Jorge "Rufio" Ramirez
Hometown: Bremerton Wa
Current City: Portland Or
Influences: Sammy Hagar, Journey, KISS, Three Dog Night, Chicago, Earth Wind & Fire, Rush, Van Halen
Sam Cooke, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Country Music, Billy Joel, Harry Connick Jr, Iron Maiden, Roy Clark
Favorite Bands: Journey, Chicken Foot, Sammy Hagar, Vital Information, DCI International drum and bugle corps
Favorite Song To Play: Dont Wanna Miss A Thing or Sweet Caroline
Jorge grew up around a family that listened to alot of music. His father sang, one of his brothers played the drums and another played the trumpet. Jorge first decided to try the trumpet but was easily bored then snuck into his other brothers room and found his snare drum in the closet. For weeks he would sneak that drum out while his brother was at school.
Jorge later "graduated" to playing Cool Whip containers to a live KISS drum solo and eventually figured that if he cut down 5 gallon buckets to different sizes, he could get different sounds. He rode his bike to different resturants to collect these buckets that would become his first drumset! (Talk about determination)
His junior year in high school his father bought him his first REAL drumset. A ROGERS kit with Pearl cymbals and some roto-toms.
After a brief trial in drum and bugle corps, Jorge was an instructor for the Tigard High School Drumline. He later placed an add at Guitar Center which landed him an audition and gig with The MoonDoggers. Jorge played in several cover bands playing styles from rock, funk, fusion, to country. Playing gigs in Portland, Seattle, South Dakota, Las Vegas, Oklahoma, and Branson Missouri.He was even asked twice to play for country legend and Hee Haw star Roy Clark. Scheduling events unfortunately kept him from pursuing that opportunity. Jorge did have the honor of playing with The World Famous Platters.
In 2005, Jorge was introduced to the dueling piano concept by two amazing entertainers, Ron and Augie Savage.
Since then Jorge has been the drummer for dueling piano clubs such as Boogie Woogies, Wallbangers, The Longhorn, 88 Keys and The Barrel Room. In 2008, Jorge was getting opportunities to play piano at The Longhorn. He later joined the crew at 88 Keys in Seattle and moved to Portland for the new Barrel Room. 2012 marked Jorge starting his mobile dueling piano show called DUELING DUETS.
With a voice range that can sing from country tunes all the way to Journey, Jorge is a real crowd pleaser. Jorge has an amazing ability to get the most shy person in the room to end up standing on a piano singing their heart out! Jorge's love for music and entertaining people really shows in his performance!
Hometown: Bremerton Wa
Current City: Portland Or
Influences: Sammy Hagar, Journey, KISS, Three Dog Night, Chicago, Earth Wind & Fire, Rush, Van Halen
Sam Cooke, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Country Music, Billy Joel, Harry Connick Jr, Iron Maiden, Roy Clark
Favorite Bands: Journey, Chicken Foot, Sammy Hagar, Vital Information, DCI International drum and bugle corps
Favorite Song To Play: Dont Wanna Miss A Thing or Sweet Caroline
Jorge grew up around a family that listened to alot of music. His father sang, one of his brothers played the drums and another played the trumpet. Jorge first decided to try the trumpet but was easily bored then snuck into his other brothers room and found his snare drum in the closet. For weeks he would sneak that drum out while his brother was at school.
Jorge later "graduated" to playing Cool Whip containers to a live KISS drum solo and eventually figured that if he cut down 5 gallon buckets to different sizes, he could get different sounds. He rode his bike to different resturants to collect these buckets that would become his first drumset! (Talk about determination)
His junior year in high school his father bought him his first REAL drumset. A ROGERS kit with Pearl cymbals and some roto-toms.
After a brief trial in drum and bugle corps, Jorge was an instructor for the Tigard High School Drumline. He later placed an add at Guitar Center which landed him an audition and gig with The MoonDoggers. Jorge played in several cover bands playing styles from rock, funk, fusion, to country. Playing gigs in Portland, Seattle, South Dakota, Las Vegas, Oklahoma, and Branson Missouri.He was even asked twice to play for country legend and Hee Haw star Roy Clark. Scheduling events unfortunately kept him from pursuing that opportunity. Jorge did have the honor of playing with The World Famous Platters.
In 2005, Jorge was introduced to the dueling piano concept by two amazing entertainers, Ron and Augie Savage.
Since then Jorge has been the drummer for dueling piano clubs such as Boogie Woogies, Wallbangers, The Longhorn, 88 Keys and The Barrel Room. In 2008, Jorge was getting opportunities to play piano at The Longhorn. He later joined the crew at 88 Keys in Seattle and moved to Portland for the new Barrel Room. 2012 marked Jorge starting his mobile dueling piano show called DUELING DUETS.
With a voice range that can sing from country tunes all the way to Journey, Jorge is a real crowd pleaser. Jorge has an amazing ability to get the most shy person in the room to end up standing on a piano singing their heart out! Jorge's love for music and entertaining people really shows in his performance!
Kevin Guitron
Hometown: Portland, OR
Current City: Bellevue, WA
Influences: Billy Joel (the 1982 version of Billy was the best), Ray Charles,
Elton John, James Taylor, Neil Diamond, Tom Petty
Favorite Bands: Coldplay, Oasis,
The Fray, All American Rejects,
Boyce Avenue
Favorite song to play: Wonderwall....I friggin' love that song!
Kevin has been playing piano since he was 12 years old. He comes from a family of piano players and has been surrounded by music and inspiration his entire life. With the help of his Dad, he worked through some basic piano books and was self taught in how to read music.
