PORT ANGELES — Armed with pianos, these two men aim to make a whole lot of music.
In the inaugural Duel of the Decades, Jess Doenges and William Plumley will engage in a joust of the keys — and a survey of jazz, blues, rock and pop history — at the Next Door gastropub, 113 W. First St., this Saturday night.
The men will be seated at 9 p.m. and, as is typical at the pub, there’ll be no cover charge.
The show of four hands has two parts. First off, Plumley, a pianist from Forks, will unleash his repertoire of swing and jazz standards from the first half of the 20th century.
In answer to that, Doenges of Sequim will play piano classics from the second half of the last century: Billy Joel, Elton John, you get the idea.
His wife Stephanie Doenges, nee Stephanie Batson, will step up to sing a few songs. A vocalist well-known to those who lived here when her Rollin’ Waters band was playing, Stephanie now is part of Bread and Gravy, a voice-and-piano duo with Jess.
Audience participation rules Act II of the show: Some name-that-tune competition will start it off. Then the piano pair will play requests and even provide an opportunity for no-holds-barred karaoke singing.
“After listening to them rehearse,” said Stephanie, “I think it will be pretty unique, because they have such contrasting styles.
“Also, I haven’t seen anything like this around here.”
