.

Sweet home.

At.

Purdue. Where the sky is awesome blue.

Love you, Boiling Makers. This is Bruce Barker, Purdue's Piano Man. And you're listening to This is Purdue.

Hi, I'm Kate Young, and you're listening to This is Purdue, the official podcast for Purdue University. As a Purdue alum and Indiana native, I know firsthand about the family of students and professors who are in it together, persistently pursuing and relentlessly rethinking. Who are the next game changers, difference makers, ceiling breakers, innovators? Who are these boiler makers? Join me as we feature students, faculty, and alumni taking small steps toward their giant leaps and inspiring others to do the same.

There became a time when you get here at seven o'clock and the lines are already formed and you're like, They're not here because of the drink specials, or they want to run to the dance floor. I've always just been so thankful and appreciative that a thousand people on a Thursday planned their night around me. What an amazing, amazing gift and blessing. Let's go.

To the.

Party.

Sign. Here we go. Say social.

All right, hurry. Drink, drink, drink. As soon as.

You're ready. Does this voice sound familiar to anyone? In this episode of This is Purdue, we're talking to Purdue's piano man, Bruce Barker. Now, this episode is extra special for a few reasons. One, the podcast team was able to go on site and interview Bruce at the Neon Cactus. Two, our team also got to attend his live show on a Thursday night. And three, this Boilermaker legend is retiring at the end of 2023, so we're celebrating his career and the impact he's made on so many spoiler makers over the past 30 years. Now, if you haven't been to one of Bruce's shows before, or maybe it's just been a while and you need a refresher, this Purdue alum plays the piano and sings popular songs from pop to country to rock and roll. But these aren't your average throwback songs. See, many of them have a Bruce Barker twist, like Wagon Wheel, for example. There's an addition that showgoers like to add to the course.

So rock to me mama like a wagon wheel. Rock to me mama any way you feel okay. Who's left? Rock to me mama. Rock to me. I-u-s-o. Rock to me mama like the wind and the rain. I think.

They're saying about.

Your David there, Kate.

Yes, you heard that right. I just got very publicly shamed by the piano man himself for marrying an IU Hoosier. Yeah, I guess I deserve it. Then there's the late Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville.

Wasted away again in Margaritaville. We're all clapping, we're clapping and singing. Search for my heart's all sugar as salt. Salt, salt, salt. Some of them claims, there's a lot of them to claim. But I know whose fault is it?

And another one of Jimmy's songs, Come, Monday.

California has worn.

Me quite thin. I'm just.

Glad.

You came back to the cactus, my friends. Come Monday, it'll be all right.

Come Monday, I'll be holding you tight. I spent.

Four.

Lonely days in a brown L. A. H. And I just want you back by my side. I spent.

Four lonely days in a.

Brown L. A. H. I just want you back by my side. So in.

This episode, we're diving into Bruce's story. From growing up in Lafayette, to applying to Purdue on a whim, to teaching himself to play the piano, to today, having played for millions of people from all across the world. We're so excited for all of our listeners to get to know Bruce on a more personal level. Let's get into it.

Okay, just Kate. Hi, Kate.

We've already had some fun today. We've had a ton of fun. We've had some fun. But I want to get started with our official university podcast.

This is Purdue. So flattered to be asked to do this.

Oh, we're thrilled to have you. I know everyone is excited for this episode. Let's go back to your Purdue journey. When did you first find out about Purdue? What made you want to come to Purdue as an undergrad?

John Purdue and I went to high school together. I'm from this town. Okay. So I grew up as a Boilie maker. Basically, it was either that or Ivy Tech, and I chose to root for Purdue. I thought it pretty campus. But I also was never going to go to college. I had no intentions of going to college ever. I was just going to get my high school diploma and then go out into the workforce. And then what happens amazingly is when you have two jobs, you're living at home and all you have is a car payment. If you don't have a college degree, sometimes you can't make ends meet. And so I called up my best friend, Sid, and I said, Hey, man, let's go to college. He says, You're stupid. I said, No, man, seriously, let's go to college. He goes, Okay. So we took the SATs, and I have no business ever getting to Purdue, to be honest with my high school academia background. But I had a friend who had a friend, and I think they just said, roll the dice and see what happens with this kid. It's not going to hurt anything.

And then when you get in, you realize there's a lot of opportunities here that go beyond books. For instance, I sang in the Purdue Glee Club.

Yes.

And I had never been on vacation. I went to Florida one time in my whole life by age 19. And so we were able to Purdue Glee Club travel the world. And I'm like, I'll wear a tuxedo to travel the world. So I made the group.

So what made you want to try out for the Glee Club? Did you immediately get to Purdue and see the signs? And you're like, I have to go try.

