Back in July East Cobb Park was the benefactor of a community piano program thanks to Play Me Again Pianos, a local non-profit (previous East Cobb News post here).
“Sunny,” named after East Cobb Park advocate Sunny Walker and located in the upper gazebo, will have some nearby accompaniment of sorts soon, at Egg Harbor Cafe (4719 Lower Roswell Road, Suite 210), on Nov. 4.
That’s when “Tommy” will be unveiled during a ribbon-cutting at 12 p.m. Like “Sunny,” the first tunes played on “Tommy” will be by a young local student musician.
It’s the latest in a community piano program started last year by East Cobb-based Play Me Again Pianos, co-founded by Jason and Kelly Brett. Their aim is to purchase, restore, paint and place 88 pianos throughout the metro Atlanta area, designed for community use.
“Tommy” is also locally painted, by Angela Decker Lockman, a visual arts teacher at East Cobb Middle School.
“Street pianos and public pianos inspire people to connect with each other in ways that were once common, but seem increasingly rare,” Jason Brett said. ”By adding our pianos to the landscape throughout the metropolitan area, we hope to nurture that connection into an evolution of Atlanta’s culture, community and the arts.”
Here’s Lockman, last year’s Middle School Art Specialist of the Year for the Cobb County School District, on how she went about her work:
“My vision was to translate what we love about our area onto eggs that cover the piano. There are 16 eggs that encompass fun places to visit, our sports teams, and even the lyrics to our state song, ‘Georgia On My Mind.’ Then as a nod to our host, we also incorporated two brightly-colored roosters and the Egg Harbor Cafe logo.”
The Bretts said “Tommy” is named after a member of the family-run Egg Harbor Cafe business. Unlike others in the family who had menu items named after them, there was no mention of Tommy on menus or business literature or logos.
Other Play Me Again Pianos are located in Chastain Park, The Woodruff Arts Center, Colony Square, the Dunwoody Nature Center, the Chamblee Rail Trail, Brookhaven, Ponce City Market, Atlantic Station and Alpharetta.
