It’s Spooky Season!

Happy October, everyone! What a strange alternate reality we’ve found ourselves in. Horror stories almost seem like a comfort in compared to the realities that the world as brought to our doorsteps.

I’m celebrating the month decorating the house. The piranha plants take guard in the front yard and the skeletons are out of the closets and out enjoying the house. If you’ve seen my past posts, you already have an idea what my living space looks like. You might think, “…but isn’t it always decorated for spooky season?” In part, but there are specific decorations that only come out for October and go away the rest of the year. Some of these decorations get repurposed into the following holidays in various ways but most go back to rest come November first. I take Halloween very seriously. After all, October is my birthday month. What are you doing to celebrate?

The Last Two Episodes of Season One!

As How to Kill a Piano is my first venture into the platform of podcasting, I wasn’t sure how this story would be shaped by the format. I didn’t start this with the intention of creating multiple seasons. I didn’t start with the intention of creating an entire bed of original music for the show…and yet here we are! Originally I envisioned recording the story as a whole from beginning to end with some intros and outros week to week to maintain interest. Then the world changed. Life changed. Covid-19 happened. The political climate While I didn’t plan to have seasons as [ How to Kill a Piano was to have seasons, our last episode of the “season” is coming up and it’s a big one.

There are two more episodes we’ll be releasing this month. The last and final episode of the season is going to hit the internet on October 31st. There will be one additional chapter before then. Following October 31st broadcast I’ll be taking a longer break from the show before returning with season two and the second and final half of How to Kill a Piano.

This off time will allow us to finish getting the print book ready for press as well as a few other secret projects that are How to Kill a Piano related but I’m not quite ready to officially announce. Right now I’m about to go to press with a magic book I’ve spent the last three years writing under my magic publishing pen name. These magic books are created exclusively for the magic community. If you’re here because of those publications you’re already aware of what that name is. If you’re here because of “George Tait” or simply because you stumbled into How to Kill a Piano and this is your first exposure to my work, then that name remains a mystery.

The End of the Real Life Hazelton Brothers Piano

This morning I received a message from my mother via email to announce that the beloved Hazelton Brothers Piano has met its real life end. While the exact details are sparse, it was being carried out of their house to its next adventure and broke on the way through the door. The break was beyond repair. Over the years it had stopped holding its tuning. The legs were wobbly. None of this is a surprise. It was over one hundred years old. It had been moved several times. Pianos don’t like being moved so much as the enjoy being played and left in one place. The Hazelton had a hard life as long as I’ve known it. It lived part of its life in the basement of my folks first home. The conditions weren’t ideal for an instrument of its type but they were better than its prior home in a storage unit that it lived in before it was taken into their care.

I have fond memories of going down into the basement to tickle the keys and even more fond memories strumming away at its strings on the inside. When I created theatrical production’s How to Kill a Piano theme song in 2002, I used the precision instrument to full effect. You can hear a recording of the instrument being played on our March 20th episode, Episode 6: Behind the Scenes. When my folks moved into their current home, the Hazelton found a home in their living room next to an upright that they still have. It lived happily amongst all sorts of instruments Harps, hammered dulcimers, stand up basses, bag pipes, hand drums. My sister and I always dreamed of taking on the care of the beasty but sadly neither of us have the space to give it a proper home. Rest in musical pieces, dear friend.