Out for this? That's such a great question. Again, not giving a poop about high school. I made my schedule three days before school started. And so when you make your schedule three days before school starts, there's not a lot of options. And so while I'm talking to my counselor, I said, hey, cuckly, we're the best singers on Purdue campus. And she said, hands down, the Purdue Glee Club. Lived here my whole life, never heard of the Purdue Glee Club. Oh. Yeah, or PMO. Never been to Christmas show. You got a picture of this. I know it's hard, but I had hair that you could pull on from behind. I had an earring, and I had a Billy Idle T-shirt on, and I may or may not have been hungover. But I went to the Glee Club tryouts, and there are these guys in suits. In here I am in my Billy Idle T-shirt. They had all this prepared opera music, and I didn't have anything prepared, but they told me that they traveled the world. I'm like, Man, I'm in. I want to see some stuff. I was the last one to go to try out that day.

These guys were all doing the opera. I just went to the piano play. That was professional, by the way. It's Italian. You probably don't understand it. But I went to the piano player, Didi at the time, and I said, Do you know Summertime from the musical Poor Game Best? And she's like, In what key, darling? And I'm like, I don't know. I don't read music. So I go, Summertime. And she's like, Oh, yeah, F-Sharp. Got it. I mean, I'd never seen that. Never seen that. I sang in high school, but I'd never seen anybody just go, In what key, darling? And so I did my thing and made the Glee Club. Didn't know. I knew it was a famous group, and I learned a lot about it later, but they 100 % were my Purdue education. Why is that? I had access to a piano for the very first time in my life. At any time, I could check out a key, go to my own little private practice room. A lot of people don't know this, Kate, but I didn't touch a piano until second semester of my freshman year. We never had any money when I'd grown up, so we didn't have any instruments.

I'm like, Man, I think I want to teach myself an instrument. I took my Sony Walkman headphones and my cassette player and two sets of batteries, and I started at 11:00 AM, and I finished at 7:00 PM. But by the end of the time, I could play one song with both hands. I'm sure it wasn't perfect, but people would walk by and knew I was playing All Cried Out by Lisa Lisa and the cult jam. And girls talked to me. So I was like, That's cool, right?

Got to keep up with this piano thing. Yeah.

Acknowledge my presence. That's the story of the first time I sat down at a piano and taught me. And that was 100 % inspired by PMO and Purdue. And that's probably why I am a thankful Boilermaker and love Purdue.

It was interesting learning that despite growing up in Lafayette, Bruce didn't see himself attending Purdue. Can you imagine if he hadn't? I think it's safe to say we're all very happy that Bruce became a Boilermaker. Bruce explains more about his journey after graduation.

So fast forward, you graduate from Purdue. What was your job after college? How fast did you get into this entertainment world?

Well, I graduate with the Exotic Degree of Recreation Management. Now, the epitome of success in recreation management, just like Parks and Rec the show, is like a whole city's Parks and Rec Department Director. You know, but it takes decades to get to the top. And so I didn't have a job right out of college. That poor on my part. We'll hit silence. Sorry about that. Isn't this.

The part where I yell at you for having your phone?

No, it's exact. Okay, so Bruce's phone rang in the middle of the interview, and yet he calls people out for being on their phones during his shows?

All right, everybody, point.

Everybody, point, point, point. He is stuck. He is stuck. He is stuck. Point. He is stuck.

He is stuck. Allright. Well, let it slide this time, Bruce.

Back to the interview.

So as soon as I graduated, I didn't have a job in my chosen major. I was getting married, and so I took a job checking fire extinguishers. It's brainless, and it takes almost no talent. But what it did was it allowed me to see that I need to aspire to maybe do something better. And so I started... That's a long story, but I sang karaoke. Me all through college. That was my mad money was I won karaoke contests. Okay. So the owner of the karaoke bar says, Hey, you're in that Glee Club at Pretty, aren't you? Yes, sir. Well, I'm looking for a piano player because I've opened a bar across the street and I need a piano player to play music while people eat steak and chicken. I'm like, Well, sir, I play piano. He's like, No way. He walked me over. He had a $10,000 Yamaha piano. Here I am checking to be on the Distinguishers Monday through Friday. Friday night and Saturday night, I'm playing music to digest to, upstairs at Captain's Cove for $12 an hour.

What?

