My Regular Piano Bar: The Flaming Pit

The piano bar I frequent (They prefer to call it a "piano lounge," but, come on, we throw down the booze in as high a volume as any dive bar in the neighborhood.) is not the only one in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, but it is the one that serves Montgomery County, Washington's most prosperous Maryland suburb. It is called, as the title would have you believe, "The Flaming Pit." Yes, I know, it's not the most inspirational name they could have come up with, but, in all fairness, the name of the place is about the only thing I am not strongly in favor of.

At that, The Flaming Pit turns out to be a noticeably less-embarrassing name than the place I used to frequent: The Serbian Crown, in Great Falls, Virginia. Once my colleagues at work found out I liked to do my warbling there, I was always getting razzed with questions like, "Hey, man, what's the latest off your buddy Milosevic?"

Not only that, but the place was a considerable distance from where I lived. I only went there because I liked the pianist, a friendly and talented fellow named Richard Wilkins. Unfortunately, Richard, who is well past 70, retired a few years ago, and I have not been back there since. They do still feature sing-along piano music for any in the Northern Virginia area who may be interested. According to their website, they provide the piano bar on Wednesday through Saturday nights. The place is located at 1141 Walker Road in Great Falls, Virginia. So, if you live nearby, go knock yourself out.

Unfortunately, I do not, so let me get back to where I go to knock myself out. Specifically, I am referring to the edifice at 18701 North Frederick Road (Md. Route 355), Gaithersburg, MD 20879.

One really nice thing about The Flaming Pit is that they are, not only open every night of the week, they also have a piano-banger available every night. This can come in very handy if, say on a Tuesday night, you get a sudden urge to go somewhere and do some caterwauling.

Monday through Thursday, there will be someone at the piano to provide nice background music for those periods of the night when no one gets the inspiration to break out into song. If you do want to sing something, though, you had better bring your own sheet music, unless you want to do what I call "Piano Bar 101:" songs such as "Bye Bye Blackbird" or "Play a Simple Melody," neither of which are at all bad songs, by the way.

Once you do provide the music, though, you can rely on your accompanist to give you a solid, accurate rendition of it on the keyboard. You should probably make sure the sheet music you provide is in a key you can sing, though. Some of the pianists can transpose, but others can't.

The good thing about visiting The Flaming Pit's piano lounge on a weekday is that the crowd is usually smaller and more inclined to drink than to sing, so you can just about go on singing until you get tired of the sound of your own voice.

Such is not the case on the weekends, as it turns out. The weekday accompanists are all craftsmen. The weekend guy-a borderline nutcase (and I mean that in the kindest way) named Blake Pace-is a real showman. If you go to the Pit on a weekend night, you will need to take a number and wait your turn. Well, metaphorically, that is; they do not really make the singers take numbers as though they were in a New York deli. The point is, there is a line for the microphone, so the night can never be about one individual person, which is fine.

Blake knows a lot of stuff, but it still doesn't hurt to bring sheet music. And, if the music is not in your key, he will easily transpose (except for Sondheim, he said). But, as long as you are not sending in the clowns or any other such thing, he will be happy to accommodate.

Once you become a regular, you will need to be ready for Blake's hi-jinks, which he will often throw in, once he is confident they will not rattle the singer to the point of stopping the music. For example, one fellow likes to sing the Tennessee Ernie Ford hit, "Sixteen Tons." When he gets to the line, "fightin' and trouble are my middle names," you can count on Blake to pipe up with, "No they're not, it's Francis!" Sometimes when I sing the title line to Gilly, Gilly, Ossenfeffer, Katzenellen Bogen By The Sea , he'll add, "Easy for you to say."

In all fairness, Blake sometimes gets it back from the regulars. When he sings "Piano Man," he cannot get past the line "We're all in the mood for a melody," without hearing a shouted, "And we haven't heard one all night!"

On the other hand, if you are new to the notion of standing up in front of a roomful of people and singing, or at least to standing up in that roomful of people, Blake is the most helpful and encouraging person a new singer could hope to have on his or her side. This particularly applies to children, who, while they are not allowed to consume alcoholic beverages, are not shooed out of the room as though they carried the bubonic plague.

Another helpful feature of The Flaming Pit's piano lounge is that they are very supportive of local community theater and performers. Blake will never hesitate to put out a "shameless plug" for some performer or show if something is afoot in the community. In fact, I first met Blake, not at The Flaming Pit, but at a private party the director threw for his players after opening night of The Pirates of Penzance. He was kind enough to provide further opportunity for those of us who were not worn out from two hours of Gilbert and Sullivan to sing some more.

There is one other notable difference between being a newcomer and being a veteran on those weekend nights. New people get to sing whatever they feel like singing. For the old standbys, Blake will often tell us what we are going to sing, although he tries to give everyone at least one free-choice number.

I should point out (and if you will be the slightest bit patient, I will) that The Flaming Pit is more than a place for singers to sing. It is a top-notch restaurant, serving well-prepared American cuisine in a friendly, efficient manner. The waitstaff all seem to be smart, skilled and unobtrusive, which are good things for a waitstaff to be. The bartending is excellent. They are also quick and pleasant, and, as far as I can tell, serve a good drink. My tastes are not that variegated, but I am perfectly happy with my summer drink (gin and tonic) and my winter drink (scotch sour), so why mess with a good thing?

Not wanting to run afoul of the local DUI laws (which I am entirely in favor of, by the way), I will switch to ginger ale, once I've hit my sobriety maximum. When I do, the people behind the bar see to it my glass is never empty.

Also, for us warbling barflies, they have a "late-night menu" of simpler fare. They make a tasty and generous hamburger or some deliciously spicy buffalo wings, among other things.

I should also point out that The Flaming Pit is a restaurant first, a piano lounge second. In fact, the smaller of the two main rooms is given over to the piano-bangers and their followers. The larger room is a truly elegant dining hall, whose main feature is an inviting fireplace.

The general manager of The Flaming Pit, Armen Mardirossian, works as hard as his hard-working staff, serving as his own greeter, among other things. He told me, year in and year out, their busiest night is always on Valentine's Day. It figures, when you consider the atmosphere of the main room, seasoned with the music from the adjacent one.

He told me that, on the average, four or five people a year propose in front of The Flaming Pit's fireplace (and, hopefully, have their proposals accepted). Armen and the staff will do everything they can to help the proposal along, including creative ways to produce the engagement ring. He said he could pretty much count on someone proposing marriage, every February 14^th.

Presumably, the head man is a little more religious than he was a month ago. This past Valentine's Day evening, the power went out at the Pit, right at the height of the dinner business. Armen noted that he had two priests, who were regulars, in attendance, so he asked them to intervene for a swift return of the electricity. After a fit and a start, the power came on, reasonably quickly. I don't know...if I were one of those priests, I think I'd ask for something on the house, the next time I went there, but, for them, it may be all in a night's work.

At some point soon in this essay; well, how about now? Okay, I will produce The Flaming Pit's website . From there, you can easily navigate to the menu. You will find the prices not nearly so dear as your fancier French restaurants, but they're not Mickey D's either. I'd say they, along with the atmosphere, the food, the service and, certainly, the music, are just right for treating yourself to a fun night out, romantic or otherwise.

Sources

http://www.flamingpitrestaurant.com/

http://www.serbiancrown.com/

YouTube

Personal interview with Armen Mardirossian

Own experience