Reviews and News From 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.

Do you like dueling pianos? But you fear that it wouldn’t be appropriate for your private event?

Instead of reading our own yammering about how many people love our show, take a look at this video, featuring folks from

Jacksonville FL

Marysville KS

Grand Island NE

Dublin GA

Blair NE

Stephenville TX

Ogallalla NE

Hill City SD

Ansley NE

Sturgis SD

Trinity FL

Now have a FUN day!

Where will Fun Pianos be this week? Where WON’T Fun Pianos be this week!

Our show is all interactive, comedy, musical dueling pianos. Colorado will see it for the third time in a month tomorrow. Three Thursday shows this week display our increasing knack for filling up our weeknights. West Bend Wisconsin, North Hollywood California and South Sioux City: dueling pianos lovers who especially love the format of show that Fun Pianos brings.

It doesn’t stop there: Friday we have two shows in Nebraska, Saturday they hit Kansas, and Sunday we hit Indianapolis. Dueling Pianos provided with extra fun and funny by Fun Pianos…proven to be a hit all over the country. Don’t take our word for it, see our 1000+ reviews at www.FunPianos.com/reviews

Have a FUN day!

Some weeks are light, some weeks are not. This week is the calm before the storm for Fun Pianos dueling pianos.

Indianapolis awaits us Saturday, as does Minnesota, where we will be in our 5^th straight week of bringing the Fun Pianos dueling pianos show to college events…this one a homecoming event. We are proud to say that both clients this weekend have had us at least five times!

Then…busy! Tuesday in Colorado, three shows Thursday 10/6 including the Fun Pianos dueling pianos show in Nebraska (South Sioux City), Wisconsin and Hollywood!. Friday, 2 shows in Nebraska, then Saturday it’s the Fun Pianos dueling pianos show, “Kansas style” with two shows there. The week doesn’t end there as the fun travels to Indianapolis. Dueling Pianos by Fun Pianos hits the whole country this week!

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.

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

We had a FUNtastic time in all the different places we performed last weekend. With 6 teams, we can cover a lot of ground. We would love to add your town to our list of “Played There” locations. Contact us to find out what great deals we have in your area.

Thanks to Big Lake MN, York NE, Sioux Center IA, Lincoln NE, Finley ND, Virginia Beach VA, Tampa FL, Ogallala NE, Aberdeen SD, Sleepy Eye MN, and Sioux Falls SD for helping make our dueling pianos show the most requested travelling piano show in the country! Our fans make our job even more FUN!

We are taking our dueling pianos show to the fine folks in  Flagstaff AZ, Coralville IA, Davenport IA, Wichita KS, College Station TX, Fargo ND, Scottsdale AZ, Roseau MN, Hastings NE, Tyler TX, Irving TX and Omaha NE…. Whew! That’s a lot! If you missed out on booking us for this year, it’s never too early to book for next year! We would love to help make your event, wedding or party the most FUN your guests have ever had. Make sure to check out what people are saying about our show here! What People Are Saying

We had a FUNtastic time last week getting to help so many towns and companies celebrate the holidays with our FUN PIANOS dueling pianos show. This season is a wonderful opportunity to give generously of our time, talents and gifts to people that are less fortunate than ourselves. We have also been a part of some amazing fundraisers for communities as well as private fundraisers for individuals dealing with unimaginable circumstances.  We feel grateful to be able to be a part of making the holidays FUN and memorable for everyone.

Fun Pianos by 176 Keys Dueling Pianos has never been accused of being too quiet! As a matter of fact… we like to have so much FUN, we can hardly contain it. We are taking our show to 15 different events in the next 4 days! We are going to haul out the “jolly” in everyone! Check out some fun facts about “Silent night”…

Silent Night (1818)

Words: Josef Mohr
Music: Franz Xaver Gruber
Arguably the world’s most popular Christmas carol comes in several different translations from the German original. It started out as a poem by the Austrian Catholic priest Father Josef Mohr in 1816. Two years later, Mohr was curate at the parish church of St Nicola in Oberndorf when he asked the organist and local schoolteacher Franz Xaver Gruber to put music to his words.

An unreliable legend has it that the church organ had been damaged by mice, but whatever the reason, Gruber wrote it to be performed by two voices and guitar. It was first performed at midnight mass on Christmas Eve 1818, with Mohr and Gruber themselves taking the solo voice roles.

Its fame eventually spread (allegedly it has been translated into over 300 languages and dialects) and it famously played a key role in the unofficial truce in the trenches in 1914 because it was one of the only carols that both British and German soldiers knew.

– http://www.historyextra.com/feature/christmas-songs-oldest-ones-are-best

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!

Come on out to Nielsen Center on Wednesday night and have a blast dancing and singing with us before heading into a turkey-coma the next day. We would love for you to come see the BEST dueling piano show in the country… while at the same time, supporting a great cause. Take a break from the holiday craziness and enjoy a night out. We hope to see you there!