Gerry, thanks for the compliments, my friend - I really appreciate them.

Donny, the only music job I was not asked to return was one at an Italian Restaurant in Baltimore's Little Italy. It was also the only music job I ever auditioned for. The job was Friday and Saturday evenings, 8 till midnight, I had to set my gear up out of sight behind a huge grand piano so it appeared as if I were playing the piano.

The previous entertainer was and is a piano bar player, but since then completely switched gears and is making a good living doing the senior circuit instead of nite clubs and restaurants.

The day I auditioned, the owner had me connect to his sound system, which at best was awful. A 600-watt Peavy powered mixer and a couple 10-inch Peavey speakers hanging on the wall about 8 feet off the floor. His wife was on the phone and she called the shots. She wanted me to sing and play An Evening In Roma by Dean Martin. Fortunately, I could sing this phonetically in Italian and after singing the first verse and playing a short instrumental run, she told her husband to hire me.

The very first night, there was not a single person in the room other than an attractive bar maid behind the bar on the opposite side of the room. She came over, handed me a monster champagne goblet and said this is for tips and placed it on top of the piano. Then she told me that tips are few and far between and the room I was playing in was just the lounge where restaurant customers would wait until they get seated in the main restaurant. She also said that I could order anything on the menu when I wanted to take a supper break, but I never did.

At about 8:15, a half-dozen couples came into the lounge, and I started out by playing some light, background music, some bossanova stuff, mostly instrumental. One of the ladies came up to me and asked if I could perform Unchained Melody, a song I always sang with just a short instrumental interlude. When I fired it up and began singing, everyone in the room turned to look at me and 4 couples immediately got up and began dancing. When I finished, the lady's date came over and dropped a $20 in the tip jar. More people came in when I went into my usual routine, and never went into the restaurant. By the end of the night I had about $200 in the tip jar, plus I had a check for $150 for the night's performance.

When I came back the following night, there were about 40 people in the room when I arrived, the waitress behind the bar had two assistants with her, and by the end of the nite, you couldn't get another person in the room with a shoe horn. I picked up about $300 in tips that night plus my regular paycheck, but the owner came in a couple times and didn't look happy.

The following Friday, I entered into an already packed room, set up my gear, kicked off with my usual routine, the tip jar rapidly filled, there were people dancing in the adjacent hall and about 11 p.m. the owner came up to me and said this would be my last night. I was a bit puzzled when he said this because the crowds seemed to grow every time I was there. Well, turned out, that was the problem. They were coming into the lounge, drinking $2 drafts, $4 mixed drinks, and eating free snacks, but not going into the restaurant. He said I was costing him a fortune, and while he and his wife loved the music I performed, he had to find another background piano player and fired me.

I went back to the senior circuit, made a good living and didn't have to worry about getting mugged in downtown Baltimore leaving the job at midnight and getting home a 1:30 a.m.. Now, I enjoyed performing for a younger, lively crowd, and I know UD does as well, but the senior circuit was just as much fun and the hours were a whole lot better.

All the best,

Gary