Yes, professional piano player. And then what he didn't count on, because what I didn't tell you is I was on Second Story. The Lower Story was a comedy club. So it was dinner and a show here in Lafayette. So it's a neat thing for Fridays and Saturdays because it was an extra 20 bucks, $10 per person to go down and catch the comedy show. What he didn't count on was not everybody wanted to drop another 20 bucks. He also didn't count on people wanting to stick around and have a few cocktails after they had their meal. What he also didn't count on is that they'd be like, Hey, piano guy, can you play Brown Eye Girl? Here's five bucks. Can you play Piano Man? Here's five bucks. He didn't count on that. So I almost immediately became in direct competition, not because I wanted to, but because it happened naturally with the comedy club downstairs. And then the guy who is the manager, this room right here was empty for the first almost two years of the Cactus existence. The manager at the time here went to my high school and he got wind. They couldn't find a piano player for this room.

They tried Indy in Chicago, couldn't get to drive to Lafayette, exotic Lafayette. I don't get it. But he came and caught a show after he had his steak. Then he was like, You need to talk to my bosses because we have a room that would just be this, what you're doing. He introduced me to Jim and Sheila Cochran. I was hired that day. This is what an astute business person I am. I told you I'm making $12 an hour to play piano at the other place. Well, I'm getting interviewed, let's say you're Sheila. And she says, What are they paying you over there, Captain's Cove? I got a little chesty, I was like, $12 an hour. And she said, What if we gave you $12.50? I'm like, That would be a raise. And so that's what businessman you're working. You know how your husband's a statistician? Yeah, he would appreciate the sleuthness of my amazing bargaining abilities.

There was no negotiating. There was nothing.

I was like, I just got enraged.

And so Bruce's career at the Neon Cactus kicked off. Bruce walks us through his first night performing at this iconic Boilermaker nightclub, which back then was purely a country bar.

This was a country bar. I know five country songs-ish. 99.7% of that dance floor was filled with country people to the tilt. I mean, boots, whatever the Bon Jovi stuff is, the little tassels. People would walk through here and hear Elton John and be like, I'm going to keep on walking. But eventually, a couple of them got tired of dancing or had a husband that didn't like to dance. So the opposite sexes were coming here. It just started to snowball a little bit. The first show, I believe I got $17 in tips. If or if I remember correctly, what a windfall. But it was just a lot of fun. And again, I was getting paid to play piano. And I'm telling you, if I had 10 million bucks in the bank, I would have still done it for free or $12 bucks an hour. $12.50. Yeah, $12.50..

How has your experience changed throughout the 28 years? When was the first time that you were like, oh, people know me?

Okay, yeah, that's a great question. And again, I'm not a real big me, me, me. But I will tell you there was an aha moment. Graduation weekend, probably, let's see, I started in... So it's probably is before 2000. I'll say '98, '97. And graduating seniors came down in their cap and gown on Saturday night after graduation. And they said, You're not going to believe what happened at our graduation today. They asked all of us to name five things that they're going to miss about Purdue. And you were like number two on the list. When the senior gives the senior a speech, whatever that's called- Commencement speech? Yeah, the one senior that's picked to speak on behalf of the class. She said, here's the five things. And it was like Harry's and the Fountain and Bruce the piano man at the Cactus. And I thought they were not telling the truth. It just seemed too crazy. But that was an aha moment when you realize you're impacting some lives and what a blessing.

Okay, so like I said at the beginning of this episode, the This is Purdue team got to spend a Thursday evening experiencing Bruce and his element during his live show.

So have you noticed anything different? Do you guys notice any cameras cruising around.

The room?

Purdue Marketing is here tonight. They're doing a special show. Purdue Marketing, the show This is Purdue, asked if they could interview yours truly. They're filming what's called B-roll in the industry. Well, the makers, if we're going to a.

Country music song, are you going to hear a yee-hope? Yeah.

All right, I would love.

It if you clap. Which side of this.

Room is.

Going to be the party-side?

One of the very first requests of the night was none other than John Denver's, Country Roads, Take Me Home, which Bruce even choreographed some special dance moves for.

Also known as Country Roads. Now, friends, this is Logan's first time, so I want you all to teach him the magical dance that I invented and I created? If you're a blowmaker, get off your ass.

Country road. Take me home to the place I belong. West Virginia, Mountain Mama.

Take me home. Bruce tells us more about the special traditions that he's created over the past three decades.

Okay, so walk us through. You have certain rituals and traditions. I personally have not seen you in probably 11, 12 years.

That's good. You should take decades off.

Well, I'm going to refresh my memory tonight.

Oh, promise.

Tell us how you come up with these. How are some of these iconic traditions formed?

The big one, wouldn't you say the big one is my little catchphrase why I say social and everybody drinks at the same time, peer pressure. I just came out of that spontaneous and it caught on. That's a neat little thing that's mine. I will tell you this. I have people still reach out to me and tell me they don't know the real words to a lot of the songs. When they go and they hear them, they're like, Oh, yeah, that Bruce song. Oh, yeah. And they sing the- Pursue version. Yeah, Colorful Words or my version. So that's pretty cool. That's awesome. Because again, those are moments that are born out of spontaneity. And then when something sticks, that's pretty cool. I hang my hat on that.

