Reviews and News From Lead, SD

Summer is our slower season, so people tend to think that I get a little bit of a break in the summer. It’s actually the opposite:

When we have more teams on, that increases the odd that at least one team will have assignments close to home. When we have just one or two teams on, then those teams go wherever the shows are booked. It is true that I will typically put players on near the gigs that are booked…in my particular case, I am my own first player assigned to shows wherever they are in most situations. So during the fall through mid-spring I may have 3-4 gigs in a week near home, we now are in the part of the year where I have 1-2 gigs…all over the country.

This morning, I am typing this report from the Omaha Nebraska airport, headed to Burbank California for a Fun Pianos dueling pianos show in Santa Barbara tomorrow. Saturday, I fly to Houston for a show in Montgomery Texas the next day. I do get 6 days at home before heading to Minneapolis for a Monday show, Clay Center Nebraska, then Stowe Vermont.

As a company summer is slower, but as the owner and lead player, it’s busier than ever!

Have a FUN day!

— Sam Ferguson, owner/lead player

(From Owner/Lead Player Sam Ferguson):

I have lately been keeping a bit of an online journal for my friends on Facebook, and someone suggested this might be interesting for our clients and friends as well. Here it is. 🙂

I’ve been at it at the “hotel office” for a few hours, and will be for a few more before the 8-hour commitment of setup + wait around + show + teardown here in Grand Forks. (Dueling Pianos by Fun Pianos has taken off here the past few years).

After the show, we’ll be packing up for getting back on the road for an afternoon show Fun Pianos dueling pianos show in Lisbon ND for a Veterans Home. In the morning we head on to Pierre SD, where we’ll stay tomorrow and Thursday night so I can have a full day of hotel office time without travel. (Thankfully my in-office staff takes care of everything our clients need whether I am in or not).

Friday begins the homestretch of the 10-day week within the 84-day month: 5 hours to Alliance NE for a show, then 6 more to do  the Fun Pianos dueling pianos show in Lincoln NE Saturday.

Thankfully I get to sleep at home Saturday night…half the time I half to spend Sunday getting home (something every other player on staff has to do more weeks than me, where they are spread out through the country).

This morning my wife sent me some pictures showing love the fur babies are receiving from our friend’s human kids. She takes great care of these kids while I’m gone, but she will tell you that these kids really love them up. Pictures and FaceTime help me get through the 14-17 hour days on the road during a stretch like this.

The show is called “Dueling Pianos,” but you won’t see these pianists competing for audience attention.

“It’s a bit of a misnomer,” said Sam Ferguson, owner and lead player of 176 Keys Fun Pianos. “It’s more about interaction with and response from the audience.”

Ferguson, Jefrey Taylor and Steven Ramirez will take their interactive song and comedy show to Rapid City at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The three will each bring their own specialty as performers to Rapid City, something Ferguson says is perfectly suited to keeping the show lively.

“Jefrey’s the perfect guy for a rock ‘n’ roll song, and a great singer,” Ferguson said. “My strength is humor, bringing comedy to the show. Steven’s a little bit of both. Plus he’s the youngest on staff, so he’s perfect for newer songs while Jeffrey and I cover older material.”

Ferguson said that the show usually has two performers on stage at a time, with the two working together as a musical-comedy team.

“It’s kind of an Abbott and Costello dynamic,” Ferguson said. “Neither performer is the sidekick, they’re equally important.”

Ferguson said that each member was adept at switching to whatever the moment called for, however.

“I am for anything that works in the moment,” Ferguson said. “My favorite way to entertain is making people laugh, but if the crowd wants to sing more than laugh, I’m happy to do that.”

Ferguson said that the key is reading the crowd and acting accordingly, playing whatever is going to get the best reaction out of the crowd in the moment.

Megan Whitman, executive director of Main Street Square, said that this is the second time they’ve invited this particular Dueling Pianos group, with Main Street Square previously hosting other groups with similar shows. Whitman said that it’s a perfect show for the whole family.

“We see a variety of ages of people coming downtown for this show, from young families to older adults,” Whitman said. “It’s a great chance to create memories for families in particular.”

Whitman said that it’s a great variety show, mixing comedy with Elton John or Billy Joel classics and contemporary hits.

“They also take special requests,” Whitman said. “If there’s a song you want to hear, they’ll probably be able to perform it.”

Ferguson said that they keep up with the biggest hits, as they change from month to month.

“Last year, ‘All About That Bass’ was our biggest song for a while, and then two months later it wasn’t,” Ferguson said. “Whereas something like ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ is never our most popular song in the set, but they’re consistently in the top 10 because people know them and don’t get tired of them.”

Ferguson said that he looked forward to interacting with the audience and getting them to be a part of the show.

“If we’re just on stage, there’s an imaginary wall between us and the audience,” Ferguson said. “We want to break through that wall, become more tangible and get a more personal connection.”

Contact Max B. O’Connell at 394-8427 or max.oconnell@rapidcityjournal.com

What is Thanksgiving like at your house? Does the aroma of turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie hang in the air all day leading up to the dinner feast? Do you make multiple trips to the airport to pickup friends and family that have come to celebrate with you? Are you one of the brave souls that inhales dinner and runs out the door to be one of the first people through the doors of the Black Friday sales?…. (which are now starting on Thursday….. which means it isn’t technically a Black Friday sale….. but, you get the idea.)

Timeanddate.com has this to say about Thanksgiving:

Thanksgiving Day has been an annual holiday in the United States since 1863.  There are claims that the first Thanksgiving Day was held in the city of El Paso, Texas in 1598. Another early event was held in 1619 in the Virginia Colony. Many people trace the origins of the modern Thanksgiving Day to the harvest celebration that the Pilgrims held in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. However, their first true thanksgiving was in 1623, when they gave thanks for rain that ended a drought. These early thanksgivings took the form of a special church service, rather than a feast. In the second half of the 1600s, thanksgivings after the harvest became more common and started to become annual events. However, it was celebrated on different days in different communities and in some places there were more than one thanksgiving each year. George Washington, the first president of the United States, proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day in 1789.

We have so much to be thankful for here at Fun Pianos. We sincerely appreciate all of the referrals to your family and friends. We know that without great clients, we would not be able to continue doing what we love to do.

Happy Thanksgiving!

February 22, 2013 Children’s Dental of Sioux Falls were HOT at their winter party with 176 Keys Fun Pianos leading the way! They may not remember it very well, but the night was hilarious! Good thing they had the weekend to recover from all that Mega-Iteractive FUN!!!