In 2011, I was given this piano - an 1864 Steinway upright piano. I had wanted a piano since I was 8 or 9 years old, so I promised myself that I would play on it everyday, for at least 15 minutes. Every day. It was my hope that I would learn the instrument by reaching 50 years old.

This daily regiment led me to learn my favorite songs, and then I attempted one of my favorites from Ween - “It’s Gonna Be Alright”. After months of annoying my family with this song, it began to develop a life and sound of its own. And then I wanted to hear all of Ween’s songs done in this fashion, but I wanted to hear a real musician, or real pianist, actually interpret Ween.

The idea for the project came in 2016, and was ultimately performed in the Spokane Steinway store on September 9th, 2017. In the 17 months of rehearsing everyday, with absolutely no training or experience, I wanted to put on a show with merch, memorabilia, swag, t-shirts, and a performance with a great outfit - but also, to have a recital to celebrate playing the piano for 5 years.

So, I started making swag and merch - to be given away at the show. First off, created “golden tickets” to be sent out to friends and family. Having just moved across the state ensured that no body would drive 300 miles to come watch this.

Also, I created a mixtape of the songs and tried to apply a numeric value to each song, so there would be a flow. Honestly, I was so scared of performing this that I don’t know if anyone else even noticed a flow; other than recognizing the absolute absurdity of doing such a thing. How many Ween fans are also fans of the piano? This is already a sub-genre, but further relegated to another micro-sub-sub-genre. At most, 14 people on the planet might find the covers interesting, but only 3 of those people could possibly be in attendance. All that to say, none of this makes sense.

Then, I had to make flyers for the show, to be mailed out. Had to get a design for the shirts made - then, create the screen and start pumping out shirts. Even had the kids and their friends help. Had to carve a stamp for the invites, as well. Got the flyer posted up in some local record stores.

These 12 shirts were taped underneath chairs randomly in the venue. My buddy, Daniel, who was living with us at the time, had to listen to me practicing everyday, recorded the performance, but we had no audio track from it.

I used to tell him everyday that he would play video games while I practiced, “I wish that I could go to this show, and not be the guy who has to put it on.”