After marrying his high school sweetheart, Kevin took a job as a firefighter in Bellevue and they have been there ever since. It was on a vacation trip to Myrtle Beach, SC that sparked his interest in dueling pianos. After watching his first show he was hooked. Upon returning home, Kevin put all of his music books away and started re-learning how to play piano. It was a style that allowed for total freedom and the ability to memorize literally hundreds of songs without being forced to have endless piles of sheet music in front of him.
Now, you can find Kevin playing everything from solo piano shows in dive bars around town to dueling piano shows all over the NorthWest. He is getting booked for fundraising events, weddings and the usual bar gigs. His favorite song to play really depends on the moment and the crowd. Over the past 5 years, he has grown to love entertaining and that means playing whatever will have the greatest effect on the crowd.
Whether it’s playing a song from the top 40 charts so a younger crowd can sing and dance or a jazz standard to please an older demographic, his show is all about reading the crowd and making everybody feel like they are a part of the show.
Kevin brings a vibrant amount of energy to his performances. You’ll often see him running through the crowd, jumping up on speakers, or dashing across the grand pianos getting the crowd all fired up!
Hometown: Portland, OR
Current City: Bellevue, WA
Influences: Billy Joel (the 1982 version of Billy was the best), Ray Charles,
Elton John, James Taylor, Neil Diamond, Tom Petty
Favorite Bands: Coldplay, Oasis,
The Fray, All American Rejects,
Boyce Avenue
Favorite song to play: Wonderwall....I friggin' love that song!
Kevin has been playing piano since he was 12 years old. He comes from a family of piano players and has been surrounded by music and inspiration his entire life. With the help of his Dad, he worked through some basic piano books and was self taught in how to read music.
After marrying his high school sweetheart, Kevin took a job as a firefighter in Bellevue and they have been there ever since. It was on a vacation trip to Myrtle Beach, SC that sparked his interest in dueling pianos. After watching his first show he was hooked. Upon returning home, Kevin put all of his music books away and started re-learning how to play piano. It was a style that allowed for total freedom and the ability to memorize literally hundreds of songs without being forced to have endless piles of sheet music in front of him.
Now, you can find Kevin playing everything from solo piano shows in dive bars around town to dueling piano shows all over the NorthWest. He is getting booked for fundraising events, weddings and the usual bar gigs. His favorite song to play really depends on the moment and the crowd. Over the past 5 years, he has grown to love entertaining and that means playing whatever will have the greatest effect on the crowd.
Whether it’s playing a song from the top 40 charts so a younger crowd can sing and dance or a jazz standard to please an older demographic, his show is all about reading the crowd and making everybody feel like they are a part of the show.
Kevin brings a vibrant amount of energy to his performances. You’ll often see him running through the crowd, jumping up on speakers, or dashing across the grand pianos getting the crowd all fired up!
Augie Savage
Current City: Battleground Wa
Originally from Colorado, “Miss Augie” Savage has had a storied Career. This often recognized musician has worked on many projects as a vocalist, a producer and an instrumentalist.
She has performed and recorded music for shows on “Broadway” and “Encore”. She was also nominated by the CCMA Awards as instrumentalist of the year in 1979, Augie has played with or opened for many well known artists including Randy Travis, Kenny Rogers, The Judds, Coasters, Anne Murray and Jerry Lee Lewis.
She spent two years performing in Reno and Lake Tahoe in the Harrahs Cabaret. A true crowd favorite, Miss Savage earned her Dueling Piano stripes by playing in many Dueling Piano Clubs before settling in at Chopstix.
You may have seen her at Baby Grands in Ft. Collins, Boogie Woogies, Portland and Boise, Brew Brothers in Reno just to name a few.
You can catch Augie’s incredible show, every weekend at Chopstix where she earns much R-E-S-P-E-C-T from the crowd and the other entertainers by skillfully guiding you through all your favorite rock and roll requests.
Current City: Battleground Wa
Originally from Colorado, “Miss Augie” Savage has had a storied Career. This often recognized musician has worked on many projects as a vocalist, a producer and an instrumentalist.
She has performed and recorded music for shows on “Broadway” and “Encore”. She was also nominated by the CCMA Awards as instrumentalist of the year in 1979, Augie has played with or opened for many well known artists including Randy Travis, Kenny Rogers, The Judds, Coasters, Anne Murray and Jerry Lee Lewis.
She spent two years performing in Reno and Lake Tahoe in the Harrahs Cabaret. A true crowd favorite, Miss Savage earned her Dueling Piano stripes by playing in many Dueling Piano Clubs before settling in at Chopstix.
You may have seen her at Baby Grands in Ft. Collins, Boogie Woogies, Portland and Boise, Brew Brothers in Reno just to name a few.
You can catch Augie’s incredible show, every weekend at Chopstix where she earns much R-E-S-P-E-C-T from the crowd and the other entertainers by skillfully guiding you through all your favorite rock and roll requests.
Jim Fischer
Currenty City: Portland Or
An amazing entertainer and pianist, Jim has made a name for himself in the Portland area. He has CD's of his work to his credit. Jim has also worked the cruise ships for numerous years. He can play name that tune with the best and knows a bunch of TV theme songs. Fun on stage, Jim Knows how to bring the best out of a crowd!
Currenty City: Portland Or
An amazing entertainer and pianist, Jim has made a name for himself in the Portland area. He has CD's of his work to his credit. Jim has also worked the cruise ships for numerous years. He can play name that tune with the best and knows a bunch of TV theme songs. Fun on stage, Jim Knows how to bring the best out of a crowd!
