Reviews and News From Iowa, CE

What a month we had in December this year. If you can keep up, here’s where we entertained with Fun Pianos dueling pianos:

Kansas (Wichita [twice], Manhattan, Ottawa, Overland Park, Hutchinson)

Texas (San Antonio, Austin and San Angelo)

North Dakota (Two times each in Fargo and Bismarck)

West Virginia (Wheeling)

Nebraska (Kearney, Omaha [three times], Lincoln, Norfolk, York, Schuyler)

Illinois (Decatur)

South Dakota (Sioux Falls, Mitchell)

Minnesota (Jackson)

Iowa (Centerville, Cedar Rapids)

Colorado (Denver)

Dueling Pianos by Fun Pianos…if it isn’t Fun Pianos…it’s just a bunch of songs!

What a week of entertainment with Fun Pianos! This week we continued our tradition of several shows for colleges: dueling pianos presented by Fun Pianos and our special interactive-based show means that families stay for the whole show as they did for “family weekend” events recently in Nebraska, New York, Texas, South Dakota just in the past couple weeks.

We also were fortunate to share our Fun Pianos dueling pianos in Iowa, Kansas City and Grand Forks all on a Wednesday night! Thursday we were in Auburn IN and Davenport IA as well.

Somehow we didn’t hit the mountain time zone last week, but we will be bringing the show to Colorado Springs next week. Like much of the country, Dueling pianos in Colorado is now the domain of Fun Pianos!

Have a FUN day!

Different areas of the country have different trends, something we’ve noticed in 14+ years of serving the Fun Pianos! by 176 Keys Dueling Pianos show throughout the entire country.

One things that is consistent everywhere, from Phoenix to Nebraska to Illinois, Florida and everywhere else is that summers are slower than the rest of the year. This is not to say we have nothing to do: weddings, county fairs, and other community events happen every week. But while folks in Phoenix want to get out of the sweltering heat, People in Iowa and Minnesota want to hit the water, North Dakota friends want to get together while they have a few weeks of sun…the events we play in the summer are generally the community and family minded events of weddings and festivals.

With fall comes the return of college events (including Texas and South Dakota in a couple weeks), corporate engagements and more of the full list of events we’ve been playing for well over 10 years.

This weekend, we’re spreading our roster to Tucson, Chadron Nebraska, Beatrice Nebraska, Sedalia Missouri, and Reinbeck Iowa. After more shows in Canton Illinois and Rough Kentucky next week, we have a very busy week, with shows every day but Wednesday in Cincinnati, Rapid City, Kearney, Bloomington Indiana, Okoboji Iowa, west Texas, Madison Wisconsin and Woodland Hills (north of Los Angeles and Hollywood). With a small break when we have just one holiday weekend show (a wedding party in Plymouth Nebraska, outside of Lincoln), we’re back at it the next week, hitting Colorado, Kansas, Williston North Dakota and Omaha.

Summer is coming to close, and the “real new year” is about to begin: School, Fall, Football…and Fun Pianos!

Fun Pianos is proud to say that all of the eighteen dueling pianos shows from last weekend (Dec. 11 and 12) went very well. The Nebraska crowds were delighted with the six shows in Nebraska: Broken Bow, Grand Island, Omaha, Scotts Bluff, Humphrey and Lincoln. There were four shows Deep in the heart of Texas: The Woodlands, San Angelo, Houston and Monahans. To the North in the Dakotas there were shows in Sioux Falls, Jamestown, Fargo and Cedar Rapids. One show was in Rosholt Wisconsin, one was in Oskaloosa Iowa, and there were two in sunny Scottsdale Arizona.

