Playing for the Mariano Rivera foundation with Bernie Williams as a special guest

Yankees great, Bernie Williams sits in with the band at the Mariano Rivera foundation fundraiser.

It’s not every day that you meet a legend of baseball and definitely not every day that one sits in with the band. Ok, I’ll admit I don’t follow baseball. I mean I really don’t follow baseball. So when I booked a gig playing cocktail hour for the Mariano Rivera foundation I didn’t think much of it. In fact, I hadn’t even heard of Mariano, arguably the greatest relief pitcher in baseball history. I know… Anyway the day of the gig I got a call asking if it was ok if Bernie Williams could sit in with the band on guitar and I figured, “why not”? Again, I hadn’t even heard of Bernie, possibly the best switch hitter ever. The guy is a legend. I didn’t know any of this until I told my guitarist and drummer who are huge yankees fans. To say they were excited to play with Bernie is a huge understatement.

So fast forward to the event, which is at Mariano’s beautiful mansion in White Plains. Bernie rolls up and is the most down-to-earth guy you could hope to meet. I learned later that after retirement he went back to school at the Manhattan School of Music to get his degree in jazz guitar. Respect. He just loves to play music and when he heard there was a jazz band at his friend’s house he asked to sit in. So not only did he sit in but he played the entire set with us, which was a thrill for us because the guy can really PLAY! Thanks, Bernie, for making it a truly memorable event! Hope we can do it again soon.

Hennessy tasting at the new Zaha Hadid condos

This is another installment in the series, "Peter & the Master Keys" in amazing places. I was asked recently to play for a Hennessy tasting at a brand new building on the west side of Manhattan where there has been a lot of development lately. I was familiar with this building, 520 W 28th because I often play at the Mckittrick Hotel (home of Sleep no More) right across the street. It looks like a silver space ship with beautiful curved lines and I had admired it as it went up. So of course I was thrilled to play for a Hennessy tasting in one of the show apartments that was going for a cool $15 million. I can't quite afford it yet but it was fun to enjoy it for a bit as we played some nice jazz standards for the guests.