Music

Airport pianos you can play

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Make Music Day may be over, but airports around the country are celebrating all summer long.

St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL) will keep its piano with an octopus theme in Terminal 2 across from gate E33 through Labor Day.

STL has another, year-round “Play Me” piano in Terminal 1, at the Aero stage across from Starbucks. 

Over at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), they have a couple of new pianos as well.

On Make Music Day, June 21, LAX debuted two new Kawai G-40EP manual and self-playing baby grand pianos. These are located in the Terminal 4 connector and on the Upper Level of Terminal 7. 

Performances by airport employees, including the LAX Chorus, were part of the celebration.

We’re putting together a list of all U.S. airports with sit-and-play pianos. Help us out by letting us know where you’ve seen one – or played one.

British Airways & Heathrow Airport honor Freddie Mercury

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Before he sang with Queen, Freddie Mercury was a baggage handler at London’s Heathrow Airport.

And today, September 5, 2018 – on what would have been Mercury’s 72nd birthday – Heathrow Airport and British Airways came up with the idea to put modern-day baggage handlers together with choreographers to create a performance of Queen’s “Break Free.”

If you happen to be in Heathrow Terminal 5 today, keep an eye out of these baggage handlers performing the dance in person during the airport’s “Freddie for a Day” tribute.

Or watch a video of the dance here.

Want more Queen and Freddie Mercury?

On September 5, passengers at Heathrow will find Queen songs on the Arrivals boards in Terminal 5.

Also on September 5, any travler named Freddie, Frederick or Farrokh (Mercury’s real name) departing from Terminal 5 will be invited (along with their traveling companions) to use British Airways’ First class lounge.

And on November 2, Twentieth Century Fox will release a film about Queen and the life of Freddie Mercury, called “Bohemian Rhapsody,” in the U.S. (The UK opening is October 24.)

Travel Tidbits: free inflight wif + a call for your vacation audio

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As we head into the Labor Day holiday, here are some travel tidibts for you.

Free Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi on Labor Day 

Free Wi-FI at airport

Here’s a nice Labor Day perk for anyone flying on a Gogo-equipped domestic flight:

On Monday, Sept 3, you can get 30 minutes of free Wi-Fi, courtesy of T-Mobile. The off is good even if you’re a Verizon or AT&T customer. (T-Mobile customers get a free hour, as always; a great perk!)

Get more details about the free Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi offer from T-Mobile for Labor Day.

 

Heathrow Airport seeking your vacation sounds

Pictures from vacations help us remember a great adventure, but so do sounds.

Studies show that the same part of the brain in charge of processing the senses is also responsible for storing emotional memories. That means sounds, noises and songs you might hear on your trips will be part of travel memories that will be able to transport you back in time.

Think: waves lapping on the beach; the “Mind the Gap” announcement on the London Tube; and that street busker you stopped to listen to in Paris.

Heathrow Airport has decided to capture the essence of great vacations by gathering audio from travelers and commissioning a composer to create a collection of travel mood music and vacation sounds.

Heathrow says submissions sent in by the public will be turned into a “captivating and immersive soundscape” by British Academy Award-winning composer and sound artist Nick Ryan.

“We all record holiday memories with pictures, yet listening to the sound of a voice or a place can trigger far more intense emotions than a photograph on a phone,” Ryan said in a statement.

Travelers are invited to submit their holiday sounds over the next four months as an mp4 clip at soundescapes@heathrow.com. 

Ryan will collection the audio, do this thing with it and release the inaugural Sound Escapes audio installment in January 2019.

What vacation sounds will you send in? 

Airports join police lip sync challenge. And rock it.

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Police departments at some airports around the country are joining the viral police lip sync challenge that is sweeping the country.

And from the looks of it, everyone is having lots of fun.

The airport police lip sync videos I’ve found so far come from the San Antonio International Airport (SAT) and the Orlando Melbourne International Airport (MLB), which says it is “#MLBproud of our brave police officers and their epic lip sync skills.”

If you learn of other airport police lip sync videos, please let me know and I’ll add them to the collection.

 

 

San Antonio Airport Police Department Lip Sync Challenge

K9 Cora heard about the recent lip sync challenge and is putting her paw in the ring… with the help of Sgt. Lopez. Let's see if any other K9 teams will answer the challenge. Where you at, SAPD K9 and BCSO K9?

Posted by San Antonio Airport Police Department on Tuesday, June 26, 2018

British Airways gets a makeover from Late, Late Show’s James Corden

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The Late, Late Show spent a week in London and we get some fun video souvenirs.

British Airways let show host James Corden and his crew give one of its jets a makeover.

In addition to decorating the cockpit and different cabin areas with props to evoke New York City and Mexico, Corden introduces a ‘new’ in-flight tool crew members might use to calm down frantic pasengers: tranquilizer darts. “If you don’t do it, Delta will,” he says.

 

And if you haven’t seen it yet, watch this instantly classic Car Karaoke video with Paul McCartney. Try not to cry, but definitely sing along.