Profile Pitch

For the upcoming profile piece, I wanted to write about a person or place I'm not entirely familiar with; hopefully my curiosity towards the subject will allow me to maintain interest as a writer, and with any luck, will allow you to maintain interest as a reader. At the same time, I wanted to have a fair amount of background information on the topic; in high school, teachers taught me to write what you know - that writing about someone or something you understand will make the story more believable for your audience.

Therefore, I figured I'd head to Monaco Bay (a local dueling piano bar) in search of an interesting topic. But why Monaco Bay; why a bar? Well, I suppose bars are usually fairly busy, which keeps things fun; you can meet all sorts of people at a bar - depressed and alone, tired, ecstatic, celebratory, old, young, male and female, regulars, passersby. Also, I've been playing piano since I was eight years old; the fact that Monaco Bay was a dueling piano bar made it all the more intriguing for me as a writer.

But I knew I didn't want to do a profile of the bar itself - (1) I'm usually broke, and Monaco has an entrance fee for weekend shows (it's a classy joint), and (2) there's just too much fun/crazy going on for me to get at the "heart" of the place in just a couple weeks. Instead, after watching several piano players go through a set or two, I decided to pick out a specific piano player, and write my profile piece on him or her.

I talked with Brian Gilbert, the general manager, and asked if he'd allow me to write about one of his players. He was very agreeable; after all, what business manager doesn't want free publicity? I asked him if there was any piano player in particular that would make for an interesting profile. He went through the lineup and talked up the musicians. I decided on Tim Cutting. Brian said he'd been a pianist at Monaco Bay since its conception, and that he would be leaving in two weeks for another piano-playing job in Chicago.

I waited until Tim was done with his set and spoke with him off-stage. He gave me his phone number and said he'd be down for the whole shebang involved in writing an accurate profile piece (huzzah! - access acquired).

I think this profile could be a look-back from Tim's perspective, a "this is where I started, and this is where I ended up" sort-of-thing. Since he'll be leaving for a better job opportunity, I'm guessing he'll find these last two weeks of playing at Monaco Bay bittersweet. There's an inherent conflict in such a drastic change of location/vocation, especially after putting so much of his time and effort into making the bar an enjoyable, entertaining environment.

I recently wrote an article on local music for the school paper, and have access to several local bands (i.e. Kzoo's local music scene). I've also been in several bands; I've played shows in Niles, South Bend, Saint Joseph, South Haven, and Kalamazoo. I know how it feels to get up in front of people and play an instrument you love - nervous excitement, the "stage high" some musicians get while performing, the relief once it's over, and the desire to turn around and do it again the very next night. I know how it feels to stop playing music with the same people; to quit a band and head out on your own (though not in so drastic a fashion as Tim). Consequently, I think I can write this profile. I think I can write it accurately (musical/bar-scene perspective) and truthfully (Tim's perspective), and I think I can keep my audience invested in the story that unfolds.