I was in Portland a couple weeks ago playing at one of my favorite dueling piano bars, The Barrel Room. While down there I scheduled another gig on Sunday night at the Rock Bottom in downtown Portland. I cannot explain in words how much fun I had performing a solo piano bar show at this venue! I drove down from Seattle on Friday afternoon, grand piano strapped to the roof of my Suburban. All weekend long I drove around getting looks and comments about the piano on top of my car, it was quite entertaining.

The Rock Bottom crowd was amazing for a Sunday night, the place was totally packed! A majority of the crowd stuck around for almost the entire show and I ended up playing an extra hour and a half just because we were having so much fun. From the start, the crowd was getting involved, singing along and requesting songs. I started getting so many song requests it got a little challenging to manage all of them in any kind of order, but I think I played about 90% of the songs that got put down on the piano.

The way I learn songs and expand my song list is by taking requets at shows and learning the ones that get requested the most often. I keep all the requst slips each night and focus my efforts on songs get the most bang for the buck. Lately, I've been getting a LOT of request for Pearl Jam.......it's embarassing that I'm a musician living in Seattle and I don't know any Pearl Jam, yet I can play 4 songs by Katy Perry! WTF?!? It's finally time I fix that little problem. I started last night and learned 'Better Man' by Pearl Jam and have a list of 5 more Pearl Jam songs to learn over the next few weeks. Other songs I'll be adding from that night include: 'Army' - Ben Folds, 'Unforgiven' - Metallica, 'Nothing Else Matters' - Metallica, 'ET' - Katy Perry (I know, another Katy Perry song : ).

I've got an upcoming show at the Bellevue Rock Bottom and I'm hoping to get another Portland Rock Bottom show scheduled for July when I make another trip down to play at the Barrel Room Dueling Piano Show! Check my calendar for upcoming dates and come hang out and have a good time!

It was Wednesday night this week. The rain was starting to come down pretty hard while I was loading up my truck. That didn't slow me down though, I had a gig to get to in Marysville, WA at the Village Restaurant and Lounge and I was bringing them a piano bar show they would never forget.

A lot of gigs that I play are at Seattle area piano bars with grand pianos already at the venue. They have a nice sound system built in, stage lighting, the works. It's a pretty special thing and people will travel to go see these shows. But, why can't everybody have access to a piano bar show like that in the town they live in?!? This is where I go into my inspirational "I have a dream!" speech and say, "I believe every bar in every town should have access to a piano bar show!" Seriously though, I can make that happen. I'm still getting everything dialed in at this point, but I showed up at that bar and in 3 trips with a dolly cart loaded full of gear I set up, in under 30 minutes, a 5' baby grand piano with full sound system and stage lighting that would make any musician look and sound like a star!

I really enjoy the reactions I get as I'm wheeling in the baby grand piano on it's side! It sets up so quick once I get it in the venue most people who are witness to the setup immediately question how I got that piano in there, even though they sat there watching me do it. At last nights show they had me playing some songs I've never played before, which is always fun for me! They had me playing everything from Ella Fitzgerald to Metallica.

I am pretty excited because I have another solo piano show this week at a wine tasting room in Woodinville for a private birthday party. I might be a little biased, but I really can't think of a better way to celebrate a birthday party than making it a piano bar party! I snapped that picture above while I was fueling up the 'burban for my trip to Marysville. You'll notice the baby grand piano on top and specifically that there is still plenty of room on top for an additional piano! That's right! When I do traveling dueling piano shows I just have to throw another piano on top of the rig and off we go! I'm actually doing one of those next week at the Bellevue Rock Bottom. So yes, I will take that piano bar show to go please, and if you'd like me to supersize it and make it a double, I will gladly do so.....