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Still rockin' the house At 93 years old, Phyllis Ross and Gail Myers are still performing Comment By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 25, 2016 at 12:01 AM By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 25, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News Phyllis Ross remembers holding the tin cup when her father performed as a street musician in South Dakota in the Great Depression. Gail Myers remembers hitchhiking to South Dakota State College in Brookings, S.D., where the two young people discovered they shared a love of music. Three-quarters of a century later, the two are still exploring their love of music together. It’s their regular Wednesday gig for the lunch crowd at the Central Point Senior Center, with Ross playing the center’s massive upright piano and Myers blowing a C tenor saxophone he found many years ago in a pawn shop. The two friends started playing for senior centers and assisted-living facilities 10 years ago and have played here since 2012. It’s their only remaining steady date. Their audience multitasks, eating, chatting, listening to the music and humming along, looking up from the salad when a favorite tune starts here, putting down the silverware to applaud a big finish there. “We play the songs we both grew up with,” Ross says. “We don’t know any of the newer songs.” The playlist runs from pop standards (“When I Grow Too Old to Dream,” “American Patrol,” “Side by Side”) to folk songs (“The Yellow Rose of Texas,” “Red River Valley,” “Shenandoah”) to songs that sound like folk but aren’t (“Cool Water,” “You Are My Sunshine”). The road from South Dakota to places like the senior center was a long one, involving marriages (to other people, not each other), books (they’ve each written them) and, of course, music. Ross spent several years sailing the South Pacific in a 40-foot sloop. Myers played in a dance band. Ross wears a sweater, slacks and little dangly earrings. Myers sports a neatly trimmed goatee. These days he plays seated with a music stand, and she gets help turning the piano to where she can just see him. “We both love all kinds of music,” she says. Both are 93 years old. He says her birthday came first. “Now that I have reached that age, I can quit referring to her as a cougar,” he says. These days he prefers the tenor sax to his others, such as a B-flat. “It has a little more tone,” he says. “It’s less squawky.” “Can you imagine having that much wind at 93?” asks healthy-aging expert Sharon Johnson, who turned out for the show. Johnson says Myers and Ross will star in a video to be made by the nonprofit, Jacksonville-based Age-Friendly Innovators (on Facebook at agefriendlyinnovation) promoting the use of handrails for safety in older folks’ homes. The group is seeking a grant to produce the video, which is to feature the hook-filled 1965 hit tune “Let’s Hold On!” by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. “We used to be better,” Ross says after a turn at “Harbor Lights” that didn’t click quite as she wanted. But then they fairly rock out on “Red River Valley,” and the crowd claps warmly. Ross follows that with a rollicking instrumental turn at Kris Kristofferson's and Fred Foster’s “Me and Bobbie McGee,” which dating from 1969 is probably the newest song in the show. Ross says music was a legacy from her parents. Her mother loved classical. Her father, who lost a leg in a farm accident, took to the streets as a one-man band, playing guitar and a harmonica in a holder while adding percussion with a drumstick fastened to his stump. “I can still hear the nickels and dimes drop in the cup,” she says. On St. Patrick’s Day last year, as Myers played the first bars of “I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen” at the senior center, he fell and broke his right femur. An 84-year-old who was taking a class in early medical response immobilized the leg, and Myers’ surgeon told him that may have saved him from a much more complicated compound fracture. Ten months later, he was back on his feet, sax in hand. These days it’s hard to say who’s having the most fun. As Myers plays the first part of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” forks are placed on plates, and several people hum or softly sing the familiar words: “My eyes have seen the glory …” Bill Varble writes about arts and entertainment for the Mail Tribune. He can be reached at varble.bill @gmail.com. By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 25, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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