|
The Half Moon Bay Review helped fuel a sensation created by one musician, one piano and one very special view.
On Feb. 1, California artist and musician Mauro Ffortissimo enlisted friends to haul a disintegrating baby grand piano to the bluff top overlooking the Pacific Ocean. His plan: Play Robert Schumann’s “Arabeske” every night at sunset through the month of February. Then he planed to burn the piano in a bit of performance art and recycle the parts for his visual art.
The Review was the first news organization on the scene, responding to a growing chorus of Ffortissimo fans on social media. The newspaper’s first published notice came from freelancer Greta Mart and former Half Moon Bay Review photographer Lars Howlett, who lent a stunning photo that the newspaper ran on the front page.
Since then word has spread like wildfire. Stories about Ffortissimo and the impromptu concerts have run in the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News and the Los Angeles Times. By Valentine’s Day, hundreds of people were showing up for the nightly shows.
Meanwhile, the city of Half Moon Bay calls the piano an unpermitted “encroachment on public property.” It has said the installation has to go no later than Feb. 14. All is not lost, however. Half Moon Bay Mayor Rick Kowalczyk told the Los Angeles Times that he was seeking some solution that would allow the piano to stay through the month.