What about the choreography? How are you feeling up there when people know your moves?

So my wife is a choreographer. She is taught dance since she.

Was 12 years old. Oh, my goodness.

Like a real choreographer. A real choreographer. Tap, jazz, lyrical, folk, hip hop, she does it. Everything but ballet. I just decided one night I was going to make up sign language for country roads. I'll be doggone if it didn't absolutely stick. And my goal is I hope that I'm 91 years old in an assisted living program, and they bring in the little entertainment person that's going to lead bingo or whatever. And before they start it, they start to do some songs. I hope one person just spontaneously doesn't know me but starts doing the country roads. I pray that I see that most selfishly. I selfishly hope I get to see that moment because I think that would be cool too.

Now, Bruce has become a beloved fixture in the Boilermaker community, attracting thousands to his weekly shows and even inspiring alumni to return to West Lafayette from as far away as Georgia, Colorado, Florida, and Texas. Bruce describes the feeling of performing at the Neon Cactus in front of a packed crowd.

What's the feeling like up there? On a Thursday? People are trickling and then all of a sudden it's packed.

It used to be the first night when I made 17 bucks. You're hoped that people would just keep trying you out, right? But there became a time when you get here at seven o'clock and the lines are already formed and you're like, They're not here because of the drink specials, or they want to run to the dance floor. What an amazing... You know? I know you don't know me very well, but I hope that I come across as humble because I've always just been so thankful and appreciative that a thousand people on a Thursday planned their night around me. What an amazing gift and blessing. I try and honor that by I have never mailed in a show. I have enough Comicazi, Housefly trying to get me. But I've never mailed in a show. I've been sick a lot of times, and I'm not trying to look for like, oh. But I would tell you, I could if I wanted to. I could put it on autopilot and be like, all right, here's 10 bucks for Bon Jovi. Let's go. I'm going to play it. You guys think you could do that. But I've always come from a different philosophy about piano bars.

When I was 21, I would go to Indianapolis and watch these dueling piano bars, and the things that really rubbed me wrong about them, they were talented, super talented. You line up 100 of those piano players, 99 of them are going to absolutely kick my butt. But that's not what I think is important. What I've always thought was important is you do the song that somebody pays you five bucks for, you do it the way you think they're going to want to hear it. So what does that mean? You don't do it twice as fast. You don't cut it in half. Don't take advantage of their money because the clientele in my room is 90 % college students. And I knew how much money I had in college. I didn't have any. And so I try and earn because I've been there. We don't do the fight songs 30 times a night. We don't do country versus rock and roll just to see how much money you brought into the piano bar that night because I want to put it in my pocket. I've always come at it from a different philosophy. I feel like if you come and you give the people, you make them feel special somehow.

You try and touch as many as you can, but if you make somebody feel special, they're going to want to come back. I don't want a college person waking up the next day and be like, Oh, my gosh, I dropped 50 bucks on the piano guy. I can't afford to go back for a month. I'd rather you spend 10 or 15 or less. Don't spend any. But if you want to hear your song, you want to have a couple of drinks, I'd rather have you drop 10, 15 bucks and be able to come back the next week. That's been my philosophy from the get-go.

And speaking of making Boilermaker students feel welcome and want to come back for the next show, Bruce shares a bit more about his pre-show routine.

You get a lot of cool names. I try to get to know the people during the free hour: their names, their hometown, their major, and then their songs. So I just enjoy, just to be very blunt about it, I really enjoy getting to know those brand new students. It's not gimmicky. I hope it's not gimmicky, but my goal is that let's say there's 10 people tonight that are here for the first time, I want eight of them to have a really good time. You're not going to make the whole world happy all the time, but what if eight of those 10 people has a really good time?

Then it grows. And they bring their friends.

When the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world in 2020, restaurants and bars were hit hard. And in September 2020, the Neon Cactus closed its doors. For Bruce, he felt like he never had the opportunity to say goodbye to his fellow Boilermakers, or thank them for all of the years they poured into the Cactus with their colorful cups, singing along with him to his songs. So since the fans couldn't come to him, he brought the shows to his fans and started playing the piano and singing on Facebook Live from his home every Thursday.

One of our production assistants was saying, When you got here, she's like, Bruce made me feel so special on my 21st birthday. I got a shoutout from him, and it was in 2020, and it was virtual. And she still remembers that and was talking about it, and I thought that was such.

A cool thing. She remembers that after three years. Yeah. What a memory.

