BIOS OF OUR MUSICIANS:

Tom Ryan

Tom Ryan was born on August 7, 1969 - just one week before Woodstock. Several days later his first vocal recording (crying melodiously) was created on a tape sent to his uncle in Vietnam to announce the baby’s arrival along with other family news. All correspondence with Lieutenant Alan Skelly was sent via tape recording - the family would record on one side of the tape and when received, Alan would record his news on the other side. All the tapes were carefully preserved and, before Alan succumbed to brain cancer in 2002, he and his sister (Tom’s mother) converted them to compact disk - making a wonderful archive of the time.

Tom revealed his musical aptitude early in his childhood. He wore out musical toys and most of his mother’s LP records. He pestered her for a piano and when one was acquired, he sat down immediately and picked out melody and chords. He was found to have perfect pitch and could identify notes in any musical tone. This was especially significant for him since he was diagnosed with dyslexia when that term was new to the medical/educational communities. His music was and continues to be a source of strength to him and contributed to his growth as a fine human being.

Tom studied piano with a private teacher and trumpet and voice in school. He excelled in band and chorus. As a young teenager, he began work with guitar and bass, and dabbled in fiddle, saxophone and drums. He joined the Coalition for Disabled Musicians, Inc. (www.disabled-musicians.org) in 1987 where he plays in the premiere band "Range of Motion." He plays guitar and keyboards and is a lead vocalist. He also transposes keys for the musicians when necessary, and writes out the lead sheets. This band has been gigging for over 20 years on Long Island and the East Coast - doing Arts in Education work in schools, and playing festivals and benefits. They have been covered by CNN, Cable TV and in many newspapers and magazines.

In 1998, Tom met Michael Wells, owner of M&R Multimedia, Inc. (www.mrmulti.com). Michael’s company provides computer consultation and sales as well as website design, etc. By coincidence, he is also a musician and he instructed Tom on digital recording, enabling Tom to produce two albums of his original rock music. Michael was invaluable in the overall production, and Tom jams with him and Maggie Ryan (his proud mother) in "Unexpectable." Tom went on to produce two albums of classical guitar pieces as a result of recent tutorials with a professor at Molloy College and now is working on a blues album which has arisen out of his studies with Little Toby Walker.

Currently, Tom is playing with Copper Rose along with Johnny Phillips and Maggie Ryan. He is a lead vocalist, does original songs, and shows off his guitar licks with great delight. Tom and Maggie met Johnny when he joined "Range of Motion" ten years ago. Copper Rose is named for the beautiful roses created by Johnny who is a metal sculptor as well as a musician. The copper rose he created is pictured on the upper corner of each page of this site. This band was formed only a couple of years ago, but has gotten a running start and been well received in gigs for parties, union groups as well as concerts for peace. Johnny’s Portugie Productions puts on several shows for Public Access TV (www.portugie.com) featuring Copper Rose and other local musical groups as well as antiwar and environmental documentaries. Copper Rose plays an eclectic mix of rock, folk, blues, r&b, country and cabaret as well as original music and supports peace and harmony in the world at large.

Maggie Ryan

Maggie Ryan is a Gemini, born on June 19^th - the two aspects of that zodiac sign representing the influence of both music and art on her life.  She was educated as an art teacher, graduating from Hofstra University and practicing her profession in public elementary school - later, between pregnancies and other interruptions, in parochial school, nursery school, and senior centers in the Town of Oyster Bay.

She always had a love for music, and was around for the birth of rock and roll.  Her three children all took music lessons – all love to sing and all studied piano as well as other instruments of individual choice.  Her son Tommy is the stellar achiever here – he is her band mate and his story is on this site as well.  Maggie struggled through piano and guitar lessons, starting and stopping often.  Although she wished mightily that some magic would appear to make the journey less arduous, nothing seemed to click until she met Johnny Phillips, her other band mate.  He pointed out that her visual/artistic ability could serve as a learning tool.  Instead of relying on sheet music and exercises, he showed her that visual patterns on the fretboard of her bass guitar could facilitate studying in her own learning style.  This worked wonderfully well and Maggie was encouraged to try marimbas and lapsteel guitar as well.  Vocals came along more easily, needing only exercises and strengthening.

Returning to graduate studies later in life, Maggie pursued her multi-faceted interests in visual literacy, art history, literature, and Art Nouveau – graduating from Empire College with a M.A. in Liberal Studies and a thesis entitled “Imaging Victorian Women in Art, Literature and the Popular Press: A Case for Visual Literacy.”  This led to a lecture presentation on Public Access TV presented by Peacesmiths, Inc. and produced by Johnny Phillips’ “Portugie Productions.”

