Dueling Pianos dressing up holiday eve party in Cedar Rapids

It’s been nearly a century since the dueling piano concept was introduced in New Orleans, when a pair of pianists pounded away on the ivories at Pat O’Brien’s Bar. Popular tunes of the day were played via request.

The dueling piano concept faded, but was resuscitated a generation ago in Dallas at Alley Cats, with rock songs. Dueling Pianos has remained a favorite at bars, casinos and other venues throughout the country. Patrons make requests and the musicians cover tunes, which range from classic rock to some surprising choices.

Brian Griffin, who owns Midwest Dueling Pianos, is presenting for Cedar Rapids entrepreneur Steve Shriver’s first Thanksgiving Dueling Piano night Wednesday at the Olympic South Side Theater in Cedar Rapids.

Griffin has been gigging as a musician taking requests behind the keys for a quarter century.

“It’s a fun evening,” Griffin said while calling from his Rochester, Mich., home. “It’s easy to see why people like to come out. It’s an interactive experience. It’s about getting people to sing along and clap along.”

Performers

Eben Seaman from Cedar Rapids and Matt Safranek from Rochester, Mich., will be the dueling pianists on Thanksgiving Eve.

“Matt has been at this since the mid-’90s and he’s tremendous,” Griffin said. “There’s few who are as good as Matt at getting the entire room going.”

According to Griffin, Safranek and Seaman can play virtually anything, even if it’s not piano-based.

“The dueling piano players have no problem shifting from old-timey songs to rap to country to bluegrass,” Griffin said. “They can play whatever the crowd wants.”

The most popular tunes aren’t surprising. Billy Joel’s “Piano Man,” Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” and Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock” usually are covered each night.

However, each evening also holds surprises.

“I had a show in which I was asked to play something from Gary Puckett and the Union Gap,” Griffin said. “I had to pull something out of my butt, which was that group’s hit, ‘Young Girl.’ You make it work.”

What really caught Griffin by surprise was the common denominator among college requests a decade ago.

“I was curious what college kids liked hearing and I looked at 200 different shows and made a spreadsheet,” Griffin said. “There was one song that was played as a request from each college campus, and that was ‘The Pokemon Theme Song.’ The piano players had to learn it. That was an unexpected request, but we had to learn it.”

More C.R. Connections

Speaking of unexpected, Griffin has played many shows in Cedar Rapids, but the most memorable was performing to an audience with the late comic Gallagher among those in the crowd.

“That was bizarre,” Griffin said. “What I was told was that Gallagher showed up a week early for a gig in Cedar Rapids and he was just hanging around town. We also performed in front of (Australian comedy trio) The Axis of Awesome. Who would have guessed they would have been in the audience? But it goes back to you never know what will happen each night you step on stage, and who knows who'll be in the audience?”

Griffin is expecting the Olympic South Side crowd to be receptive during the party night ahead of Thanksgiving Day.

“I imagine people will be excited,” he said. “It’s a big night, but it’s always a good time when it’s dueling pianos. Whomever came up with this concept struck gold.”

The songs are the focal point, but what often takes shows up to another level is the piano men engaging the audience. The pianists are typically witty and enjoy bantering.

“We try to have fun with the crowd, and that’s usually not difficult since everyone is out for the same reason, which is to have a good time,” Griffin said. “So aside from music, there’s a lot of laughs. That’s a great combination.”