While it’s true that most people sing in the shower, we’ve never met anyone that sells shower components and also sings professionally. That is, until now.
Howard Bernstein, Hospitality VP Sales with Tile Redi, has somehow managed to combine providing hotels throughout the world with time and money-saving shower pans and show bases, while also moonlighting as a professional singer/songwriter.
In fact, his songs are set to be included in a trio of upcoming films, including ones starring Samuel L. Jackson and Ashton Kutcher. It’s an unexpected coda to a career that started when Bernstein was just a child.
Raised by an opera-singing mom, musicality was imbued into Bernstein at a young age. His mother was a featured performer at the Long Island Lyric Opera House and Bernstein used to hang around, learning to love the craft of singing and songwriting from the professionals. It wasn’t long before he became a stagehand there - to further spend time living and loving the musical lifestyle.
During the 1970s, Bernstein found himself heavily entrenched in Philadelphia jazz scene. He played regularly around town and hung out with the likes of Grover Washington, one of the most influential jazz musicians of his day, who is commonly known as a founding father of the smooth jazz movement. He also played with Philadelphia legend Jim Croce, who is probably best known for his hits “Time in a Bottle" and "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown," both #1 hits in 1973.
“It was an incredible time in my life,” said Bernstein. “Something I’ll always remember.”
Eventually Bernstein retired from the road to concentrate on other aspects of his life. But music was never far away. He rekindled his love for song when he started teaching his son to play guitar and realized that music would always be an essential part of his life. The realization drove him to start playing again. Now, with his band Blue Plate Special, he regularly plays venues of up to 300 people. Bernstein’s even touring again, playing around the country, and in faraway places like China.
Stylistically he feels his music is much like that found with Electric Light Orchestra, a 1970s band focused on creating modern rock with a heavily classical twist. And though he’s into the instrumentation, Bernstein said the lyrics are what matters most to him. “They want to hear words,” Bernstein said of the fans he draws. “I write a lot of stuff that has meaning. I’m bringing back the anti-war protest song,” he said, laughing.
But while he protests the nights away, he spends his days proselytizing to hoteliers entering into a renovation period for their properties how they can save time and money while delivering a superior shower experience to their guests.
Bernstein said that Tile Redi shower pans or shower base models, including the industry’s largest selection of ADA and barrier-free models, have created a new industry standard for bathroom renovations. The patented leak-free design is made from a rugged polyurethane, and comes with an integrated drain, curb, side splash walls, and with the floor pre-pitched ¼ inch per foot to the drain.
Before Tile Redi, there were limited and time-consuming choices such as hot mopping, framing the shower base, building a shower curb or stapling a liner to the shower substrate. Now, installation can take just half an hour instead of days. And tile, marble or stone can then be installed directly over the shower pan or shower base surface.
Tile Redi clients include most major hotel companies including Starwood, Westin, Loews and MGM MIRAGE Corporation. Tile Redi also works with the timeshare developer Westgate, as well as Turner Construction and is involved in Walt Disney’s new Hawaiian timeshare hotel project.
“For renovations, Tile Redi has become the hotel industry’s major installer. We are in places we never thought we would be, but it’s a testament to the quality and selection of products we have to offer. Now we are inventing things no one has even thought of before, such as an Infinity Drain,” said Bernstein. “Guests are considering the shower first, and Tile Redi gives owners and developers a tool to deliver the highest guest satisfaction.”
Tile Redi has become a regular supplier participating in BITAC events; Bernstein’s music is becoming an equally integral component. After playing BITAC Purchasing and Design West last year (he saved the day when the scheduled entertainment had to cancel due to the San Diego wild fires), he is back this year to entertain the sold-out crowd.
“I always have fun at these events, from both a personal and professional point of view. I’m looking forward to entertaining the crowd and having the opportunity for them to hear my music,” said Bernstein.
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Glenn Haussman
Editor in Chief
Hotel Interactive, Inc.
Bio: Glenn Haussman is Hotel Interactive's Editor In Chief, where he manages all editorial content for the hotel industry’s leading online information resource. Here he creates unique and in-depth content that stimulates and educates the publication’s ...
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