Dueling Pianos: Jeff & Rhiannon

Dueling Pianos Show Demo

2011-11-14T22:46:00.000-08:00

Our new and improved demo video. Enjoy!

Fun Photos!

2011-08-24T15:49:00.001-07:00

Here are some photos that an audience member took of one of our shows. As you can tell, we love our job!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-01T19:47:00.001-07:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Treasures

2011-06-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

This Saturday we are performing for the Holy Rosary Health Care's fundraising event in Miles City, MT. This is our second year performing at this great event for a wonderful cause. The event, Treasures, is a beautiful evening full of great food, amazing prizes, and the best entertainment! The event is open to the public and I believe there are still some tickets available at www.hrhfoundation.com.

Last year the organization raised a great deal of money for a cancer patients and this year the event is benefiting children's health care. We feel so fortunate to get to be a part of this beautiful evening...and such a fun crowd, too!!

Europe!

2011-05-15T17:26:00.001-07:00

Last month we were lucky enough to get a gig in Lausanne, Switzerland at a music club that brings in different acts from around the world. It was so much fun. First, the Lavaux region of Switzerland is possibly the most beautiful place in the world. The club put us up in a hotel smack dab in the middle of Lausanne with a view of Lake Geneva and the Alps. It was heaven. The shows were really great as well. A very different crowd that we are used to (all Swiss-French). I was shocked at the song knowledge of the people...some barely spoke English but knew all the words to the American/British songs. Our repertoire was a bit different...more Robbie Williams and Queen. And the #1 most requested song? No, not Piano Man...not Journey...but 'It's Raining Men.' I kid you not. I got a good chuckle every night when people brought up their requests...again, English not being a first language. I got songs like 'I While Survive' and 'Sweat Child of Mine.' Classic. Here are a few pictures from our time in Lausanne...

Walking around Lake Geneva

The beautiful city of Lausanne. One of the hilliest cities I've ever been to. No need for the gym here!

A view of the Lavaux region of of Switzerland. One side of the lake are the Alps and the other side are vineyards. So beautiful!

We took a small train up to the top of the vineyards.

We snuck a picture in the vineyard. Possibly not permitted.

This one explains itself.

Up in one of the mountain villages for lunch.

It was hard not to just keep taking pictures!

After Switzerland we took an 8 day vacation to Paris. It was magical. As you may know, Paris is my favorite place in the world. Well...it still is. We were blessed the entire time in Europe with unbelievable weather (sunny and in the 70's every day). While in Paris we walked an average of 8-10 miles a day and ate out at some beautiful restaurants and enjoyed the cheap wine (afterall, it's less expensive than water or soda!) The 8 days flew by and by the end I was not ready to go...

Jeff's favorite building in Paris...Notre Dame. We visited it several times throughout the trip...spectacular.

Taking a break from behind his camera.

The french crepe. Heaven.

Fontaine de Medicis, one of the fountains inside the Jardin du Luxembourg.

The second fountain in the gardens: Fontaine de l'Observatoire.

We took a day trip to Giverny, France, the home of Claude Monet. There we were able to visit his famous gardens, pond, and lily pads. So breathtaking.

The floral colors were so brilliant.

Posing on the bridge that Monet made famous.

The next day we went to the Musee de l'Orangerie where Monet's large lily prints are displayed. He created these paintings just for this space. Sadly he passed before he could see them installed.

Another trip to Notre Dame.

The sky opened up just so I could capture this amazing shot.

Now we are in my favorite building in Paris...l'Opera Garnier.

It's not easy to capture the tour at night, but this one turned out pretty well!

Our last night in Paris. Drinking a bottle of wine underneath la Tour Eiffel. Not a bad way to end our trip!

We had such a great time and can't wait to go back!

Daniel Chesterfield

2011-03-06T11:18:00.000-08:00

I am terribly behind on my blog posts...but in the meantime, I thought I'd share one of my favorite videos. I dedicate this to all of our wonderful magician friends who are actually very talented. Enjoy!!

Disney Show Band

2011-02-05T19:59:00.000-08:00

I was visiting old videos and thought I'd share this one. Good times from the Disney ship. This feels like a lifetime ago!

Best of Seattle!

2011-01-27T21:41:00.000-08:00

Every year Seattle Bride magazine has a "Best Of" competition. And every year the same band wins for the Live Entertainment category. Well, this year we are trying to mix it up!

If you find the time, please visit Seattle Bride Magazine (http://seattlebridemag.com/seattle-bride-best-2011-ballot) to vote for us! The voting process ends in a couple months, so feel free to vote soon and often. They make you fill in your name, email, etc, but will not give out your information. They also require you to vote for at least 10 categories. I would suggesting voting for your own vendors or places you like to go.

I know this is a bit time consuming, but how great would it be for us to win in 2011! Thank you!

Goodbye '10...hello '11

2010-12-31T15:12:00.000-08:00

2010 was a fantastic year for us. In fact is was our best year yet. As we are celebrating the new year tonight, we thought it would be fun to take a look back and a quick look forward.

Highlights of 2010

Mexico
We started off the year by performing several shows for the Pioneer Corporation in Cancun, Mexico. We kicked off our new show option where we perform a 90 minute dueling pianos show followed by a 90 minute dance party with our band (drummer-extraordinaire Glen Schricker and guitar-god Chris Vazquez). We got to perform and stay at 5-star resorts down there and even had a few days off to explore. We took a trip to one of the 7 wonders of the world, Chichen Itza. Our time in Mexico was a definite highlight of the year.

Vegas
We performed several times in Las Vegas this year at the world famous casinos on the strip. We always enjoy the chance to head to Sin City...but are always very happy to get home.

Space Needle
We had our first show at Seattle's landmark, the Space Needle. The view was spectacular, the load-in challenging, and the show a lot of fun (it was for BP - pre oil spill).

EMP
We also had our first show at the Experience Music Project in Seattle. It was a great venue to perform in...and just one night after Heart played on our stage!

Repeat Business
This was the year of repeat business for us. We had several companies and organizations who asked us back for a 2nd, 3rd, and in one case, 5th repeat performance!

Fantastic Hotels
We had the opportunity to stay in some of the nicest hotels and resorts this year. We are definitely spoiled in the accommodations our events take us to. This year we got to stay at the Ritz in Naples, the Bellagio in Vegas, the nicest resorts in Cancun, the Westin in Chicago, a penthouse suite in Playa del Carmen, just to name a few!

No Cruise Ships
In the 9.5 years Jeff and I have been together, this was the first year we did not step foot on a cruise ship. We can't begin to describe how great this is! In fact, in the last two years, we have only done one five-day cruise. We are very much enjoying the next stage of our career.

A Very Microsoft Christmas
This holiday season was our busiest one yet. We had 7 corporate parties just in the first half of December. Many of these were for the Microsoft Corporation. We are lucky to have such a huge, successful company in our backyard (especially one that throws so many great parties!)

Corporate Success
Over the last several years, Jeff and I have created the perfect corporate show. We take all of the best aspects of the dueling pianos concept, add our own twist, adapt for any audience and event, and the result is a show that keeps our audiences asking for more. We are extremely proud of our show and believe it is the strongest of its type.

Looking forward to 2011...

Next year is already shaping up to be just as exciting as 2010 if not more so. Just in the first two months of the year, we have shows in Seattle, Vancouver, Mt. Hood, Phoenix (at the Biltmore), Houston, New Orleans, Charlotte, and San Fransisco. We are also looking forward to performing in Switzerland in the spring and then vacationing in Paris.

Happy New Year to all!

Vegas, baby!

2010-12-29T16:42:00.001-08:00

We have had the busiest holiday season yet and a highlight of the season was a show we had at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The event was for Bridgepoint Education and we had a blast! Our show was part of a multi-day conference where they had entertainment each day, including a performance by Cirque du Soleil. We were the last night of the event after a 5-star dinner and the award ceremony:

This is a photo taken with my phone from the back of the room. If you look really close, you can see our pianos way up on the stage. It was pretty great having two large screens projecting video of us (especially for those audience members way in the back). The ballroom of the Bellagio is absolutely gorgeous and the decor was just stunning.

Backstage of the show

Our greenroom. They had A LOT of soda for us.

Another greenroom shot.

A video of backstage

Being Christmastime, the Bellagio was beautifully decorated for the holiday season. Below are some photos from the 'garden' of the casino:

We are fortunate that our job takes us to some of the most beautiful places in the world and we get to stay in some of the most beautiful hotels in the world. The Bellagio is definitely high on the list of gorgeous rooms....

The hallway leading to our room.

Our room (we were upgraded to a suite!)

Bathroom

Bathroom 2

After our show in the ballroom, the company had a *sweet* after party in The Bank. They rented the entire nightclub in the casino and partied into the wee hours of the morning. Below is a not-so-legal video we took...

We make several trips to Vegas a year for work, but this was definitely up there for us. The client was great and we had such a wonderful time.

2010-12-25T11:14:00.001-08:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Chicago

2010-12-23T14:49:00.000-08:00

In October we had a show in Chicago (see previous post). As I wrote, we were there for a very short period of time but the city left a huge impression on us. We were lucky enough to have a show in Iowa over the Thanksgiving weekend which left us the opportunity to spend a couple more days in this magnificent city. We stayed at the Westin River North which is extremely centrally located, and we put on our tourist hats and scoured the city. Below are the highlight photos from our trip. Enjoy...

