I just came back from a Singalong at Heartwood Bakery and Cafe in Halifax. My friend Levon who works there bought 2! pianos just like mine in the last few months. The better of the two he keeps at the restaurant and he bought it for $150. (I bought mine for $1500!) And his sounds great.
Anyway, we had this idea to have a singalong night where I just play piano (and my friend Shannon came by with his mandolin and great voice) -- and all our friends come by and sing and request songs ... a lot of oldies. Tonight was amazing ... there was obviously a flow to the night and sometimes there were songs that we didn't know as well and people were just talking and having a good time. But there were also songs that everyone knew and there was just this swell in voices and energy! Such a rush to be there. A lot of Carole King songs, we realized. She's such a great songwriter. It's such a skill and gift to write a song that's simple and universal and catchy. She's got that with a lot of her songs. And we all tried to sing "Out in the street" by the Shangri-Las. that's an amazing song.
I feel so lucky to be a part of the music community here. In a way I feel like it's a perfect fit ... everyone loves the old classics from the 50s, 60s and 70s. We did lots of McCartney, and I even gave into my reluctance to play Billy Joel and Elton John (you know, being a piano playing singer/songwriter, I've always wanted to establish that I'm more than just a tribute act) -- those cats are my roots and it felt great to strip my pretenses and just enjoy singing and playing "Only the good die young" and "Rocket man".
Lets see, we also played a lot of Beach Boys early on. Jason McIsaac was there, he's in a band called the Heavy Blinkers and they love the Beach Boys. It was a bit nervewracking to attack some of those songs with him, but the payoff was huge. It was especially fun singing "Add some music to your day" and "I get around". The most fun I had was playing songs I'd never tried to play before but that I've heard a million times.
Anyway, a very fun night all around. I hope it happens again.
Talk to you all later...
Anyway, we had this idea to have a singalong night where I just play piano (and my friend Shannon came by with his mandolin and great voice) -- and all our friends come by and sing and request songs ... a lot of oldies. Tonight was amazing ... there was obviously a flow to the night and sometimes there were songs that we didn't know as well and people were just talking and having a good time. But there were also songs that everyone knew and there was just this swell in voices and energy! Such a rush to be there. A lot of Carole King songs, we realized. She's such a great songwriter. It's such a skill and gift to write a song that's simple and universal and catchy. She's got that with a lot of her songs. And we all tried to sing "Out in the street" by the Shangri-Las. that's an amazing song.
I feel so lucky to be a part of the music community here. In a way I feel like it's a perfect fit ... everyone loves the old classics from the 50s, 60s and 70s. We did lots of McCartney, and I even gave into my reluctance to play Billy Joel and Elton John (you know, being a piano playing singer/songwriter, I've always wanted to establish that I'm more than just a tribute act) -- those cats are my roots and it felt great to strip my pretenses and just enjoy singing and playing "Only the good die young" and "Rocket man".
Lets see, we also played a lot of Beach Boys early on. Jason McIsaac was there, he's in a band called the Heavy Blinkers and they love the Beach Boys. It was a bit nervewracking to attack some of those songs with him, but the payoff was huge. It was especially fun singing "Add some music to your day" and "I get around". The most fun I had was playing songs I'd never tried to play before but that I've heard a million times.
Anyway, a very fun night all around. I hope it happens again.
Talk to you all later...
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2 comments:
Hey Mike!
Sounds like fun! Great to hear you're enjoying the musical community out there.
I'd love to have one of those half pianos! Lucky Ducks!
Take care!
yeah ... it's so weird that he found 2 just in Halifax. and the first one i ever found was in halifax too at a synagogue.
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