Baker's St. Pub & Grill 6/19/11

Happy Father's Day! I spent the afternoon filling in with the always fun blues band, The Excellorators, who have the best tip jar in town (see the pic, lower left corner). Mike, Steve, Ted, Pat, and Chris led me through their sets of great old blues tunes on the deck at Baker's St. in Austin in the 100 degree weather. I like just hanging back and listening to these guys as much as the crowd did, and I'll be back to join them throughout the month of July!

Taxi's Bistro 6/16/11

Crazy Crowd at Taxi's, a photo by Dan Holmes Group on Flickr.

The crowd was out to have fun at Taxi's in San Marcos tonight! I once again, had a great time playing piano while Taxi Haskell showed the drums who's boss. Most of the evening was a backwards request night (meaning people would shout out a song title, then bring up a note after we played it saying "thank you for playing _____" with a tip). All-in-all, another fun night at the most popular sing-along piano bar in San Marcos!!!

Taxi's Bistro 6/10/11

Taxi's on a Friday, a photo by Dan Holmes Group on Flickr.

Cee Lo Green, Journey, John Mellencamp, B-52's, Little Richard, George Straight, Lynyrd Skynyrd, CCR, Nirvana, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bob Seger, Tom Petty, Prince, Al Green, Phil Collins and Garth Brooks were all personally absent from the show tonight, but Taxi Haskell and I performed all of their songs anyway. Lots of birthdays and anniversaries made the night fly by, too!

Coffee Pot Bistro 6/10/11

Coffee Pot Bistro Show!, a photo by Dan Holmes Group on Flickr.

I played a bunch of tunes for the people hanging out at the cool coffee shop in San Marcos tonight for my first show of the evening. While I performed my tunes, a few local artists set up an installation for an opening tomorrow night. Good coffee and playing some of my originals for an appreciative audience makes me happy.

Taxi's Bistro 6/9/10

Thursday with Taxi at Taxi's!, a photo by Dan Holmes Group on Flickr.

Booyah! The crowd took their time arriving tonight, so by the time we started, we were already in the middle of our show. "Don't Stop Believing" was played...twice. A 21st birthday in the house had his friends sing to him. "Devil Went Down To Georgia" impressed the crowd with my patented mouth fiddle. Taxi ended most songs with "Sports Center". I had a great time just playing a bunch of random tunes with Taxi. Songs are always more fun to play with a great drummer!

Kerrville Folk Festival 6/9/11

Kerrville Folk Festival 2011, a photo by Dan Holmes Group on Flickr.

Long day! I was on the road to Kerrville, TX by 1:15pm today to do a special performance with Rob Roy Parnell at the 40th annual Kerrville Folk Festival. Rob and a couple of other instructors held harmonica workshops for the past few days, and it ended with all of their students taking turns soloing with a live band (us)! We played a few different styles of music for them to solo over during the course of about an hour-and-fifteen-minute gig. 190 miles round trip; two hours to get there, three hours there (to set up, perform, then tear down) then another two hour drive home, only to be faced with the fact that this was only gig #1 of 2 for tonight!

Taxi's Bistro 6/2/11

Taxi and I helped the madness along to its final conclusion of body shots off of the piano last night. People were going crazy requesting everything from Dave Matthews to Garth Brooks. As we played, another drummer and piano player came in to watch us and have a few drinks, so Taxi had them come up and play a few tunes. Summer (on piano) and Mikey (on drums) sounded great on the few tunes they did! It's always a treat when I get a chance to hear other performers, especially when they are good performers. Another fun night completed at Taxi's!

Wake The Dead 6/2/11

A great coffee shop in in San Marcos, TX is a cool place to perform, even on a slow night. When I first arrived, they were having their espresso machine worked on, so no drinks were being served. After they got it back up and running, people slowly came in for the show to have a good time. I played about four hours, then it was off to gig #2 of the evening!

Shellers Barrelhouse Bar 5/28/11

Shellers Barrelhouse Bar
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Apart from the odd guy who kept calling out for us to "play Usher", the gig in Cedar Park, TX with Rob Roy Parnell was great! Chris Wallis was gone for the weekend, so Michael Echart filled in on drums and did an amazingly great job. Coffeeboy played some tasty licks on guitar, and I was able to hear him really well in the giant wooden-floored room. Rob and Pat kept the show on track, and I enjoyed the whole evening...except maybe for the "Usher" guy.

Taxi's 5/27/11

Dan Holmes & Taxi Haskell
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Taxi Haskell drummed his drums while I tried to keep up with the insane amount of requests being thrown onto my piano tonight in San Marcos, TX. We had a packed house and a huge variety of tunes, most all of which we tackled like rock stars. At least Taxi tackled it like a rock star. I played the straight man to his shenanigans. We took a chance to snap a quick photo right after we finished our 3-hour set!

