DUELING PIANOS SING-ALONG: It all starts innocently. You sit down to dinner. A friendly blonde brings drinks. More drinks. Then people of many generations all sing along to the same Billy Joel song. Then another blond appears. More drinks. Suddenly Chopstix on Sixth Avenue transforms into a rowdy, raunchy room where the crowd washes, ocean wavelike, over the tops of their daytime inhibitions. It's true that cash-lubricated requests - for anything from the Beatles to Bob Seger - drive the dueling piano players. But as they pound and wail through the hits, it becomes clear that the piano men are in control.
Photography by Steve Dunkelberger
