My dad was a pastor and my mom was a nurse, so if I wasn’t getting it from the Bible, I was getting it from the DSM. I was born in Walla Walla, WA. My family moved all over the country, and I took piano from every big-haired deacon’s wife in the south, skipping class at church school to play piano in the basement. I’ve always found piano teachers to pick up a new trick or two from before heading off the the next city. I discovered I loved singing at the age of 21, at a Karaoke Bar in Ft. Worth that clearly used to be a Pizza Hut. I just yelled James Brown into the microphone until the embarrassment stopped. Eventually, I got good.
I learned dueling pianos in Lubbock, Texas. I was there for eight years; I was the Entertainment Director for six of those years, and I remember a lot of it. I’ve seen too many wonderful things happen in front of me to ever feel embarrassed about my James Brown phase.
I love Queen, punk, 70’s soul, classic rock, indie/underground/hipster music, country from odd-numbered decades, and anything a little weird. I respect Jazz.
My first time hearing Sweet Caroline was at a piano bar. I heard the crowd sing, “BAH Bah, baaaaaaaa,” and figured it’d be a good song to pick up. That’s how much I know about the wide world of sports.
If you have a song request, let me know. I’ll go learn it. The weirder, the better. My favorite part of the gig is when somebody says, “I didn’t know you could play that on a piano.”
Dreaming of fame was never a factor for me. I just always loved playing with a crowd, celebrating whatever special thing had just happened in somebody’s life, making sad people feel like somebody cares, and giving just the right amount of attention to shy people. (That last one is the fun one. Shy people coming out of their shell is always a party.)
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