Slated to appear at the next Brown Bag Concert at noon on August 18 at Emmanuel Church is “Music From the Heart.”
Performers Ron Myers and John Liger formed the duo fifteen years ago, and they have played for audiences from Sacramento, Calif. to Bellingham, Wash. Five years ago they recorded a CD, “Walkin’ on Air,” which is still available today.
John grew up in a musical family, and after discovering jazz in his teens he began singing in choirs and ensembles. After graduating from college he put entertaining aside for awhile serving as a navy carrier pilot, then with Boeing as a manufacturing engineer and then starting several successful businesses of his own. Finally, eight years ago, he began to devote himself full-time to music. In addition to appearing on stage in numerous shows, on radio, at weddings and at private parties and clubs, he also is the leader of “Those Guys from Orcas”. With “Music from the Heart” he demonstrates his versatility in many genres of music, and lists as his role models such talents as Mel Torme, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Kris Kristofferson and Nat King Cole who have shaped both his taste and style.
Ron Myers began classical training in music at age 6, and continued for the next eleven years. During high school he played with bands, sang in the choir and was regular pianist on a weekly radio show for two years. A forty-year professional career in aviation included 31 years in the United States Air Force, and gave him the opportunity to travel world-wide and he “always found a piano to play.” Dance bands, radio shows, piano bars, weddings, variety shows and special events all contributed to his musical experience. Here on Orcas he has been involved in musical accompaniment for fifteen community theater productions at Orcas Center. Ron favors love songs and standards of the twentieth century, but enjoys playing all types of music – his “favorite things is accompanying a quality singer like John.” Ron is a member of the Orcas Island Community Band and Orcatrazz, the community swing band.
The Music Committee at Emmanuel welcomes the opportunity to present Music from the Heart. The Brown Bag Concerts are free of charge because of the generosity of local groups and musicians, but donations are welcome as these concerts fund a scholarship to music camp every summer for a young Orcas Island music student.
The audience is encouraged to bring a brown bag lunch to enjoy on the church lawn after the concert.
