Sing Us A Song, Bruce - Journal & Courier (Lafayette, IN)
This popular piano man is happy to play your favorite tune, as long as you plan to sing along
By John Norberg - Journal and Courier

Amplified notes from a black grand piano and music from the singer's voice fill every corner of the softly lighted room packed with people eager to join in the song.

"And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar and say, `Man, what are you doing here,' " Bruce Barker sings into his microphone, hitting the high notes, pouring all his energy into the song as his piano grows even louder for the start of the chorus.

"Sing us a song you're the piano man," 250 people stand up and sing back at Barker. "Sing us a song tonight. Well, we're all in the mood for a melody. And you've got us feeling all right."

Like a band leader conducting a good time, Barker is the piano man at the Neon Cactus in West Lafayette, where crowds of people wait in line for a chance to join his fun - many, so impressed with his talent, that they shake their heads and ask, "Man, what are you doing here?"

Rejecting offers from Las Vegas and California, the piano man of Lafayette has no plans to end his six-year entertainment career here, saying, "As long as my voice holds out and my Purdue family loves me, I would like to be at the Neon Cactus." That's likely to be for a long time more.

This is one of those things you have to see to understand one of those experiences in life that needs to be felt.

You need to see the room at the Neon Cactus packed with people in a semicircle around Barker's piano. You need to feel the notes from his music in your chest and hear the people laughing and singing and see the energy bursting from this 32-year-old man performing in shorts and a tropical shirt and sandals. His nonstop performance is like a car traveling 90 miles per hour, slipping through tight turns to the roar of the crowd.

Within minutes after he starts performing, perspiration beads on his face. He plays the piano, a guitar, a harmonica. He stands on his piano bench, walks out front and dances. He stands at the piano and bounces to the music as he plays and sings and scolds any patron who dares not join in.

This goes on Wednesday through Saturday from 9 p.m. to 1 or 2 in the morning - depending on how Barker feels - with no breaks, no pauses longer than a deep breath and no chance for spirits to sag. It's exactly the way Barker likes it.

Thursday night is Purdue night at this West Lafayette establishment, and the Rusty Bucket, a bar inside the Neon Cactus, is filled with students, some sitting, some standing, all singing and laughing.

"I come here because I like Bruce," says Eric Kerkhof. "It's so lively. You always have a great time. Whether you're drinking or not drinking you're going to have a good time here. Bruce gets everyone involved. "He helps us get rid of the tensions," Kerkhof says as Barker plays the opening chords to "Cheers."

"Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got," Barker sings as his audience jumps from their seats to join in the song. And everyone sings, "Sometimes you've got to go, where everybody knows your name ... and they're always glad you came ..."

A man who clearly loves people, Barker is always glad these people come to hear him and have fun, and he gives every performance all he's got.
"We started the piano bar about six years ago," says Sheila Cochran, who owns the Neon Cactus with her husband, Jim. "At first we had different people on the piano. And then we found this local person who had been in the Purdue Glee Club. He has a great personality. The kids really related to him. He does a show that they wait in line to see." That person is Barker, a 1986 McCutcheon High School graduate who went to Purdue in 1987 and graduated in 1994.

"How many of you haven't even bought their books yet," Barker asks his student-audience on a recent Thursday night, at the end of their first week of classes. "I never had my books this early. That's why it took me seven years to get out of Purdue."

His degree is in recreation management with minors in theater, supervision and meteorology, and if you think it's unusual that he followed all that with a career in a piano bar - well, you just don't know Barker, a man who seems to enjoy whatever he finds in life. He's certainly a man who loves music.
He loved the elite singing group, the Glee Club, at Purdue. And it's there that he picked up the talents he's using today. He learned about entertaining at the Glee Club, he says.

And it was during those Purdue years that he taught himself to play the piano, working on the keyboard in the Glee Club room before and after practices.

"I would spent five or six hours a day playing the piano," Barker says. "The first song I learned took me seven hours to learn. I missed two dinners at the residence hall.

"I really discovered I have a gift kind of late in my life," he says.
He also is self-taught on the guitar and the harmonica.

"Wasting away again in Margaritaville," the crowd sings in the Rusty Bucket, some standing on their chairs. "Looking for my lost shaker of salt ..."
After graduation from Purdue, Barker started playing piano at the former Captain's Cove, on Sagamore Parkway in Lafayette.

In 1995, he moved to the Neon Cactus, where he's been packing them in ever since. For about 18 months, he also played at Jake's, which at that time was owned by the owners of the Neon Cactus.

