Warmth and the smell of food mingled in the air with music as students of music educator Joe Proc, collectively called Wiped Out, gigged at Franco’s Pizza & Pasta on February 11 for their pre-Valentine’s Day event “I Luv My Guitar.”

A young musician at nine, Miah Milunich gave a sincere and sweet acoustic cover of “What About Us” by P!nk with vocals and her guitar in hand. Accompanying her on his own guitar was Proc, who provided the audience with a backstory about his student before she proceeded with the song.

“She just started playing guitar three or four months ago; this is her third gig,” Proc said, then remembered the first time she played at the restaurant. “She played for about ten minutes and got 50 bucks. That’s 300 hundred bucks an hour!”

Between the pizza and pasta dishes on the tables were the orange, plastic jars meant for tips, an element Proc always includes for the benefit of his student performers.

“I let the kids count the money and split it out,” Proc said. Following last weekend’s event, Proc reported that each student made $43 in tips.

A lifelong musician and a vocal and guitar teacher for over 40 years, Proc said he wants his students to know that music is a viable career option for them. The Newtown resident told The Newtown Bee that his message to kids is, “Hey, there are people making a living doing [music], maybe you can do it, too.”

Proc’s early introduction to the art of gigging, paying mind to any possible future careers, is incorporated with his teaching style.

“We can’t just sit in a room for four or five years,” Proc said in a subsequent interview. “Let’s get out and do it.”

Miah took to playing out relatively early.

“She’s that brave and courageous,” Proc said of his student, who had agreed to perform after he had offered her the opportunity just three weeks after beginning lessons.

Proc’s next student was Ethan Lin. In their rendition of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” Proc invited the audience to sing along.

Last weekend’s gig was the third for Wiped Out at the Sand Hill Plaza location. According to Proc, the restaurant took to social media last year on a local Facebook group page searching for local entertainment, and he answered the call.

Before COVID, Proc would regularly organize gigs for his students. Everything changed, he said, with the arrival of the pandemic in 2020.

“I lost 100 percent of my students,” Proc stated. “But it’s starting to grow again.”

Proc said there will be more gigs in the future at Franco’s and elsewhere. Others in Wiped Out who performed that night included Mia Sullivan, playing “Red” by Taylor Swift, Jake Swindon with “December” by Collective Soul, and Dillon Tassitano with “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath.

Reporter Noelle Veillette can be reached at noelle@thebee.com.