Making a Starbucks run on Michigan St before heading out for the day

With our limited time, we decided to take a double decker bus tour through the city. Best idea! Not only did we get to see everything, we got to see it with no obstructions! I highly recommend taking in a city this way. Of course, since it was late November and cold, we were the only people sitting on the upper level.

This is the Presbyterian church on Michigan. It was featured in the movie 'My Best Friend's Wedding.' Beautiful old architecture in the mix of the high rise buildings.

This is the Wrigley Building. Note the walkway in between the two buildings. So cool!

Another view of the Wrigley Building

A view of the city. The building in the middle is the Hard Rock Hotel. The top of the hotel is gold (they call it the champagne bottle) and just stunning. It was originally the Carbine & Carbon Building.

Jeff at the front of the bus. Seriously, the best tour...look at our view!

As I said, we were the only wacky people who sat up top in the freezing cold!

Jeff's favorite building in the city...the Chicago Tribune. The interior is amazing as well.

Part of the Michigan bridge

The Navy Pier! Okay, so we would probably enjoy this more during the warm months of the year, but at least we didn't have to deal with crowds!

Another view of the Navy Pier. The ferris wheel in the background is a replica of the first ferris wheel created (an original Chicago invention).

On the bus again! One person joined us up top for a total of 2 minutes.

Pretty!

My free sample of the famous Garrett's popcorn. Seriously tasty!!

The famous Chicago sports announcer, Harry Caray, has a few restaurants around the city. Lots of cool memorabilia inside.

Another picture of the Navy Pier!

One of the best view of the city!

We traveled 100 stories up the John Hancock building as we were told it was the best view in town. This was absolutely true! A must do if you are in the city. Here is a view from above.

I picked up a second job washing windows.

Made famous by SNL, we ate at Billy Goat's tavern. Cheezborger, Cheezborger, Cheezborger!

Jeff had....you guessed it...the cheeseburger. I had a ham sandwich with a fried egg on top. SO GOOD.

YUMMMM!

One of our favorite activities of our trip was going to see a show at Second City. For those of you unfamiliar with this theater, it is a comedy group that has launched many of Saturday Night Live's most talented performers. The show was outstanding. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. Worth the trip in itself.

At the pub across from Second City after the show.

Half price bottles of wine!

We finished our stay by taking a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago. What a stunning art gallery! It reminded me of the Parisian museums. This is the set of stairs that goes up to the exhibits.

The farmer and his wife. American Gothic.

This painting is...so...choice.

We have officially decided that Chicago is our third favorite city in the country: 1) Seattle 2) Boston 3) Chicago. We had a fantastic time in the windy city and can't wait to go back!

Florida

2010-12-20T12:01:00.000-08:00

I am horribly behind on my blog posts mostly due to our wonderfully busy holiday season. My hope is to get all caught up before the end of the year (emphasis on *hope*). This post takes us all the way back to September when we had a corporate event for Berkshire Life in Naples, FL. The event was at the Ritz Carlton in the tropical oasis that is Naples. Needless to say, the hotel was incredibly beautiful:

View of the resort

Photo of the entrance of the resort

The resort's 'driveway'

At the front of the Ritz with our drummer, Glen

Glen checking out the beach

Jeff & Glen near the pool

Work never stops...Jeff on a business call

Our room

The event called for our band show that we have done several times this year. We perform a 90 minute dueling pianos show then bring our musicians onstage and play an hour dance party set. It is an amazing formula and we love every chance we get to do it.

Having dinner in our green room before the show

One of the best client provided pre-show meals ever. Lobster, filet mignon, and soufflet for dessert. Yum!!!

Post-show photo with the boys

Awwww....

Post-show drinks compliments of some of the members of Berkshire Life

One last trip to the beach

After spending a couple days in Naples, we drove to Ft Lauderdale to see some of Jeff's family. Then we drove north to spend a few days at Disneyworld. Yes, you heard me right. We figure it had been long enough that we could actually enjoy the happiest place on earth again. And boy did we ever! We stayed at the Ft. Wilderness Lodge on Disney property. I highly recommend this onsite resort. It is perfectly located and the pool is awesome.

We hit every park a couple times during our stay. Jeff ran into several people he knew during his time working at MGM Studios (now called Hollywood Studios). My favorite ride continues to be Aerosmith's Rockin' Roller Coaster, but the newish Everest roller coaster at Animal Kingdom was a close second.

Giraffes from Animal Kingdom

I had to do it

We had a great time in sunny Florida. It was fun to be back in our old stomping ground. Afterall, without the magical world of Disney, Jeff and I would never have met!

Fun post about our show last weekend...

2010-12-03T00:48:00.000-08:00

The Cedar Rapids Piano Lounge

Confrontation - How I Met Your Mother

2010-11-18T14:13:00.000-08:00

As you all know, both Jeff and I are huge musical theater fans. My favorite musical in the world is 'Les Miserables.' I am also a big fan of the show 'How I Met Your Mother.' I also ADORE Neil Patrick Harris. So naturally, this video makes me grin from ear to ear. Enjoy!

My Kind of Town

2010-11-03T21:57:00.000-07:00

As the late, great singer, Frank Sinatra, crooned "my kind of town, Chicago is..." And what an amazing city it is. We got the opportunity to perform for VALEC and Western National Group in the beautiful Westin downtown Chicago. We had a really great time with the audience...such nice, fun people from all over the country. Here are a couple of pictures of Jeff during sound check:

The room was decorated beautifully and had the feeling of an old Chicago speakeasy.

The day of the gig we had a few hours to walk around the city. We tried to go to as many places as time would allow. Below are a few of the photos I was able to capture with my phone:

We were there on Columbus Day, which also happened to be the day after October 10, 2010 and the Chicago Marathon. The city was buzzing! This is a fun picture to let us always remember when we were there.

A great view of the city

This is Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park. It is one of the largest fountains in the world. The four sea horses on the sides represent the four states that touch Lake Michigan: Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan.

Not exactly sure what this is, but it is very cool.

This is a picture of the Millennium Park Amphitheater. It seats up to 7000 people and has one of the most sophisticated sound systems of any outdoor arena. The city holds free concerts here regularly.

This is a photo of the amazing sound system.

The theater district. Yes, Jeff loves it when I make him be in pictures.

If I had been 5'8" with perfect turnout, maybe I would have landed a job here. One of the most renowned ballet companies in the world.

More fun in the theater district.

A river runs through it. Next time we are planning to take a boat tour through the city.

So, as ol' blue eyes said, this is 'one town that won't let you down.' We had a blast and can't wait to go back in a few weeks. Any suggestions of fun things to do while we are there....?

Musical Theater Fans

2010-10-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

As I was Google-ing our names last night (admit it, we've all done it), I came across something fun that you musical theater fans will appreciate. Two years ago we were fortunate to be in a production of the amazing musical 'Last Five Years' as a part of the Oregon Musical Theater Festival. Well...I discovered our production is listed on the official 'Last Five Years' Wikipedia page! If you would like to take a look, click here.

It was such a wonderful experience and I hope that we have the opportunity to perform in this emotional, hilarious, brilliant show written by Jason Robert Brown again someday.

CablePalooza 2010

2010-09-10T15:53:00.001-07:00

Last month we performed at Comcast Cable's CablePalooza 2010. The event was held at the Shilshole Beach Club on the shores of Puget Sound. The party was crazy, the views spectacular, and the show was a hit. We were one of many activities happening including meet and greet with some of the cast members of the New Real World, photos with a UFC wrestler, massages, fortune telling, make-overs, and many amazing prizes to be won. We had a great time and, thanks to Team Photogenic of Seattle, captured a few moments on film:

If you happen to have Comcast, in the on-demand section, you can view a recap of the event. Or you can view it at http://www.comcastspotlight.com/markets/seattle/400/cablepalooza-2010.

Thanks to everyone at Comcast for a great evening!

Traverse City

2010-09-07T21:35:00.000-07:00

Back on August 1st, we were fortunate enough to get to perform for the wonderful Pioneer Hi Bred Corporation again. This was our 4th show for the company and it was another amazing experience. Once again, we got to perform with our drummer, Glen Schricker and guitarist, Chris Vazquez. This show format has proven to be extremely successful and so much fun! We perform our all-request dueling pianos show for the first part of the evening and then bring up the other musicians for a full band experience and dance party. Everytime we have performed this, it has been a huge hit. Below are a few photos taken by Glen of our rehearsal before the show:

We performed at the beautiful Grand Traverse Resort. Below are some post-show photos...

Glen and consultant extraordinaire, Bill Hopkins.

Chris and Rhiannon

The following day we had some time to spend in Traverse City. What a beautiful place! The region is known for it's wine, cherries, and cherry wine. We tried all of these. The area completely exceeded any of our expectations:

Thanks again to Bill Hopkins Events for having us for another amazing time. Let's do it again in Naples!

