Lansing - If the beer signs, bar stools and clouds of cigarette smoke were the only things inside, this would be like any other bar.

But upstairs, Christmas lights are strewn across the walls and the ceiling highlights the straw hut awning, wildlife art and a lonely stuffed parrot.

And with the sounds of fast-paced pop songs sung to a piano accompaniment, one gets the feeling this must be the place they call “Margaritaville.”

“It’s fun to go with a bunch of guys from work,” said family communication services senior Toby Wollam. “On Sundays they have $1.50 drinks.”

That means Wollam and his friends can order cheap drink after cheap drink and sing along as the piano players belt out “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.”

“We always request that,” Wollam said. “They pretty much play anything - like *NSYNC and ‘(The) Thong Song.’”

Dru Hill they aren’t, and the Jimmy Buffett fantasyland this isn’t, but the men behind the baby grands at Rum Runners, 601 E. Michigan Ave., know what the people want to hear.

Every week between Wednesday and Sunday, fun-seekers from the Lansing area pile into the watering hole upstairs to get a taste of the dueling pianos.

Two musicians sit opposite each other, crack jokes and lead the crowd in singing and clapping along to classic rock ‘n roll.

With the help of a lively crowd, a dueling pianist can turn even the most unassuming Bon Jovi song into a drinking anthem.

“You have to be a complete and utter genius,” said finance and accounting senior Brian Griffin, who’s been tickling the ivories every week at Rum Runners for a year and a half.

“If you’re driving down the road and you can sing every song on the radio - all of us are those guys,” Griffin said.

After five years spent at MSU between the men’s volleyball team, his fraternity and various restaurant jobs, Griffin said he had absolutely no credentials when he applied to be a performer.

“I more or less tripped and fell on my face into it,” he said.

Griffin said he had a little knowledge of playing before he walked into Rum Runners. Not enough to satisfy every request, though, so he studied the lyrics, chords and chord variations of the popular songs he didn’t know.

Like “You’ve Lost that Lovin Feelin’,” which he performed for a newly-engaged couple who sat at opposite ends of the pianos.

Attractive audience members were invited to kneel beside to show them what they were giving up and to “capture that lost loving feeling.”

Karin VanBuren came from Ludington, Mich. to celebrate with the happy couple, and was the culprit behind the Righteous Brothers request.

“It’s different - it’s not the typical club,” she said. “There were more younger people than I thought there would be.”

But even the kids can appreciate liquored-up versions of songs by David Lee Roth, Bob Seger and Elton John.

Especially when everyone in the crowded upstairs knows the words, and the players bang their pianos, accompany on drums and whistle in time.

They do birthdays, too.

Two gentlemen stood on stage while all four musicians came out to perform a stirring birthday song medley. As usual, the themes of the songs focused on their male stature, culminating with “It’s a Small World After All.”

But since Rum Runners is located so close to the State Capitol, pianist Robert Boziach can come up with one excuse or another to avoid playing a certain often-requested Billy Joel song every five minutes.

“We’re required by law to wait until the room is full to play ‘Piano Man,’” he said.

Boziach has been performing at Rum Runners almost since the club opened in 1996.

“When I started doing this, there was one place in Chicago that was a dueling piano bar,” he said. “When I decided to make that change, Lansing, Mich. was the closest place to Chicago doing that kind of thing.”

Boziach made the switch from night club deejaying to piano playing because he was intent on doing so, and has kept traveling back and forth since.

He is now the manager of the entertainment aspect of the bar, and also hires and oversees the seven other pianists, including Griffin.

“The simplest way I can put it is turning my passion into my profession,” Boziach said.

“It’s to help guys like Brian getting into this.”

Apart from knowing songs and playing your heart out, Boziach said there are a few dangers to the job.

One is dealing with drunk customers intent on taking over the microphone or flashing their breasts. Or, elderly couples nearly getting it on on-stage.

The other is being careful not to get too drunk to play.

“Sometimes the customers like to get us drunk,” Boziach said. “It’s one of the dangers of the job - if you don’t drink, you’re not having enough fun.”