Mystery may be solved behind an upright piano that one day appeared in an Oakland park

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Last month a piano mysteriously appeared on a trail in an Oakland park. Now, a well-known Oakland musician, Vicki Randle, said she's learned how it got there. (Vicki Randle)

OAKLAND, Calif. - We may now have some answers into how an upright piano mysteriously appeared along a creek-side trail in Oakland's Dimond Park.

The piano has been a pleasant discovery for visitors of the trail, including for prominent Oakland musician, Vicki Randle, whose decades long career includes the distinction of being the first permanent female musician in the Tonight Show Band with Jay Leno. She performed on the show from 1992-2010.

Recently, she and her band, Skip the Needle, released new music and have been performing around the Bay Area.

Randle has posted about the instrument. She said the piano suddenly appeared last month on the dirt path near Sausal Creek about a half mile down the trail. She noticed the instrument, which was in good condition, on a walk through the park, not far from her home.

The tale of the puzzling appearance began to circulate, and Randle told KTVU that someone eventually reached out to her to unravel the mystery.

The person, with whom she had a mutual friend, told her that it was his son who brought the upright down to the creek along with friends, so they could use the instrument for a birthday party in the wooded area.

"I have no idea how they did it. Brought it down half a mile, crossed the stream," she said, noting it was a serval hundred pound lug. And after being used for the party, "The piano stayed there," she explained.

Randle said she did not want to reveal the name of the person who shared the information, to protect his identity.

Since the piano's relocation to the park, it’s served as a communal instrument for those who have been drawn to create music in the open air and in the sanctuary of nature.

Randle has been among those who have benefited and was able to use the piano along with friends as they absorbed what she called the "heartbreaking loss" of beloved and revered musician, Sinead O’Connor, on July 26.

That day, she shared videos of a moving tribute with pianist Julie Wolf, who sang along with Randle who played her guitar, as dancer Sarah Bush moved to the music.

Piano mystery solved?

People have been enjoying the offerings of a piano that mysteriously ended up along an Oakland trail last month. And now, Oakland musician Vicki Randle is sharing what she knows about its appearance. Video courtesy: Aarin Burch

For these women, the loss of the fellow musician, whom they looked to as a trail-blazer and outspoken artist, weighed heavily, and the piano among the trees helped them express their sadness that day.

"It was quite emotional," Randle said. "She meant a lot to all of us, especially the women who were trying to exist in the world, particularly in the music business." Randle shared that O’Connor symbolized so much of the fight they’d experienced through their own careers.

"We’ve run into constant barriers and having to be generally the only woman in a band of men," she said, adding, "We wouldn’t be hired to be musicians. We were hired like it was a novelty, at least it was true for me for a lot of my life."

Randle went on to pay tribute to O’Connor, saying she exposed injustices and tried to tell the story of those who have less.

"That's a code I've tried to live by," she said. "I’ve been trying to carry on that work."

She said she did get to see Sinead O’Connor during an appearance on the Tonight Show while Randle was working there.

"We shared a kinship, and we shared a common language," Randle said. She spoke of her memories and the encounter with KTVU on Tuesday, when across the Atlantic, thousands of mourners gathered and lined the streets of O’Connor's hometown outside Dublin, Ireland, where she was laid to rest.

As for the piano, Randle suspected for now, it would continue to serve as a musical outlet for other passersby, as she speculated it was unlikely anyone would go through the Herculean effort to move it out of the area any time soon.

"Those pianos are really hard to get rid of. People move and leave them," the musician said, adding, "I thought it was an honorable death for a piano."