River inspired the various festivals that followed.[10] Paul Dorpat mentions the partial precedent of Monterey Pop but remarks that, in contrast to that event, the Piano Drop and the Sky River festival that followed were held in spaces that had not previously been set up as concert venues.[9]
Decades later, the Jack Straw Foundation—the successor to KRAB that now operates KSER—assembled some surviving pieces of the piano for a show called Piano Drop at their Jack Straw Cultural Center. A number of avant garde composers and musicians including Amy Denio and Lori Goldston participated in a February 23, 2019 performance making musical use of these remnants.[12][13]
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Every spring, the residents of Baker House at MIT drop an old, irreparable piano from the roof of their six-story building. This event takes place on Drop Date (a.k.a. Drop Day), the last date one can drop classes at MIT.[14][15]
This tradition began in 1972, and does not appear originally to have had any connection with Drop Day.[15]
1 2 Houston, Darrell (1968-04-19). "The Medium is the Mash". Area 206. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. p.2. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
1 2 3 4 5 Crowley, Walt (1995). Rites of Passage: A Memoir of the Sixties in Seattle. Seattle, London: University of Washington Press. pp.110–112, 254. ISBN0295974931.
Piano Drop, Jack Straw Foundation, from their 2019 exhibit. Includes extensive audio clips from the performances incorporating the remnants of the dropped piano.
The KRAB-Helix Piano Drop Apr 28, 1968 on the KRAB Archive includes multiple photos and an article from Seattle journalist Stan Stapp, who was present at the KRAB-Helix Piano Drop.
Duvall is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located on SR 203 halfway between Monroe and Carnation. The population was 8,034 at the 2020 census.
Boeing Field, officially King County International Airport, is a public airport owned and operated by King County, five miles south of downtown Seattle, Washington. The airport is sometimes referred to as KCIA, but it is not the airport identifier. The airport has scheduled passenger service operated by Kenmore Air, a commuter air carrier, and was being served by JSX with regional jet flights. It is also a hub for UPS Airlines. It is also used by other cargo airlines and general aviation aircraft. The airfield is named for founder of Boeing, William E. Boeing, and was constructed in 1928, serving as the city's primary airport until the opening of Seattle–Tacoma International Airport in 1944. The airport's property is mostly in Seattle just south of Georgetown, with its southern tip extending into Tukwila. The airport covers 634 acres (257 ha), averages more than 180,000 operations annually, and has approximately 380 based aircraft.
Alfred Earl "Al" Hansen was an American artist. He was a member of Fluxus, a movement that originated on an artists' collective around George Maciunas.
Bumbershoot is an annual international music and arts festival held in Seattle, Washington. One of North America's largest such festivals, it takes place every Labor Day weekend at the 74-acre Seattle Center, which was built for the 1962 World's Fair. Seattle Center includes both indoor theaters and outdoor stages.
KNHC is a Class C1 high school radio station based in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's oldest, still remaining, dance music station.
KNDD is a commercial radio station in Seattle, Washington. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs an alternative rock radio format. Its studios are located on Fifth Avenue in Downtown Seattle. The station broadcasts with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 68,000 watts. It transmits from a tower 707 meters (2,320 ft) in height above average terrain (HAAT) near Issaquah, Washington, on Tiger Mountain.
KBOO is a non-profit organization, listener-funded FM Community radio station broadcasting located in Portland, Oregon. The station's mission is to serve groups in listening areas who are underrepresented on other local radio stations and to provide access to the airwaves for people who have unconventional or controversial taste and points of view. It broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and has been on the air since 1968.
The destruction of musical instruments is an act performed by a few pop, rock and other musicians during live performances, particularly at the end of the gig.
The Destruction in Art Symposium was a gathering of a diverse group of international artists, poets, and scientists to London from 9–12 September, 1966. Included in this number were representatives of Fluxus and other counter-cultural artistic undergrounds who were there to speak out on the theme of destruction in art.
The Duwamish tribe is a Native American tribe in western Washington, and the indigenous people of metropolitan Seattle. The Duwamish tribe today includes the People of the Inside (Dxw'Dəw?Abš), for Elliott Bay environs today; and the People of the Large Lake (Xacuabš), for those around Lake Washington of today.
Seattle Men's Chorus (SMC) is an LGBTQ community chorus based in Seattle, Washington. The group was founded in 1979, and today is, along with Seattle Women's Chorus, the largest community choral organization in North America. SMC is a member of GALA Choruses and Chorus America.
The Helix was an American biweekly newspaper founded in 1967 after a series of organizational meetings held at the Free University of Seattle involving a large and eclectic group including Paul Dorpat, Tom Robbins, Ray Collins, and Lorenzo Milam A member of both the Underground Press Syndicate and the Liberation News Service, it published a total of 125 issues before folding on June 11, 1970.
The Seattle Pop Festival was a music festival held at Gold Creek Park in Woodinville, Washington from July 25 to July 27, 1969. The event was organized by Boyd Grafmyre.
The 2010 Formula BMW Europe season was the third and final season of the Formula BMW Europe championship. The championship began on 8 May at Barcelona and finished on 12 September at Monza. The series was axed at the end of the season, in favour of a new Formula BMW Talent Cup starting in 2011.
The Sky River Rock Festival and Lighter Than Air Fair was a historic rock festival first held on a raspberry farm on the Skykomish River outside Sultan, Washington. The 1968 rock festival was held between August 31 to September 2. It was the first multi-day outdoor hippie rock festival at an undeveloped site. The line-up included bands the Grateful Dead, Santana, and others. The festival was held the next year on labor Day weekend August 30 and September 1, 1969 in Tenino, Washington, and finally on August 28 until September 8, 1970 in Washougal, Washington.
Paul Dorpat is a historian, author, and photographer, specializing in the history of Seattle and Washington state. He had a weekly column in the Seattle Times and is the principal historian of HistoryLink.org, a site devoted to Washington state history.
Bob West was an American ethnomusicologist, radio host, musician, and record producer. He became involved in radio in 1966 at KRAB Radio in Seattle. Lorenzo Milam, who heard him as a guest on another KRAB show, asked him in 1967 to host a weekly jazz and blues show on KRAB. A year later, West made his first field trip to Memphis to record Furry Lewis and Bukka White. In 2001 he founded Arcola Records in Seattle to create and distribute CDs of his field recordings.
The Great Excelsior Jazz Band was formed in Seattle in 1962. It was active in the Seattle area until 2003. Original members included Ray Skjelbred piano, Bob Jackson (1943–2020) trumpet, Bob McCallister (1942–2012) trombone, Mike Duffy (1943–2019) bass, Rich Adams clarinet and Ed Alsman Drums. They didn't want to be considered Trad or Dixieland. Bass player Mike Duffy felt the band approximated a type of jazz played by territory bands that crossed the country between the wars, roughly 1920 to 1940. He said "They had their own style, a kind of a rough charm." In a larger sense, their style was summed up by sax player Bob Wilber who said “We didn't want to imitate their records. We wanted to play in their style but be creative at the same time.” The Great Excelsior Jazz Band's first gigs occurred during the Seattle World's Fair at the West Side Inn in West Seattle. Their Motto was "No man stands so tall, as when he stoops to help a starving musician."
Askatu Bakery is a Latino- and woman-owned bakery in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood, in the U.S. state of Washington. As an "allergen-free" bakery, Askatu offers gluten-free and vegan options, and avoids eggs, nuts, and wheat. Established by Estela Martinez in 2019, the business has also been a vendor at the farmers' market in the University District. Askatu has garnered a positive reception.
Säje is an American vocal quartet. The group won a 2024 Grammy Award for its debut album.
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