It appears filmmaker Billy Yeager's outlandish claims inspired the actual piano man to step forward. The Miami Herald reported last night that Nicholas Harrington, a 16-year-old from MAST Academy, placed the grand piano on the sandbar as a project to build up his art portfolio. He provided video of the piano being hoisted onto a 22-foot fishing boat, while Yeager still can't seem to find his images from his alleged adventure.

The teenager told Channel 10 News: "I liked the idea of an anonymous piano out there, no explanation to it. But another person came out with the idea that they did it. That's just not right. But what people would do for publicity, who knows."

Yeager's claims managed to catch the attention of CNN's American

Morning, at least according to a transcript of what aired at 2 a.m. And

this is not the first time the angry hippie, as some of you are calling

him, has appeared in the New Times. In 1993, music writer Greg Baker

wrote a glowing review of Yeager's song "Little Puggy." In 1997, Broward

New Times ran a story about his film, Jimmy's Story, and

described it as Wayne's World meets Spinal Tap.

Still, it seem most

Miamians preferred it when the piano was unexplained. Angry hippies

decrying Miami as shallow or teenagers hoping to get a leg up in their

college applications drain a little magic out of the spectacle. Just

like in any good marriage, it's good to keep a little mystery. So let's

all turn our attention to a South Florida legend that will always go

unclaimed: the Skunk Ape.

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• Art