Private Party 5/11/24

My brother J is retiring next month, so he asked if we could bring our piano bar show to his house for a retirement party. Heather and I swapped between piano and drums, while J and my nephew Josh traded off between bass and guitar. We had a bunch of fun requests. We even made it through “Carry On My Wayward Son” without a rehearsal! It also was nice to meet some of J’s friends and neighbors, and I loved seeing all my nieces and nephews. It’s been way too long since I’ve seen them. Christine took a bunch of great pictures, and we had a really fun time. 

Moonshine & Ale 5/9/24

Heather took this week off, so I played at Live Band Karaoke in New Braunfels with Kevin Humphrey on guitar and Denise Ramirez on the keys. We had a couple of big groups celebrating with each other, and lots of our regulars came in to sing. Thanks to everyone who came out to share the stage with us. Next Thursday for Live Band Karaoke, and Friday and Saturday for piano bar, Heather and I will be at Moonshine & Ale, so come join us! 

Friends Bar 5/7/24

I played some blues again tonight in Austin on 6th Street with The Long Lost Locals. Nathan, Micah, and Luis all played well, and one of Nathan’s friends joined us for a bit on a second guitar. I recorded the show, and I hope to edit a couple of videos, so keep a lookout for those in social media. I always enjoy getting to perform with these fellas. 

Old Kress Live 5/4/24

May the Fourth be with you! After wishing Heather a happy anniversary with Chance, we spent the day at the Padre Island Seashore. It was great just getting a chance to swim and hang out for a while. We watched the birds give piggy back rides to each other, and at one point, a dinner-sized crab came up right next to where Heather was sitting! We left to get ready for our show, but we stopped at a toy shop on the way to our AirB&B. We headed to the gig, and about 5 blocks from the club, all the streets were shut down. Heather jumped out and ran to the club, while I tried to get around it. Turns out there was a huge parade happening, and I was on the wrong side of it. I parked and got on a scooter, and It took me nearly 45 minutes to make it those 5 blocks. We launched into our show right on time and had some great requests. Due to the parade, it wasn’t too busy until our last hour, and then it packed out. We met a few new people, and had a great night. 

Old Kress Live 5/3/24

The crowd for our show in Corpus Christi tonight was great! They were singing along and dancing all night long. It was really windy for the first Friday Art Walk, but lots of people were still out. We will be back for our Saturday night show at Old Kress Live! 

Friends Bar 4/30/24

I had fun with Nathan, Micah, and Luis on 6th Street in Austin tonight! We played a couple hours of blues for “Happy Hour” from 5p-7p. I tried to record using a new gizmo, but it didn’t exactly work as planned, but the end result still sounded decent even if it’s not properly mixed. It nice to be able to stretch out and be creative with some great musicians! 

The Beltonian Theatre 4/27/24

Heather and I can’t stop making each other laugh throughout our shows. Tonight we performed in Belton, TX, to a bunch of fans and new people, including Garry. In fact, Garry had a song dedicated to him, and somehow made his way into several other requests just because it made Heather and I happy to include him. We also had our favorite young (I believe he’s 9) aspiring piano player from our previous Beltonian show come back with his parents to sing with the crowd. His favorite is “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”, and the crowd loved it. Heather joined me for some crazy soloing on “Great Balls Of Fire”, and we both played many songs for the first time tonight. We had too many great requests to play them all during our 3-hour show, but we’ll be back for 3 shows in May to play as many of those requests as we can! 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, but I loved doing our pre-show check with the trailer for “Star Wars” playing above my head. It made for some hilarious selfies. 

Rockin J Piano Bar 4/26/24

Longtime fan Megan from our regular Victoria days showed up with her beaux Justin tonight in Cedar Park. Heather and I love when we have people like Megan regularly come to our shows. Megan wasn’t going to be mentioned in this sentence, but I was like, “Why write a third sentence without Megan when she was mentioned in the first two sentences?” So, now I’m in a predicament because the third sentence mentions Megan twice, so it’ll just be awkward if I didn’t mention her in this one. I think I lost track of my blog entry which wasn’t supposed to only be about Megan. I blame Megan. 

Moonshine & Ale 4/25/24

This band is so much fun. We played with Pancho for Live Band Karaoke tonight, and we had a great crowd. Pancho rules, and we always love performing with him. The room was full of good-spirited people who were just out to have a good time, which in turn made our show much more fun. Heather and I swapped instruments during break which kept things fresh, too! 