So tell us about 2020.

2020. Well, first of all, I'd never been in the pandemic, so it was all new.

You need to.

If you recall the craziness of when everything shut down and you didn't know if you're going to walk out your front door, breathe the wrong air, and keel over, it was so crazy. We just had no point of reference. I was 52. I was ready to retire at 50. But here it is, and now pandemic's hit. For 15 years, I've wondered, how do I tell my boil makers thank you for all those years and give me the best job ever? How do I say thanks? Do I write her by a damn card? And then the pandemic hit. The Facebook show started popping up. And I thought, Holy cow, I could do a show. They can't talk to me. They can't give me money. But I hope I can just give a little bit of normalcy, for lack of a better word, in a crazy time. That was my... I was like, Oh, my gosh. I didn't accept any money. One person found out I had Venmo, gave me 100 bucks and I gave it to Food Finders. But that was literally out of all those show, 12 weeks of shows, that was literally the only person that ever gave me anything.

And so I was able to say thank you. But like they say, when you do something from a pure place, you receive 100 times. Now, no money, but what did we get? I'm here to tell you on my little iPad, this is the actual iPad. On my iPad, that very first night, you could feel the energy as I was singing and looking down. You could feel it electronically. It's hard to explain. I also have my cell phone right next to that. And I'm getting text from my friends and they're like, Do you realize 15,500 people are watching you right now? No pressure. I'm like, Well, first of all, I don't know it because I don't know how to find out. I'm playing and I'm going, Well, that's pretty cool. Then the next text line said Dave Matthews only has 9,800 people watching him right now. Then I'm still playing, playing my piano in there, and my idiot friends are like, Yeah, but Metallica has 22,000, so you suck. But again, it's just a crazy time. I didn't do it to jump on a bandwagon. I jumped on it to give back. I think, I hope, it sounds like people understood that from a pure place.

Absolutely. I wanted to do it. Everybody talked, Oh, let's get through two weeks and then it'll be over. I did do it as long as I could. Unfortunately, the very last week, my brother passed away not from COVID. I just wasn't in a place. He passed away that Thursday afternoon before a Thursday show. I just wasn't in a place to give. I was in a sad place. Unfortunately, that's where the shows ended. But it was a unique time. And every week I got so much from alumni showing me videos of their little kid drinking water going, and just people having parties, gathering parties where you felt eight people safe to just to be normal a little bit. I do feel like that's probably my personal biggest feather in my cap is I made people feel better in an unknown, awful time.

Yeah, absolutely.

After the cap is closed and COVID restrictions were lifted a little bit, Bruce played at another popular campus bar, Where else? And then he decided he was going to step away from the piano keys and retire. But then, Ethan Brown bought the Cactus and reopened it two years after it closed its doors. Ethan says Bruce was the very first phone call he made after he bought the popular nightclub. Because as Ethan says, Without Bruce, it's not the cactus. I asked Bruce what he was thinking when he got that call that Purdue's beloved, Neon Cactic was opening back up.

What.

Were you thinking? Well, first thing I was thinking was, Crap. I just told everybody I was done.

Now I have to come back.

Well, I didn't know. I had said goodbye to Purdue. I had done my big where else? I'm like, I'm going to step away from campus and thank you for the memories. And then that was May and July. Ethan calls me and says, hey, I just bought the Cactus. You're my first call. I want you to come back. I'm like, I want to because I didn't get it finished the way I wanted to finish. I wanted to do what I'm doing now and be able to tell everybody by the way I wanted it. You want one last chance to catch a show? You got three months. So come back if you can. If not, God bless. But then I asked Ethan, as we sat at that table, I'm like, How often are you wanting me to play? He said, I'd like every Thursday. Okay, because I was getting real used to playing once and twice a month. I was enjoying that. I'd really like you every Thursday. I said, Well, man, I hope I got maybe three years left, I was hoping. But I'll take Kate, 55 years old, and I sing a lot of songs on these vocal cords, and it just takes a lot of energy to do it at a certain level that I want to do it at.

Here's what I refuse to have. I refuse to have an alumni from... You're in 2016? Is that what you said? 2012. You're in 2012. But I don't want somebody from 2012 to come back and be like, Oh, gosh, it was great seeing Bruce, but it just wasn't like when I was here or it wasn't as good. I'd rather bow out gracefully and just step away doing something at a certain level. But I'd be honest, I did feel a little bit like Tom Brady-ish going, I quit. I'm back within three months. As a matter of fact, there were four people who drove or flew from Fort Lauderdale, from Texas, from Atlanta, Georgia, and from Colorado Springs to my last show at Where Els, who I personally called and I said, Hey, Cactus brought this opportunity up to me, but I know you guys came back to the last show. I just want to apologize and see what you guys think. To the letter, they were like, Shut up. You're stupid. Thank you for reaching out, but you don't have to ask our permission. I felt bad. These people spent a lot of hard-earned money to come see my last show.

