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Line embarking on ambitious holiday tour to mark career milestone [The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa](Gazette (Cedar Rapids, IA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nov. 22--A key element in pianist Lorie Line's concerts is something she learned in kindergarten. MUSIC Audiences love to hear her play by ear the song titles they shout out. Just like in grade school in Reno, Nev. She started playing piano at age 5 and began formal lessons at age 6. "I liked that I could play anything I could remember off the top of my head and hum," she says by phone from her home in suburban Minneapolis. "If I could hum it, I could figure it out on piano." And from that ability, she became popular, first with her classmates, then on through her 20-year career. Of course, she knows a few more songs at age 51 than she knew at age 5. That serves her well in concerts, when she creates a medley from about 35 song titles audience members shout out. "I have to know thousands and thousands of songs off the top of my head," she says "I have to be very hip; I have to know everything. I take around an iPod of music and a briefcase of music." She reviews the tunes every day, and if someone calls out a title she doesn't know well enough to play that night, she'll study the song the next day, just in case it gets called out again. Line is celebrating her career's 20th anniversary by playing "the best of the best" during her annual holiday tour, which stops Monday at the Englert Theatre in downtown Iowa City. Line, her "Fab Five" musicians and her husband and business partner, Tim, will perform 44 shows in 41 days, hitting 39 cities in nine states. "It's probably our most aggressive tour ever," she says. "We took on 16 brand new cities, for a couple of reasons: It's a really beautiful show and it's special because it's our 20th anniversary. Usually we'll have three, four or five days off, but this year, we just have Thanksgiving Day off. We're moving every day. "I like it that way. I get in a groove. The show is in my hands -- like clockwork. I'm very disciplined. I don't like to take a day off. Before you know it, (the tour) is over and done with, way, way too fast. It keeps me in great shape mentally and physically at the piano. That's important when you're out there in front of people." The tour began Nov. 12 in Bemidji, Minn., and concludes Dec. 23 in Bismarck, N.D. Along the way, she'll do her Christmas shopping, wrap most of the gifts on her tour bus and maybe even find a prized antique at the little shops she like to browse. "People ask how I do my Christmas shopping on the road. I've got a bus, I have a semi with a piano," she says. "If I've found a piece of furniture, no problem! It's the hunt and adventure of getting out in every single town." And when Christmas Day rolls around, she'll be doing her second favorite thing, cooking for her family, which includes a 20-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son. "We do the traditional Christmas. When I get home, I'll cook all day long. If I wasn't a pianist, I'd be a chef." Tradition will be the hallmark of her holiday tour, showcasing her favorites and fan favorites, including her rock 'n' roll arrangement of "Frosty the Snowman" that she hasn't played in 10 years, and her improv-style arrangement of "The Holly and the Ivy," which goes all the way back to her early days playing piano at Dayton's department store in Minneapolis. She also has some new treats up her designer sleeves, with new arrangements of "Silent Night," "The Birthday of a King," "Silver and Gold" and a boogie woogie "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." Billed as "An Intimate Christmas with Lorie Line," she's bringing her favorite grand piano and recreating elements of her living room in Orono, Minn., where it sits. Her flamboyant costumes, for which she's known, will include some favorites from years past and "red carpet couture" by top designers -- "high-style off the runway that I bought off the rack," she says. To wear such dresses, she maintains her modelslim figure through daily workouts with a treadmill, weights, yoga and stretching. "I'm very dedicated to working out," she says. "It's very important. I used to look at it as an inconvenience, but not anymore. Working out is part of my job. If I'm in good shape I can perform better." -- Comments: (319) 368-8508; [email protected] To see more of The Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.gazetteonline.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |