вЂњI thought working at a theme park, IвЂ™d have a new audience every day,вЂќ Messick said. вЂњDoctorвЂќ Dave Messick entertains the lunch crowds in downtown Tampa in June 1988. вЂњA couple days later I get a phone call from the Busch Gardens Entertainment Department.вЂќ Messick said he was playing at ShakeyвЂ™s one night in 1980 when Desmond Boone, the Busch Gardens music director, came in. вЂњI joked, вЂSteve, since IвЂ™m a bit older than you, if youвЂ™re a professor IвЂ™m at least a doctor. вЂњHis вЂProfessorвЂ™ name was a throwback to that time,вЂќ Messick said. Pistorius explained lounge musicians playing in New Orleans bordellos at the turn of the century often helped educate the young women they worked alongside. вЂњI asked him how he got the name вЂProfessor,вЂ™вЂќ Messick said.

By then he had played at TampaвЂ™s first gay piano bar, inside El Goya in Ybor City, entertained cocktail guests at a famous gay resort known as the Parliament House in Orlando and hit the road for extended gigs in Ohio and Alabama.ДЄround 1979, he adopted his stage name, Doctor Dave, while conversing with Dixieland jazz pianist Professor Steve Pistorius at a downtown Tampa restaurant known as the Levee. His heart kept pulling him back to ShakeyвЂ™s, where he continued performing off and on through the late 1970s. Petersburg, followed by work at a Hyde Park restaurant and a Rexall drugstore diner in Ruskin, where he performed with a group known as Toots McCaineвЂ™s Ridiculous Ragtime Band. There was a stint at Country Dinner Playhouse at Gateway Mall in St. HeвЂ™d play piano in the schoolвЂ™s music room on his lunch breaks and someone noticed during his senior year.Дedicated to his craft, Messick began earning work beyond the pizzeria. His family moved to Tampa in 1966, and he began attending Plant High School at the age of 16. вЂњI was borrowing stuff from this artist and that, but I was formulating my own style and did it by ear.вЂќ вЂњI was listening to how different pianists played the same song, listening to their techniques,вЂќ Messick said. He collected records by the likes of ragtime pianist Johnny Maddox, honky-tonk icon Joe вЂњFingersвЂќ Carr and Del Wood, a pianist who became famous for her 1951 hit version of Down Yonder. вЂњI was just amazed at this kind of piano because it wasnвЂ™t the kind I was being taught. вЂњMy parents watched The Lawrence Welk Show on Saturday nights, and almost every program featured a honky-tonk piano,вЂќ he said. He also enjoyed learning songs by ear, especially tunes that sounded more colorful than the Bach and Beethoven pieces he became accustomed to through lessons. вЂњGrowing up, visiting relatives, thereвЂ™d be a piano there, and it was like a magnet - I was attracted to it,вЂќ Messick said.ДЄfter his family moved to Portland, Oregon, a young Messick received daily piano lessons from a neighbor.

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