A thoroughly American night of music is coming to Wakulla County on Feb. 18.  Bob Milne, renowned pianist, author, and American music ambassador, will be performing ragtime at the Shiner’s Club, sponsored by NAMI Wakulla, an affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

“Wakulla County is lucky to have Bob Milne entertain us with his incomparable talent,” said NAMI Wakulla President Charlie Creel.  “And NAMI Wakulla is even more fortunate Bob has agreed to perform and help our cause to provide support and education programs on mental illness.”

Milne describes himself as a "journeyman piano player," which he defines as "anyone who will drive any place today, to play any piano tonight, so they can eat some place tomorrow."

Many of his “day-trips” have landed him in Canada, Japan, Africa, England, Ireland, Scotland, Mexico and Switzerland, and have earned him the designation by the U. S. Department of State as a music ambassador.

He has also performed on the USS George Washington, and for U. S. officials, including President George Herbert Walker Bush, and 60 Minutes’ Mike Wallace.

Performing ragtime to boogie-woogie is his way of "not having to get a job,” Milne said.  “As long as I could keep playing piano, I didn't have to buy a suit and tie and go sit in an office... doing what they wanted me to do, which I was totally unprepared to do anyway," he said in an interview at the Library of Congress in 2004.

Milne began his musical career as a French horn virtuoso for orchestras in Philadelphia and Boston in the 1960s, but shifted to piano entertaining when he filled in after-hours in a saloon.

Tickets for Milne’s performance are $25.00 per person, which includes a Prime Rib dinner and an assortment of ragtime delights.  The event will begin at 7:00 p.m.  For more information or ticket purchases please call NAMI Wakulla’s office at 850/926-1033 or you may contact Cheryl Creel at 850/509-7103 or Jo Anne Strickland at 850/566-1828.

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