Proceeds from Dueling Pianos concert at Legion to aid OVFD

The Olney Legion Post 414 played host to a packed house for the Olney Community Library & Art Center [OCLAC] Dueling Pianos fundraiser on Saturday night.

The concert was originally billed as a fundraiser for the library’s school literacy programs but the OCLAC board of directors decided to donate monies raised to the Olney Volunteer Fire Department. OVFD members were battling the Campbell Ranch fire in searing heat and wind the night of the event, alongside local, state and federal firefighters.

Joel Henry, the owner of The Eighty-Eights Show and one of the pianists, and his long-time piano playing partner Christine Cochrane engaged the crowd at the Legion with banter and contests designed to fill the tips jars on their double-keyboard piano with cash. Mr. Henry said the show incorporates the audience and is really much more than just two people playing piano requests. Olneyites obliged with alacrity, raising hundreds of dollars for the Olney fire department, library director Lori Cox said.

Mr. Henry and Mrs. Cochrane, who met in 2004 and played in Las Vegas for three years, expertly singled out attendees for needling and jokes and good-naturedly pitted the sexes, age groups and even alums from certain colleges against each other in dancing and song contests.

Mr. Henry formed the entertainment company in 2018 and says Mrs. Cochrane plays piano with him for the act about 90 percent of the time. Mr. Henry says he has been playing instruments since he was about five years old - altogether about 45 years.

The two pianists wound the night up with Tower Extrusions CEO Mark McClelland, OISD School Trustee Kyle Hinson, OCLAC Board President Phil Jeske and Olney Hamilton Hospital Foundation Financial Advisor Carl Craig dancing through the crowd competing for donations.