My painted piano was docked at Spiotta Park on South Orange Avenue August of 2017, as part of the "Playin' Around South Orange" Public Art Project.

When I was a kid, I remember watching the Beatles’ visually incredible, Yellow Submarine animated movie on TV. It was like a gift, a “visual package,” that inspired my pursuit of the field of graphic design. It was fun, comedic, and musical. It had colorful animated words and it encouraged me to think about what is going on in the world. It was so surreal, and this was all before I discovered who Salvador Dali was! Its been almost 50 years since this film came out, and I still can’t get that silly song out of my head! “We all live in a Yellow Submarine!?”

So, I thought, how about “S.O.S., we all live in a ‘South Orange Submarine?!’” It was a fun homage to paint this piano; bright yellow-orange, to resemble that crazy yellow submarine character. It will create a life of its own, plus there will be a chance to hear some live Beatles tunes as well! All I needed to do was attach a periscope made with pipes, propellers on the back, and an itinerary for the voyage. Oh, and portholes all along the port and starboard sides that have the eight neighborhood names of South Orange: Academy Heights, Lower Wyoming, Montrose Park, Newstead, Seton Village, South Mountain, Tuxedo Park, and Upper Wyoming. The itinerary for the voyage is heavily based on Beatles song titles and lyrics. The message on the stern of the vessel reads, “All You Need is Love” for a “Ticket to Ride” to “The Land of Submarines”, “Nowhereland”, “The Sea of Green”, “Sea of Holes”, “Sea of Time”, “Sea of Monsters”, “The Octopus’s Garden", “Pepperland”, “Penny Lane”, “Across the Universe,” “Strawberry Fields,” Blackburn Lancashire," "Hamburg," "USSR," "USA," "Tucson Arizona," "Kansas City," "The Marketplace (Obladi Oblada)," "The Albert Hall," “Abbey Road”, “The Long and Winding Road”, and Liverpool (birthplace of the Beatles, and Titanic, I might add, but lets not go overboard!). We All Live in a South Orange Submarine.
– Bill Billec 2017