Saturday, May 31, 2008

Sam's Wonder Bar 5/30/08

It was a dark and stormy night playing with Duke Tumatoe....

No, really, it was. Tornados ripped through most of the state while we played to a few concerned people at this club in Elwood, IN. Not the best turnout, but considering it didn't stop pouring down rain the whole time we were there, it was fun.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Zydeco's 5/29/08

Zydeco's was fun tonight, even though the crowd was small. They were singing and trying to be involved, though they weren't familiar with all of the songs. These kinds of groups energize me!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Howl At The Moon 5/27/08

It was so slow after the race that the couple which made up the crowd, was having more fun playing Battleship with us (i.e. calling out the next number for us while we played songs) until about 11:00p. Finally, a couple of groups came in from Butler U. We partied like it was 1999.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Howl At The Moon 5/24/08

I arrived at 10:40 due to all of the race traffic. Tonight was Nick, Jay, Rob, Tod and myself. The place was packed, but the crowd wasn't really getting into the show until almost midnight. When playing at a dueling piano bar, it's difficult to keep the energy up when there are no requests...

Zydeco's 5/24/08

We played to a packed house at Zydeco's tonight. For three hours straight, Bill and I slammed through song after song until I had to run off to Howl for gig number two...

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Howl At The Moon 5/23/08

Brian, Bill and I played happy hour again this week. I can't remember the last time I gave out so many cards for private parties! The highlight was while we were playing all of the New Orleans classics and our originals, a woman brought up a request for "the Scorpions".

Awesome.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Zydeco's 5/22/08

For almost two hours, I performed, with Bill Ritter, to a very energetic crowd. I was beginning to doubt my theory that people in Indiana had forgotten how to act as a crowd, but then I found out, every single one of the fun tables were people from out of town. After they left, the vibe just died.

So with this blog, I present to you the first lesson on how to respond in a crowd. When a song is completed by an artist, applause is customary.

Here endith the lesson.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Howl At The Moon 5/20/08

It was fairly slow tonight...probably due to the 500, which is this weekend. We played mostly whatever popped into our heads because of the lack of requests. Oh, well...

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Kingston Mines 5/16/08 & 5/17/08

Duke led Bill, Brian & I through two great nights at the cool Kingston Mines in Chicago, IL. We met Frank, the MC, a guy I won't soon forget. The place was packed, the party was hoppin', and we played until 3:30am. These are the shows I really enjoy.


Saturday, May 17, 2008

Elkhart Street Fair 5/16/08

Duke Tumatoe and I performed as a duo in downtown Elkhart, IN from 5p-8p. This was the first time I've done a duo with Duke. The crowd responded well to our performance. Duke even sold out of his CD's!

Thanks goes out to Max Allen for bringing Duke's P.A. home from Elkhart...Duke and I ran straight from this gig to Chicago for a show at Kingston Mines.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Howl At The Moon 5/13/08

Jay, Rob, Nick and I played a brazillion requests while partying like it was 1999. What more can I tell you?

Monday, May 12, 2008

7th & 8th Church Service 5/11/08

9:30 am is too early for any human being. I cannot be happy with three hours of sleep after playing a three hour gig and driving three hours home. I gotta stop taking the Sunday morning church service gigs.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Elks Lodge 5/10/08

Tonight was our first gig backing up the legendary Duke Tumatoe. We did so in the small town of Decatur Indiana, in the most echo-filled room on the planet. Concrete floors, cement block walls with frosted glass cube windows, metal folding chairs & tables, and a 30' vaulted ceiling, made of sheet metal and I-beams.

Needless to say, it was a little hard to hear each other, so our first few songs were a bit rocky. We soon found the comfort pocket, and the crowd enjoyed themselves.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Howl At The Moon 5/9/08

So, originally, I was supposed to play in Iowa tonight, but due to heavy rain, the club, which sits on the Mississippi, was flooded out. It turned out that me being in town was a good thing, because, they wanted the owner of Howl to see my band, and they needed a piano player for the evening.

At 6:00pm, Brian, Bill & I rocked the house for an hour & forty five minutes. I had many people approch me for cards, stickers & CDs, so they could contact us for some private events in the near future.

Then at 8:00pm, I began to duel with Nick across from me. I finished up at about midnight, then headed home to get some sleep before my gig at 11:00am.....

Friday, May 9, 2008

Howl At The Moon 5/8/08

It was a madhouse tonight at Howl! Tons and tons of nurses were there (after a convention of some sort) and they were ready to party, which they did, until two AM. The highlight of the night was the phrase boards, which both steadily rose to over $60. Crazy nurses.

Zydeco's 5/8/08

Bill and I played for three hours to a good crowd downstairs at Zydeco's tonight. We played a mix of stuff because the crowd kept calling out for different artists. We sold a few CD's after playing a bunch of originals. Thanks, everybody!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Howl At The Moon 5/6/08

Howl was slow until about 11:00pm. We had requests for everything from Blind Melon to Otis Redding. I had fun watching the drunk people try to come up with clever songs, only to find we had played it just moments before.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Zydeco's 5/4/08

Old people, brunch and drums don't mix. Dan Fox had such a good time last night, he asked to come play with us today. Jack and I were more than happy to play with him again, and the people (under 75) loved it until....

The blue hairs showed up at about noon. You could feel the fun being sucked out of the air through their dentures, processed with the help of metamusil, and deposited into an almost full colostomy bag.

Brunch was delicious!


Sunday, May 4, 2008

Zydeco's 5/3/08

We suprised Jack Joseph for his birthday and invited Dan Fox to come play drums with us for a mini "Jack and the Daniels" reunion. It's been a couple of years since we've played together, but it was like riding a bike. Fox and Jack did a great job, and the fans stayed 'till the bitter end.

We sold bunches of CD's, and had one of the most profitable and fun nights since we've been playing upstairs at Zydeco's. Thanks everybody!


Saturday, May 3, 2008

Howl At The Moon 5/2/08

Jack Joseph, Steve Brunner and I rocked the happy hour at Howl tonight. Jack hasn't had the chance to turn up in a while, so he took full advantage of a great P.A. system!!!

Thanks to all our fans for supporting us at Howl!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Howl At The Moon 4/30/08

Wednesday at Howl is the open stage, which few people seem to take advantage of. I, however, forced one of my piano students to get up on stage with me. He did a great job soloing over some blues tunes with Jay Jones and myself!