Deuces Wild, the popular dueling piano show, will launch the 2021 summer season for the Central Lakes Community Performing Arts Center’s Cultural Arts Series.
The outdoor performance is set at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 9, on the south lawn of the Brainerd campus of Central Lakes College.
Series Producer Patrick Spradlin stated in a news release this is a really fun way to begin a new post-pandemic season.
“We’ve had Deuces Wild here on several occasions. The audiences love these guys,” Spradlin stated. “These guys, Dave Eichholz and Ted Manderfeld, are two vastly talented and personable musicians who’ve crafted what has become a nationally-acclaimed show of music, comedy, and intense audience engagement.”
Deuces Wild Dueling Pianos is a wild mix of music and parodies ranging from country to rap to show tunes.
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“This show is amazingly fun,” Spradlin stated. “It’s so high energy, and involves the audience in so many ways. Part music, part improv, part audience participation, it’s like going to a party where you know everyone and having the time of your life.”
The Deuces Wild guys come with impressive resumes, notes Spradlin.
Son of a miner from the northern woods of Minnesota, Eichholz is a versatile, self-taught musician who plays the piano, guitar, saxophone, harmonica, trumpet and countless other instruments. He was featured internationally on the Swedish television show “Christine.” He was then recruited by Little Ditty’s, Dueling Piano Bar at the Mall of America in Minnesota where he performed four nights each week for five years.
Eichholz also recorded and produced the soundtrack to the “Prime Target” video game, where 50,000-plus copies sold. He was also featured in an issue of World Traveler Magazine, the in-flight publication of Northwest Airlines.
Manderfeld got his start in Deuces Wild by walking out of his day job and demanding an audition. Although he hadn’t previously played in a dueling piano style show, his amazing showmanship and obvious ability to perform as a world class entertainer blew away the competition, the news release stated. Since then he has played thousands of dueling piano shows with performances all over the country. When not on the road performing, he spends his time as a producer of sold out shows, including the Billy Joel and Elton John tribute show “Eye 2 Eye,” and the ever popular annual “Rock n Roll Xmas” show, which he co-produces with former Jonny Lang guitarist Paul Diethelm.
Eichholz and Manderfeld have performed together for 14 years, in over 1,500 shows, and traveled more than 750,000 miles with Deuces Wild.
Tickets for “What a Wonderful World” and Deuces Wild will be available on the night of the show only.
Information on this show and the entire summer series of events is available on the Center’s website clcperformingarts.com .
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