A "DIAMOND DAVE" IS FOREVER
Against the setting of a Lafayette restaurant, an entertainer's ability to close generation gaps proves a jewel for patrons
  
By Elizabeth Sivesind
Times Staff Writer

Contra Costa Times- October 30, 2004
  
After the kitchen calls it a night and the dining room lights are dimmed, the real party begins.You have to know where to find it, though. Think of it as a secret society. From the street, Petar's looks like a restaurant that is surely closed for the night. But tucked in the back is a lounge where it looks like a family wedding reception is in full swing, with a multi-generational group crowding in to share the dance floor. The draw? Piano man Dave Hosley, who for 18 years has been jamming cover songs into all hours of the night there, four nights a week. Dubbed "Diamond Dave" by St. Mary's students, who, over the years, have become regular patrons, Hosley was hired by Petar himself, who owned the restaurant on and off for decades until his death last year. Times have changed since Hosley's early days at Petar's.
  
He was 30 years old and had recently moved west from Connecticut, after touring the East Coast for years with his band, the Riverside Drivers. When he started his solo gig at Petar's, it was good-old boys sipping bourbon and shaking dice. On his first night, when he played the Drifters' "Under the Boardwalk," bar regulars asked him who the Drifters were.
  
"That's how old they were," Hosley explains.
  
Though the waitresses still call you "honey" and the bar food's still fish and chips, Hosley has shifted his shtick. Instead of piano, he plays the keyboard accompanied by electronics. Elvis Presley and Sam Cooke are still part of his repertoire, but so are Nelly and Usher. His audience has changed, too. Granted, competition for the club scene in Lafayette is bleak, but by 10 p.m. on a recent Saturday night, the dance floor was packed. A group of twentysomething blondes, perfectly accessorized right down to their chandelier earrings, chat with cocktails in hand. Several couples old enough to be their parents or grandparents dance cheek to cheek. One trouper is working it with a cane. Nearby, a bunch of too-cool recent college graduates, side burns and all, huddle in the corner. For St. Mary's student Nicole Polisner, Petar's is the bar to come to every Thursday night.
  
"He is a different scene from the other bars," says Polisner, 22. "He's a lounge singer singing OutKast. It's fun!"
  
Her friend Jenny Wagner, a Lafayette resident, agrees.
  
"It's more fun to hear a live singer than a DJ." Wagner, 23, says Hosley's uncanny ability to choose the right song is what draws a diverse crowd. "He caters to his audience," Wagner, says.
  
Hosley is the first to admit the unusual crowd can be a juggling act, so he plays it by ear. "If I look at the piano bar and there are some older ladies sitting at the bar saying, 'Oh God,' I know it's time to play some Sinatra," he says.
  
For many years, Petar's hosted a decidedly older crowd. And the influx of the younger crowd still causes some cultural tension now and then. That might explain the older folks, scowling on the sidelines, who've given up on the elbow fest. Groupies share a love of "Diamond Dave," but the different age groups can get a little territorial about the dance floor. If you are on it but talking and not dancing, for example, someone will ask you to step away. A couple who really know some steps might have to make their way to the hallway for enough space to properly dance them. The older folks are a little surprised to see the young bar-goers carrying their drinks to the dance floor. Conversely, when a seat is empty, some of that same generation assume it's up for grabs. Not so at Petar's, where the older folks would like some traditions to prevail.
  
Kevin Hattrup of Concord, who has been visiting Petar's for 15 years, says it's all about manners. "If you see drinks, don't sit there. Whoever gets here first gets the seat."
  
Petar's waitress Laura Berry, 36, whose grandmother was a regular at the bar, says it's really only a handful of older customers who want the place to themselves. "I think the older crowd loves the fresh, young energy. Dave has a reputation, and he has an audience. He can play any cover song. Any cover song."
  
Hosley ignores the soap opera on the dance floor, perpetually smiling at the crowd. When his audience gets antsy, he'll simply play "a common denominator" song like Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" or Jimmy Buffett's "Margaritaville." The Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" also does the trick.
  
"It's always been a neighborhood bar," Hosley says. "It's a nice neighborhood, but it's a neighborhood bar. That's how Pete always wanted it to be. You can't make it in this business and be selective about your audience."
  
Some of his fans are like family after all these years. Hosley met his wife here. Many patrons have also met their spouses at Petar's, known for its 50-and-older singles scene, and Hosley has performed at their weddings. One guy met both his wives at Petar's; Hosley played both receptions.
  
Suzanne Davis, a Concord resident, comes to see Hosley at least once a week. Davis, 52, says she feels young when she is at Petar's. "The young and the old balance here. It's a rare place. Dave is like a magnet. His love of music is contagious. We are moths to a flame." But does Diamond Dave ever tire of playing "New York, New York"? Though he writes and records his own songs in the studio he built in his back yard, you won't hear them at Petar's. "You know you are going to get a good response when you do a song by Elvis," he says. "That's what I am there for. I am an entertainer."
  
When the dot-com boom hit in the late '90s, Hosley cut his four-night gig to two so that he could work as a computer programmer during the day. For the first time in his life, he questioned his career as a full-time musician. He has three daughters to provide for, after all, as well as his wife, a school teacher. His pragmatic father rolled his eyes when Hosley enrolled at the Berklee College of Music following high school. Though he eventually left school to make good money touring with his band, his father's words of warning continued to play in his head. When the economy fizzled and Hosley lost his job, he returned to his regular gig at Petar's.
  
"I came back much stronger and reinvigorated," he says. "I realized what I am supposed to be doing. I am full speed ahead again." And like clockwork, the crowd is counting on him to be there singing their favorite songs. "I have been so fortunate working for Petar for so many years," he says. "In the night-club business, solid and reliable is not the norm."
  
And Hosley doesn't mind educating his audience now and then. Like the night not long ago when he noted the originator of a song he'd just played was Usher.
  
"Who's Usher?" an older patron asked.
  
"He's from L.A.," deadpanned Diamond Dave.
  
Reprinted by permission of The Contra Costa Times