Line embarking on ambitious holiday tour to mark career milestone

By Diana Nollen

A key element in pianist Lorie Line's concerts is something she learned in kindergarten.

Audiences love to hear her play by ear the song titles they shout out. Just like in grade school in Reno, Nev.

She started playing piano at age 5 and began formal lessons at age 6.

“I liked that I could play anything I could remember off the top of my head and hum,” she says by phone from her home in suburban Minneapolis. “If I could hum it, I could figure it out on piano.”

And from that ability, she became popular, first with her classmates, then on through her 20-year career.

“There's something fun about being popular for doing something well,” she says. “‘That's Lorie - she plays piano' became my tagline; it became part of my name.”

Of course, she knows a few more songs at age 51 than she knew at age 5. That serves her well in concerts, when she creates a medley from about 35 song titles audience members shout out.

“I have to know thousands and thousands of songs off the top of my head,” she says “I have to be very hip; I have to know everything. I take around an iPod of music and a briefcase of music.”

She reviews the tunes every day, and if someone calls out a title she doesn't know well enough to play that night, she'll study the song the next day, just in case it gets called out again.

Line is celebrating her career's 20th anniversary by playing “the best of the best” during her annual holiday tour, which stops Monday at the Englert Theatre in downtown Iowa City.

Line, her “Fab Five” musicians and her husband and business partner, Tim, will perform 44 shows in 41 days, hitting 39 cities in nine states.

“It's probably our most aggressive tour ever,” she says. “We took on 16 brand new cities, for a couple of reasons: It's a really beautiful show and it's special because it's our 20th anniversary. Usually we'll have three, four or five days off, but this year, we just have Thanksgiving Day off. We're moving every day.

“I like it that way. I get in a groove. The show is in my hands - like clockwork. I'm very disciplined. I don't like to take a day off. Before you know it, (the tour) is over and done with, way, way too fast. It keeps me in great shape mentally and physically at the piano. That's important when you're out there in front of people.”

The tour began Nov. 12 in Bemidji, Minn., and concludes Dec. 23 in Bismarck, N.D. Along the way, she'll do her Christmas shopping, wrap most of the gifts on her tour bus and maybe even find a prized antique at the little shops she like to browse.

“I know every city fairly well,” she says. “It's really fun to go back to the same shops. My favorite (shopping) place is Denver and my second is Fargo's downtown. I'm a professional thrifter and antiquer. I go into non-traditional shops. I have found some of the best, most unique and beautiful gifts in smaller towns, where no one would pick that up but me. I love shopping in every single city.

“People ask how I do my Christmas shopping on the road. I've got a bus, I have a semi with a piano. If I've found a piece of furniture, no problem! It's the hunt and adventure of getting out in every single town.”

And when Christmas Day rolls around, she'll be doing her second favorite thing, cooking for her family, which includes a 20-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son.

“We do the traditional Christmas. When I get home, I'll cook all day long. If I wasn't a pianist, I'd be a chef. I'll be ready to cook the traditional turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, stuffing or filet. I'll go to church that night, be wrapping a few last-minute things, put some more presents under the tree. It looks really beautiful at my house. Christmas Day we'll open gifts. We take pretty much all day to open gifts, so it's not so rushed. I've been moving so quickly, I like sitting down with my immediate family.”

Tradition will be the hallmark of her holiday tour, showcasing her favorites and fan favorites, including her rock 'n' roll arrangement of “Frosty the Snowman” that she hasn't played in 10 years, and her improv-style arrangement of “The Holly and the Ivy,” which goes all the way back to her early days playing piano at Dayton's department store in Minneapolis.

She also has some new treats up her designer sleeves, with new arrangements of “Silent Night,” “The Birthday of a King,” “Silver and Gold” and a boogie woogie “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”

Billed as “An Intimate Christmas with Lorie Line,” she's bringing her favorite grand piano and recreating elements of her living room in Orono, Minn., where it sits. Her flamboyant costumes, for which she's known, will include some favorites from years past and “red carpet couture” by top designers - “high-styled off the runway that I bought off the rack,” she says.

To wear such dresses, she maintains her model-slim figure through daily workouts with a treadmill, weights, yoga and stretching.

“I'm very dedicated to working out,” she says. “It's very important. I used to look at it as an inconvenience, but not anymore. Working out is part of my job. If I'm in good shape I can perform better. ... I have to have really good arms to wear these clothes.

“Being in show business makes you try to be an excellent person. You're always in the limelight, always being watched. Expectations are high. I'm used to it. I'm an old dog who's been doing it for 20 years. Performing has been good for me. I get to enjoy the fringe benefit of looking good and being in good shape because of my occupation. It's a fringe benefit of totally being ready to go.”

ARTS EXTRAInformation: www.englert.org and http://lorieline.com/

What: An Intimate Christmas with Lorie Line

When: 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 23

Where: Englert Theatre, 221 E. Washington St., Iowa City

Tickets: $44, reserved seating, at the Englert box office, (319) 688-2653 and www.iowatix.com

Extras: Bring a bell. Also bring a camera; children ages 4 and up will be invited onstage to meet Santa