But what a blessing to be able to finish where you started under your terms. If we could all be so lucky to do that and I can lead a pretty good party. I don't know if people really appreciate how hard it is to lead a.

Party- And always being on.

-for four hours straight at 100 miles an hour. It is not easy. And that's part of the reason why I'm going to say I'm going to step away now because I'm tired. I want to just mow my lawn and walk my dog.

Bruce shares more about his decision to retire from his special career as produced Piano Man.

I played from August until the end of first semester. It was crazy fun. It was like 2012. Three thousand people in here a night. People were like, Cactus is open. Our football team was crushing it. But I'll tell you that three weeks for Christmas break, I was a tired pup. And I talked to my wife and I said, I don't think you'd get much better than this. I think I want to walk away. This is what I feel. You know what it feels good?

Go out with a bang?

Yeah, . When I came back in January, I said, Hey, Ethan, man, I know we talked about maybe three years. I said, I'm going to give you three scenarios and your choice. I'm going to hang them up. I can either hang it up now in January and shake your hand and say thank you, or I can go through the end of this semester, shake your hand and say thank you, or if you'd like, I'll go through the end of the fall. We'll do one more football season. He said, Oh, I'll take the football season, please. I'm like, okay. There wasn't really anythief. I wasn't sore. I just want to do it at a certain level. I don't want to ever have to feel like I have to put it on autopilot just to get through because this is my baby. I started this stinking root. That picture of me, I'm sure because I just met you tonight that I've never told you this story.

I'm.

Sure. I'm sure too. I'm positive you didn't dream about this. But when Jim and Sheila Cochran, they were going to change the decorations in here. It was all cowboy stuff. Hey, we're thinking about putting surfboards and shark heads and some parrots up in the room, give it your Jimmy Buffety feel. Oh, and we're thinking about painting a giant picture of your face. I know we don't know each other very well, but the idea of, first of all, memorializing myself with a giant neon face, it just was a nightmare. I said, No, no, no, no, no, no, thank you. But why don't we just do some palm trees and the ocean and a seagull? Whoa, you built this room and this is your room. We really want to do is we've hired an artist that's going to paint you. I'm like, Oh, you already hired an artist. Okay. I was never comfortable with that. It was very kind. But I have grown to appreciate that. But here's what I didn't want. When that first came out, I didn't want somebody walking in for the first time brand new and being like, Oh, my gosh, that guy must love himself.

There's a big damn picture of himself on the wall. That's where my mind goes. I'm here for you. I don't want you to think like, Wow, are you lucky to be able to come out and hang out with me the night? Yeah, because I've been to shows where people give off that vibe. I'm antithesis of that vibe, I hope. That's why I was just always uncomfortable, but I love it, and it means the world to me now. Jim and Sheila did it for me because I built this room for them and had innumerable blessings with this job.

Bruce calculates that more than a million and a half people have seen his shows over the past three decades. So what does it mean to him that he's become a Purdue legend over the years?

It's hard to wrap your brain around. I mean, it really is. But I'd be lying if I didn't say almost every single vacation, wherever we're at, there's somebody who's a Boilermaker.

And recognizes you?

Yeah. Or I see a Boilermaker sweatshirt, I'm like, Hey, Boilerup. And they're like, Piano man. I know you. Yeah. And a lot of some people don't even know my name. It's just Piano man. It is remarkable. My kids used to get a little tired of it. Like, Really, dad? Really? Can't we just go down the slide at Flamingo here in Vegas?

Do your kids come see you?

They've been to a couple of shows. I don't know if you know this, but typically bars are 21 and older. Yeah. So they're 18 and 17. But they've been to a couple of shows of mine, and I snuck them in one time just for a 10-minute thing before. And I'm going to ask, this would be a lot of pressure. I'm going to look right into the camera, Ethan, my last show, can my kids please come for an hour. I'll get a babysitter next. Thanks.

That's amazing. There's a lot of pressure now. Yeah.

Sorry, Ethan, but I do think Bruce's kids should be in attendance for his last show. So after 28 years of playing at the Cactus, I was curious which memories and stories have really made an impact on Bruce. And of course, he has several. First, Bruce takes us back to September of 2001.

The first pops in my head immediately was the first Thursday after 9/11.

Oh.

