Moonshine & Ale 11/25/16

 

Tonight, I had a chance to play with Vince Mejia again! It's been a while since we gigged together, but we locked in like old times. A few birthdays and anniversaries were scattered throughout the night, as we took requests from the packed house. Towards the end of the evening, Jessarae Bailey took the stage for a couple tunes. She'll be playing there on December 10! Go see her show!

 

Treff's Tavern 11/24/16

 

Mikey Gammon and I played in San Marcos for thanksgiving! It was a great show with tons of requests. I think it was actually a record-setting night for our show. We played a solid three-hour show, and I had a bunch of fun with Mikey. I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving!

Gourdough's Public House 11/19/16

 

I played my first show with drummer Craig Stluka tonight in downtown Austin. He's a good player, and the crowd dug our show. We had an excellent bunch of people in, bringing us requests all evening, but my favorite was from a 15 year old birthday girl who wanted us to play "You're So Vain". I told her that it was a heavy tune for 15, and not to grow up too quickly. 

Moonshine & Ale 11/18/16

 

Chris Wallis and I figuratively poured sugar on the crowd tonight in New Braunfels. They responded by sliding requests, drinks, and themselves across my piano. People were in good spirits, and it made the night go by quickly. Thanks for the singing along, people!

Moonshine & Ale 11/12/16

 

Chris, Pancho and I played to a near-capacity crowd tonight in New Braunfels. This is the end of Wurstfest (which was a festival happening near by) so tons of out-of-towners were in getting their drink on and singing along in strange hats and headdresses. Thanks for all the requests tonight, random people!

Gourdough's Public House 11/11/16

 

We rocked Austin tonight, playing bunches of tunes I'd never played before. Chris Wallis drummed like a heartbeat. My niece came down from Dallas and sat with my wife at the show, and even did the "Time Warp" with random other folks in the crowd. I wore my blue jacket. End of transmission. 

Treff's Tavern 11/10/16

 

A waltz and "I Can't Dance" were unironically requested tonight for people who were to drunk to stand to try to dance to. Both dances lightly resembled bad backup dancers trying to "Vogue". I enjoyed playing with Chris Wallis (drums). We were making each other laugh by being extremely fluid with our rhythm mid-song every once in a while. A young piano player even got up and played a couple tunes with us, so all-in-all, a fun evening. 

Muddle 11/5/16

 

Chris Wallis and I drove to Waco, Texas tonight to play for our friends at Muddle. We had a great crowd, and they were requesting tunes and dancing all night. We kinda got into an 80s groove towards the end of the evening. I had fun pulling out old ZZ Top, Paul Simon, and Prince. Chris nailed it, and it was fun playing with him again!

Moonshine & Ale 11/4/16

 

Yeah! Big crowd tonight in New Braunfels. We had quite a bit of overflow from Wurstfest, and they requested tons of tunes. Mikey Gammon smacked those drums with enough force to make Yoda blush. My favorite request of the night was "Under Pressure", which came up with 20 Euro. I asked if it was still worth anything after Brexit, and they said no. 

 

Moonshine & Ale 10/31/16

 

New Braunfels was a fun place on Halloween! Pancho, Chris and I Blues Brothered it up during our show tonight. They brought us lots of requests, and we played as many as we could before midnight. We held a costume contest, and had about 25 entries, where we narrowed it down to first, second, and third place. Thanks to Lindsay for taking some pictures for us tonight!

 

 

The Lodge 10/29/16

 

 Yesterday was a very, very long day. I performed a Howl2Go (Howl At The Moon) dueling piano show (with a band) for the Hughes wedding in Fredericksburg, TX. Heather Ray (piano) and Jay Wimberly (guitar) met me at 1p in San Marcos to drive up together. We arrived and set up from 2:30p-4:30p, and quickly realized that we didn't have enough time to go eat before guests began arriving. Chris Wallis (drums) and Kevin Humphrey (bass) arrived at 6:30p with a bag of food for us, and then we waited for our turn to take the stage after dinner and first dances and cake cutting. 

