Ron Pass is one of the busiest local performers—and he has been rewarded with the title of Best Local Musician by Independent readers in the Best of Coachella Valley poll.
The piano-playing singer can be found firing through your favorite songs—often with unique twists—at Melvyn’s in Palm Springs Tuesdays through Sundays, except for Wednesdays, when he takes his show to One Eleven Bar in Cathedral City.
During a recent phone interview, Pass said the current season is his 13th year in the desert.
“Before that, I had spent 10 years working for Carnival Cruise Line as a piano entertainer, which was an amazing experience, because I had not done anything full-time with music before that,” he said.
Going from ships to supper clubs is quite a jump—but that pales in comparison to his leap from health insurance to full-time performer.
“I used to be a project manager at a health insurance company in New York City, and I was working in lower Broadway, living across the river in Jersey City,” Pass said.
Sept. 11, 2001, changed his life forever.
“I was going to work that morning, as I did any other day, not thinking anything dramatic was going to occur—and then you know what happened,” he said. “I was there to see the whole thing unfold in front of my eyes. I was one of those people covered in soot running down the street.”
Pass recounts the horrific events of the day on his website. It’s worth a read.
“I try not to make a big deal out of it, because my experience pales in comparison to what other people went through, but it was nonetheless life-changing for me,” Pass said. “Like a lot of people, that horror that day forced me to stop and just question everything in my life: ‘What am I doing, and am I really enjoying it?’ I realized that even though I had this decent-paying job in New York City and all that, what really brought me joy was playing piano and singing for people, which, at the time, I did on the side at restaurants and private parties.
“It was at a private party that another entertainer said, ‘If you ever want to switch it up and have a go at being a full-time entertainer, why don’t you try cruise ships? If you are good at it, it might lead to something, and if you’re not good at it, you can just go back to your project management stuff.’ It was after 9/11, and I thought, ‘Maybe I should try this.’”
Pass said his decade with Carnival was amazing.
“I knew very little about piano entertainment. I learned a lot quickly,” he said. “I listened to the guests and what they wanted to hear, and Carnival rewarded me with good ship assignments. I traveled a lot and saw a lot of the world, made lifelong friends, cultivated a large and loyal following, learned a lot about myself, and learned a lot about others. It was just incredible.”
Pass said he learned how to command a room full of guests with nothing but a microphone and a piano.
“One benefit of working on a cruise ship as an entertainer is that with each new cruise, you have a fresh crop of guests,” Pass said. “Everybody is excited to be there, and they bring their energy to you. They want to laugh; they want to have fun; they want to forget their troubles back at home and just let loose. The piano bar was a great place for that. Every week was a brand-new party with new energy.”
Adaptability is an important skill for any musician performing in lounge settings—and especially so on a ship.
“When people drink and party, some people get out of hand, and they kind of check their manners at the door,” Pass said. “I learned about dealing with people who are less than polite, and also you get people from all walks of life, so that means also you’re getting requests for all kinds of music, and you have to adapt. If you’re on a five-day cruise out of Miami or something out of Long Beach, it’s going to be a different experience than if you’re doing 12- or 14-day cruises in Europe. You learn to read the room and change the music and change your approach to suit the energy and the demographics of the guests who are in the room. That’s definitely a skill set that I picked up along the way.”
In the Coachella Valley, Pass’ audience is a mix of regulars and newcomers.
“The upside is you have your regulars; those who are really your strongest supporters, and they’re with you no matter what. I call my die-hards the ‘Rontourage,’” he said. “But there are always new people, especially in Palm Springs, which is a vacation destination for folks or people who come just seasonally, so I have to be extra-vigilant about keeping things fresh and interesting.”
Pass keeps performances fresh and audiences coming back for more by crafting theme nights, from American Songbook evenings to Broadway-themed shows.
“It might be all LGBTQ+ artists, or a night of Billy Joel and Elton John, or it might be songs about dreams,” Pass said. “Other nights, I don’t have anything at all, and I just take requests, and we put it together. It takes a village sometimes, and those nights are sometimes unexpectedly fun, because you don’t know what direction the night is going to take. You sing songs based on someone’s request, but somebody might say they’re from Philadelphia, so you break out into ‘Philadelphia Freedom,’ and you just kind of wing it. There’s a degree of unpredictability that keeps it interesting.”
“This journey I’ve taken as an entertainer has been amazing. One thing leads to another to another, but it always boils down to the connection with people that brings me the most joy, and music is just the vehicle by which to do that.”
Ron Pass
Pass talked about the joys—and annoyances—that come from taking requests.
“There are always certain songs that people want to hear all the time, and frankly, that gets old and tiresome for those of us who are performing them, but it just comes with the territory,” he said. “The bottom line is, you want to please the guests, and sometimes that means singing ‘Sweet Caroline’ for the millionth time. Sometimes the requests for those frequently sung songs are not at the best time, like it’s too early in the evening or something, so I just talk to the guests about that. I’m like, ‘Well, that’s an awesome song, but I’m not sure that this moment is the perfect one for it, so why don’t I substitute that for this one?’ Nine times out of 10, they are like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s great, I like that song, too.’”
Pass said he has the ability to reimagine fan-favorite songs in unique ways during his performances.
“When I was learning a lot of this material quickly, when I was on cruise ships, I didn’t have time to learn all the little nuances for the song—so maybe I do it in a funky key, or I leave out a phrase or a familiar riff or something like that,” Pass said. “That ended up making certain arrangements that I sing sound a little bit more unique, which is interesting, because then when I hear somebody else sing it, or if I hear the song come up on the radio, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I don’t do that part.’ … There are always the usual musical tricks where you change lyrics to make them funny or relevant to something that somebody just said, or something that is happening in the news. I also like parodies, so even if I don’t write music, I like to play with lyrics. There are familiar songs that I sing that I’ve changed the lyrics to, and just to make it funnier, some of that material is maybe adult in nature, so I can’t sing it at every venue. I do have a little song list I can go to when it’s late at night in the right venue, and people want to get saucy.”
Pass said he has nothing but gratitude for the readers who voted for him as the Best Local Musician.
“This journey I’ve taken as an entertainer has been amazing,” Pass said. “One thing leads to another to another, but it always boils down to the connection with people that brings me the most joy, and music is just the vehicle by which to do that. It’s a huge honor, really, to be an entertainer and to help people have fun and to smile and laugh and forget their troubles. I can’t think of a better occupation for me to be in.”
Learn more at www.ronpass.com.