Darwin’s Pub 9/4/23

Some days we get to have fun all day! Heather and I had a little downtime this afternoon, so we had time to take Christine and Chris to Schlitterbahn. I captured my new favorite picture of Chris Wallis while we were tubing. As we were leaving, we ran into the ball of joy known as Miranda, who is a friend of the band and used to be a server at Moonshine & Ale in New Braunfels. We finished up at the park and picked up some BBQ on the way back home. We ate, got cleaned up, and headed to 6th Street in Austin for our show. When we arrived, downtown was empty, which was a surprise. The owner, CJ, said he was going to close up early, but still wanted us to perform some. As we got set up, CJ introduced me to the lead guitarist for the band “Black Heart Saints”, Mark Sean, and CJ asked if he could sit in. We played a couple tunes together to kick off our show, which was fun! He sounded great, and his group sent up some fun requests. As we were about to end after about an hour of playing, fellow piano player and friend Michael Carrandi popped in and stayed to chat with us after the show. It was great to catch up with him. This was a perfect, low-key way to end a fairly exhausting week of shows! 

Darwin’s Pub 9/3/23

Heather and I had pizza with Christine and Chris at Via 314 before heading to our show in downtown Austin tonight. Comedian Tom Segura was sitting next to us, which is always interesting to see a famous-in-the-wild. We finished dinner and made it to 6th Street where it was already crowded. A big group from the wedding rehearsal dinner we played for on Friday came to see us, which was nice. We also had a fan there who missed us when we were at the same rehearsal dinner, so it was good to see him! Fellow pianist Mike Atkins poked his head in, too, for a couple songs while he was on break from Pete’s down the street from us. We had fun tonight at our show, and when we finished, we then watched a few tunes from the fellas at Pete’s! Heather and I had fun talking about all kinds of stuff tonight as we could relax for a few. We’ll be back at Darwin’s for Labor Day Monday night at 9pm!

Old Kress Live 9/2/23

On our way to Corpus Christi, I told Heather about my realtor friend who sold me my house back in 2011, and how he lives with his wife near Corpus. Heather is looking for a place to move near me, so we messaged him on our way to the show, and when we arrived, he and his wife were waiting for us outside of the club! It was great to see them before we started our show. We performed from 10 PM until 1 AM, and we had many requests from people who were not only watching us live, but also on the TVs above the bar. We had a great time with Amos, Kristen, Casey, and the rest of the crew at Old Kress Live. Will be back on September 16th to do another show, so you should join us!

Thompson Hotel 9/1/23

We performed tonight for Groovelabs at the rehearsal dinner for Becca and David in downtown Austin! The evening entertainment was broken into three portions. Heather played cocktail hour by herself in the lobby, then I played some light background music for an hour during dinner. Then after speeches were concluded, we launched into our dueling pianos show! The crowd rushed our in-the-round setup from note one and stayed there, singing and dancing, all they way until our ending. Congratulations to Becca and David, and thanks for including us in the festivities! 

Moonshine & Ale 8/31/23

Live Band Karaoke took place in New Braunfels again tonight! For the first set, Pancho was on guitar, I was on keys, and Chris Wallis played drums for the first set, then Heather played drums for set two. We had a bunch of singers all night, and between Chris and Heather, they kept the show moving. It was nice to have all of us together!

Hole In The Wall 8/30/23

Wednesday night, with a super-blue moon overhead, I took the stage with Nathan Hanners as part of his “Long Lost Locals” band. It was a reunion show for him with some of his bandmates that he hadn’t been on stage with for 20+ years. I had a lot of fun, playing, blues and rock with them! They’re all very talented. The lineup was Nathan on guitar, Micah Roark on bass, Kenny Felton on drums, Phil McJunkins on pedal steel, and all the way from Boston, Jordan Siegel on vocals  and drums. The club was packed and I’m glad I was available to perform with them! 

Sean Patrick’s Irish Pub 8/26/23

Heather and I played in downtown San Marcos tonight! We do a monthly show at the restaurant, and it is a good place to eat. We were just about to begin our show after eating our dinner when super-fan friend Megan walked through the doors! We used to see her regularly in Victoria, then she moved to La Grange, and made the trek out to see our show. Then, our drummer buddy Chris Wallis showed up and sat in for a couple tunes. We had a good and loud crowd, and it was a great way to end our weekend!

Moonshine & Ale 8/25/23

Before our gig in New Braunfels tonight, Heather and I had dinner with drum master Chris Wallis. It’s great that we get to spend some time together! We headed to our show by 8:30p, and people were ready. Heather sounded great, and I’m so very proud to be her partner! I feel like I say it in every post, but, I had fun! 

Moonshine & Ale 8/24/23

Kevin Humphrey (guitar) joined Heather and I in New Braunfels for Live Band Karaoke tonight. It was fun playing with both of them. We had many new faces in the crowd, and had some friends out there, too! A couple who I played at their wedding 7 years ago stopped in to say hi, and some of Heather’s family showed up. We’ll be back tomorrow night to take requests for piano bar! 

