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Wade Boeger
The Promenade in Brooklyn
Heights
Photo by Angelica
Welcome!
Updated September 5, 2008
"So Wade, whatcha been up to?"
I'll be doing a solo
performance at
The Manor Club
1023 Esplanade
Pelham Manor, New York
on Saturday, September 27th, 2008 at 8pm
For tickets and
information call the Manor Club at (914) 738-1528 or email them at
themanorclub@verizon.net
I still play private parties, corporate events and small theaters, solo, with the Movin' Out Band,
once in a while with The New York State Of Mind, and
once in a while with The Billy Joel Band, when they are not on the road.
The whole "stunt Billy" thing at Hershey, PA and Shea Stadium was an
amazing experience.
I was also a guest piano man on the Movin' Out tour when one of the regular piano men
wanted to take a break, but I've opted not to do that for a
while. I really want to stay off the road for now, write, practice,
learn, and be with my wife and my family.
I've updated my keyboard gear somewhat. I've managed to destroy my Kurzweil
PC2x, which I got quite used to with Movin' Out, but I don't think it
ever got used to me. I haven't been in a big hurry to repair it, I must
admit.
Mostly I've been using my Roland Fantom X8 as it does
open up a lot of possibilities with enhancing my piano sounds. I usually
bring the Roland SR404 sampler with me, mostly for comedy. But it is
nice having some of the sound effects of the songs I love at hand, like
the Allentown whistle and pile driver, the breaking glass at the top of You May Be Right
and the Movin' Out revving engines, and the list goes on...
If I'm playing with the MOB five piece I usually bring the Roland Fantom
X7 along for all the synth stuff, and keep it off to my right so I can have a dedicated piano and something to jump onto for
synth solos. I really love that!
I'm not doing anymore sideman work, at least on the
club date level, a decision I made after a difficult experience. So, I
don't use the X7 anywhere near as much as I used to. But in the long run
it's really helped me focus on what I really want to do with my life,
and that's been very positive.
Gotta tell you also, I've been dragging a Casio CDP 100
around with me everywhere to practice on, and I have to admit, I love the thing.
88 keys, pretty decent action, on board speakers, and it weighs only 26 pounds.
The thing is so light I have to velcro it to the stand! (The Fantom X8
on the other hand is close to 90 lbs!) It comes
everywhere with me, it's easy to set up, and as a result I get a lot more practice in.
I've even done a few gigs with it. It doesn't have quarter inch outs,
just a stereo headphone jack, and a mini one at that, like the one on
your iPod. But, plug that into a quarter inch adapter and it's fine.
It's only got a few sounds on it, but then again, a real piano only has
one! In a pinch it does quite well. When I get the PC3 rack mount (or if
I could find a decent PC2 rack mount, called the ME1, they don't make 'em
anymore), I may midi it
up and have the lightest piano rig ever.
I'm in the process of notating a collection of my
instrumental material, with the hopes of publishing the finished
results. This will include my version of Bumble Boogie, Sugar Punk (my
ELP on speed version of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies that can be
found on one of the Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids recordings),
Boogie In Monk Suit, The High Class Boogie (inspired by the solo
in High Class Snot and the fact that I really can't stand the words to
that song anymore), and Graveyard In Lockport. I'll probably throw
Untitled and Rain In The Woods in, too. The most time consuming
aspect of this project has been trying to figure out my own solos. But
now that I have discovered the Amazing Slow Downer program, I've been
able to tackle that problem head on with quite a bit more efficiency and
accuracy. I know you can do that with Logic, but it's bit more
involved...
I started writing an opera for a small string ensemble
some time ago when I lived in CA, but Movin' Out came along and I put it
on the shelf. I'm trying to start that up again, as there has been some
interest in my earlier string ensemble music. I'm not so much interested
in the opera anymore as much as just performing with a small string
ensemble. So, I'm trying to
get that going, too. I made friends with some of the string players at
Billy's Last Play at Shea event, and that's been wonderful
motivation to get the thing going again.