Assigning players isn’t done randomly. In fact, when you book a show, most of the time the player closest to you is the one assigned to your event…. but that isn’t ALWAYS the case. Here at Fun Pianos, we are often asked how we decide which dueling piano players will be assigned to do each show. Although we have offices in Omaha Nebraska, Phoenix Arizona and Tampa, Florida, we have players from all over the United States who will go anywhere to do shows. It is well known that Sam is from Detroit but has been living in Seward Nebraska for some time now. Jefrey currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona, Steven lives in Los Angeles, California, and some players from Michigan as well as other states. Although Tyler is originally from the Tulsa, Oklahoma area, he lives in Tampa, Florida now along with Chris and their piano playing neighbor Keith has a place in Orlando. Katy is a Chicago girl, Steve lives in Houston, Texas and Gary just moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. With all of these players all over the place, it would seem that it would be difficult to do a show in a place like Manhattan, Kansas or Fargo, North Dakota – but Fun Pianos will go anywhere! We have been known to do shows in places as small as Grafton, NE (pop. 122) and as far away as Portland, Maine San Diego, California, Miami, Florida and Seattle, Washington. So the players who get assigned to do these shows are often chosen by their proximity to another event. If we were to do a show in Denver, Colorado – we might have a team of players come from Kansas, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Iowa, or even North Dakota or South Dakota (if that is where a previous show was). For instance, if a team were to find themselves in Des Moines, Iowa on one night, they could easily do a show in Ottumwa, Iowa the next night and then bring dueling pianos to Minneapolis, St. Paul or Milwaukee on the following night. So Fun Pianos takes a lot into consideration when choosing which piano players are going to do which shows. If you are considering having Dueling Pianos at your next event feel free to contact us at any time.

Tailgate parties are perfect events for Fun Pianos! to entertain you.

Fun Pianos! has enjoyed spreading Husker Spirit throughout the country at many official Husker Huddle events around the country for 3 years (sponsored by the Alumni Association). These events are tailgate parties at Husker road games. With the help of the NU Spirit Squad and the Husker marching band, everyone has a great time and gets pumped up for the Husker game ahead. This year, we will be at the Miami Hurricanes game on 9/19, and at the Minnesota Gophers game on 10/17. Check out our Upcoming Events page on Face Book and get your tickets to the next Husker Huddle!

We don’t just do tailgate parties for Nebraska though… our teams are from all over the country and can get YOUR crowd of fans laughing and cheering all the way up to the game. We are happy to celebrate with you and support your team… whether you are in Iowa, South or North Dakota, or anywhere else across the United States. Give us a call or shoot us an email and let’s get the tailgate party started!

www.funpianos.com
FunPianos@gmail.com
1-888-539-7176

Yes, we say Happy Valentine’s Day in October!On Friday, we received two inquiries and contracts, in Gering, Nebraska and Chadron, NE.
That was mildly strange on October 3…then it got weird: We received another call for February 14…from VALENTINE, NEBRASKA.

Combined with Cascade, Iowa and Lockport, Illinois, it looks like we will be LOVING Valentine’s Day in 2015!

Eldora, you ask?  It’s a city in Hardin County.  In the middle of Iowa.  Their county fair is happening RIGHT NOW, and last night was the coronation ceremony for the 2014 Hardin County Fair Queen.

Congratulations!  (There is the 2013 winner.  We’ll update with the 2014 winner as soon as information is available online.)

How did Hardin continue the celebration?  With a performance from 176 Keys, of course.

The client was happy.  We’d say aw, shucks..but that would be a corny joke.  (You see what we did there?  “Corn(y)”?  “Shuck(s)”?)  Just giving a little humorous tassel.  Erm, hassle.   Really, it sweet.  SUPER SWEET.

😉

What a game today!  Overage time and a fantastic effort from Team USA at the World Cup.

Our teams understand keeping up play to the end of the game.  Four thousand miles away from Brazil, we cover a “pitch” three thousand miles wide.  Last Friday, we had coverage for half the width, from Maine to Iowa.  Three teams delivering mega-interactive request-driven fun, and each one knocked it into the goal.

You might say we scored a hat trick of our own.

U.S. Soccer will have another shot in four years.  You don’t need to wait that long for your dueling pianos fun; contact us now, and have a fabulous fun event as soon as next weekend.

This week, we have not one, but TWO gigs in the only U.S. state whose east and west borders are formed by rivers. (Want a hint? The cities we will be in are Ottumwa and Boyden.) Meanwhile, Jefrey and Steven will be heading up to Carrington, ND. And Sam, George, and Matt will be trucking east — WAY east — to play in Portland, ME.

Which means 176 Keys will hit longitudes from 70ºW to just about 100ºW. That’s a lotta latitude — done with a FUN attitude.

(Still want to know what that state we’re going to twice is? That would be Iowa — about 90º W to 96ºW.)