Darwin’s Piano Bar 4/23/24

I headed across 6th Street in Austin after performing with the Long Lost Locals at Friends to take some requests on piano at Darwin’s. Rich joined me on drums (my partner Heather had prior obligations tonight) and We took requests from 6:30 to 9:15 when Michael Carrandi and Joe Resnick showed up to take over the evening at 9:30p. There weren’t a lot of people out in downtown Austin tonight, but we had a good time with those who showed up at our show!

Friend’s Bar 4/23/24

I played with the long lost locals in Austin on sixth Street tonight with my friend Nathan Hanners. Micah was on bass, Luis was on drums. I brought the keytar, and we played a bunch of good blues. Now, I’m headed across the street to take some requests at Darwins!

Moonshine & Ale 4/20/24

Another great night in New Braunfels happened tonight! Heather and I click so well that we want to help each other, so we rarely leave the stage. We had a new drummer tonight, Joe Ponder. He’s a great player, and he fit in well with our weird show. This is such a fun job, but it’s also seriously hard work, and it makes me happy that we get to entertain huge crowds and spread some cheer! 

Moonshine & Ale 4/19/24

I love nights like this! My super-partner Heather and I were overwhelmed with how unbelievably invested the packed club was in our show. They sang loud, screamed even louder, welcomed every single new person with a joyous and deafening cheer, and stuck around after the show to tell us how much they love us as a team. Heather and I work so well together both on and off stage that hard to believe how fortunate we were to find each other, and our fans agree. Thanks to everyone who came out to New Braunfels tonight. Your energy was infectious! 

Moonshine & Ale 4/18/24

Heather and I played Live Band Karaoke with our friend, guitarist Kevin Humphrey in New Braunfels. We had a packed house. Fans came to sing with us from far away places like Washington and Germany again because they’ve enjoyed our show in the past. I am always humbled by the amount of people who tell us they come back just for us, or question where we were (and insisting that we need to be there every week) if we weren’t on the schedule for a week. It’s really nice to feel wanted. Thanks to all our fans for making us want to keep playing for years to come! 

The Vineyard at Florence 4/14/24

I had a great time performing with Gumbo Ya Ya in Florence, TX, today. Kenny Felton (drums) invited me to fill in with Paul Hollis (guitar) and Dave Evertson (bass), so I did. We played a bunch of New Orleans grooves out on the back deck from noon to 3p. It was windy, but really pleasant. It was a great way to finish off the weekend. 

Rockin J Piano Bar 4/13/24

Heather was off this weekend, so Kayla Roth and I perform in Cedar Park together. We had at least three birthdays celebrating with us, and had a great crowd of people all requesting tunes, singing and dancing. I haven’t shared the stage with Kayla since back in the AJ’s Ale House days of 2011-2012! 

Tapatio Springs 4/10/24

We took our dueling pianos show out to Boerne, TX, to play a private event for a small group of lawyers and judges. It was fun having a small group of people who were really into our show. We had plenty of great requests, and we loved as they danced and sang with us. Heather and I always like making people happy, and one person from the event was so pleased, they took the time to give us yet another 5-star Google review. It’s humbling! 

Friends Bar 4/9/24

I played with the Long Lost Locals tonight on 6th Street in Austin from 5p-7p. Lots of great blues and fun to a good sized crowd. The next band, The Southsiders, asked me to sit it. I was only going to play about 45 minutes or so, but it started pouring rain at about the 45 minute mark and rained through until 10:30p. I ended up playing their full 3-hour show with them. After we were done, I walked across the street to Darwin’s, and when I walked in, they got me up to play a couple songs before I headed home with a lightning show overhead. 

Old Kress Live 4/6/24

Heather, Christine and I started our day by heading to a Harry Potter-themed coffeehouse called The Coffee Mugg, then down to Padre Island National Seashore where we swam and sat in the water for a while, just talking and relaxing. Those two women are so much fun, and we always find fun stuff to do together. We had a burger on our way back to the AirB&B, then got cleaned up and headed to our show in downtown Corpus Christi. We played through our requests and finished up at 1am. Heather headed back to San Marcos, while Christine and I stayed in Corpus. Tomorrow, we’re meeting friends in San Antonio to see “Book of Mormon”! 

Old Kress Live 4/5/23

Art Walk was happening when we arrived in Corpus Christi for or show tonight. All of the streets are filled with vendors and all of the shops are open. It’s a big part of why we’re always here on the first weekend of the month. We had a great crowd, including one fan who sent up a request and said they’d been following me since 2014. That kinda stuff never gets old. I loved reading that note! On our drive down before the show, we had a chance to see the Thunderbirds practicing for the Great Texas Air Show over San Antonio. It was pretty cool to have them buzz over us on the highway.