What the bride didn't know was that her bridesmaids reached out to us secretly to perform "It's All Coming Back To Me Now", a Celine Dion tune with altered words instead of a speech. It went great, and when the dance floor opened at 8p, people danced and sang until the event wound down at midnight. We had several songs we learned just for this wedding, and all of the musicians I worked with did an absolutely great job of pulling together and making the event fun. The groom even got up (he sings in a band) with his piano player and did a couple tunes with the band!

After folks began to leave, we tore down and loaded out, and began our drive home at 1:30a. We made it all the way back to San Marcos, 3:30a, five miles from home, and the two-lane road which heads into town, the only road which heads into town, was blocked and shut down due to an accident at a frat house. We waited about a half hour, but nothing was budging. So we had to turn around and drive south to New Braunfels, the head north to my house. We arrived shortly after 4:30a. 

It was a long day with a few minor setbacks, but the show was great and the event was beautiful. Thank you to my all-pro team for all you do, and congratulations to the newlyweds!

Gourdough's Public House 10/28/16

 

After helping my wife with some automotive trouble, I had a nice dinner with her before heading to my gig in downtown Austin with the always entertaining Chris Wallis on drums. We had a great crowd and a steady stream of requests tonight! I enjoyed the randomness of Motown to Primus, '80s pop to '70s cheese, everyone seemed to have fun. Job well done, Chris Wallis!

Moonshine & Ale 10/22/16

 

I played in New Braunfels tonight with the fantastic Andrae Blissett! We had a great crowd from our very first song until our last. Some tunes I'd never considered trying hit the piano, so I gave them a shot, and mostly sounded like I meant to play it. Andrae was easy to work with, and even though it was our first show together, it felt like we had done it a hundred times before. I feel so lucky to always have the opportunity to work with pro musicians!

Moonshine & Ale 10/21/16

 

Chris Wallis and I played our show in New Braunfels tonight! Lots of requests, as usual, and quite a few odd balls. I happily played the random Stevie Wonder and CCR tunes folks asked for. It's always fun playing shows with Chris! 

Treff's Tavern 10/20/16

 

Tonight marked the first of our new weekly piano bar show in San Marcos, Texas! The amazing Mikey Gammon played drums while I played piano. We had a good turnout with lots of good requests. My favorite request by far was "Piano Pan" by Bob Dylan. I'll be back in a couple weeks to play some more tunes!

 

Rockey's Piano Bar 10/15/16

  

My second of two shows tonight took place in Round Rock with John Duran to a packed house! We had some great dancers, including a random guy who was dancing with everyone, and an attractive woman who decided it would be a good idea to reinact the scene in Dirty Dancing where the woman is lifted by the man. It ended with both of them on the floor. 

Treff's Tavern 10/15/16

 

I played drums for the inaugural request piano show behind the great Tommy Raye on piano. This was my first of two shows tonight, and it was fun playing with Tommy. I look forward to playing the new San Marcos club next Thursday on piano. I'm heading now to Round Rock to play some piano at Rockey's!

Escondido Golf and Lake Club 10/14/16

 

David Lee and I played a private event in Horseshoe Bay, TX tonight. There were about a hundred women in attendance, and they started off the evening with a buffet and some light dinner music from David and me. We played about an hour, took a break, then came back to the stage to take requests and help the women dance and sing the night away. I had lots of fun with David, and I hope we get a chance to work together again soon. Thanks to Groovelabs for including us in the festivities!

 

Grind House Coffee & Cocktails 10/13/16

 

I returned to Kyle, TX to take requests on my piano. I enjoyed all the Beatles tunes people asked me for. I'll be back soon at Grind House to take more requests!

Hurst Beans Plant 10/9/16

 

I filled in for the great James Hill on keys today in downtown Indianapolis with Duke Tumatoe and The Power Trio for a Colts tailgate party. AJ and Joe are a superb rhythm section, and it was fun to play Duke's tunes with them. I really enjoyed getting a chance to not only play with Duke again, but also hear his guitar playing, which is, and always has been, great. My wife took all the photos of the event for us. As a bonus, on our break, I had a chance to catch up a bit with my buddy Kristi Lee (of podcast and Bob & Tom Show fame)!