The first school week of the 2024-2025 academic year is nearly in the books, and yours portly has a gig tonight!

I’ll be accompanying my friend Sarah on a selection of eight tunes, four from Adele, and four from and/or covered by Linda Ronstadt.  We’ve been practicing since June, and everything is sounding good.

Sarah is a phenomenal singer, and wanted to do this show to celebrate her 25th birthday (which is today!).  She picked songs by Adele and Ronstadt because they have influenced her singing style profoundly.  Sarah possesses a voice that is both powerful and vulnerable, and capable of capturing great ranges of emotion.

Yours portly will be playing keys.  Let me tell you, even at her poppiest, Adele is no slouch; her songs are fairly nuanced and feature some intriguing changes and extensions.  Linda Ronstadt’s stuff is even more challenging, although I actually feel more comfortable playing the smooth 1970s grooves of than the modern symphonic pop of Adele.

I also purchased a ridiculous (and slightly ill-fitting) pink tuxedo for the show.  Sarah really wants to play up a kind of lounge lizard vibe, and yours portly has the reptilian style down. I’m going to look like a guy playing piano in the bar at a Holiday Inn in the late 1970s.

I’ll see y’all on the other side—maybe with some videos to share!

Rock on!

—TPP