Darwin’s Piano Bar 8/23/23

Wednesday night on 6th Street in Austin, TX,  is slower than weekend evenings, but we still had some people requesting their favorite songs. Drummer extraordinaire Chris Wallis joined me and sounded great. We played some Steely Dan, Taylor Swift, Peter Gabriel and lots of other stuff! It was fun doing a mid-week show with Chris. Thursday and Friday, Heather and I will be in New Braunfels at Moonshine & Ale, so come on out! 

Rockin J Piano Bar 8/19/23

After our show last night in Lubbock, Texas, we drove to Abilene to get some rest at an Airbnb. We got up at checkout time and headed to Austin for our show in Cedar Park, and we arrived a few hours early. We decided to check out a new vintage toy store in the area called Batcity Toys, which was a really cool, and very well organized store! There is a Thai restaurant called Thai Lada next door, so we got some dumplings, pad Thai, and fried ice cream for dessert. We headed over to the venue and did our show from 9:30 PM to 12:30 AM. It was a lot of fun, and people were there to dance and have a great time which they did! After three shows, and 870 miles between them, we are now headed home to catch up on some rest. Thank you to everyone who supported us and come out to the shows this weekend!

Frazier Alumni Pavilion 8/18/23

Heather and I drove to Lubbock, Texas, tonight, to perform a Dueling Pianos show at a fundraiser for Idalou Education Foundation, and we were  representing New York, NY Dueling Pianos. We played almost an hour and a half worth of requests. For the fundraiser, they did requests with tokens that were pre-sold for the charity. We had fun, and everyone was very nice to us all evening long. We raised hundreds just on song requests for the charity! It looked like it was a very successful evening for them. 

Darwin’s Piano Bar 8/17/23

We returned to 6th Street in Austin tonight to do our show. People were there from Seattle, Washington D.C., and a bunch of people from around Texas. Heather and I played until midnight for the good people, and we are now on the road to Lubbock for our next show. 

Moonshine & Ale 8/12/23

My job is cool. I get to play music for a living. I help make huge rooms full of people happy. My partner, Heather, is not only a great musician, but also a great friend. We get to work with other great musicians like Jarret Wenzel. I constantly am challenged to learn new things. I get to switch up instruments and rolls with Heather. These types of nights make me appreciate my profession! 

Moonshine & Ale 8/11/23

Tonight was fun! Heather and I swapped between piano and drums while taking requests in New Braunfels. We had a lot of bachelorettes in celebrating with us, and we had a 57 year anniversary party! The couple danced to “Blue Bayou”. Towards the end of the night, I had the rare opportunity to play “Dracula’s Lament”. As I said, tonight was fun! 

Moonshine & Ale 8/10/23

We had a nice, steady flow of singers tonight at Live Band Karaoke. Kevin, Heather and I locked in well. A bunch of people were very complimentary about the band, which made me feel good! 

Darwin’s Piano Bar 8/9/23

It’s been a while since Heather and I have performed on 6th Street in Austin, Texas. We performed our show tonight from 9 PM to midnight and had fun with some unusual crowd requests. Also, Robbie Robertson died today, so we did get requests for some songs by “The Band”. Towards the end of the night, our friend, Michael Carrandi, showed up and hung out for a bit! It was great to see him! Will be back at Darwin’s next Thursday evening.

Old Kress Live 8/5/23

Heather, Christine and I went to Padre Island for some fun-in-the-Sun today. We ran a couple errands (like getting Heather’s tire fixed) before we headed to the beach, and we had some good food together after we were done swimming. We eventually headed back to Old Kress Live in downtown Corpus Christi, where Heather and I played from 10p-1a. Kristen, Amos, Casey, Zach and the rest of the staff treated us great both last night and tonight, and we’re looking forward to working with them a bunch in the future. Good people, cool venue and all around just a fun weekend! 

Old Kress Live 8/4/23

We performed in Corpus Christi, TX, tonight for the grand opening of Old Kress Live. We had a great time, and we were both impressed with this new venue.  Mayor Paulette Guajardo was in attendance, and came on stage to get pictures with us! The staff is really friendly, and made us feel welcome. Overall, it was a great evening! We’ll be back for our Saturday night show so join us! 

Moonshine & Ale 8/3/23

I played drums for Live Band Karaoke, with Pancho Garza on guitar and Léana Courtney on keys (Heather will be back next Thursday). Playing with Léana and Pancho was a bunch of fun, and we helped lots of singers fulfill their lead-singer dreams. When I first started playing drums, I always hoped I could get good enough to play with a band. It blows my mind how much I play drums now every week! Speaking of, Heather and I will be bringing our piano & drums show to a new spot in Corpus Christi called Mully’s this weekend. Come join us if you’re in the area!