For the first hour of Barker's show, he picks the music. After that, he takes requests, which come to him with a tip.

He doesn't consider himself a musician. He says he's an entertainer. But he rolls with musical-ease through any of the 350 songs on his list, singing, adding humor and encouraging people to sing with him.

This isn't a listening place. This is a participation piano bar. "Are you telling me that's all you got for me tonight," Baker shouts to his audience when he doesn't think they're singing loud enough. "Are you ready to quit?"

"NO," they shout back. And the music goes on. "In the jungle, the quiet jungle, the lion sleeps tonight ..."

Barker knows the names of some people sitting in front of him, and he calls out to them. He doesn't consider this an audience. He consider them friends. He gets to the bar before his performance to meet with people one on one, and he stays late when he's done to talk some more.

"I'm a Lafayette guy," he says. "My family lives in Lafayette. I grew up in this town. There are people who have tried to sway me away from here. But as long as people in Lafayette like the show and they don't get bored, I'm happy."

He had no trouble turning down those full-time job offers in California and Las Vegas. He has done fill-in work on the "strip" in Las Vegas - flying out there for Monday night shows while still doing his work at the Neon Cactus.
When you think you've heard it all at the Rusty Bucket, Barker breaks out singing, "Hail, hail to old Purdue." Then he asks if anyone wants to pay him to sing "Indiana."

"Indiana, Indiana . . ." he sings. And then he asks if anyone wants to pay him to stop playing and return to "Hail Purdue."

This goes on for a while with contributions going to the "Bruce Barker Retirement Fund." Sometimes he also gets requests for the Notre Dame, Ball State, Wabash and other college songs. But most of the music he plays is popular, classic sounds, some dating back a couple decades.
"Jeremiah was a bullfrog. Was a good friend of mine. I never understood a single word he said ..."

"Hold it. Stop." Barker shouts, stopping the music and jumping up from the piano. "This girl over here isn't singing." And he points to a young woman sitting near the front.

What comes next is good-natured humiliation. The girl has to stand on her chair and sing by herself. The audience expresses its lack of appreciation.
The entertainment goes on. And no one else wants to get caught not singing.
There are some people who love being put in the spotlight like this, Barker says. Some don't.

"But if you're not singing, no matter where you hide, I will find you," he says.
Hey, Barker says. If you're occupying a seat and you don't want to sing, there are people waiting in line to get in who would like your spot.
The crowds are different every night. Thursday is especially dominated by Purdue students. The crowd is a littler older on other nights.
"But we never have a mellow night," Barker says. "We never have a Bette Midler, Barry Manilow night."

The line waiting to get to hear Barker continues into the night. Few people leave. As many as 50 people wait.

"He sings really good," says Adam
Roorda. "He revs up the crowd a lot. I always have a good time here."
"He does things to get the crowd to sing along and have a good time," says Elizabeth Parkerson.

"I walk in here and sometimes I almost feel like I'm walking into `Cheers,' " says Brad Stark. "Bruce works real hard. He's a lot of fun."

"He's hilarious," says Shanna Miller, who's waiting to get in. "He gets everyone going."

"I like how he makes fun of people who aren't singing," says Mike Clark.
"I like this place because Bruce is here," says Corey Talbott. "He's an exciting guy, you know. I don't understand why he's still in Lafayette."

Around town, Barker sometimes get recognized. If they don't remember his name, people might call out to him with something they do remember.
"Hey, piano man," they call out.

"I'm a Purdue Boilermaker," Barker says. "I'm a Purdue fan. I love Purdue basketball and football and I like fishing. I like having four seasons in a year."
He likes being "Piano Man."

There are two offers that would tempt him. He'd be willing to join the WGN radio broadcasting team doing Chicago Cubs games. And, he wouldn't mind being rich and famous, like, maybe Billy Joel.

But for now, for this bachelor, there are no changes in sight. He likes things just the way they are. "I'm having the time of my life," he says.
"Brown Eyed Girl," Barker shouts at the Rusty Bucket as everyone cheers. "I'll play it with one hand and with my eyes closed."

And the whole place sings.
"Do you remember when, we used to sing Sha-la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la-la ..."

Piano bar favorites
What song do people most like to hear when Bruce Barker is on the piano at the Neon Cactus? Well, it's not "Mandy."

You've probably already guessed that Barker's most requested song is "Piano Man." It fits him.

What are the four other songs people most ask him to perform? They are:
"American Pie," a close second to "Piano Man," and given the more than seven-minute length of this song, he does an abbreviated version.

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