Mark Weiser

The New and Expanded Shake Rattle & Roll Pianos!

Hi everyone – and welcome to the unofficial start of summer.

Things are heating up outside, and inside at Shake Rattle & Roll Dueling Pianos.

As of today, we are no longer just providing the best in piano entertainment.

We are now a full-service entertainment company – bands, DJs, and of course, the finest solo and Dueling Pianos entertainers anywhere.

We look forward to bringing you all the top party performers, across the genres and across the country.
Don’t look now, the temperature is rising.

FLEET WEEK NYC 2016 at SHAKE RATTLE & ROLL DUELING PIANOS

For both of our Fleet Week shows – May 27 & 28, @ 10pm, all military personnel in uniform get in FREE.  That’s right.  FREE.  Just our way of saying ‘Thank you for your service.’
Come down to the show, mention our FLEETWEEK blog post, and you’re in.

We’ll see you there!

Billy Joel’s Turnstiles hits the big 4-0

Released exactly forty years ago today on May 19, 1976, the album that gave dueling piano players everywhere a new finger workout entitled ANGRY YOUNG MAN made its debut.

The musical equivalent of a Bronx cheer for the West Coast, Billy Joel’s TURNSTILES signaled a creative return to his home, with three songs dedicated to the Empire State:  Summer Highland Falls, New York State of Mind and Miami 2017.  He kicked off the record with Say Goodbye to Hollywood, and included another tune aimed at the decadence of the West Coast – I Loved These Days.

Dissatisfied with the midwest recording sessions for the project, Joel completely re-did the album tracks with his touring band back home, including seminal members (and Long Island natives) Richie Cannata on sax, Russell Javors on guitar and Liberty Devitto on drums.

The cover photo, shot in the NYC subways, has every song physically represented by one of the characters behind Joel.

What a Way to Go: “No Business Like Show Business”

Jane Little, who debuted as a bassist in Atlanta on Feb. 4, 1945, at age 16 and who has been playing ever since, died during a performance of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on Sunday.  She was 87, and rumored to be the longest-tenured orchestral musician in the world.

According to a spokeswoman, the orchestra was only moments away from the end of a concert called “Broadway’s Golden Age”.  The players were at the end of “There’s No Business Like Show Business” from Irving Berlin’s “Annie Get Your Gun,” when Little collapsed and was carried backstage by her fellow bassists. She never regained consciousness.

Dueling Pianos Video of the Week – Battle of the Sexes!

From our May 13th SOLD OUT show at P Twelve Lounge in Lynbrook NY, Frankie Turner leads a battle of the sexes!

Memorial Day Weekend – our promo code is here!

Yes, it’s the weekend that officially kicks off the NYC summer, and what better way to heat things up on MDW than with Shake Rattle & Roll Dueling Pianos!?

The fleet will be in, Billy Joel will be at the Garden, and both Friday & Saturday night, we’ll be rockin’ Tribeca at your favorite all-request Dueling Pianos bar.

AND, for a limited time, you can win two FREE tickets to either Friday May 27 or Saturday May 28, if you go to our contact page, and send us the promo code “FLEETWEEK”.

(limit 2 tickets per group/table/reservation)

We’re Taking our Pianos to CITY HALL!

Shake Rattle & Roll Dueling Pianos has just been invited to perform at NYC City Hall, in June, for a special LGBT event being hosted by some of NYC’s political luminaries.

Looks like we’re moving east (one block east, to be exact, from where our Sold Out weekend shows now take place!).  Oh, what a difference a block makes!

Is every song really based on a Journey song? Prince thought so…

In the days following the passing of music icon Prince, a number of stories about the artist have come out.

One of the more interesting stories comes from Journey’s keyboard player and co-writer Jonathan Cain, and guitarist Neal Schon.

When Prince had finished composing and recording his signature song, PURPLE RAIN, he felt it sounded a little too familiar.

Jonathan Cain recounted the story to Billboard:

He was notified in early 1984 that Prince wanted to speak with him. Curious, Cain went to Columbia Records’ offices in Los Angeles and took a call from Prince, who told Cain, “I want to play something for you, and I want you to check it out. The chord changes are close to ‘Faithfully'” — a top 20 single from Journey’s 1983 album Frontiers — “and I don’t want you to sue me.” After listening, Cain says, “I thought it was an amazing tune, and I told him, ‘Man, I’m just super-flattered that you even called. It shows you’re that classy of a guy. Good luck with the song. I know it’s gonna be a hit.’

“And it was ‘Purple Rain.'”