I recently met three crooners-the guys who sing at restaurants and clubs-for
this story I worked on with Nicole Marshall Middleton.
Mark Bryan and Luigi Balletto both play at local restaurants, but they have very different styles. Heinz Christian, who I photographed several times over the last few months, died on august 3, 2012. A few weeks before our story was published.
Related story: Three Tulsans whose music made their lives. I was impressed by the perspective that these singers have. Mark Bryan was blinded when he was a child at the hands of an abusive father. When he plays at the Celebrity Restaurant near Yale and 31st in Tulsa, he doesn't announce to the audience that he's going to sing an original tune. "You can really be mislead," he explains, "by making a really big deal about the songs that you write. Crowds are, many times, very polite," he says. "And politeness can hurt you." He says that as an artist, he wants a genuine response to a song, especially one that he wrote. One of the biggest thrills he gets from performing is when a customer will approach the piano and request "One mo 'gin" or another of his songs, when they don't realize it's an original.
Luigi Balletto performs all over town including at nursing homes and assisted living centers, at Las Americas in midtown and at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of fame. A born-again Christian who quit smoking and drinking, he says he's in better health at age 75 years old than ever before. He told me after a performance at a local assisted living center it never bothered him that he didn't "make it" as a famous singer. The lifestyle might have killed him if he'd made it anyway. These days, he loves getting a reaction from people who remember his songs.
Here are some pictures that you may not have seen in the paper, and a video that I made about the crooners. The video is about music, but it's as much about the performers' outlook on life.
The guy in the corner from
Tulsa World on
Vimeo.
Joan Lichtenwalter (left) and Jan Blankenship (right) cheer as singer Luigi Balletto sings Blueberry Hill by Fats Domino at Las Americas Latin Grill and Tequila Bar in south Tulsa on August 17, 2012. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World
Mark Bryan, a local singer and musician, performs at the Celebrity Restaurant in Tulsa on Friday, July 20, 2012. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World
Heinz Christian plays the piano while his son, Forrest Mayer, sings during a performance at Emeritus at Tulsa on May 2, 2012. Heinz, a singer who once played in Las Vegas, died on August 3, 2012. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World
Mark Bryan, a local singer and musician, performs at the Celebrity Restaurant in Tulsa on Saturday, July 21, 2012. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World
Luigi Balletto performs at Las Americas Latin Grill and Tequila Bar in south Tulsa on August 17, 2012. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World
Heinz Christian performs at Bluestone Steakhouse and Seafood restuarant in south Tulsa on April 20, 2012. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World
Mark Bryan, a local singer and musician, performs at the Celebrity Restaurant in Tulsa on Friday, July 20, 2012. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World
Standing in the lobby with his son, Forrest Mayer, Heinz Christian checks his hair in a mirror before a performance at Emeritus at Tulsa, an assisted living center, on May 2, 2012. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World
Johnny Williams and his wife Patricia Williams dance while singer Luigi Balletto performs at Las Americas Latin Grill and Tequila Bar in south Tulsa on August 17, 2012. Balletto, age 75, has been performing since he was a child. He opened the Camelot Hotel in Tulsa. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World
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