Lake Tahoe

2010-07-29T22:32:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we had a show in Lake Tahoe for National Auto Care Corporation. The event was at the Harrah's Casino in South Lake Tahoe. We had such a wonderful time performing for this fun group. We had the crowd singing, dancing a kick line, and even had CEO up dancing like Elvis. Thanks to Christina and crew for having us a part of your event!

After the show, we had some time to experience the beauty of Lake Tahoe. Below are some pictures from our time there...

Our hotel was right on the beach...

Yes, our life can be hard.

Awwww...

I will go into the water!

It was so very cold...but I did it!

Breakfast at a great restaurant in North Lake Tahoe called the Log Cabin. This place was featured on Rachel Ray and the dish that Jeff is eating was featured in Bon Appetite Magazine. Yum!

Our drive back to Reno over the mountains. This is the view from 8000 feet!

Super Jeff!

We spend a lot of time in airplanes and every once and awhile, the view takes my breath away. This iPhone photo doesn't do it justice, but the sunset was unreal!

Lake Tahoe was fantastic and we hope to go back someday...hopefully the water will be warmer next time!

Greatest Compliment

2010-07-12T17:26:00.000-07:00

The greatest compliment we can get from a client is repeat business. This year we have already booked eight repeat corporate events! Thank you to Pioneer, Good Samaritan, Rosary Healthcare, Microsoft EPG, McCormick Woods, Airborne Law Enforcement, Whitman College, and the US Navy.

In other news, we have been extremely busy the last couple of months:

San Diego

We ended the month of March with a corporate event for Aviva at the SE San Diego in downtown San Diego. Aviva is one of the fastest growing company in the USA with offices all over the world. We were fortunate to perform for their top performers at the gorgeous SE San Diego. Next year their event will be held in the beautiful island of Fiji!

Idaho Falls

Our next stop was the 2nd Annual Good Samaritan Dueling Pianos Fundraiser in Idaho Falls, ID. This was our second year at this wonderful event. The people of Idaho Falls are so gracious. The fundraiser was a huge success and we had a great time spending a few days with the people of Idaho Falls. We can't wait until next year!!

Vegas, baby!

At the end of May, we spent another week in Sin City enjoying the warm weather, fun atmosphere, and world-famous casinos. We always enjoy performing in this great city...but are also always thankful to come home.

Miles City

In June we headed out to the Big Sky state for an event in Miles City, MT. This was a fundraiser for the Holy Rosary Healthcare Foundation. This organization does amazing things for cancer patients and the community of Miles City. There were 600 people in attendance to support this great foundation raising more money than ever expected. The theme was the 1910's as the foundation celebrated their 100 year anniversary. This was a great show for us and we are thrilled that they have asked us to return for their event next year!

Boston

Finally! An event near Jeff's hometown of Boston, MA! The event was held at the Wayside Inn in Sudbury...an old, historic, beautiful site. We were able to extend our trip by a few days and see Jeff's family & friends.

Port Orchard, WA

We spent the 4th of July performing for a private party in Port Orchard, WA. We had such a great time with everyone at the party...what a beautiful place! Thankfully, the rain didn't disrupt our show as we finished just moments before the drizzle started. The evening was rounded off by 1.5 hours of breathtaking fireworks. Thank you to the Mitchell's for a memorable night!

Sander's Mansion

Finally, this weekend we performed at the Sander's Mansion in the Kent/Auburn, WA area. This is a gorgeous location and we had an absolutely wonderful time! Always a treat for us to perform just 20 minutes from home!

This week we are heading down to Tucson, AZ to perform for the Annual Airborne Law Enforcement. This will be our second year performing for them (last year was in Savannah, GA). The event will be held at the JW Marriott which we've performed at before. We can't wait to entertain 700 cops again!!

Oh, and just for fun, below is a picture of my birthday present from Jeff. Life is good. :)

Viva Las Vegas!

2010-04-23T18:12:00.000-07:00

Last week we performed 5 shows in 5 days in Sin City. We had a great time in Vegas, as always, and are so thankful to be able to work there. We spent the majority of our time performing in the new Palazzo Casino connected to the Venetian. We performed in conjunction with the #1 show is Vegas, 'Jersey Boys.' It's a beautiful room in a gorgeous casino with a very fun, respectful audience.

On our off time, we saw a few friends, relaxed, and, of course, perused the famous Las Vegas Strip. As usual, I forgot our camera (our friends of La Vie Photography would be so disappointed). So below are the few shots that turned out from my iPhone:

In front of my favorite casino, The Paris.

Jeff is always so excited for me to take his picture.

A view of the strip after one of our shows.

Jeff in front of the Palazzo Casino.

Me in front of the Palazzo casino (these are beginning to get redundant).

Yes, we do see the light of day! The is the 'garden' inside of the Venetian Casino...right before we had some of the best crepes since Paris!

I've also discovered my next career path. There is a genius company that I am going to join. It's called Yogurtland. This is my new favorite thing about going to Vegas. There is nothing like this wonderful place here in Seattle. It is a self-serve frozen yogurt boutique that is so good it was hard for me not to go everyday. Here is a photo of my heaven:

Thanks to everyone in Vegas. We didn't have time to see everyone or do everything we'd like...but that's just more motivation to go back soon!

Overdue Update

2010-04-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

It's time for a much overdue update here! We have been nice and busy with some very exciting events. Since our last post we went from Mexico to Canada...and everywhere inbetween. Here are a few of the events we have performed at this last month:

Kamloops, BC

In the beginning of March, we performed for the World Masters Championships at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC. The event was for athletes from all over the world, ages 30-90. The athletes had been competing all week and they joined us for the final night party. We had such a great time with everyone and felt right at home with the international audience. British Columbia is absolutely stunning and Kamloops was no exception:

Thank you to everyone at Thompson Rivers University for all your help. We look forward to coming back soon!

Experience Music Project:

We had our first event at the Experience Music Project (EMP) here in Seattle....it's about time! We performed for the Microsoft Global HR conference for a St. Patrick's Day party. It was another international crowd of 900 attendees. It was an honor to perform on the same stage that just two days before Heart had rocked on. Here is a photo of the outside of the EMP:

TwinStar Credit Union Event:

In March we did our first ever breakfast event. That's right....breakfast. We were up on the stage performing our hearts out before we've normally had our first cup of coffee. At first we were a bit hesitant about doing a show in the A.M. but we had an AMAZING time. It was TwinStar Credit Union's annual member's event. I can't tell you enough how wonderful it was! Plus, it was great to be finished with the entire day ahead of us...before lunch. Thanks to Paulette and the gang at TwinStar!

Whitman College:

Last week we performed our second year in a row for the students at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. The campus is beautiful:

Once again, we were amazed by the student's song knowledge! These 18-22 year olds knew all the words to songs like Benny and the Jets, Old Time Rock 'n Roll and, of course, Don't Stop Believing. Thank you to Guitar Hero and the show 'Glee' for educating this next generation of the great music of the 60's - 80's. We will come back every year to perform for these smart, well-rounded students!

Vegas Baby!

We worked a week in Vegas last month and are heading there again next week. It's always fun to play in the circuit of casinos down there...and to see our friends who live there. Spring break was in full force last time we were there so it was nice and busy. We are looking forward to heading back soon!

So that's a short update of what's been going on the last month. It's been busy, but so much fun. Thanks for stopping by!

Pioneer Corporate Event

2010-02-18T13:42:00.000-08:00

Last week we had the pleasure of performing at our 2nd & 3rd events for the Pioneer Corporation in Cancun, Mexico. We had an amazing time and I have many photos & videos to share. This is just a small sample of a video that we took during the show:

We had such a great time and look forward to working with Pioneer in the future. I promise to post the rest of the photos from the trip soon!

Space Needle

2010-02-16T22:57:00.000-08:00

We had our first gig at the Space Needle last night...finally! It was so fun to perform in the iconic symbol of Seattle. The was also Jeff's first trip up to the top so we had to capture some of it on film:

The event was for BP (British Petroleum) with guests from all over the world....Australia, England, China, Japan, Germany, Costa Rica, and beyond. It's truly amazing how music transcends language and nationality. We had a great time and hope that this is one of many events up in the sky!

Playa del Carmen

2010-02-03T17:19:00.000-08:00

Mexico log #2:

The second reason we were down in Mexico was to perform at a venue in Playa del Carmen. The new upscale restaurant, Wicky's, had their grand opening for entertainment. We were asked to be the first team to perform at this beautiful venue. Wicky's sits right on the beach and this was our view from the piano:

They even made a near life size poster of us to promote the event:

The streets of Playa remind me of the small towns in southern France. We both fell in love with this beautiful resort town. There are so many different nationalities living in the area. Most predominately are Italian, Dutch, German, and American. This lends to a very international feel to a beautiful Mexican town... except for the Tequila everywhere.

Jeff hanging out on the street outside of Wicky's.

My mom's very good friend's sister, Patsy Chilson, is a real estate agent in Playa. She very generously offered us her extremely beautiful penthouse condo for the week. (http://www.elite-luxury-properties.com/mv416.aspx). It was one of the nicest places we have ever had the privilege of staying in:

The living room area

Kitchen

Master bedroom

Guest bath

Interior courtyard of the condo complex

Second level, private dining/hot tub area

Hot tub with view of the beach

The weather was brilliant while we were there. A perfect 82 degrees everyday. We spent much of our free time on the beach:

My feet.

