This is a video from the Play Me, I'm Yours project . There are pianos made for classical music, there are pianos made for jazz music, and then there are pianos that are just perfect for honky-tonk music. This piano at Willoughby Plaza was one of them. Enjoy " Before the Next Teardrop Falls ." To see more photos, click here . To see more videos, click here .

When I was in elementary, junior high, and senior high school I wrote and passed hundreds of notes to my best friend Deb. We would scribble them down on crunched up notebook paper, text book covers, even on our hands and sneak them to one another somehow during class. We told secrets, gossiped, and had more inside jokes than we could ever keep track of. I remember several years ago, sorting through old memories before I moved to Texas. I had to decide what to leave, what to take, and what to throw away. And when I came across a shoe box of 10 year old notes between Deb and I, I just couldn't let them go. To this day, I still recognize her handwriting at a mere glance. When we found ourselves in college together, we still passed notes, only in a different format. I remember sitting through my criminal justice courses and having an entire conversation with Deb via text message, while she received and responded from the nurse's building. We complained of boredom, made weekend ka...

So I’m continuing on with chronicling my quest to record an EP with Modern Vintage Recordings . Today was our second pre-production meeting in which I recording 6 tracks with only piano and vocal as a blue print for the production to come. This stage in the process is the equivalent to a movie pre-production stage in which story boards, drawings and models are made so that when true production takes places, every one knows exactly what to do. One song will still be eliminated within the next few weeks, leaving us with only 5. The production team will add some very basic guitar, bass, and other musical effects to give each song a true musical feel. Our next step will be to add sound effects, mood, style, and color to each song. After we have a basic idea of how each song will sound, we will hire professional musicians to lay down the actual recorded arrangements of each track. The songs we whittled it down to are: 1.      A Builder 2.    ...

Early this morning, I woke up to Eddie asking me where the scissors were kept. I sat up in a confused state, first because Eddie was awake before me (which never happens), and second, shouldn't he know where the scissors are by now? When I asked why he needed them, he explained that he found a baby bird outside that was tangled. Suddenly, I shot straight up, threw on a sweatshirt and flip flops and raced outside to the bird. I've always had a soft spot for animals and couldn't bear the thought of one in danger or pain. Over the years, Eddie and I have rescued countless rabbits and birds that have found themselves in turmoil in our back yard. When we got outside, I saw the little brown bird, maybe a sparrow, caught in a mess of string and twine which was tangled around his leg. I held the small, scared bird in my hand while Eddie gently snipped away the mess around his fragile limb. We set the bird back on the ground where we discovered him and stood back to see what he w...

Yesterday morning as I casually flipped through the TV morning talk shows, I discovered that I must be living under a rock. It turns out that American Idol was holding auditions practically in our back yard in East Rutherford, NJ at the IZOD Center. In a very spur of the moment decision, I decided to drive over and pre-register for the auditions that were held today. Well, first let me put an end to your suspense, no I didn’t pass the audition. Our schedule for today’s exciting events were as follows: Arrive at 5 am. Sit on sidewalk for three hours. Wait in bleachers for ten hours. Audition for 15 seconds. Go home. Oh, there were perks. When Eddie won a free, styrofoam beer coozie for recycling his Sprite can, I thought it was a sign of good things to come. However, after paying $15 for a parking space, and almost $9 for a kids size personal pizza which Eddie and I split (I’m starving right now by the way), I began to have my doubts. Twelve tables were set up in the middle of the h...

For two hours today I sat in my living room wincing as the piano tuner slowly transformed my sadly out of tune instrument into something playable again. I keep my piano in the spare bedroom where the worst temperature fluctuation in our apartment takes place. The cool air flow of the living room window air conditioner can’t reach the piano in the devastating heat and humidity of summer, and the radiator with no thermostat, blasts warm air directly onto the piano all through the winter. I watched through the doorway as the piano tuner took apart my shiny May Berlin, emptied his case of tools, and began the painstaking process of plunking, tweaking, and adjusting each key, one by one until all 88 of them were in perfect tune. I was suddenly ashamed of how out of tune I let my precious piano get and hoped he wouldn’t scold me for it. I keep the outside clean. I polish, dust, and buff away marks. I keep the area around it clean, tidy, and vacuumed. But I’ve neglected the inner wo...

Here is a video of "Besame Mucho" with Kevin Marin at Lincoln Center. After one very short rehearsal, we performed the song had a few mishaps throughout. We totally botched the end, but tried our best to recover. I guess that's the thing about live performance. The show must go on. Enjoy.