Hello,
An Open Mic for pianists and singers, our next Open Piano will take place TONIGHT, Wednesday, March 26th, from 7:00 to 10:30 pm, upstairs at The Saloon, 1207 U street NW.
Open Piano is the only event of its kind in the DMV. An acoustic piano is the only instrument, and any pianist or singer can stroll in and give it a try.
There is no recorded "background" music or cover charge for either event. It's more like a public clubhouse for those who like pianos.
All styles of music are welcome, from opera to honky-tonk. If you sing, or if you play an acoustic instrument—we welcome anything but percussion or guitars—we will try to find an accompanist. Several working duets and trios met and began on our stage.
And tonight we are hoping to feature violinist/vocalist Raycurt Johnson.
It's the last Wednesday of the month, time for our Spotlight, where we focus on one of our standout players. Our March spotlight is vocalist Kristen Clark:
KRISTEN CLARK graduated from Emerson College with a degree in musical theatre before quickly defecting to a much more lucrative and stable career as a documentary audio producer. 🤦♀️ When she's not jamming with us, you can catch her picking away at her banjo or running around Arlington with an entourage of teenage journalists. She's super grateful to Ed, Elizabeth, Kevin, and the whole Saloon crew for helping her remember how to sing.
Instead of our usual procedure of an uninterrupted half hour, Kristen will be singing with either five or six different pianists, during their solo spots, all through the night. She will be accompanied by Open Piano A-Listers Ed Rejuney, David Scott Russell, Cameron Krug, Stefan Sullivan, and Texas Sammy Peters. And then there's me.
You can always e-mail me -- via this website's "Contacts" file -- for questions or clarifications. As always, our website is: www.openpianodc.org
The Saloon has a full menu and an outstanding drink selection. In addition, it's a non-profit
pub that donates its earnings to the Kamal Foundation, which builds schools and clinics all over the world. So, every time you buy a drink, you're helping somebody.
The Saloon, 1207 U Street NW, is right across from the Green Line U Street Metro stop, 13th Street exit.
FMI about Open Piano or the Kamal Foundation: 301 775 3652
Hope you can make it,
Kevin
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Thanks to all of you who have been coming to Open Piano all this time. Without you, we'd still be doing it on the street...
Kevin
HISTORIAL POSTS:
Open Piano is an event somewhere between a clubhouse and an Open Mic for pianists and singers. You, and everybody else, is invited to come by and take a turn on the piano. Or just hang around enjoy the music and the absence of recorded music. There is no cover charge.
Friday Feb. 14th witnessed out first-ever Friday evening Open Piano, a new monthly event where we present a show on the weekend. It went very well; the fact that it wasn't a school night meant that Luca--the 14-year-old ragtime wunderkind--could attend and share his miraculous command of the genre and the instrument. We also got to hear Max Casazza, who has conflicts with weeknights and was very glad to have the chance to hang out and play. Ten more pianists and several singers followed, all of them well received by a very good-sized crowd. Since it was also Valentine's Day, Elizabeth brought an impressive load of designer cupcakes, and I bought roses, one for vocalist Kristen Clarke, another for our number one fan Jazmin, and two more for our cheerful, beautiful servers, Lucie and Caroline. The music and the mood were described--by about 15 people--as "Magical," and who am I to argue with that?
I titled the event, publicly, in person, as "Friday Night Fever," and nobody scoffed or groaned, so it's now truly official.
The next such fever will take place on Friday, March 14th.
(This, BTW, will in no way affect our regularly scheduled Open Piano Wednesdays, and the next one of those will take place next week, on February 19th, from the usual 7:00 to 10:30 pm)
Open Piano takes place every Wednesday from 7:00 to 10:30 pm, except on the first Wednesday of every month, when we go until midnight, if we have enough audience to justify it. We usually do. Starting in February, we'll add our Friday session, from 8:00 to 11:00 pm, every second Friday of the month.
Historical posts:
Regarding our Open Piano, right after election day: The therapeutic power of music has rarely been put to such a test as it was that evening, but it worked. Despite worries about holding Open Piano on such a day, we had a very good turnout and a very good time. I certainly didn't expect to end the evening in a good mood, but I did, along with everybody else...
On Wednesday, April 3rd, we held monthly 7:00 to midnight show. It went very nicely, especially augmented by a charming lady named Karen, who had decided to hold her birthday celebration at Open Piano. This party of her friends and relatives filled up a good chunk of the downstairs. Her crew included her parents, who were the first to get on the dance floor. We've had birthday celebrations at Open Piano before, but this one is going to stick in my mind a lot longer.
Our pianists played beautifully, as always, and the audience had their usual great time.
Last week's Open Piano was amazing. Our crowd was somewhat smaller than usual, but they were extremely enthusiastic and appreciative. And they really listened. We pianists were gobsmacked at how respectful everyone was.
Fortunately, we put on a stunning show: Roberto, Nick, Chris, the FABULOUS Carol Munday, David Scott Russell, Adina, Tio Brown, Ed Rejuney, Kristen Clark, and a new-ish guy named Anthony, who knocked a Ravel piece out of the park.
