| Do you play for private parties such as pig roasts, birthdays, and weddings? | ||
| I love to play for private parties, especially outdoor parties. It's a nice change of pace for me to get out of the bar scene. Playing outside is great because I don't have to deal with cigarette smoke. I'll be happy to discuss almost anything, however I no longer play for weddings or wedding receptions. | ||
| Why won't you play for weddings and receptions? | ||
| Although I have played for weddings in the past, I avoid doing so when I can. The only time I can’t avoid it is when an old friend gets married and I can’t say no. (I think all my old friends are now married off… thank heavens). Why not? I’ve spent a lot of time polishing my act and learning songs that lend a good time to the places I regularly play (clubs and bars). Most of these songs aren’t appropriate for weddings (Although Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb might institute a new way of looking at the happy couple); therefore the bride usually wants me to learn five or six new songs just for the event. This translates to several hours of work for me, the result being five songs that I wouldn’t sing anywhere else. This is akin to a bridesmaid spending $500 on a dress she will only wear once, something you would only do for a good friend. Well, couldn’t you just charge for the extra time and effort, you may ask. Well, OK... if you insist. If money's no object, call me. | ||
| How far are you willing to travel? | ||
| I normally try to stay within an hour's drive of Altoona, but I'll consider longer distances if the customer is willing to pay for the travel time. | ||
| Where can I get more booking information? | ||
| Answers about specific booking questions are available on my Contact page. Click here to leave this page and go there. | ||
| You are so good at what you do, why do you stay around here? | ||
| I like it here. I'm not seeking fortune and fame like so many who pack their lives in a suitcase and head for the big city. I like living in this area and I love being able to come home to my family every night. I don't think there is an amount of happiness to be found in fame that can't be found in what I'm doing. I read the tabloid headlines when I go to the store. Everyone has everyday problems, but when you're away from home all the time you tend to have more problems than most. Somehow, Toby Keith doesn't seem to be any happier than I. Richer, yes. Happier, no. | ||
| How do you remember the words to all of those songs? | ||
| It's not really as hard as you might think. It's all in the repetition. There are over 200 songs in the list, but I didn't learn 200 songs all at one time. I learned them one at a time over a span of many years. Like everything else we do, if we repeat a task often enough it stays in our memory. It's almost like driving a car. When you're first learning how, you pay attention to every little thing and every little thing seems monumental, but after you've been driving a while, you don't give it a thought. Your muscle memory takes over and the actions are automatic. | ||
| What's your favorite song to play? | ||
| The last one I learned. | ||
| How did you get started doing this? | ||
| Believe it or not, I had never even been in a bar until I was in my late thirties, so playing guitar in one never crossed my mind. One night after work a few friends talked me into going to a sports bar just up the street from where we worked. They told me it was Open Mic night. They had to tell me what that was. For those who don't know, Open Mic night is like karaoke without the audio tracks and video monitors. Amateur musicians bring their own instruments and play and sing on stage. My friends talked me into getting on stage and singing a couple songs. I had to borrow a guitar from another musician. I sang two songs, Dan Fogelberg's "Longer" and The Eagle's "Desperado", because I had recently practiced the songs to help a friend perform for his church's youth group. The owner of the bar was so impressed he offered me a job. I told him no. When I returned to my seat, the host of the show, Roger Shultz, came over and congratulated me on the job offer. I told him I wasn't going to take it. He looked at me in amazement and said "Do you have any idea how much this job pays?" I admitted I didn't. When he told me I about fell out of my chair. "How long has this been going on?" I asked in amazement. I asked the owner to give me thirty days to prepare a show and that I would come back and entertain his guests. We agreed on a date and on a price and I left the bar having no idea how much that one night had changed my life. | ||
| You look like you're having the time of your life when you're playing. Do you really enjoy it that much? | ||
| My normal answer to this question is this "I spent ten years in restaurant management, working incredibly long days doing incredibly messy, thankless work. Now I work three hours a day, drink free beer on the job, look at pretty girls, and get paid" Even if I hated it I'd never let anyone know! The truth is actually a little more complicated. The part about working three hours a day is total fiction. For every hour I spend in front of an audience, there is actually about six hours of effort. Aside from the time it takes to get to a gig and set up, tear down, and drive home, there is the time I spend learning new songs, the time I spend perfecting the MIDI files, the time I spend developing my web site, and the time I spend creating promotional materials. It's a lot of work that no ones sees. Fortunately, I enjoy all of that too. In real life, I'm pretty much of an introvert. I don't go out much if I'm not working, and when I do, I tend to keep a low profile. Being Summerhill allows me to express myself in ways I wouldn't be able to do otherwise. Most of the time it's a lot of fun. When the audience is with me and having a great time, nothing in the world is better. When the audience is not paying much attention and things are going pretty slow, I may tend to get bored, but I'll never show it. I'm paid to entertain and if I look like I'm having a great time, so will everyone else. |
||
| Are you married? | ||
| I'm married to the most amazing woman in the world. Her name is Lori. |  |
|
| Is Summerhill your real name? | ||
| Nope. I was born Steve Moore and am still that same person during the week when I work at my teaching career. I came up with the stage name because at the time I began entertaining, I was working as the Director of Operations of a new business venture, and I didn't want the bar-singer to be associated with the "respectable" business. Summerhill is a little town just outside of Johnstown, and I passed the exit sign every day on my way to work. Just sounded right. By the time I left the other business, the Summerhill name was already established, and there was no reason to change it. | ||
| Call me crazy, but I know I’ve heard drums and pianos in the background. How do you do this? | ||
| The technology
is called |
||
| What
made you decide to use |
||
| I wrestled
with the decision for five years before I took the dive. Musical purists
insist that using any kind of prerecorded music in a live performance
is cheating; however I believe it’s all in what the musician is trying
to accomplish. I just want people to have a good time. If |
||
| What's with the backwards cap? | ||
| The first night I used my wireless headset mic I was self-conscious about the wires hanging off the back of my head, so I turned my ball cap around so that the bill covered the wires. It worked as planned and I just stayed with it until it became a sort of trademark. | ||
| Do you do this full time or do you have another job? | ||
| I'm fortunate enough to have two careers that I love. During the week I'm a technical instructor for South Hills School of Business and Technology. There I teach a variety of computer classes. | ||
