Piano bar to open in Davey’s Uptown space in Kansas City: ‘It’s a dream come true’

More than two years ago, a fire gutted Davey’s Uptown Rambler’s Club, a venerable Kansas City live-music bar.

Now a portion of that spot will come alive again later this month under new owners: the Uptown Lounge piano bar.

“It’s so awesome. It’s a dream come true,” said Michael Rorah, partner. “That’s just how we feel. We’re just really good friends and we’ve always wanted to have our own place.”

Rorah and co-owners Alan and Jean Stribling were so thrilled to be opening they purchased a Yamaha C3 grand piano — conservatory series, the industry standard, they said — two weeks before signing their lease.

Alan Stribling and Rorah spent decades as piano bar headliners, making them experts in what works and what doesn’t.

In the early 1990s, Stribling moved from Kansas City to San Diego, near his grandmother.

He had played piano since he was 5 years old. One day he wandered into the city’s celebrated piano bar, Humphreys Backstage Live, with friends. Rorah was the headliner, playing there five nights a week. They soon became friends.

“I taught him how to kick the bass pedal, play piano and sing at the same time,” Rorah said with a chuckle.

Within a year, Stribling was a headliner — playing the piano and singing. Two years later he was entertaining on cruise ships all over the world. He met his future wife, Jean, who was traveling with her family, on an Alaskan tour in 1997.

They moved back to Kansas City, where he was featured at The Raphael Hotel and then the basement jazz club at Plaza III The Steakhouse on the Country Club Plaza.

Stribling also began working in commercial and residential real estate and construction, and owned two Yogurtini shops in the metro with his wife.

Rorah has played at piano bars in New York, Los Angeles and Miami. He also worked as a real estate agent in Florida. But the native of Boonville, Missouri, decided to move back to the area to help look after his elderly mother during the pandemic.

The friends had long talked of opening their own club. Now they were once again living in the same area.

Uptown Lounge, in the Old Hyde Park Historic District, will be an “upscale but not pretentious” venue. It will feature a variety of live music centered around the piano — show tunes, jazz standards, classic rock, blues, and songs from famous artists such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, The Beatles, the Eagles, Billy Joel, Elton John and more.

Jimmy’s & Mary’s Steak House had been a mainstay in the corner space at 3400 Main. An interior door opened to Davey’s next door. When the steak house closed, Davey’s expanded into the former restaurant, adding a larger second stage and a dance floor.

But in March 2020, a fire gutted the beloved dive bar. A cooler under the bar was to blame.

The Uptown Lounge partners spent about eight months renovating the spot, taking the best piano bar ideas “from the places we loved.”

They just didn’t put speakers on the walls. They hired a sound engineer to determine the best height and the best angle. A bar is directly in front of the stage, inches from the piano. It has a lengthy banquette wrapping around the back corner and a full-bar — with a wall featuring the century-old brick. Rorah did the interior design.

Uptown Lounge, which will be on the expanded streetcar line, plans to open the week of June 20.

Rorah and Stribling will both be headliners, and they’ll have guest headliners as well. Steve Million, Rorah’s childhood friend, will play on June 25. He will be in town for their 50th high school reunion in Boonville.

Hours will be 5 p.m. to close Mondays through Saturdays.

“It will have a comfortable atmosphere and great music, something for everybody,” Alan Stribling said.

The south portion of Davey’s, at 3402 Main, will soon be renovated. The building’s owner would like to sign a restaurant tenant.

Davey’s had two neon signs that wrapped around the building. One was donated to the new Lumi Neon Museum, which is scheduled to open in the fall. The other sign could not be salvaged.

This story was originally published June 8, 2022 at 5:00 AM.