The whitest girl on the beach!

This is a video I took of some seagulls. I thought it was very cool.

This is a video Jeff took...a little tour of where we were staying:

We really enjoyed our time in Playa del Carmen and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fantastic vacation spot. We actually go back to Cancun next week for two more corporate events. This time maybe I'll actually lay off the sunscreen so I look like I've been in sunny weather!

Cancun

2010-01-29T15:46:00.000-08:00

¡Hola! We are currently in Mexico and having just an amazing time. This blog entry will be done over the course of a couple days as we are here for two different reasons. The first, is for a corporate event we performed for Pioneer Hi-Bred International. The event was at the Secrets Murano Resort in Cancun (6 star resort). We had an incredible time performing for the group. Bill Hopkins Events booked us for the event and they were a true pleasure to work with. The company put us up in the Aldea Thai resort...see photos below:

The view from our balcony

The walkway in the resort

Our room

The pool

Me posing with a Thai statue

Jeff & Glen posing with the Thai statues

The event was unbelievable. We performed our corporate dueling pianos show for the first section of the evening and then had the honor of performing with Glen Schricker, drummer extraordinaire, for the dance portion of the evening. We even had the honor of playing a few songs with Bill Hopkins himself (www.hoprock.com). Below are a few pictures from the resort we performed at:

Jeff, Glen, and Bill at a beautiful french restaurant at the resort.

The entrance to the restaurant

The hotel ballroom we performed in.

Below is a video that was shot from someone in the audience early in the evening. Jeff singing Under the Boardwalk....

The end of the evening had all 300 guests on their feet dancing the night away. We are looking forward to coming back in a couple weeks to perform for a different division of Pioneer, again in Cancun. Thanks to Bill Hopkins for everything!

I will post again tomorrow with the details about our shows we are currently performing in Playa del Carmen....

Keizer's First Citizen Awards Banquet

2010-01-18T22:50:00.000-08:00

We are performing at Keizer's First Citizen Awards Banquet on February 6 at the Civic Center in Keizer, OR. If anyone from the area is interested in attending, it is open to the public. For ticket information visit keizerchamber.com. It sound like it's going to be a lot of fun...and I get to perform close to home! See the above flyer for all the details.

Vegas Baby!

2010-01-14T18:27:00.000-08:00

We just returned from playing in Las Vegas for the week and we had a blast! One of our friends from Holland America Cruise Line is now the entertainment director for the Stratosphere and they have a brand new dueling pianos room in the casino. We performed at the club the first two nights in Vegas and had a great time.

The rest of our time in Vegas we performed at the new Palazzo casino. It is a gorgeous casino right next to the Venetian on the strip. The room we performed in, Salute, was one of the most beautiful dueling pianos rooms we have been in. The clientele was more sophisticated than a normal Vegas room, which we really enjoyed. Below are a couple pictures we took of the Palazzo room:

We had a wonderful time in Sin City and are looking forward to returning in the next few months.

2009-12-19T21:22:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Random Happenings

2009-12-13T14:55:00.001-08:00

I was looking through our pictures of the last few months and found a couple amazing shots that Jeff took. This first is from the 4th of July. This is the view we have of the Lake Union fireworks from our balcony. It was truly an amazing display:

Every year during August in Seattle the city holds what is called Seafair. Unfortunately, we are usually gone during this action packed weekend. This year we flew back while the Blue Angels were performing their airshow. This is a picture from our balcony of the planes flying right over our condo:

These next group of photos are from our Thanksgiving party. Our friends from our old neighborhood came over and we had a party the night before Thanksgiving in our owner's lounge. I made a delicious ham (yes, I cooked) and everyone brought their favorite side dish:

Holiday Parties with Microsoft

2009-12-13T14:42:00.000-08:00

This week we performed at two different Microsoft holiday parties. We had a great time and are very thankful for the enthusiastic guests.

The first event was at the Seattle Tennis Club. This was our first time in this beautiful venue. I was able to take a couple pictures during set up:

The second event was at the Four Seasons downtown Seattle. This third year performing for this group and it was the best year yet! We had so much fun. There was 500 Microsoft employees in attendance at the beautiful Four Seasons ballroom. Jeff took a couple pictures during set up:

The photography group Team Photogenic was on site and they will have some brilliant pictures of the event soon that we will post.

Thank you Microsoft! We'll see you again next year!

Colorado Springs, CO

2009-12-08T00:00:00.001-08:00

This weekend we were honored to perform for the annual USAA Insurance holiday party in Colorado Springs, CO. This was our second year performing our dueling pianos show for the company and it was such a great time! The crowd was amazing...we only wish we would have had more time on stage! Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

This is a picture of our accommodations. It's an unbelievable place called the Cheyenne Mountain Resort. They have golfing, swimming, hiking, tennis, and more. Unfortunately, it was 13 degrees out so we didn't take advantage of any of the outdoor activities.

I snuck in a picture during set up before the event. It's kind of hard to see the enormity of the room in the picture, but believe me, it was big! They eventually had it decorated so beautifully as well. After our show, a band called Martini Shot played the rest of the evening. They were excellent. We love hearing live band that's incorporate horns.

And, per Kirsten's request, here is a picture with one of us in it! Jeff having a post-show beverage.

We want to send a big thank you to Donna Vessey Events for having us! Again, we had such a wonderful time and hope to make it back again. Although, I wouldn't mind if the weather was not 13 degrees and snowing.

And finally, I have to post a couple pictures I took from our balcony today. It was the most beautiful day up here in Seattle and I tried to capture it on 'film' (via my iPhone)....

Mexico Cruise

2009-12-03T13:59:00.001-08:00

Hola del pais de Mexico! We just completed our first cruise ship contract in over a year and it was to the beautiful Mexican Riviera. We had a great time aboard the ms Statendam, one of Holland America Line's small, beautiful ships. We were on the ship for a short five day stint that took us to San Diego, Puerto Vallarta, and Huatulco. Below are some pictures of the ms Statendam:

A view of the ms Statendam from port. The ship holds just 1,258 guests (which is small compared to the massive ships out there today). We enjoy the small, intimate ships where you actually get to know everyone.

The Van Gogh showroom. The whole room is themed as Starry Night by Van Gogh. Very beautiful. Our show was a great success and it was a lot of fun to do our headliner show again.

A statue in the atrium of the ship.

We were very excited to get back to P.V. It's one of our favorite Mexican ports because it's so beautiful. And there is a Starbucks. We usually go to our favorite restaurant called Ah Caramba which is way up high on a hill. We love going there for sunset dinner. The food is exceptional and the view is unbelievable. Unfortunately, all aboard was 4:00 so we had to miss out on it this time around.

A photo of P.V.

Our last Mexican port was a little town called Huatulco. Really stunning place. Sailing into the cove that the town in located in, was just spectacular. If you are looking for a remote getaway, I would recommend checking this place out:

Our trip home was nothing less of eventful. Flying out of Huatulco was an experience within itself. The airport can accommodate one plane at a time and you have to walk about 1/4 mile from the gate to board the plane. Our layover was in Mexico City. It is huge. Flying in was like nothing I've ever seen. Imagine L.A. and the surrounding areas but all in one location. So very populated! We flew home via AeroMexico (no need to fly that airline again) and are happy to be back in beautiful, cold Seattle. It was nice spending a few days in 90 degree weather.

The only drawback to this trip was the fact that I had pneumonia. Ugh. Jeff took me to the hospital on Thanksgiving day where they took x-rays and found pneumonia on my right lung. Although I was encouraged not to get on a ship, we did. It took the full 5 days for me to recover. I made it through the show, purely on adrenalin, and am feeling 90% better now. I don't recommend getting pneumonia. Especially when you have to travel.

We are heading off to Colorado Springs tomorrow to do a corporate event for USAA Insurance. This is our second year performing for their holiday party and are really looking forward to it. I checked the weather for CO Springs today...11 degrees. Good times. I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody

2009-11-24T16:22:00.001-08:00

This is one of our most requested songs. Jeff and I do it very well. The Muppets do it even better. Enjoy!

Fall Events

2009-11-10T16:33:00.000-08:00

We had a very busy and fun fall this year. As usual, I neglected to bring our camera to the events but wanted to let you all know what exciting things we've been up to:

In September, we performed our dueling pianos show for Zumapoolza 2009 in Newport Beach. The Zumasys corporation had their annual conference in southern California and we were the entertainment for the final evening. It was a rock and roll theme and we were the surprise entertainment. Imagine 700 techies singing their hearts out to Bon Jovi and AC/DC. These self-proclaimed nerds know how to party! It was a lot of fun and we are so thankful to have been a part of the event.

At the end of September we performed at our favorite event of the year...Oktoberfest! This was the 4th year at McCormick Woods and it just keeps getting better every year! For those of you in the Northwest, if you haven't been, don't miss out next year!

In October we were lucky enough to be a part of two of our closest friends wedding. I was a groomsman (yes, groomsman) and Jeff officiated the wedding (see the photos below). We had a great time and the wedding was so special. Thank Bricki!

