This Week's LVW Col: President's Pianist

Here's this week's Las Vegas Weekly column. My full interview with David Osborne is found here. Thanks to the Osbornes for this image below. -sf

The Presidential Pianist
David Osborne keeps the politics to a minimum as he keeps Commanders in Chief entertained

By STEVE FRIESS

David Osborne needed to postpone the conversation for a half hour or so.

"The White House is calling," he says with a trace of giddiness in his voice. "They want to know if I want to come meet the president tomorrow morning at Green Valley High School." Totally understandable. In fact, it fit perfectly into the raison d'etre of any interview with this man, a pianist who plays in bars at the Bellagio five nights a week.

Surprisingly, though, Osborne seemed excited. It's not like he's new at this; he's a regular at the White House. He's played at Christmastime there pretty much every year since late in Bill Clinton's second term, has Jimmy Carter's cell number and e-mail address on his iPhone, and has tickled the ivories at one location or another for six presidents.

"It never gets old," he says later when the arrangements for his Obama meet-and-greet were squared away. "Each and every time, it's so exciting. I can't even really tell you why."

Read the rest at LasVegasWeekly.Com