On The Hook Podcast 11/29/21

I did something a little unusual today. I sat down on Zoom for an interview with Matt Wilson for his podcast “On The Hook”, which is something he started earlier this year to promote his book, “Hooks”. He wanted to pick my brain about the way I approach building and promoting my brand, including both AllRequestPiano and DanHolmesGroup. It was a great conversation, and we spoke for almost 2 hours! I’ll post a link to it when it becomes available. Also, a big congratulations to Matt for writing a book. That’s no small task! 

Roots 11/27/21

We played in Georgetown, Texas, to cap off our weekend gig schedule. We played everything tonight from a Aretha Franklin to Cyndi Lauper to Metallica, and that was literally just the first three songs of the night. It’s a really cool room, and the people are very nice there, which made the evening flyby. We got a chance to try their pizza for the first time tonight, and we both enjoyed it! Early on, I got a standing ovation, because one person standing and clapping counts, right? By the end of the night, as people were leaving, they made sure to tell us how much they enjoyed the show. My favorite compliment was, “You both are lyrical magicians!“ Hey… I’ll take it! 

Moonshine & Ale 11/26/21

Duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh… You say it’s your birthday! Duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh… It’s my birthday, too, yeah! Heather made my birthday gig in New Braunfels so much fun! She and I click so well, and the crowd had a great time listening to our music and making each other laugh. This has been an amazing birthday between what Heather and Christine did with me today, including gifts and pizza (before the gig) and a million laughs. I’m the luckiest! 

Moonshine & Ale 11/25/21

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Heather and I joined up with Pancho for Live Band Karaoke for a special Thanksgiving show. There were several new singers joined us throughout the night, and people started wishing me happy birthday! I felt special! 

Moonshine & Ale 11/24/21

A Wednesday night show before Thanksgiving? Yes, please! Heather and I played to a packed room on this rainy night in New Braunfels. People went kinda crazy all night for our show, and we played with every ounce of energy we had from 8:30p til midnight. Heather was amazing, and we both will be back tomorrow for Live Band Karaoke! 

Rockey’s Piano Bar 11/20/21

Heather and I played a marathon show tonight in Round Rock, TX. The crowd was amazingly responsive from our very first note through the end of the night, and that made the owners of the venue want us to continue performing, so we blew past our normal end time of 12:30am all the way to 2am! 4.5 hours of non-stop music with Heather was invigorating. Did people ask us if we were married? Yes, of course, but it’s always because we have such an easy-going chemistry together, and that’s why I’m so happy getting to work with her! 

Rockin J Piano Bar 11/19/21

We made a new fan in the front row of our show tonight in Cedar Park, and he made it his mission to take bad photos of us and try to show us while we were playing, which was absolutely hilarious! These are some of the images he kindly text to me. Heather and I never get bored in this line of work! We had a great time with everyone at our show, and thanks to the great staff at Rockin J! 

Moonshine & Ale 11/18/21

We played for Live Band Karaoke again this evening, and our buddy Chris Wallis stopped in to play a few songs with us! Heather, Pancho and I continued our show after Chris left the stage, and I only felt slightly intimidated playing drums all night in front of Chris. I wasn’t a super busy night, but we still had a bunch of fun with people from all over the world, including folks from Brazil and Germany!

Rockin J Piano Bar 11/13/21

We capped off our crazy day with a 3-hour show in Cedar Park. We drove straight from gig #1 in Temple to this 2nd show with 20 minutes to spare. We had some of the most unusual requests tonight I’ve seen. My favorite was when, with no warning, Heather launched headlong into “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious“ and the crowd clapped along through the whole thing! I made a couple really happy by playing Led Zeppelin’s “All Of My Love”. Made me happy, too! 

Lion Sam Farrow Amphitheater 11/13/21

Tonight, we played a private event for healthcare providers and educators in Temple, Texas. They sang loud and applauded vigorously during the cold night. Heather and I bundled up and played lots of appropriate songs like “Frozen”. The people were really nice to us, and I hope it becomes a regular event. After our last note at 8p, we left the gear tear down for my wife Christine, and my good buddy Kevin Humphrey so Heather and I could make it to our 2nd show of the night in Cedar Park at 9:30p!

Moonshine & Ale 11/12/21

The Wurstfest crowd populated Moonshine & Ale tonight, and it was a bunch of fun! We had a crazy amount of requests. Heather and I had several groups in to see us, including some Live Band Karaoke friends, some people who only come to town a couple times a year, and some people who we played their wedding reception back in April! I hope other people have as much fun at work as I do, but I somehow doubt that’s possible. 

Moot Music Cafe 11/12/21

Our monthly online livestream on Moot went great today! We played our usual 2p-4p Central Time to world-wide fans and friends. It’s amazing how technology has allowed us recently to be able to perform live for people in so many other places around the globe simultaneously. Heather played “Amish Paradise” and I rocked through “Stairway To Heaven”, plus all kinds of other tunes. It means a lot to the people who jump on the feed and then support our show with Venmo or PayPal, but it’s just as important that we’re making people happy! Thanks, Moot!!!

Moonshine & Ale 11/11/21

Heather and I joined up with Pancho in New Braunfels for Live Band Karaoke tonight and it was PACKED. Wurstfest is happening there (which is a two-week long Octoberfest-type event) so people showed up a little more than tipsy. I even wore my finest Wurstfest hat! We kept the singers rotating all evening and reminded everyone that Heather and I would be back tomorrow for piano bar!  

Roots 11/6/21

Tonight we played in Georgetown, TX, for our first-ever show at Roots. I really enjoyed the room and overall ambiance. The crowd and staff were enthusiastic about our show, which made us beam! I’m happy to have this new room in our future! I’ll post some pictures of our next show. I wish I had one from tonight. The only picture I got tonight in the venue was this hilarious selfie that I sent to Heather as a joke. Joke’s on me because my GoPro had nothing to contribute. 

Running M Bar & Grill 11/5/21

Gonzalez, TX, was super-busy for our show tonight! Tons of people were waiting eagerly for our show, and we had fun playing all the requests. Some really interesting song choices hit our piano like “Somebody’s Watching Me”, “Seven Spanish Angels”, and “Hold On Loosely” just to name a few. I’m not sure why, but before the show I felt really anxious and shaky. I had a good salad with grilled chicken, which helped, but Heather helped my mental state much more than the food did! I feel fortunate to have a best friend as a partner. 

Side note: On my way home, a deer jumped out in front of me and took off my bumper and my fog light on the driver side of my truck! Hopefully, it’s just cosmetic. I’m just glad I didn’t get hurt. Heather was following me in her car, so fortunately, she was safe, too.

#Committed #musician #music #Gonzales #Texas #pianobar

Moonshine & Ale 11/4/21

We put the “band” in Live Band Karaoke! Heather, Pancho and I always have fun on any Thursdays we get to spend together. There were tons of first-timers in tonight. We called as many as we could up to sing with us, and we played many songs that don’t normally get too much attention. Also, there were a bunch of birthdays in the club, so we did sing that multiple times! 

Moonshine & Ale 10/31/21

Halloween is my favorite day of the year, and it’s amazing to have a partner like Heather who shares my joy of the day! We performed our spooky show in New Braunfels tonight for all the boys and ghouls in the crowd. After we played, they had us MC two different  costume contests. The first was for the employees, and the second was the crowd. Once the crowd began to line up, we had over 40 costumed participants that got narrowed down to the top 3 by crowd applause! I’m so happy that we get to do some seriously fun events together. Happy Halloween!