For reservations call: 251-433-3790
Entertainment Times
TUESDAY - THURSDAY 7:00 - 11:00 FRIDAY - SATURDAY 7:00 - 11:00
Playing Nightly - Bobby Van Deusen
Bobby's website www.thenakedpiano.com
Come out and listen to Bobby van Deusen, a Philadelphia native, Bobby his musical training at age seven. Precocious from a very early age, he started picking out tunes by mimicking the family player piano. Classically trained, he attended Whetstone School of the Performing Arts in Columbus, Ohio, graduating with distinction. Further studies at Capital University, Ohio State, Eastman, and Curtis, helped develop his dazzling technique, a trademark of his playing. Turning pro in 1976, he toured the Midwest playing clubs, piano bars, and shows. Moving south in 1985 led him to the Rosie O’Grady’s Dixieland Band, and gigs in New Orleans with Pete Fountain, Al Hirt, and The Dukes. He performed with the Delta Queen Steamboat Company for five years, perfecting his stride and ragtime styles. Bobby has played all over the country with Hilton Hotels, notably the Hilton at Sandestin, where he was featured entertainer for five years. He has been the “House Band” for RadioLive, a production of WUWF Public Radio, for 18 years and is currently touring, playing Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” with civic orchestras around the country.
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“I like awards,” Meriwether said. “I was competing against senators for that (lifetime achievement) award in Indiana. But I don’t get much into the dates of those awards (he was nominated for a Grammy in 1969 and 1999) because it dates me.”
Even without revealing his age, his biography reflects a long history of music. He began playing the piano at age 3. He composed two pieces by age 4. Mozart wrote “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” at age 5.
“I’m no Mozart,” Meriwether said with a chuckle. “One of those pieces was a boogie woogie I composed when I was four.”
in April 1976, he performed a musical tribute to African-American history called “Black Snow” at the Ohio Bicentennial celebration.
“That was the same year Roots came out (the television mini-series adapted by Alex Haley’s book of the same title),” Meriwether pointed out. “But I have wondered since I was nine years old about where my people came from.”
Meriwether’s previous performances in Mobile include shows at a restaurant John Word owned in downtown Mobile on Dauphin Street. He’s performed several times with Joe Louis and Friends, a Mobile-based group that is currently playing at John Word’s.
“When he played on Dauphin Street, Mr. Word used to have a mirror next to him so the people could see his hands,” Louis said. “His hands move lightning fast.”
The Ohio-born New York resident was actually discovered by the Alabama-based restaurateur in Arizona. During a vacation out west, Word heard Meriwether perform at the Valley Hotel and Restaurant in Scottsdale, Ariz.
“He didn’t even come up and introduce himself,” Meriwether said. “He just heard me play, left, and later I heard from an agent in Missouri that said ‘Would you like to perform in Mobile?”
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