Yes. The last place in the world I wanted to be was leading a party and celebrating and drinking. I wasn't in the mood to put on a show. I'll be honest, I thought zero people were going to be here that night. I pull up in the parking lot and it is like a breakfast club line. I thought at first you're like, Wow, these people watch the news because I wasn't in the mood. But you know what? There's going to be some amazing psychology studies that come out from around that time because people just needed two hours to not be clicking to every news channel while commercial is on and just stuck to the TV. People needed that. I learned it that night. We did God bless USA. We did the national anthem five times each.

Everyone was probably.

Just.

Like-.

Oh, I mean, I sobbed uncontroll. People were cowboys and frat boys were just, I love you, man. America. It was palatable. It was honest, and it was reassuring because you hear a lot of stuff about the younger generation. But I'm here to tell you, man, it was, What are they doing to us? This is our country. Very patriotic. It was refreshing. You still didn't forget. Never forget.

Wow. That was one of my favorite stories from this interview, partly because it was.

Pretty unexpected.

Now, if you're a long-time listener of This is Purdue, but you know we love sharing a good Boilermaker love story. And this next memory of Bruce's is no exception.

That's the biggest night, selfishly, my personal was probably the night my wife walked in here.

All right, let's hear.

The love story. Well, it was exotic. She came in, she had a gray-hooded sweatshirt and a ponyail, no makeup, but she was light years the most beautiful person I'd ever seen in my life. And she sat down at this table, and I'm just talking, I'm playing piano. Then all the whole night, and I knew her, all her friends. It was just her first time in here. She had just turned 21. At the end of the night, I'm doing my thing and I'm talking to the people, and her friends had gone off to the dance floor. I'm just talking, Thanks for coming. But I had one eye on her. She stood up to leave, and she pulled her pony tail out, did one of these things, and then started to put it back. I just said, Hey, your hair looks really good down. You should just leave it down. It looks good. I completely got in between the two people that were talking to me said, You should just leave your hair down rudely. Like, 'Scary, baby, Noah. She's like, Oh, really? You like it down? I'm like, She talked back to me. I'm like, Yeah, you look really good down.

You just leave it down. You're pretty. But she talked to me and we struck up just a connection almost immediately. I will share one thing she'll probably hate me for doing this. I've never done it my whole life. I've never done it since, obviously. But I felt like she was starting to not get uncomfortable, but she was starting to want to leave and be with her friends. I reached out and I grabbed her pinky finger and I held pinkies with her. Yeah, going to lose a lot of guy points. But we held pinkies. We were not unconnected to sound since then.

That's amazing. Yeah.

She's a Boilermaker. I'm married to a Boilermaker. Did anybody else at this table marry a Boilermaker? No. Weird.

That's awkward for me. I bet.

Okay, leave it to Bruce to just really rub this in again. So what does this special community mean to Bruce, who grew up in Lafayette, attended Purdue and enchanted his Boilermaker audiences for so many years?

So this Boilermaker community and the spirit, you talked about 9/11, very apparent that night. Yeah. But what does it mean to you? Breakfast Club mornings, football season, basketball games.

I went to Purdue for seven years, 14th semesters. I like paying tuitions, but I went to zero breakfast clothes. Zero. I hate mornings. I love sleep. So having this job, having to have a voice that comes back.

Yep, a couple of cups of coffee.

Oh, and I don't drink coffee. No. But I'll do a five-hour energy shot. No. But you don't need anything. The energy that college students bring to the day to every Thursday is unmatched. I try. I have literally tried to give back as much energy as I get, and it is impossible. I have never, ever done it. I try, but it's impossible. You get so much. Have you ever performed? I've never been a performer, dancer, singer. Yeah, in high school. Okay, so you know the rush, a little bit of being on stage and doing something for a large audience. And you get that ego boost every week. But again, you try and give back more. But there are nights when you can't hear yourself think. It's remarkable.

Bruce's last show at The Cactus is on Thursday, December 7. He tells us what he has lined up for this extra special celebration.

So what do you have planned throughout your last couple of shows? Any sneak peeks you want to give to our audience?

Well, first of all, I'm going to mix the very last show we're going to mix up. It's going to be about half a Piano Man show, typical show, piano and guitar. And then the second half, I'm going to bring... I have a band that I've formed and not just your average band. I've got eight or nine folks that are going to join me on stage, and I'm just going to rock it as best I can for the last two, three hours till they kick me out. I couldn't be more excited. And a lot of them are Boilers.

Bruce shares some last thoughts with his beloved fans.

Again, there's no way to say thank you enough. There's no words, but I hope that I have conveyed to them just how much I'm thankful. I am a Boilermaker. I bleed Golden Black. As a club fan and a Purdue fan, you choose a life of sorrow, but there's always tomorrow and there's always the next game. I will die a Boilermaker, and I'm so blessed to be a Boilermaker. I really can't say thank you enough to them for accepting me and giving me the best job ever as an alumni.