Another highlight of this fall was performing for the Microsoft 10 year service party. The event was at Bel Harbor on the Seattle waterfront. Absolutely beautiful! The party was for employees world-wide who have worked for Microsoft for 10 years. There were about 800 people there to enjoy our dueling pianos show and the band The Presidents of the United States. It was such a great time!

The end of October was spent performing for a beautiful wedding up here in Seattle at the Lynnwood Convention Center and celebrating our good friends Emily and Jonathan's wedding in Newport Beach. It was a weekend of love for sure!

We are gearing up for our busy holiday season and I promise to bring a camera to the events!

NW Events Show

2009-09-30T17:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we participated in the NW Events Show at the WA State Convention Center. We had a great time speaking with perspective clients and other professionals in the industry. We opted out of setting up our pianos this year, which made load-out A LOT easier. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to say hello!

6th Annual Oktoberfest

2009-09-09T14:57:00.001-07:00

Once again, we are performing at the 6th Annual Oktoberfest Celebration at McCormick Woods Golf Resort. This is a really amazing event that is open to the public. Saturday night is already sold out, so get your tickets today for Friday night! See you there!

Sonoma Valley

2009-08-31T15:59:00.001-07:00

A few months ago, we performed for the Andretti Green sponsor party the night before the Indy 500 (see old blog post). We had such an amazing time at the event. The only unfortunate part of the event was that we were unable to attend the race the next day (we had a gig in Florida). The Andretti team invited us to head to the race at the Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. So we did. And did we have a great time! We were able to invite my parents to come with us and we enjoyed the race along with some amazing wineries.

This is a picture in front of the Ledson Winery in Sonoma. This ended up being our favorite winery we visited. Not only was it the most beautiful, the wines were incredible. So complex and infused with some unique flavors. The staff was very knowledgeable and the pours were quite generous. Maybe that's why we enjoyed it so much...

Mario Andretti has a winery? Does he ever have a winery. This is in Napa Valley not far from the town center. The winery looks like you are stepping back into the Italian old country. Really beautiful. And they served their own wine at the race.

Now we are at the race. What an experience! We had VIP passes compliments of the Andretti team. These passes got us into the sponsor booths and down in the pit. This is in front of Tony Kanaan's pit stop station. We were right there!

Drivers....start your engines...well...warm up first.

The race was an all day event. Activities begin at 8:00am and the big race doesn't start until 3:00. We got to see the Indy light races, the drifter races, classics races, and the very cool air show. Unfortunately, none of the riders from the Andretti team won the big race (there was an unfortunate crash at the beginning that Tony, Danica, and Marco were involved in), but we had a blast. If you ever get the opportunity to go to an Indy race, do it. Just bring your earplugs and sunscreen!

2nd Annual Studio 54 Party

2009-08-24T18:14:00.001-07:00

This weekend we are performing at the 2nd Annual Shake It Up Studio 54 / Disco Party just outside of Nashville, TN. It is going to be a great time with all your favorite 70's & 80's tunes at your request! If you live near the area and are interested in going, click here for more information. Get out your boogie shoes and come on down for a great time!

Indy 500

2009-06-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

How do we describe our event at the Indy 500...amazing, fantastic, and unreal are just some of the words that come to mind. We were honored to be asked to perform for the Andretti Green Racing Team and their sponsors the night before the Indy 500. The show was held in the "garage." When I say garage, imagine the size of a Costco with ceilings twice as high and racing cars suspended from the ceilings. The past few years the party has seen such performances by Cheaptrick and Smashmouth. For 2009, it was Jeff & Rhiannon. Pretty darn cool.

We arrived the day before for "Carb Day" at the racetrack. We were given VIP passes and a private tour of the cars and garage. Below are some photos from Carb Day:

Here we are in Danica's dressing room. I sooo wanted to snag one of her uniforms so I could be her for Halloween.

Jeff posing with Danica's car just before he touched it...the car, not Danica.

Another picture of Danica's car.

Posing with Tony Kaanan's car. He was a favorite to win the race, but got taken out early.

The inside of the cars are so small. The blue button on the steering wheel is the water button. During the race if the driver needs some H20, they push the button and a tube squirts water into their mouth. This is much needed as during the pit stops as the cockpit reaches temperatures of 140 degrees!

This is me in front of Hideki Mutoh's car shortly after meeting him. Per an inside joke, during our show, I told him that I would be his sugar mama. I don't know if that translates into Japanese very well.

The night of our show was just as amazing. We performed a 30 minute teaser before our main show and then they did a big announcement of the drivers:

The four drivers of the Andretti Green Racing team. From left to right: Hideki Mutoh, Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti, and Tony Kaanan.

Below are some videos from both Carb Day and the night of the show:

The hardest part of the whole experience was that we were unable to stay for the race! We had a gig in Tampa, FL Sunday night (which was great). So the team has invited Jeff & I to be guests at the race in Sonoma, CA at the Infineon Raceway. We are going out a couple days before the race for a party at Mario Andretti's winery (!) and hang out with some of the crew. We get to watch the race from the luxury box and maybe even from the pit!

We are still reveling in the whole experience. Everyone there was so gracious and nice. They loved our dueling pianos show. I think that because in the past they have just had concerts, they were blown away with how unique we are and how interactive the show is.

Thank you Andretti Green Racing for allowing us to be a part of this spectacular event!

Indianapolis 500!

2009-05-07T21:48:00.001-07:00

We have been asked to perform our dueling pianos show on the eve of the Indianapolis 500! We couldn't be more excited and honored to be a part of this event! We are performing for Andretti Green Racing! They are holding their annual sponsor party on Saturday May 23rd at the Indianapolis 500 raceway.

The Andretti Green Team consists of 3 drivers, including the very famous, very beautiful, very awesome Danica Patrick.

There will be literally hundreds of senior level decision makers from the team's sponsors including:

The Friday before the race we are being offered VIP passes to the track along with a personalized tour of the garages. We are so incredibly excited to be a part of this event. We will be taking a lot of photos and will let you all know how it goes!

Symetra Financial Event

2009-04-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

Sunday night we performed our dueling pianos show for the Symetra Financial Corporate Event at the Fairmont Olympic in downtown Seattle. The hotel is absolutely gorgeous and our room set up was spectacular. We had a great time with the attendees and were honored to be able to kick off their annual conference. Despite a tricky load-in, everyone at the Fairmont was very accommodating and our hotel room was gorgeous. Thanks for having us be a part of your event, Symetra!

Waikiki Beach #1

2009-04-15T20:57:00.001-07:00

Aloha! This is the first of our blog posts from Hawaii. We have been having the most amazing time here in Waikiki Beach. In fact, this is the first time in a long time we've traveled for a gig and don't want to leave! The people here are absolutely wonderful and we have thoroughly enjoyed working with everyone at the Royal Hawaiian center. Below are the first round of pictures I have managed to capture on my iPhone. The rest of the pics will have to wait as I didn't bring the cord to my actual camera. Enjoy!

This is our new routine...a two hour walk along the beach every morning. 81 and sunny everyday!

A view of the beach along our morning walk.

We went to the Honolulu zoo the first day we were here. There were some amazing animals there including these monkeys that had long, striped tails like raccoons.

Jeff on the beach, pre-burn.

No really...I don't want to leave!

Aloha!

2009-03-24T17:16:00.001-07:00

Jeff and I are excited to announce our next exotic adventure... We have been asked to be the opening dueling pianos team for the new room at the Royal Hawaiian Resort on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, HI! For two weeks in April, we will be enjoying the beauty of the island and performing at one of the most amazing resorts in the area. We couldn't be more thrilled. We will be sure to take many pictures and posts updates. Aloha!

Happy St. Pat's Day!

2009-03-17T16:22:00.001-07:00

The Muppets dazzle us with their musical ability. Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Whistler Pictures

2009-03-09T20:40:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from our gig in Whistler courtesy of Peek Photography. Thanks guys!

Whistler (not the mother)

2009-03-03T15:08:00.000-08:00

This weekend we performed for a beautiful party in the very beautiful Whistler, BC. This was our first time up to this amazing resort. We stayed at the Crystal Lodge right in the heart of Whistler Village. Our gig was at the Telus Conference Center just around the corner. What an amazing venue:

We were lucky enough to be upgraded to a beautiful suite in our hotel with a great view of the village that we attempted to capture via our iPhone:

The event went very well and we were able to see a lot of the area. Although we didn't have the time to enjoy the slopes, we will definitely be back.

We had some hiccups at the border coming back to the states. Long story short, because of our equipment, it took us several hours and a few different border crossings to be let back into the country. Let's just say it is a lot easier to get into Canada then to get out. Thankfully we had our new monopoly game on our phones to pass the time (iPhone users....this game is a must download. It is amazingly fun).

Thank you to the staff at the Telus Centre for all your help and for a great evening!

Holiday Madness

2009-02-24T14:39:00.001-08:00

It has been brought to my attention that we didn't post any entries over the holiday season. This is due to the fact that 1) it was a busy time for us and 2) I'm terribly bad at remembering to take photos of our events. We were fortunate to perform for company holiday parties in Seattle, Colorado, Phoenix, and Oregon. One of the highlights was performing a party for the Navy in Bremerton, WA. There were about 3000 soldiers and their spouses in attendance. The soldiers were shipping out the following week, so they were there to have a good time. We felt so honored to be a part of such a special evening.

