Dueling Piano Artist: Jess Mills (co-owner)

Jess Mills, one of the co-owners of Off The Wagon Dueling Piano Bar, as you might imagine, has countless great stories! Catch a few more of Jess’s stories here. 

Story Three

When I started, I was at a large club in San Antonio, TX. I worked with some absolutely incredible entertainers and musicians, legends of the dueling world like Billy Ward, Mark Johnson, and Mike Clavijo.  I did my absolute best to absorb everything I could, but it was a very steep learning curve.

I considered myself lucky to be learning from the best, even though I wasn’t remotely in the same league. But I absolutely loved orienting the show entirely to the audience and giving them what they wanted.  

Then all the guys that I really loved left all at once to go start a new dueling piano bar far away.  All that was left were the guys that weren’t good enough to be asked to be part of the new team.  That included the new Entertainment Director (I’ll call him “Joe”), who was not a good singer. Or pianist. Or comedian. Or engaging. 

And his vision of the show was simply to have a staged performance that might be note-perfect but have zero spontaneity or audience direction. He also had a low opinion of me as a singer, which was deserved at the time.  I was just learning to sing, but I was more interested in getting the audience involved than showing off my pipes.  Still am, for that matter.

I will always wonder how Joe got to be the Entertainment Director, but maybe there weren’t any good options for the owners.

I finally had enough of being told my inadequacies by someone that I didn’t respect, and I went to a neighboring dueling piano bar and auditioned. Was hired on the spot and felt pretty proud of myself.  Sure, they were probably desperate, but I’ll ignore that. And the pay was almost double what I had been getting.  

Walked back into my old job to give my two weeks' notice, and Joe told me that he was letting me go (no notice from him!). He told me I had zero talent at dueling pianos, and I really needed to either stick to classical or quit music. 

I had the distinct pleasure of telling him I’d already acquired a new job as a dueling pianist, so that worked out just fine. He dismissed it and told me that it wouldn’t last long and that I was simply in the wrong career field. That was many, many years ago, and I’ve been dueling ever since. I believe results speak louder than words.

Story Four

Not too far into my dueling career, I had the privilege of playing at the legendary “Pat O’Brien’s” in New Orleans. They were short-staffed at the time, and so I ended up working almost every night the first few months I was there. 

Every month or two in the summer, they’d evacuate the city for a hurricane (this was before Katrina). I’d check the storm tracker, and if it didn’t seem dire, I’d just hunker down in my pad instead of leaving. And then…  boredom.  

One of these times, I ended up going to a great little pub on the outskirts of the French Quarter – my memory tells me it was the “Port of Call,” but I’m not altogether certain of that. What I do know is that they had great food and a list of tropical-themed drinks.

I can neither confirm nor deny trying the whole list over the days of the town being mostly shut down and empty. The skies turned darker and darker, going from a greenish gray to a foreboding purplish black. The winds got fiercer and fiercer, as the storm bands started beating the town.  

Strangely, these days were some of my most calm and peaceful. I wasn’t onstage; I had nothing that just had to be done. I read, and I practiced, and I wrote songs, and I drank fruity drinks. It was a welcome relief as I was feeling overworked – but not wanting to complain about having too much work – as a musician, that’s rare and wonderful!

I forgot all about this in the years since then, until recently when I heard the Jimmy Buffett song “Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season.” It was like he had reached back into my memory and written a song.  I know, I know, he wrote it years before, but that’s beside the point. 

Kenny Chesney remade it a few years ago on his album “Songs for the Saints.” I have listened to this song on repeat and just gone back in time to those crazy days in The Big Easy.

Story Five

New Orleans was amazing. Fun, challenging, lucrative, everything a young man in his 20s could want. I was never going to leave.  And then… Katrina. I was playing at Pat O’s until 4 am on Sunday morning.  The boss, Charlie, said, “be sure to be back by Tuesday because you’re on the schedule!” I told him, “Of course.” 

I put a change of clothes in my car, hopped in with my best friend, and drove away to spend a day or two in East TX, waiting for it to blow over. 

Then we got stuck in traffic and turned on the news to find out why.  The news wasn’t exactly reassuring.  Finally got to where we were staying, and I watched as the levees broke and my life abruptly changed.  But I was one of the luckiest ones – I had a career that would allow me to start from scratch.  

So I hopped a flight to Las Vegas because I saw that they had at least 6 Dueling Pianos clubs at the various casinos.  Walked up and down the strip trying to find who the bosses were, finally got an audition, and started performing.

Was Katrina a good thing? Absolutely not. But how lucky and blessed I felt that I could just pick up and start again. Most people didn’t have that option and spent years trying to recover. I am grateful every day that I could do what I did.

Make Your Own Memories at Off The Wagon Dueling Piano Bar

In our upcoming articles, we'll share more tales from the world of dueling pianos, but at Off The Wagon, we create tales and memories every night. Come and have some fun for yourself! Visit us right now for a memorable experience!