Well, we can't thank you enough for your time.

It's very kind, Kate.

Thank you. We're so excited for your.

Last show.

We're so excited to be here live for a show in October. Yes.

It'll be awesome. We're going to feature Curtis Payner.

We are in his song request.

Okay, we're not done quite yet, though. Have you ever wondered what Bruce's most requested song is? His favorite song to play? His least favorite song to play? Well, we did some rapid fire questions with him to answer all of these questions and more.

Okay, we're going to end with some rapid fire, and I didn't prepare you for these. You don't have any notes on these? Nope. Okay. Has there ever been a requested song that you didn't know?

Oh, yeah. And The God of the Vita.

I don't know about that. Right. What's your favorite song to perform?

Recently, I broke a guitar string. I always played Creep by Radiohead on guitar. Recently, I broke a guitar string towards the end of the show. I was like, I could just do this on piano. I'll do it on piano. There are a few songs where I still have my A-plus voice and like to show it off a little bit. Creep by Radiohead is way up there. It used to be Walking in Memphis, and I still love Walking in Memphis.

We heard.

You play that earlier a little bit. Oh, that's right. I still love it.

What's the strangest request you've ever read?

Strangest request. I've had people, My mom is getting divorced. Do you know any nice people in the room that you could introduce her to. I'm like, Huh. I mean, I met my wife in here, so there's a chance, right?

So you're playing Matchmaker?

Yeah, a little pulled out the old arrow and playing Cupid.

That's amazing. Okay, what's your least favorite song?

I hate If I Had a Million Dollars by Bear Naked Ladies. It was asked for three times a night for 15 years. Okay. If I had a million dollars, I hate that song. I never want to play it again.

I don't even know that song.

Oh, good. Don't learn it and don't ask for it. Okay.

What's the most requested song?

Sweet Caroline or Pianoo Man or Living on.

A Prayer. Okay.

What.

Would you say the genre most requested is?

Gosh, I hate to say it because I'm not a big country fan. But I would guess the last 10 years at least more country than the good stuff.

You don't like country?

Oh, did I say that?

What is a song that's frequently requested that surprises you? Do you have any of those?

Last week I played Sugar cookies. What I play? The Bell the Beat Boys to free my soul. I want to be lost in your rock and roll, drift away. They killed it. I'm like, What? Is stopped in the middle of the song. I said, Is this in a movie? How do you guys know this song? They're like, No, we know. I go, Well, then you have cool parents, and you should come back next week.

What's your go-to drink at the Cactus?

Water. I learned a long time ago, you make your best decisions when you're not under the influence. I learned that I didn't never get in trouble. Just want to preface that. But I'm pretty lame. I lead this great big party, but I just drink water. I love that. Room temperature water if you want to get really involved. Oh, wow. Room temperature water is best for your vocal cords. Hot is bad, cold is bad, room temperature. Got it. As a professional interviewer, I'm just here to help.

Well, we can't thank you enough.

Gosh, I.

Had a ball.

I'm so honored for you guys to even think of me to ask this. Oh, my God. Thank you so much.

Well, you're welcome. We're going to have fun tonight.

Thanks, guys. Thanks, crew. My first crew, the Mothly crew.

An extra special thanks to Ethan Brown and the Neon Cactus for allowing us to shoot this special interview right in Bruce's room at The Cactus and for inviting us to his show afterwards. Be sure to head over to our podcast YouTube page, YouTube. Com/asign. This is Purdue to watch some of our video clips with Bruce. Seriously, you do not want to miss these. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform, including YouTube to never miss an episode. This Is Purdue is hosted and written by me, Kate Young. At this special podcast shoot at the Neon Cactus, our podcast videography was led by Ted Schellenberger in collaboration with Bad Boon, Zach Muginson, Ali Cheney, and Matt Kirkoff. We also had production assistants from Delaney Young, Maria Welch, Theresa Walker, and Kirsten Bowman. Our social media marketing is led by Ashley Schroyer and Maria Welch. Our podcast distribution strategy is led by Theresa Walker. Our podcast photography is led by John Underwood. Our podcast design is led by Caitlin Freebill. Our podcast team project manager is Emily Jesselitis. Our podcast YouTube promotion is managed by Megan Haskins and Kirsten Bowman. Additional writing assistants is led by Joel Meredith and podcast research is led by Sophie Ritz.

Thanks for listening to This is Purdue. For more information on this episode, visit our website at purdu. Edu/podcast. There you can head over to your favorite podcast app to subscribe and leave us a review. And as always, Boiler Up.