Another highlight was being one of the first entertainers to perform at the brand new Four Seasons downtown Seattle. It was a Microsoft party and our second year performing for this group. The hotel is beautiful and absolutely pristine. Plus, the night we performed was the first snowfall of the season and our backdrop was a big window overlooking the city with snow falling throughout the night. Really breathtaking. Below is a photo of the restaurant inside the Four Seasons. It's not where we performed but it was the only picture I have of the hotel:

New Year's Eve was very special this year. No, we didn't haul ourselves down to Odessa, TX this year. We got to perform at the spectacular Tempe Center of the Performing Arts. It was a beautiful evening complete with fireworks at midnight. Plus, just down the street from us, the band Styx was playing an outdoor concert (sans Dennis DeYoung). It was a really wonderful evening. Below is a photo of one of the rooms inside the Performing Arts Center:

Overall we had a wonderful holiday season. It's truly our favorite time of year! We can only hope next year is even bigger and better!

Public Performances

2009-02-12T12:49:00.000-08:00

We are performing at the brand new Parlor Live venue in Bellevue, WA. It is a fantastic venue that has stand-up comedy every weekend and Jeff & I perform on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. We will be there for the next month or two so if you are in the area, stop on by! We are also performing a few times in the next month in Corona, CA (just east of L.A.) at a venue called At My Place. It's been lovely to be on land for such an extended period of time and we are enjoying all of our friends and family who have (finally) been able to come see our show! For more information on The Parlor visit:

www.parlorlive.com

And, as always, for a complete schedule of our upcoming performance visit our website at:

www.noteworthyproductions.com

The Last Five Years Video

2008-12-29T12:25:00.001-08:00

This summer Jeff and I had the honor of performing the phenomenal musical 'The Last Five Years' by Jason Robert Brown. The story explores a five-year relationship between Jamie Wellerstein, a rising novelist, and Cathy Hiatt, a struggling actress. The show uses a form of storytelling in which Cathy travels backwards in time (beginning the show at the end of the marriage), and Jamie travels forwards (starting just after the couple have first met). The characters do not directly interact except for a wedding song in the middle as their timelines intersect.

We were blessed with some incredible musicians: Brian Bartley, pianist/MD; Avril Javel, violin; Talia Lindsay & Ralph Stricker Chapman, cello; and Andrew Becker, guitar.

The show has the most beautiful music along with a heart-wrenching story line. For a more detailed description of the show, click here.

This video is a short highlight reel, including the very funny audition scene and the well-known song 'Goodbye Until Tomorrow.'

Thank you to all at the Oregon Musical Theatre Festival for making this production possible. We hope to do it again sometime in the future!

South America

2008-12-07T21:53:00.001-08:00

We had the recent luxury of performing on a ship that went through South America. The ship began in Ft. Lauderdale, then proceeded through a few Caribbean ports and finally hit South America. We went to Columbia, Ecuador, Panama, through the Panama Canal, the San Blas Islands, and ended in Peru. Below are a few of the highlights.

The most beautiful, quaint church in Panama City. We visited the Old City full of history and French architecture. The city is working hard to renovate the old building to restore them to their original construction. Really beautiful.

Hanging out in the Old City square.

This is the inside of the National Theatre there. Wow. It was so beautiful. I wish we could have seen (or performed) a show there!

The view of the city from the beach.

Now we are in Ecuador. We walked everywhere despite the hot weather. We stopped in this park here to enjoy a bit of shade.

The Panama Canal. Believe it or not, this was our first trip through the canal. The history of the canal is so fascinating and just exciting to cruise through. These are pictures of us going through one of the locks. We were so close to land, we were sure the ship would hit. We could literally reach out and touch the land. So neat to experience.

It was very interesting to see how the locks operated. It was also fun to see all of the people watching the ship from the shore. We were the spectacle to the natives!

And our last, and favorite stop, was Lima, Peru. Our time in Lima coincided with the G20 summit. The conference made our time there even more exciting! This is a picture of the presidential palace. You can see all of the flags representing the 20 countries that had their heads of state there.

This is one of the many churches throughout the city. They are all beautiful and grandiose.

Our AMAZING lunch in Mira Flores in Lima. Jeff enjoyed a local beer (which he surprisingly loved). The food, service and view were just fantastic.

This is the view of the beach in Lima. Lima has the most consistent surf in the world so there were surfers everywhere.

Overall, we truly enjoyed our time in South America. These are places that we probably never would have visited on our own. We feel so lucky to have a career that takes to all ends of the world!

AMAZING!

2008-11-08T12:31:00.001-08:00

If you like music, star wars, or just something creative, you'll enjoy this.

Caribbean

2008-11-03T17:24:00.000-08:00

We just returned home from a great two weeks aboard the ms Westerdam cruise to the Caribbean. The weather was perfect and the ocean warm. It was nice to get back to the Caribbean (especially during the cooler times in Seattle). We sailed to Tortolla, Grand Turk, St. Maarten, Costa Maya, Grand Cayman, and Half Moon Cay (HAL's private island).

The Caribbean audiences are always energetic and well receiving. We enjoyed all of the Westerdam's technical crew, and the Westerdam orchestra was amazing as always. Here are a few shots from a couple of the islands:

The beach in Grand Turk is breathtaking. The water is the most beautiful color of turqoise and deep blue. Plus the ships docks almost on the beach so it is highly accessible.

This is a shot of what we do. No really. This is in Costa Maya, Mexico. We were the first ship to go there in 14 months due to hurricane damage. They fixed the place up nicely.

And finally, here is a very typical shot of Jeff on the plane. Thank goodness for the iPhone and all the third party apps. Keeps us very entertained on those long, cross-country trips!

Texas BUC$

2008-10-14T18:25:00.000-07:00

We spent this weekend in Austin, TX where we performed for the Texas BUC$ annual conference sponsored by Texas Tech University. What a great time we had with these energetic bursars. This was our first time in Austin and we had a blast. It's definitely our favorite city in Texas as it's full of live music and entertainment.

Thank you Becky and all of the BUC$ team for a great evening!

A conga line during the show

In the news...

2008-10-02T14:59:00.000-07:00

Here is a rather nice article about our upcoming McCormick Woods Oktoberfest party:

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/kitsap/poi/entertainment/29922704.html

Oktoberfest

2008-09-30T16:11:00.001-07:00

This weekend is the Annual McCormick Woods Oktoberfest. This is our third year performing at this fantastic celebration and one of our few public events in the Northwest. The shows are this Friday and Saturday, 10/3 & 10/4. For tickets, visit www.mccormickwoodsgolf.com. The shows are almost sold out so act quickly! Hope to see you there!

Slide Show

2008-09-04T15:59:00.001-07:00

Thank you to all who shared in our celebration. We didn't imagine it would be so wonderful. Here is the promised slide show that was, unfortunately, unable to be presented that night. (Imagine it on a big screen with the music playing on a fantastic sound system!) Thank you again for making our night unforgettable.

The Last Five Years Photos

2008-08-13T17:07:00.000-07:00

Finally! Some pictures of our production of The Last Five Years. It was truly an exceptional experience. We will post video once it arrives.

Rhiannon singing "See, I'm Smiling"

Jeff belting in "Moving Too Fast"

Rhiannon performing "I'm a Part of That"

Jeff during "The Schmuel Song"

Rhiannon singing "Summer in Ohio"

Jeff & Rhiannon during the marriage scene "Next Ten Minutes"

Jeff during "Nobody Needs to Know"

The Last Five Years

2008-07-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

Next week we are performing for the 1st Annual Oregon Musical Theater Festival in southern Oregon. We are very excited to be producing the show "The Last Five Years" by Jason Robert Brown. Here is the press release for the show:

Rhiannon Kruse and Jeff Coleron star in this emotionally powerful and intimate contemporary musical about two New Yorkers in their twenties who fall in and out of love over the course of five years. The show’s unconventional structure consists of Cathy telling her story backwards while Jamie tells his story chronologically; the two characters only meet once, at their wedding in the middle of the show. The Last Five Years is made up mostly of solo turns, with beautiful music and alternately humorous and heartfelt lyrics. Jason Robert Brown won Drama Desk Awards for the music and the lyrics after the show premiered in 2002 . The show has since been produced at almost every major regional theater in the US, and has been seen in Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Germany, Italy, Canada, England and Spain.

Performance dates are July 25, 26, 27 and August 1, 2, 3, 4. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit: www.oregonmtf.com

Links

2008-07-02T23:34:00.000-07:00

Some of our wonderful friends, family, and past clients have graciously linked our website to their sites. We are asking anyone who has done this to please use the address www.noteworthyproductions.com. The other links still work (aka amazing88s.com, jeffandrhiannon.com, etc) we are just trying our best to make each link consistent. Thank you all in advance for doing this!

Happy 4th of July!

