Talk:Piano bar

Origin of Duelling Pianos
An editor has added an unreferenced assertion about the origin of the Duelling pianos format. I believe the information is wrong, as I recall Duelling piano teams playing in the 1970s, and I suspect that they have been around longer than that. In addition, the assertion, as written, makes no sense: How can it have originated in Texes in 1986 if it was based on an earlier (undated) team of Duelling pianos in Lousiana? Can anyone find a reference? -- Ssilvers (talk) 20:22, 29 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Dueling musicians indeed have a long history at least dating back to early Ragtime 1900s-> Harlem stride 1920s-> and into Novelty Rag and presumably Boogie Woogie 1940s->. Called "cutting", or "head-cutting", competition has been a consistent fondness of pianists -- Ragtime, blues, jazz, and other genres -- all the way back to the turn of the century. Such competitions are still annual and/or occasional events for genre aficionados. Itinerant blues musicians (not piano) used to position themselves on opposite street corners and the crowd decided the issue by amassing near the preferred player. It was more common for a juke (joint) to let the combatants alternate sets inside where food and libation could be sold. Rock 'n' roll venues when I was a kid (1950s-60s) had "Battle of the Bands" night as often as possible to draw in crowds. One might surmise there was some form of shared-stage dueling pianos when Liszt and Chopin were writing.

John Sinclair (talk) 10:15, 10 September 2008 (UTC)


 * It is too bad that no one seems to be able to add any WP:reliable sources to the article. -- Ssilvers (talk) 12:30, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

I am the originator of this Wikipedia entry. I created it in December 2005. I am grateful to the contributors who followed me, especially "Ssilvers", who has made many pertinent updates. "Piano bar" is the only Wikipedia article I have originated. Other than "the musician and waitpersons sing" and "combination" piano bar "types", I originated the other "type" descriptions. I apologize that I am not familiar with most of the accepted Wikipedia rules or techniques for verifiable citations, footnotes, etc. My original entry was made from my passion for piano bars, especially the "open mic" variety. I was familiar with the other types, and my original article was written entirely from my personal experience and familiarity with the different types of piano bars. The definitions of the different "types" came only from me, and not from any other source. Ronkert (talk) 19:35, 30 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Hi, Ron. I added a few citations, but a few of the types still don't have one.  Can you find a website for a piano bar of each type that has no footnote?  If so, then we can use that as a reference for the fact that the type of piano bar exists.  Happy New Year!  -- Ssilvers (talk) 20:44, 30 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Hi, Ssilvers. Once again, Thank You for your excellent contributions and help on this article. I now understand the blue coloring to "dueling pianos" -- it is a link (I had forgotten that the "double bracket" enclosure defined a link. I don't have any suggestions for where to find citations for the non-footnoted definitions. I defined the differing types of piano bars based solely on my many years of experience in visiting many piano bars across the USA. I really appreciate your help and understanding that I am an inexperienced Wiki contributor. Happy New Year to you and yours! Ron Kert, Tampa, FL Ronkert (talk) 19:36, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

First modern piano bar request?
"In some circles, it is said that the song's lyric "...sing us a song" is in fact the first modern piano bar request ever made" What is this supposed to mean? Is the writer seriously implying that the first person ever to make a request at a piano bar did so to Billy Joel. Or if it was only the first modern request, was there a former era when making requests was popular, but the custom had since died away, and this patron revived it. It seems ridiculous. Could somebody with more knowledge than me about piano bars go in and sort this out? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.188.53.43 (talk) 17:33, 26 August 2008 (UTC)