First
of all, I’d like to fill you in on
some of the highlights of the past year.
2007:
March 2 - He played for the
Steinway people from around the country at a gathering
in Chicago.
March 10- He did a special performance
at Jacksonville ( Fla.) University at which time
he received an Honorary Doctorate.
April 28 - He played a concert
at Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho from
which he earned his degree in engineering
June
2 - He played for the Steinway people at their
Museum for Making Music in Carlsbad, California.
His family was able to attend this function.
Oct. 1 - Roger’s 83rd birthday
celebration /Piano marathon at the Ronald Reagan
Presidential Library and Museum in California’s
Simi Valley. Starting at 8:00 a.m. Roger completed
his 14 1/2 marathon at 10:30 p.m. breaking his
previous record of 14 hrs. There was plenty of
live coverage by locl media and the Fox Network
also covered the event. You can view some of this
live coverage here on Roger’s Web site. Roger’s
2 daughters attended this event and you can see
Laura being interviewed by Fox.
Purpose of these annual marathons is to raise
public awareness for music in the schools.
Dec. 24 - Crystal Cathedral Christmas Eve services
where he played for all 7 services.
CONCERTS: During the course of
2007 he also played many successful concerts around
the country. In February he played three concerts
with the Florida Orchestra in Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg
and Clearwater. In September he did a “mini
tour” in
Pennsylvania ( doing 4 concerts in 4 nights) in
Dubois, Williamsport, Hazelton and Allentown. Other
dates took him to Saginaw, MI, Danville, IL, Prescott,
AZ, and Fort Myers, FL in addition to doing several
private engagements in California and Salt Lake
City.
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 TO
OUR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES:
At the
beginning of the current presidential campaign
when 16 candidates threw their hats in the ring,
Roger sent a letter to all 16 candidates concerning
the return of music education in the schools.
You may find this letter on this website, as
well as any answers he may receive. To date,
the only one to respond to Roger’s letter
is John Edwards - and he is now out of the race.
You can read more about this, click
here.
Now
that 2008 is in full swing, the calendar is starting
to fill in nicely. He’s already done one
concert in January when he played for the Steinway
dealers on January 16. Roger just completed a 3-day
stint in Gulf Shores, Alabama (near Mobile) from
Feb. 18-20. It was a huge success and all three
concerts were sold out. As I write this Roger is
in St. George, Utah for two concerts on Feb. 26 & 27.
On Easter Sunday he will be playing
at all the services at the Crystal Cathedral in
Garden Grove. However, because of delays due to
taping and airing, this won’t be aired until
Easter Sunday 2009.
During the course of the past
year Roger has been putting together a new CD for
READERS DIGEST. It is called “YOUR ALL TIME
FAVORITES” BY ROGER WILLIAMS. It contains
18 numbers in all and the CD is scheduled to be
released May 14.
Two exciting “happenings” later
in the year will be his return to Las Vegas in
September after an absence of two years.
This time he’ll be appearing
at the newly built South Point Casino & Spa,
located on Las Vegas Blvd., about 5 miles south
of the Strip. He’ll be there Sept. 26-28
-- show times are at 7:30 P.M. Happening #2 will
be his 84th birthday celebration and piano marathon
at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum
in Independence, MO on Oct. 1.
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