Alaskan Beauty

2008-06-27T16:45:00.000-07:00

We have had the opportunity to spend several weeks in Alaska this summer enjoying the natural beauty around us. The weather was unseasonably nice for us. Here are some pictures from one of the most beautiful places in the world, Glacier Bay. It was a picture perfect day. These pictures are of what is known as "calving." Basically, we stand around waiting for ice to melt. Truly magnificent:

One of Jeff's goals has been to capture the perfect eagle picture. Here are a few of a playful eagle around the glaciers. He is still searching for the perfect shot:

The captain graciously let me steer the ship through the glaciers. Apparently he wasn't thrilled with my driving skills:

Three Dog Night

2008-06-08T10:50:00.001-07:00

Last Tuesday we had the honor of opening for the iconic rock and roll band Three Dog Night at the Washington State Convention Center. The crowd was incredible and Three Dog Night sounded as good as they ever have. This is a small recording of their song "Black and White." Of course everyone was waiting for the song "Joy To the World" and when they encored with it, the place went crazy. They are one of the few band from the 60's with all of the original members.

We played an hour set to open the show and then played for 45 minutes to close out the evening. Funny enough, the crowd chanted for us to end with the song "Free Bird" and "Shook Me All Night Long." So we played a medley of the two. Of course we didn't play any Three Dog Night songs.

New Website

2008-05-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

We have finally updated our website! To view our new and improved site, visit: www.noteworthyproductions.com. It's still a work in progress, but we are very happy with the results so far. Enjoy!

Aloha!

2008-04-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from our recent Hawaiian cruise. We had a fantastic time visiting many of the islands. Our favorite was Lahaina, Maui where we enjoyed a traditional Luau. Hawaii has the most amazing, beautiful landscape. We can't wait to go back!

World Cruise 2008

2008-04-05T18:26:00.000-07:00

Enjoy a slide show of our pictures & video from our amazing trip!

Istanbul, not Constinoble

2008-03-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

Well we are on the last leg of our world cruise tour. It has absolutely flown by. We are in Istanbul, Turkey and flying back home tomorrow. As our internet connection is less than great here in our hotel, I'll wait to post pictures and video. I can safely say the highlight of our tour was riding a camel in Cairo at the Pyramids. They are so cute...and bumpy. Now we are preparing ourselves for our long travel day: Istanbul to Frankfurt, then Frankfurt to Seattle. Much easier than our flight to Mumbai, India! Bon Voyage!

World Here We Come!

2008-03-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we leave on our grand voyage cruise. The Holland America ms Amsterdam is in the middle of its 114 day cruise around the world. We are lucky enough to be the entertainment during one of the most exotic legs of the cruise. We fly from Seattle to Mumbai (Bombay), India then we visit Oman, a couple ports in Egypt, and Istanbul, Turkey. We will be gone for two weeks total. It hasn't quite hit us that we are about embark on such an amazing adventure. We will be sure to post many photos when we get back (our own of the pyramids!) So, as they say in Egypt "Senebti!"

Tuscon, AZ

2008-02-25T21:43:00.001-08:00

We had a corporate party in Tucson, AZ last week. The event was held at the JW Marriott Starr Pass. It's a new five star resort just outside the city. We had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the resort. These are a few pictures of the venue...

Jeff really enjoyed our spacious room...

We took am amazing hike that made us feel like we were in the middle of nowhere...

Rhiannon was very enthralled by the cacti...a little too much so...

There was a stone house literally in the middle of nothingness. No exactly move in ready...

Jeff kept looking for animals underneath the rocks...

And, to our happy surprise, there was a Starbucks in the resort. Life is good...

Captain my Captain

2008-02-25T21:31:00.000-08:00

We just finished three weeks on the ms Westerdam. We had a great time and met some wonderful people. Below is a picture of the Captain of the vessel. Captain Peter Harris is about the nicest guy you will meet. Definitely not a typical cruise ship captain.

Here is the most important group on the ship: the Captain, Hotel Manager, Cruise Director, Event Planner, Comedian, Magician, and us...

This is a picture with our friend Jimmy who is the piano bar player. We were enjoying a delicious Mexican meal in Cozumel...

Each cruise there is an activity called 'Superstar.' It is basically a playoff of American Idol where the guests fight for the title of Superstar. I sometimes play the judge ala Paula Abdul. I just do it sober...

Show Pics by Drew

2008-02-03T11:57:00.002-08:00

Our friend Drew took some photos of our show last week while we were on the Oosterdam. Jeff is such a ham.

Fun in the Theater

2008-01-26T11:48:00.000-08:00

After one of the production shows, Drew, Angela and ourselves had some fun in the Vista Theater. Yes, we can get bored on ships.

Magician: Daniel Chesterfield

2008-01-23T12:40:00.001-08:00

This is 'Magician' Daniel Chesterfield. Watch and be amazed.

ms Oosterdam

2008-01-21T11:53:00.000-08:00

We are currently on the ms Oosterdam to the Mexican Riviera. We are having an absolute blast! This run in phenomenal going out of San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. It's nice to be in the warm sunshine after enduring a very cold winter in the different places we had gigs in over the holidays. We have also been fortunate enough to get to work with some wonderful entertainers. In the picture is hilarious comedian Elliot Max and his lovely wife Laura, the spectacular magic & illusions of Drew & Angela (DV8 Reality Magic), and the impressionist/comedian Jeff Burghart. We are all having a wonderful time together and wish we could travel with this group all the time!

On the Road Again...

2008-01-03T22:18:00.000-08:00

Happy 2008 to all! We hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season complete with a fantastic New Year. We once again found ourselves traveling like crazy around the new year. We began with a gig in Colorado Springs, CO which we drove all of our equipment to (over 20 hours). We had a fantastic performance for USAA insurance. We managed to involve all 800 guests. The CEO told us it was their most successful holiday party to date. While in Colorado Springs, we visited the amazing Garden of the Gods (see pictures). It was freezing, literally, there so we made it a very quick visit!

We then flew back home from Denver to enjoy the holidays with family. Right after Christmas we flew back to Denver to continue our travels. Our next gig was in Houston, so the plan was to drive Denver to Houston with an overnight stop in Oklahoma City. Unfortunately, we ran smack dab into a snow storm and ended up having to drive 40 mph for 8 of the scariest hours we've ever experienced on the road. However, we made it safe and sound to McPherson, Kansas. The next day the plows had cleared the roads and we continued our trip to Houston. Houston was great. We saw a couple dear friends of ours and stayed in one of the sweetest hotels ever (www.hotelzaza.com). After Houston, we enjoyed a short 9 hour drive to Odessa, TX. It was our 2nd year performing for their New Year's Eve gala. We had a blast! It was a great time again and a wonderful way to ring in the new year. We then loaded up all of our equipment and left for our 36 hour drive to Seattle. Yes, 36 hours. We took turns sleeping in the car (thanks to our very comfortable Red Sox blanket), listened to Loveline, ate lots of chex mix and beef jerky, and sang along with the easy listening stations.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

2007-12-26T22:01:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays!
from jeff & rhiannon

Greetings to our friends and family! We wish you a very happy holiday season and all the best in 2008. As we travel across the country this holiday season, we want to let you know that you are all in our thoughts. We thank you for your continued love and support.

Top Ten
of 2007

10) We finally got our customized trailer!

9) Jeff began learning mandolin, Rhiannon began the violin

8) Fantastic trip to western Europe!

7) Block party, Rosstoberfest, Murder Mystery, all parties with the 85 stoners (our neighbors)

6) Cruises with family and friends

5) New additions to the world: Leo Helfrich (Jeff's nephew); Kylie Mitchell (neighbor); Owen Kruse (Rhiannon's 2nd cousin)

4) Exploring Alaskan ice caves, glaciers, animals, and beer

3) Red Sox win the World Series!

2) Beginning a new career as headliners on cruise ships

1) We got engaged!!

Microsoft Holiday Party

2007-12-20T16:47:00.001-08:00

December 8th, we performed at our first Microsoft party this holiday season. It was for one of the marketing divisions. We had a blast! It was at the new (beautiful!) Pan Pacific Hotel downtown Seattle. We had the busiest room by far with everyone singing and dancing for over 4 hours! We hope that this is the beginning of a great relationship with the Microsoft company.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2007-12-04T22:40:00.000-08:00

The Northwest has been slammed by a terrible winter storm the last couple of days. No, not snow, just rain. In fact so much rain that it is causing major flooding, closing of roads and bridges, and evacuation of businesses and buildings. Yesterday was the second rainiest day in Seattle's history. I-5 (the main interstate on the west coast) is closed between Seattle and Portland. They are rerouting traffic through different roads and highways. What is normally a 3 hour drive has turned into a 7 hour trek. We got stuck in the first part of the weather storm. We had a gig in Sacramento, CA this weekend and drove up to Seattle on Sunday. We ran into a snow storm near Mt. Shasta, then it was just heavy rain the rest of the way home. Thankfully, we made it back before it was too late. I've attached some pictures taken by different local folk who have encountered these last two crazy days.

First Class

2007-11-26T19:01:00.000-08:00

We fly a lot. Correction, we fly all the time. Generally, our flight experiences are pretty run of the mill. Overcrowded planes, crying babies, delays on the tarmac...the usual. Fortunately, we are MVP Gold members of Alaska Airlines (meaning we fly so much we get extra benefits). However, since we have been working with Holland America we have been flying Delta a lot. No offense to anyone who works for the company or has friends or family who are Delta employees, but our experience has been less than pleasurable with Delta. We've had luggage lost several times, rude employees, lost reservations...the list goes on.

