By Dan Deming
Dissenting with Dan
Perhaps it sounds a little corny to hear a pianist play Rhapsody in Blue, all 27 number one hit songs of the Beatles in four minutes and a self-created tune titled I Don’t Like Pineapple On My Pizza, but it was quite entertaining in Hutchinson earlier this week.
No, it was “Not Your Ordinary Piano Concert,” said the sign on Nate Hances’ graphics screen. For many in the audience, it was a refreshing change from your normal piano offerings.
Not just a pianist but also a unique music composer who sprinkled his one-man show with humor, Nate Hance was the latest artist you never heard of who entertained a Community Concert crowd at Memorial Hall.
A Minnesota graduate who now lives in the Twin Cities, Hance has been performing for 15 years, including a three-year stint on Holland American cruise ships. He’s in the middle of a 19-city tour, and while his self-made song about Hutchinson was less than memorable since it was all music and no words, that’s one of the features he does in every city he visits.
Classical favorites—some in a very new style, combining two or more totally different mashup songs into one arrangement—and more than half an hour of audience-shouted-out requests during the second half of his show all went toward making Hance a most unique piano player.
Oh yes, he also lies on the floor and plays piano backwards, then shows a video playing upside down. His offerings may contain a bit of overplugging of musical tracks he wants to sell during intermission, but it’s probably the only place you can get yellow t-shirts promoting his dislike for pineapple pizza, along with free stickers for both lovers and haters.
It was the last Hutchinson Community Concert this year, with shows continuing in February.
With Memorial Hall slated for city remodeling next year, organizers announced that next season, after three more 2026 concerts, the bargain basement priced shows will be held at the Fox Theatre. That’s where a number of folks have said Community Concerts should move anyway, but they are expected back at Memorial Hall if the city proceeds with dumping several million tax dollars into air-conditioning and other improvements.
Dan Deming is a retired media professional and former elected city and county official. He can be reached at 620-960-6733 or dan.deming2@gmail.com.