Dennis DelGaudio is a brilliant musician who was the
lead guitarist of Movin' Out. He was also the musical director of the
London production of the show. I'm telling you all this because Dennis
and I have been working on a duo project. It's coming along slowly as we
are painstakingly working out exactly what we want to play. It's been
very motivating, but like I said, I think it's going to take a while
before we can book a gig somewhere. We usually get together once,
maybe twice a week. It's so cool though. So far we've got about five
instrumentals and one vocal number, all our own arrangements. I think it
could take a year. But, one more thing to add to his creds. Dennis also
joined Billy's band for the Last Play At Shea event, and, guess what?
Billy asked him to join the band. So, when they return from Asia in
November, Dennis will be part of the Billy Joel Band, along side our old
friend Tommy Byrnes. Pretty cool, huh?
I do try to spend time at my house in PA and hang out with
my beautiful wife, my wonderful neighbors (a little shout out to Paul, Jane, Sammy and Coby,
GB and Deanna and Pat, Ann and Erica), get some practice or writing in, or, God forbid,
cut my grass.
Most of the time, however, I'm still at our apartment in NY, since most of my work is
still out of Manhattan or out on Long Island, and my wife's ballet work is
also out of the city. But I have also been doing a piano bar in
Harrisburg, PA called Carley's every so often, and also a little bar
place in Bangor, PA called The Broadway Pub, aka the recently renovated
Colonial Hotel. Both places have revitalized my desire to play more solo
gigs.
We have finally started recording my next CD. No promises, but at least I've started! Trust that it will feature musicians from Movin' Out.
It has forced me to update my recording gear, since, for one thing, I'm writing endless charts again, and recording on Logic Pro. I am now a Mac guy. Never thought it would
happen, but necessity dictates!
And that's what I am up to!
I'll keep you posted.
Thanks,
Wade
Okay, here's the old note that
went with this page.
It should work sort of like an Ambien...
Hello folks! Thanks for
dialing up my website.
For a long time the
World Wide Wade was left unattended. Sorry
'bout that. A Broadway show will consume you that way.
But I'm back. Everything is up
to date, save the CD ordering page.
There is a lot of
stuff on this site. Check out the Table
of contents.
There's a lot of pictures. I've got thousands of
shots from the first days of
Movin' Out till now that I want to share with you.
Eventually, I'll get a bunch more up here.
There is a lot of material to listen to. There are MP3 files on the sounds page,
including the recently added Stolen Moments from the days of the Wade
Preston Jazz Ensemble. It's the only recording of this wonderful group
to survive, and it's almost eleven minutes long!
And there are selections from both the old
Wade Preston Band (man, has
it been ten years already?) and
the now defunct Vivo Presto Swing, the swing
band I had in California for a few years before coming
back to my native NY for Movin'
Out. And the links
page is always fun.
Eventually you will be able to order my CD
No Present Like The Time
with a credit card, welcoming this site into the 21st century!
I've begun to send out a cyber mailer as to my
whereabouts when something comes up that I think is
important. I hadn't done that for quite a while since everybody knew where
I was six days a week.
Since the Broadway production of
Movin' Out
has closed I've
started doing public gigs again. They are posted on both the
calendar page, update
page, and the gigs
page.
If you want to receive an
email when a gig comes up, just
drop me a line at
wade@wadepreston.com and I'll put
you on the mailing list. I would never give or sell your Email address
to anyone. And, because everyone receives a blind carbon copy, it can't
be spammed. Privacy is very important to me.
I also appreciate, and really enjoy any feedback, even if
you don't wish to be included on the cyber mailing list. Email
me about anything. I'd love to hear from you.
So, thanks for checking out my web site. I look forward to
making more music for you in the future. Take care, and thanks again for your indulgence.
Sincerely,
What's
New
Click
Here
Email me
at
wade@wadepreston.com