However, yesterday (the busiest travel day of the year) we flew first class. No the cruise line did not pay for a first class ticket (ha!). No we didn't cash in miles to upgrade. No we didn't pose as Britney and K-Fed to sneak up front. It was actually because Delta screwed up. We got to JFK airport and low and behold, there was something wrong with our reservation. After 45 minutes of talking to the agent (and being told we had to buy a new ticket) the problem was solved. Now here is where it pays to be patient and nice. We didn't lose our temper. We didn't complain and yell. We didn't threaten anyone's job. We were just nice. And boy did that niceness pay off. We were bumped up to first class seats on a nonstop from New York to Seattle. If flying can be enjoyable, this is it. It's not our first time in first class, but it was definitely the best. If you have the means I highly recommend doing it. It is so choice.

New York City

2007-11-24T19:39:00.000-08:00

We just finished up a cruise ship contract out of NYC. The ship is the ms Noordam, the newest and prettiest of the Holland America Line. As shown in the pictures, the ship is immaculate and the theater was fantastic. The pier was literally right downtown so sail away went through the harbor with the most gorgeous view of the city.

The ship went to the southern Caribbean and we actually got to go to some ports we had never been to. The itinerary was Road Town, Tortolla; St. Thomas; Barbados; St. Martin; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. We had a fantastic day in St. Martin. Neither of us had been there since our Disney days, so it was a blast from the past. We spent the majority of the day on the French side of the island enjoying fantastic French food and wine....the new Beaujolais!

Post-cruise ship contract, we went to Boston for Thanksgiving and came back to NYC for the night. Unfortunately, due to the Broadway stagehand strike, our original plan of taking in a show was not able to happen. It's weird to walk around the theater district, see all the theaters and know nothing is happening inside. There were protesters outside each theater (see above picture). Although we 100% support their strike it sucks for us and all of the thousands of other people who vacationed in NY just to take in some theater.

The Most Amazing Concert

2007-11-09T16:20:00.000-08:00

Last night we had a religious experience with our idol Billy Joel. We attended a concert of his recent tour and were absolutely blown away. Now, we all know that Billy isn't a spring chicken anymore. In fact his opening line was "Hi, I'm Billy Joel's dad. Billy couldn't make it tonight so he asked me to perform for you." Regardless of his age (58 years young), Billy rocked Key Arena harder than many younger acts could have imagined. His voice was spot on- I mean... spot on. He sounded like he did 30 years ago. Like I said- blown away.

He opened the show with 'Angry Young Man.' What a beginning! He sang a lot of his radio hits: 'Big Shot,' 'My Life,' 'Only the Good Die Young,' 'We Didn't Start the Fire,' and 'New York State of Mind' to name a few. However, intermixed with the hits were some of his more obscure tunes (these were our favorites). 'Zanzibar', 'The Entertainer,' and 'Everybody Loves you Now' . He brought the house down with his instrumental 'Root Beer Rag.' A-Maz-Ing. He graced our presence on the piano (of course), with his vocals, and also guitar. He celebrated his stay in Seattle by playing some of Jimi Hendrix 'Purple Haze.' He, of course, ended with 'Piano Man' as a 3rd encore. The audience sang the entire song. The highlight for us was his performance of 'Innocent Man.' Yes my friends, he hit every note and then some. Something he hasn't been able to do in years. It was unbelievable.

I could go on and on about the phenomenon that is Billy Joel. If you have any opportunity to see him live...DO IT! It was both inspiring and, as an entertainer, humbling.

One Minute with Dave

2007-11-04T14:07:00.000-08:00

This is a video Jeff & I made last year. It's with one of our cruise ship entertainer friends, David Aiken (aka the Checkerboard Guy). He does these "One Minute with Dave" episodes wherever he goes. They are just random videos from his life and experiences. We had a lot of fun making it. It's too bad it could only be a minute...we had to omit a lot of footage from the "piano nazi."

ms Zuiderdam in the Caribbean

2007-10-31T07:22:00.000-07:00

We are currently on Holland America's ms Zuiderdam in the Caribbean. It is a beautiful ship with an amazing theater (see pictures). We had a great show with an amazing audience! You can't see it from the photo, but there is a lift on the front of the stage which we came up on at the beginning of the show. Very dramatic, very fun. The theater seats just under 1000 and we had two packed shows. The staff here is so accommodating and really made us feel at home. The orchestras on these ships continue to amaze us with their talent and abilities. The day of our show we get one rehearsal with the musicians. They basically have to sight read through our charts and make it sound like we've been playing together for years. And we manage to do all that in only one hour. Oh, and Jeff announced our recent engagement during our show. So now all the older ladies are coming up to me and asking to see my ring. Very sweet.

The other pictures are from a couple of our Caribbean ports. The first picture is of Road Town, Tortola. It's a very pretty port, but not a lot to do there. We enjoyed a tropical lunch by the pier...and all the chickens roaming the streets. The second picture is from one of our favorite ports, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. It's been 4 years since we've been here when we worked on Disney Cruise Line. Ironically, we are here with the Disney ship today. It's such a beautiful ship...though we don't exactly miss working there!

We did miss one of our ports, Grand Turk, due to the tropical storm Noel. The first two sea days were very rough. A lot of sick guests. The weather is now beautiful and very hot. Well, hot for us Seattlites! It's sunny, mid 80's out and very humid. Overall, we are having a ball here.

Sox go to the World Series!!

2007-10-21T22:47:00.000-07:00

World Series here we come! Another exciting comeback by the incredible Red Sox team. After facing elimination by the Indians, the Red Sox rallied to gain a ticket to the fall classic. They will be facing the red hot Rockies on Wednesday night. We never stopped believing. Let's go Red Sox!

Engaged!

2007-10-19T19:33:00.002-07:00

It's official! We are engaged! After six years together we have taken the plunge. Here are some pictures of the beautiful ring that Jeff designed himself. Notice the initials made into the ring's design. Absolutely breathtaking. Thank you all for your love and support!

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street : Trailer!

2007-10-08T21:14:00.001-07:00

Here is the trailer for the upcoming Sweeney Todd movie. It looks like it will be fantastic!

Let's go Red Sox!

2007-10-07T14:07:00.000-07:00

The post season is well underway and we are basking in the glory that is the Red Sox. It has been amazing to be able to watch the last couple games...and what games! The Sox are dominating. And just for some icing on the cake, the Yankees are losing. Life couldn't get much better.

We are heading to Boston next week to visit Jeff's family. It will be very exciting to be there during the ALCS. Oh, and of course to see Jeff's new nephew, Leo. Here we go Red Sox, here we go!!

Billy Joel

2007-10-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

We got tickets to the Billy Joel concert in November! Jeff has seen him in concert but I have not seen him live. Though, as many know, I have met him in person. It was in Milan, Italy while I was on tour with Up with People. I was walking through the "mall" in Milan with my friend, Jaime. She pointed out that we had just passed Billy Joel. I didn't believe her at first. However, Jaime convinced me to follow the man into a CD store. We walked straight up to him and Jaime said, "excuse me sir, but by any chance is your name Billy Joel?" The man replied in a heavy Italian accent "no speaka englese!" He walked off. Being the people Jaime and I are, we proceeded to follow him. We found the man looking at the Billy Joel section of the CD store. We then began to tell him that just in case he was Billy Joel, we wanted to let him know that his music has inspired us, etc, etc. He finally said, "Okay, it's me." We then had a good 20 minute conversation with him. It was absolutely amazing. He was so cool and down to earth. It was definitely one of the highlights of my life.

So the question is...should I try to stalk him again when he comes to Seattle? I wonder if he would remember our run in. Regardless, we are very excited to see his concert!

Show Pics

2007-10-04T22:30:00.000-07:00

Our sound tech, Selina, took these photos of our show from the sound booth.

Alaska Animals

2007-09-16T16:51:00.001-07:00

These are our favorite animals from the Alaskan area. Sea otters, humpback whales, and, of course, the Siberian huskies!

Ice Caves!

2007-09-16T16:44:00.001-07:00

We took this amazing (and hard!) hike in Juneau where we walked on a glacier and hiked inside an actual ice cave. Amazing.

Glacier Bay, Alaska... Wow!

2007-09-07T16:40:00.001-07:00

Alaskan Summer

2007-09-07T15:28:00.000-07:00

We are just finishing up our last couple weeks on the ms Amsterdam up to Alaska. This summer has been absolutely amazing! We have been lucky enough to take advantage of everything that Alaska has to offer. We have done many great (and challenging) hikes; we've seen every type of wildlife from bears to eagles to sea otters and whales; we have enjoyed the local seafood; we have walked on, and underneath, glaciers; we have tasted the local breweries; and, of course, taken more pictures than we thought possible!

Our show is going very well. After adjusting to the different clientèle that is Holland America, we have thoroughly been enjoying performing once a week. Our headline show is everything we imagined and more!

We are definitely sad that these are the last days of Alaska, but we look forward to hopefully coming back again next year.