Wednesday, Feb. 28th, which was Spotlight Night, was excellent. KRISTEN CLARK and ED REJUNEY brought us the duet they have been organizing since they met (on our "stage") some months ago. They audience--the house was packed--loved it, and TIO BROWN filmed quite a bit of it. After that, a new player named Douglas played a couple of extrememly difficult -- and beautiful-- pieces by Claude Debussy. We had a couple of other brand new performers: Brookclove, who played some peaceful but quite modern piano pieces that made me think of early Hindemith. Then our new friend Chris showed up with a singer friend named Pigeon, and she sang for the first time. Adina sang some Samuel Barber songs with Bret, Nick got everyone singing along with him, Laurie Cooper did the same thing, Tio Brown worked his magic, and then Stefan Sullivan got everyone dancing with his gut-bucketry. Sammy Peters finished the official show--we all hung around afterwards, taking turns playing--with his customary chops-to-burn brilliance.
We had such a turnout, including a lot of latecomers, that we decided to just plan on staying late for every Spotlight evening. The Spotlights take place on the last Wednesday of every month, and the Spotlight in March will feature Adina. Feel free to check the Player Bio section of this website for more about her...
Our thanks to all those who came out and gave us such a wonderful evening....
LAST WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14th, 2024 was be a typical 7:00 to 10:30 Open Piano session, although, with our variety of styles and playahz, typical can mean almost anything. (Anything musical, anyway.) I've noticed that once people get comfortable at Open Piano, they don't wanna leave, so I'd suggested showing up on the early side, and quite a few did...
WEDNESDAY, February 7th, was the first Wednesday of the month, our traditional late show. Starting at 7:00 pm, we went to about 11:30, and it was an excellent evening, at one point running out of tables. I don't have any headwaiter skills but I did manage to slip one small group into another small group and they meshed very well. We had 14 people onstage, including two new pianists; Robin, who played a monstrously difficult piece based on a modern Chinese classical composition, and Annie, who sang, accompanying herself, and actually rocked the joint. Finally, it was the birthday of the FABULOUS Carol Munday....
We had a great Spotlight with Tio Brown on January 31st. He was spectactular, even by his standards. It was also the birthday delebration for our friend and co-pianorator Nick Drohan. the house was full and enthusiastic. Ed Rejuney, our best sight-reader, accompanied five different singers. It went late and everyone left in the exhilerated mood we like to produce.
From January 26th,2023: A Brief History of Open Piano
Six years ago, thanks to the foresight and good taste of Mount Pleasant restauranteur Patrice Cleary, we started holding Open Piano sessions in the basement of her Purple Patch. COVID forced us out after a couple of years, and, just like any other evictees, we ended up on the streets. Frank Agbro, radio broadcaster and musician (FrankoJazz) offered us the use of his sound system and his front porch, where he holds his weekly street parties. We spent the worst of the pandemic—almost two years—playing there every Wednesday evening. He called it a Six-Foot Aparty, and a whole lot of shut-ins got a chance to go outside for some live music and limited socialization in a safe spot. We loved it, even during winter, as did the neighborhood. It was here that I started saying the phrase “Thanko Franko.”
When it became safe again, Stefan, Nick and I were tasked with finding another spot, and this wasn’t easy. We needed a dedicated room with management willing to provide space for an acoustic piano—“Are you nuts? I could put two tables there!!” –but we found all that in Commy, Keenan, the Kamal Foundation and The Saloon. That’s what we’re celebrating. You are welcome to join us.
Open Piano is the only event of its kind in the DMV. There is no recorded background music. An acoustic piano is the only instrument, and any pianist or singer can stroll in and give it a try. All styles of music are welcome, from opera to honky-tonk. If you sing, bring your charts, and we will try to find an accompanist. Several working duets and trios met and began on our stage.
The Saloon is a non-profit pub that donates its earnings to the Kamal Foundation, which builds schools and clinics all over the world. So, every time you buy a drink, you're helping somebody.
The Saloon is served by the Green Line U Street Metro stop.
FMI about Open Piano or the Kamal Foundation: 301 775 3652
And I should mention that our sixth anniversary is coming up.
Earlier this year
We had in interesting Open Piano last Wednesday, Dec. 6th. Something went wrong with the heating system upstairs, so, at the last minute, we moved everything downstairs, and played the grand piano. (How many pubs in D.C. have a piano on each floor?) That area is smaller, so it was a bit of a squeeze, and it was an integrated event, meaning that some of the audience had no idea about Open Piano and had just come in for a drink. But they were glad to see us, and, overall, the night went very well.
Open Piano-Upstairs at The Saloon, 1207 U Street NW.
FMI about The Saloon, a non-profit pub, the Kamal Foundation or Open Piano, call 301 775 3652.
ARCHIVED REMARKS
November 8th, 2023
As always, I never know which of our pianists will be showing up, but our turnout has always been good.Last week, November 8th, we had 14 performers, and we had to go an extra half hour to get everybody in. Two of the pianists were first-timers, and the general mood could be described as "Rollicking." At gig's end, Texas Sam Peters started hunting for another bar, muttering "I don't want this kind of evening to end yet."
That's the kind of mood we want to create.