Customer Reviews

Piano Girl: Lessons in Life, Music, and the Perfect Blue Hawaiian

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Like the good old Barbra Streisand staple, Robin Meloy Goldsby shares with us the memories that light the corners of her mind, and true to the lyrics, it's the laughter we will remember, whenever we remember this personal and funny autobiography.

Beginning her working career as a waitress, the author's inability to balance food and beverages without causing grievous bodily harm quickly prompted a switch to another occupation. When practice sessions on the piano at the Club Car lead to an offer to play for the patrons five nights a week, Ms. Goldsby exchanges her hair net for beach-blanket Barbie attire, and delights the audience with her collection of 12 songs and her "fake book" which is used when you need to bluff your way through a musical request.

Eventually, tube tops evolve into cocktail dresses, and cocktail lounges become ritzy hotel lobbies, luxury island resorts and even castles, but Ms. Goldsby continues to amaze and amuse with her observations from the business side of the piano.

Designing agents, questionable bookings and embarrassing situations are all described here in glorious detail, but above all, the colorful, eccentric and certifiably crazy characters encountered make for an enjoyable reading experience.

It's obvious that if Ms. Goldsby had the chance to do it all again, she certainly would.


Amanda Richards, March 10, 2008

"Piano Girl" is a seamlessly crafted, incredibly entertaining memoir that tells the story of one woman's journey from The Club Car in Nantucket to the castles of Europe with stops just about everywhere in between, all the while seated at a piano and playing music to enhance the experience for whoever is there to listen (or not listen!). Goldsby has a wonderfully conversational writing style, and her tales are often laugh-out-loud funny, sometimes poignant, and always abundantly human. Along with her recollections of adventures, big and small, are portraits of many of the characters she has met along the way, providing a rich and very satisfying read whether or not you play the piano.

Piano Girl: Lessons In Life, Music And The Perfect Blue Hawaiian is Robin Meloy Goldsby's entertainting and occasionally mesmerizing memoir, tracing her "accidental" career as a cocktail lounge piano player. Her calling took her across the globe, from exclusive island resorts to third-world countries, and her story offers both musical insights into the art of piano playing and the life lessons she encountered on her unlikely path. Piano Girl also recounts the varied character of her audience, from the rich and famous to the down and out and everyone in between. Individual vignettes perfectly capture timeless moments in this enthralling and honest personal story.

What a fantastic creation from Robin Meloy! I kept sneaking off to read another chapter. It's a beautiful portrayal of the life that can be made from a talent in music, and a grand love of life. She really captured the essence and magic of bringing live music to people. As a jazz singer and piano player myself, I felt elevated back into the best of the experience. Lots of laughs too! Gabrielle Silva

You won't learn anything technical about piano playing from reading this book, nor is there an abundance of great profundity, but darn if I didn't breeze right through this book, not missing a beat and enjoying every page.

Here's how it is: Imagine meeting a smart, attractive woman at a party, learning she makes a respectable living playing piano in lounges, lobbies and private parties around the world, and finding that she can tell charming, frequently quite funny stories about her most memorable adventures and misadventures plying her trade, dealing with a colorful mix of memorable clients, bosses, co-workers and weirdos.

Never boring, this woman--with her compelling yin-yang mix of insecurity, spunk, humbleness and bravado--knows how to tell a bright, tight story, keeping things light-hearted with her sharp sense of irony, but grounded in a passion for her work and the artistry she struggles to refine, understand and appreciate amidst the jumble and chatter of cocktail hours and an audience that may or may not be listening to the witty nuances (or occasional stumbles) of craft she shares with the world.

If you think you'd enjoy spending a few hours with that kind of woman--content in knowing she's never going home with you and that her most intimate and revealing stories are bound to be reserved for that someone very special who is not you--then you will likely enjoy this book as I have. And from ever on you will feel a special connection when you come across a piano girl plying her art. You will be one of those who listens in a knowing way, having a special respect for her work, respect she deserves and will likely truly appreciate.

(And don't forget to make note of the Piano Girl's large brandy snifter tip jar: It's for no-obligation cash, not damp napkins with your hotel room number scrawled on it!)

Robin Meloy Goldsby's PIANO GIRL is a treasure! Her writing style makes you feel like she is talking with you in person! I could hear her music, laughed with her and enjoyed her adventures! If you play piano, love music and grew up in Pittsburgh it is a must read! I am excited to listen to her two CD's!

This is a wonderful book. It will make you laugh, it will make you feel sad. You will learn about what it is like to be a piano player in a hotel lounge. You will travel with the author to several US cities, the Caribean, and Europe. But above all, you will enjoy Robin's insight into human nature.

It's Bridget Jones with a soundtrack-absolutely laugh out-loud funny. Piano Girl is the hilarious tale of a young woman seeking fame and fortune as an actress/musician. Robin Goldsby takes us from Nantucket Island to the Island of Manhattan and beyond as she provides a ringside seat to the best and worst of the world's cocktail lounges, hotels and bars. We watch her maneuver into-and out of-every relationship imaginable, from naughty to nice. I could almost hear the piano music, beautiful and full of life, as Goldsby recounts her remarkable years in the music biz. I'm waiting for the release of the soundtrack . . . along with the movie.

What's most remarkable about this memoir is Robin Goldsby's singular and life-embracing voice. Goldsby chronicles her dilemmas with candor, wit, and just enough self-deprecation that she wins the reader's sympathy without ever straying into annoying self-pity. While her situation is not unique - it's yet another variation on the classic struggling-artist-in-Manhattan story - she reveals herself in such insightful, self-knowing detail that she lifts this tale far beyond the banal recitation it could have been. At its best, this memoir is an unforgettable recounting of the crazy situations one endures or embraces in order to survive as an imaginative spirit in a mercenary world. (My personal favorite was Goldsby's ecstatic description of dress-shopping at "Stall for the Handicapped," a clandestine boutique run by an audacious and unusually enterprising restroom attendant in the tony hotel where they both worked.) I dare any reader not to recognize himself or a loved one in at least one of Goldsby's many predicaments.

Every story is a love story, and Piano Girl is no exception: this book captures the love of music via piano. The author's genuine joy in her profession is contagious. Before you judge it for "not being deep enough," know that pulling off a fun, pleasant read--without anything schmaltzy or overly sentimental--is ridiculously difficult. I'd have to hate this author for her dual talents of music and writing, but she seems just so dang likable that I can't.

The focus is spot on. Again, this is a love story between a pianist and her music. Sure, her personal life bubbles up as the story moves, but it is not the star of this show. The dialogue is pitch perfect. Thank god for that; I've been through a string of books lately where the dialogue comes off as if robots were talking to one another.

If you're looking for a pick-me-up style of memoir, put Piano Girl on your list.