A Message to the City from Kyle O’Quin

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, June 10, and we’re deep into Juneuary, and nothing goes better with damp streets than Debussy.

“First I want to take a second for George Floyd,” the musician Kyle O’Quin says.

“I also want to wish Breonna Taylor a happy birthday—she would have been 27 last week. And all of us know there’s a lot of people besides George Floyd and Breonna Taylor whose names we don’t know that have been murdered, and I want to dedicate the piece I’m going to play to all of them.”

He also gives a shoutout to his former neighbor Charles Mudede, and shares a memory of Lynn Shelton.

Never formally trained, Kyle buried himself in music at a young age. He taught himself how to play and studied the greats: Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Mozart, and the Beatles. (His list.)

He was the first-ever piano player for the Silent Reading Party—”like way back when my hair was still brown,” he cracks in the video. (Before that, the party had literally been silent.) He talks about being very nervous the time Lynn Shelton came to the party, and says, “I want to dedicate this piece to her as well.”

If, by the end—there’s a reveal—you just want to, like, smoke weed with Kyle and listen to him talk about music while he plays around on the piano? It’s your lucky day.

Thank you for all of this, Kyle. Thank you so much.

See you tonight.

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Previously in this series:

Elisheba Johnson’s message to the city on June 9.

Michael Jinsoo Lim’s message to the city on June 8.

Brandon Ivie’s message to the city on June 5.

Kimya Dawson’s message to the city on June 4.

Jennifer Nelson’s message to the city on June 3.

Erin Jorgensen’s message to the city on June 2.

Brangien Davis and Daniel Spils’s message to the city on June 1.

Timothy De Clue’s message to the city on May 29.

Elizabeth Aquino’s message to the city on May 28.

Christopher Frizzelle’s message to the city on May 27.

Elby Brosch’s message to the city on May 26.

Mila Skyy’s message to the city on May 22.

Michael Lee’s message to the city on May 21.

SassyBlack’s message to the city on May 20.

Seattle Symphony horn section’s message to the city on May 19.

Lori Goldston’s message to the city on May 18.

Ibidunni Ojikutu’s message to the city on May 15.

RL Heyer’s message to the city on May 14.

Garth Stein’s message to the city on May 13.

Okanomodé’s message to the city on May 12.

Zoe Scofield’s message to the city on May 11.

Aham Oluo’s message to the city on May 8.

Pete Rush’s message to the city on May 7.

Trent Moorman’s message to the city on May 6.

Renée Valencia’s message to the city on May 5.

Justin Huertas’s message to the city on May 4.

Charles Mudede’s message to the city on May 1.

Kathryn Rathke’s message to the city on April 30.

Anthony White’s message to the city on April 30.

Miss Texas 1988’s message to the city.

Matt Bishop’s message on April 27.

Cherdonna’s message to the city on April 26.

Shenandoah Davis’s message to the city on April 25.

Lorena González’s message to the city on April 24.

Clyde Petersen’s message to the city on April 23.

David Ritt’s message to the city on April 22.

Sara Porkalob’s message to the city on April 21.

Julia Sweeney’s message to the city on April 20.

Linda Derschang’s message to the city on April 19.

Molly Sides’s message to the city on April 18.

Nick Garrison’s message to the city on April 17.

Tomo Nakayama’s message to the city on April 16.

Rebecca M. Davis’s message to the city April 15.

Heather McHugh’s message to the city on April 14.

Brandon O’Neill’s message to the city on April 13.

Kate Wallich’s message to the city on April 12.

Rebecca Brown’s message to the city on April 11.

Lucien Postlewaite’s message to the city on April 10.

Betty Wetter’s message to the city on April 9.

Amanda Morgan’s message to the city on April 8.

Nancy Guppy’s message to the city on April 7.

Jonathan Biss’s message to the city on April 6.

Chris Jeffries’s message to the city on April 5.

Lesley Hazleton’s message to the city on April 4.

John Roderick’s message to the city on April 3.

Bill Carty’s message to the city on April 2.

Price Suddarth’s message to the city on April 1.

Kary Wayson’s message to the city on March 31.

Ellen Forney’s message to the city on March 30.

Major Scales’s message to the city on March 29.

E. J. Koh’s message to the city on March 28.

Ken Jennings’s message to the city on March 27.

Demarre McGill’s message to the city on March 26.

Lynn Shelton’s Message to the City on March 25th.

Timothy White Eagle’s message to the city on March 24.

Cookie Couture’s message to the city on March 23.

Sarah Rudinoff’s message to the city on March 22.

John Osebold’s message to the city on March 21.

Ben Gibbard’s message to the city on March 20.

Nathan Chan’s message to the city on March 19.