The Traveling Piano man returns to Kensington - Philly.com
Get a good look at Danny Kean - pounding the keys as his dog, Mo, snoozes atop his piano, jammed in the bed of his old red pickup truck. Gray-haired and goateed, Kean may be the last of the hard-core troubadours. What he's got is a 1987 Toyota, three-quarters of a tank of gas, and a belief that bringing piano music to people across the continent affords them, and him, a certain kind of enlightenment. Kean was 50 when he hit the road. "I'm like Sally Starr in some ways," Kean said. Last week, he pulled his truck into Kensington - he usually goes to poorer neighborhoods - parking under the El. As he began to play, the sound system boomed music down Kensington Avenue, and people started to gather around, as they always do. He... As they did, Kean leaned over and laid down a backing beat - making the discordant jumble of notes sound like a new form of music. Michael Duffy, who works nearby at St. Francis Inn Ministries, and knows Kean from a previous visit. Across the street from the St. Francis center are an alcoholism treatment center, a hair salon, and a row of storefronts guarded by steel security gates. A woman staggered by, calling out that she wanted someone to take her photo beside Kean's dog. Carlos Gonzalez climbed onto the bed beside Kean, thumping on the keys. Source: www.philly.com