Currently, Maggie is performing with “Copper Rose” and “Range of Motion” as well as keeping up with her work as a portrait artist, specializing in portraits of musicians.  Her grandchildren keep her busy as well – her granddaughter Elise is a gifted artist, vocalist and thespian and her grandson James has perfect pitch and is on his way to becoming an outstanding musician.

Maggie is in favor of always moving ahead, open to new experiences.  “Life is good.”

Johnny Phillips

Johnny Phillips was born in the Bronx on December 22, 1944 - the son of Genevieve Sullivan and John Phillips, Sr. In 1950 the Phillips’ bought a home in Levittown, NY under the G.I. Bill as John Sr. had served as a hospital assistant in the Navy during World War II. Young Johnny and his sister Patricia attended grade school and high school in the Island Trees School District in Levittown.

Johnny began playing drums in 1959 and played with a pickup school band before forming his own groups, "The Jet Set," and "The Johnny Phillips Band" in 1962. For a short period he studied drums with Charley Perry, a well-known jazz and big band drummer from the late forties and fifties. John, Sr. became a welder after leaving the Navy, his talent for metallurgy engineering and welding are reflected in the early years of the Pall Corporation, which started in a garage in Glen Cove led by Dr. Pall. Pall Corporation became a multi-billion dollar firm and Johnny’s father was one of the few welders in the country approved for the LEM Project which sent an unmanned ship to the moon. Young Johnny’s company painted the LEM components for the same project.

Johnny’s father was also a metal sculptor and painted in oils. His mom was also an artist who worked in oils and pastels. Some of their work is featured on this site. That’s the legacy that moved John (Portugie) to study welding sculpture with David Haussler Studios in Fort Salonga, New York.

Johnny married his high school sweetheart, Janice Isasi and they had three daughters together - Stacy, Lisa and Jennifer - before their divorce in 1973. Johnny was away from music druing the next twenty years, except for some self-taught folk guitar, but the musical influences of rock, big band, country and Irish music were always being absorbed. He was employed as manager of a metal/paint finishing company before entering the New York City Police force in 1973. He served as a street cop on the west side of Manhattan for ten years before retiring with a hip disorder which had him on crutches for a number of years before bilateral hip replacement surgery.

Johnny returned to private business work and ran a medium-sized contracting and building company for the next ten years. Subsequently, he returned to music - studying guitar and playing drums at Richmond Street Studios on Long Island and attended National Guitar Workshop for one week each year from 1994 - 2000. There he studied Basic Guitar and Blues Guitar with Ronnie Earl, and Country Blues with Paul Rishell. Johnny and Paul became friends and he still travels to see Paul and Annie Raines perform as often as possible.

In 1994 Johnny took a side trip to an archaeological dig on the plains of Wyoming with the University of Eastern Wyoming. He spent two weeks camped on the High Plains at a ranch - studying an indigenous population that dated back 5000 years to the Plains Indians. It was there that he acquired the nickname "Portugie," after John Portugie Phillips, a famous scout who whas well known for heroic deeds during the days of Fort Laramie.

In 1996 Johnny joined the Coalition for Disabled Musicians’ band "Range of Motion" which performs music in schools and other venues on Long Island and the east coast. They play for people of all ages and many styles of music.

Johnny plays guitar, drums, and accordion, and in 2007, attended the Dewey Balfa Cajun Music Camp in Ville Platte, Louisiana to learn Cajun accordion. On a trip to Ireland, Johnny was fortunate enough to attend Irish music jams and workshops in Galway and play with street musicians in Dublin.

Other projects include and album recorded with "Tres Blue," his first recording with an accordion and original music. Presently, Johnny is performing with multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Tommy and Maggie Ryan as the "Copper Rose" trio. This group performs many styles of music and is working on recording original music - especially songs written by Tommy Ryan, a very talented musician and composer.

On his fabled trip to Wyoming, Johnny stopped in Steamboat, Colorado for some back mountain fly fishing and was involved in a hot air balloon crash - which he survived uninjured to the complete astonishment of his nephew, Peter Lautner who was following the balloon and was sure that he was about to die. Portugie lives!!! If you happen to visit Steamboat, you can see one of Johnny’s sculptures - a mountain scene made out of steel - proudly hanging on the wall of the Three Peaks Grill, which is operated by his nephew’s company. Say "hello" to Chef Lautner.

Johnny spends Sunday mornings with his granddaughter, Alexandra, daughter of Lisa and Gary, teaching her drums and keyboards and some art techniques. Alexandra teaches him how to remember being a child again. She has great natural rhythm ability and a knack for playing marimba as well as a great ability to sing and play at the same time.

Johnny likes to refer to her as "The Princess of Rhythm" because of her great gifts, and looks forward to performing with Alexandra on stage when she decides that the time is right.