Mayor Oakley Plays In The Christmas Recital

December 18, 2024 - CENTREVILLE, AL - Donning a stylish red velveteen suit jacket, Mayor Mike Oakley of Centreville rushed from his city council meeting on Tuesday, December 17th, 2024 to join The Studio in their annual Christmas piano recital at the Four Points Baptist Church. As Mayor Oakley explained to those in attendance, when he was a young lad, there was a phenomenal piano teacher in the area named Miss Ruby who lived on Antioch Road. She would even go to people's houses to teach piano. And Mayor Oakley's mother would have Miss Ruby come to the house to teach Mayor Oakley and his brother how to play the piano.

It was a noble plan on the part of Mayor Oakley's mother but for one thing: as soon as the boys saw Miss Ruby walking in the front door to teach piano, they would go out the back door with their baseball gloves in hand and take in a game of sandlot baseball. So despite their mother's enthusiasm for the piano, the boys didn't learn how to play the piano forte.

While Mayor Oakley and his brother certainly enjoyed playing baseball as young boys growing up with Mayor Oakley taking his athleticism to the University of West Alabama to play football and then Wallace State-Hanceville to become a member of their first basketball team; Mayor Oakley has always regretted not learning how to play the piano. And this past summer Mayor Oakley decided to remedy that matter by signing up for piano lessons at The Studio, a rural all-around music studio founded by Rachel Waits in Centreville, Alabama that offers classes in ballet, baton, jiu-jitsu, and piano, among other things. Leading to Mayor James Michael "Mike" Oakley playing the piano in The Studio's annual Christmas Piano Recital at 67 years young.

Joining 19 students who participated in The Studio's annual Christmas Piano Recital, Mayor Mike Oakley first played a spirited rendition of "O When The Saints", a popular jazz spiritual. Followed by the classic Christmas carol, "O Come All Ye Faithful" as a duet with his piano teacher at The Studio, Miss Brandy. All to the enthusiastic applause of the audience. And when The Studio reprised their annual Christmas Piano Recital for the residents of the Bibb County Medical Center the next day, Mayor Mike Oakley eagerly played the piano for the residents, as well. Showing everyone that this Christmas, the love of the piano is universal.

Luisa Reyes is an attorney in Tuscaloosa with a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Judson, a master's degree in library science, and a law degree from Samford's Cumberland School of Law. She is also a piano instructor and vocalist.