Courtesy Photo Tom Ferguson, A.K.A. “Dr. Tom,” will perform his last Words and Music show from noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday at Alpena County Library.

ALPENA — Dr. Tom will perform his final Words and Music from noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday at Alpena County Library. The theme will be “Regarding Ray Charles.”

Tom Ferguson, known as “Dr. Tom,” first approached the READ Program in 2023 with the idea of doing informal monthly lunch time shows in which all of his tips would be donated to the READ Program at the library. Since that time, he has graciously donated a total of $1,342 to the READ Program, which has allowed for the purchase of consumable materials learners use during their weekly reading and ESl tutoring lessons.

“We are going to miss his entertaining talks and music but greatly appreciate his generosity,” READ Program Coordinators Leslie Kirchoff and Pat Garant said in an email.

Dr. Tom claims to hold PhDs in Pianoology, Entertainology, and Saloonology from Eastern Warsaw Polytechnic Correspondence Academy.

The program on Ray Charles will highlight his musical contributions and influence.

“He put soul into American popular music and he put country music everywhere,” a press release stated about Charles. “He began his career in an R&B trio, led a big band that oozed blues, played Hammond B3 organ on the ‘Genius + Soul = Jazz’ album, introduced the world to electric piano with that song about seeing a girl with a red dress on, and recorded what many think would be a better national anthem.”

Dr. Tom’s Words and Music at the library is a monthly excursion into piano instrumentals and vocals and entertaining mini-monologues drawing on jazz, swing, pop, western swing and the mid-20th Century passing scene.

Your toes will tap and your ears will smile during this extraordinarily laid back program. Bring a friend. Bring a lunch. Bring an expectation you’ll have a truly entertaining noon hour.