Taxi's 5/26/11

Taxi's in San Marcos, TX
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

J's Bistro in San Marcos, TX is now Taxi's! Tonight marked the first night he had his new sign hanging out in front of the bar. Taxi played drums as I rocked the piano for a couple of strong hours tonight. My favorite request of the night? "Hot Dog" by Led Zeppelin. It was a somewhat slow evening, but everyone there was great, and we all had a good time! Congrats, Taxi on your new sign/bar name!

Baker's Street 5/26/11

DHG at Baker's St in Austin
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Pat Whitefield was decked out in his cool Rock N Bowl shirt from New Orleans today in Austin. Chris Wallis and I wore plain shirts. Well, Chris' shirt was a cool plaid, but mine was plain. Unless you count the ridges on the front of my white shirt, but I don't. It's pretty plain, but interesting. I guess I should stop talking about our apparel and tell you about our show. We played everything great, and everybody was happy! I like performing with Chris and Pat, and I look forward to our next Baker's St. show, where we will wear shirts.

The Big Easy 5/21/11

The Big Easy with Rob Roy Parnell
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

For my first visit to the city of Houston, Rob Roy Parnell had a show at The Big Easy, which J.P. Whitefield, Chris Wallis, Rafael "Coffeeboy" Ibarra and I backed him. I really liked this venue. Very cool vibe and a great crowd, a crowd who liked to dance to just about anything we played. The band felt like a party on the stage, and I really look forward to the next time I get to perform for the good folks in Houston.

J's Bistro 5/20/11

Rainy Night at J's Bistro
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

So on a stormy night, Taxi unexpectedly called me to come in for about an hour to fill in for a piano player friend of his whose flight was delayed on it's way into Austin. I went in and that hour turned into a fun two-plus hour set of request-based piano madness while his friend encountered not only weather delays, but some officer speedy delays as well. I even had a few minutes to hang out to hear his super-talented friend from Nashville play some tunes before I headed back home in the stormy night!

J's Bistro 5/19/11

Taxi & Dan at J's Bistro
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

San Marcos, TX was hoppin' at the piano bar tonight. Taxi, once again, laid down a fat groove to every tune I pulled out. I had a request for "You Can Go Your Own Way" by Fleetwood Mac, which I played for the very first time for some happy people. It's always interesting playing tunes I've never tried before live. That one, thankfully, went really well!

Sun City 5/18/11

Sun City with Rob Roy Parnell
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

We followed Rob Roy Parnell to Georgetown, TX for a show at a golf clubhouse. The horn section was there (which is always fun to play with) along with J.P, Chris, Ralph and I for that big band sound. It seemed like every table had a bottle of wine, and before we finished, the wine did it's job to get everyone on their feet and dancing. The band sounded great, and I look forward to another show with the horn section sometime soon!

Howl At The Moon 5/15/11

Howl in San Antonio
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

My first show in San Antonio was great! We had several groups of people out to have fun, and fun they had. Lots of my favorite songs were requested which always makes the show more enjoyable for me. I would like to thank all the new piano players I met tonight for making my job easy. I dueled with Josh, and I hope to work with him again back at Howl in San Antonio soon!

Coffee Pot 5/13/11

Dan Holmes & Ian Lee
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Friday the 13th in San Marcos brought about a fun show for me with a special guest Ian Lee on violin. We played a few tunes together, and then I took some liberties with the way some other tunes felt. I played really sad, slow versions of songs like "I Saw HewStanding There" and "You Are My Sunshine" and really happy, upbeat versions of "Georgia" and "Long Black Veil". Thanks to everyone who showed up!

219 West 5/5/11

Injured at 219 West
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

I walked into 219 West in Austin, TX expecting another great piano show. I was wrong. Within the first five minutes of being in the club, the piano bench took a chunk out of my finger. Looking back, it was maybe a warning I shouldn't do the show. I then really enjoyed performing with Joe Resnick (on drums), and I played every request laid down on the piano. I will not go into details, but the added insult to injury was I left the show without being paid.

I will not be back.

J's Bistro 4/30/11

J's Bistro in Neon
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Oddest request tonight in San Marcos? The 1980's version of "Puttin' On The Ritz" by Taco. Best request? I love the ones like the one I got tonight which said "Play your favorite song". Taxi Haskell once again tore it up on drums and made my job much easier with his backbeat. It was a straight, 3-hour, non-stop music set, and I'll be back at J's in just a few short weeks to do it again!