Roxy Live Presents: Resident Pianist Michael Garin
Click here for an interview with Michael on the Roxy Hotel website

Contact: 917-345-6781 | michaelgarinnyc@gmail.com

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Michael Garin Begins Seventh Year as House Pianist at Tribeca’s Roxy Hotel

 

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“A Virtuoso Musical Wit”—New York Times 

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“Presides over the best party in town”—Village Voice

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This Fall, Michael Garin begins his seventh year as house pianist at the Roxy Hotel in Tribeca. The Drama Desk, Outer Critics’ Circle, MAC and Bistro Award winner, whose résumé includes Elaine’s, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Monkey Bar, the Rainbow Room, and the VIP Room at Limelight, has created a beguiling musical experience at the Roxy during Sunset Cocktails, blurring the distinction between pianist and DJ.

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In a departure from tradition, Michael has brought together a wild and eclectic musical mélange which has attracted a new generation of piano aficionados. Blending such diverse musical worlds as Shaggy, Om Kalthum, Rossini, Jobim, Zappa, and Raymond Scott, Michael holds forth with a goofy, stylish, and very smart stream of musical consciousness that brings young and old together for a post-work and -school experience. From encouraging small children to play piano along with him, to his gently bizarre and self-deprecating additions (e.g., tap dancing while sitting at the piano bench), the lounge at the Roxy has become a friendly, welcoming, yet sophisticated musical destination. And there’s no cover or minimum.

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Michael’s mash-ups at The Roxy have become audience favorites. And the audience is as varied and eclectic as the songs — A$AP Rocky, David Johansen (a.k.a. Buster Poindexter), Cuba Gooding Jr., Bruce Hornsby, and former NFL QB Colin Kaepernick have all become fans of his unique talents as a “DJ of the piano.”

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Michael Garin has been a mainstay in New York City nightlife for decades, and has never failed to entertain and create a fresh new style tailored to venue and circumstance. From hosting the midnight burlesque shows in the mid-’90s that launched the burlesque revival (and landed him in L’Uomo Vogue in an Ellen von Unwerth photo spread), to co-creating and co-starring in Song of Singapore, the groundbreaking environmental musical (for which he received the aforementioned Drama Desk Award), to acting stints with Spike Lee (including the oddest of jobs, screaming the N word in a voice-over for Do The Right Thing). And now there is a cult following on Facebook for Michael’s Ogden Nash-style daily promotional poems for his gigs at the Roxy and elsewhere.

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As a pianist, songwriter, singer, poet, actor, and song-and-dance man, Michael Garin has carved a singular niche for himself as a performing artist who has criss-crossed boundaries and managed to bring joy to a diverse and appreciative audience. As Michael often says, “It’s a blessing to be in the Happy Business.”

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A Most Compelling Musical Omnivore, Michael Garin Plays It All

 

Read Will Friedwald's Review in the New York Sun

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Michael Garin

Solo Piano

Tuesday through Saturday

6pm to 8pm

Roxy Hotel

2 Avenue of the Americas

NYC

 

“Get Shameless or Stay Fameless!”—Michael Garin

 

Contact: 917-345-6781 | michaelgarinnyc@gmail.com

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The Mash-Ups: Annotated

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Here is a partial list of the strange and wonderful mash-ups that have made Michael a mainstay of the Tribeca music scene.

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• “It Wasn’t Me” by Shaggy + “People Will Say We’re in Love” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

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• “Life on Mars” by David Bowie + “Anyone Can Whistle” by Stephen Sondheim

 

• “One Rainy Wish” by Jimi Hendrix + “Sextet” from Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti

 

• “One Fine Day” by Carole King +”Waters of March” by Antonio Carlos Jobim

 

• “EnteOmri” by Om Kalthum + “Windy” by The Association

 

• “Hotel California” by The Eagles + the Russian Folk Song “Ochi Chornia”

 

• “Take a Chance on Me” by ABBA + the William Tell Overture (a.k.a. The Lone Ranger Theme) by Gioacchino Rossini

 

• “Layla” (The Piano Ending) by Eric Clapton + “Funkytown” by Lipps Inc + “Besame Mucho” by Consuelo Velázquez

 

• “Powerhouse” (a.k.a The Robot Music from the Warner Brothers Cartoons) by Raymond Scott + “I Wish” by Stevie Wonder (Recently added to this is Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Yes, Michael Rickrolls himself.)

 

There are more, of course. But these are all best experienced live at the Roxy Hotel.