Friends and fans will pay tribute to Jon Liebing in January. Here's who will be there

The all-too-short journey of Jon Liebing has been documented often in this column.

I’ve written of our first encounter when he was 16.

I’ve reviewed several of his recordings and have covered shows where I’ve marveled at his talents.

I wrote about the benefit a group of his musician friends put together when he became ill.

And, when he tragically passed away in July of this year, that news, too, was shared in this column.

So, it’s only fitting that goodbyes are tendered in the same forum.

On Saturday, Jan. 13 at 6 p.m., a number of Jon’s friends and fans will gather on the stage at the Stanley Center for the Arts to perform a night of music written by Jon or in some way connected to him.

The effort was spearheaded by Jon’s good friend, Tim Marusic, – with much help from other close friends.

“During John’s last few days in the hospital a few of us all kind of mutually agreed that we would want to honor John with a celebration of his life,” Marusic recalls.

Unfortunately, another tragic event put those plans on hold, as another local music icon, Paul Case, died just a few days after Jon. A celebration of life for Paul was held, and, while a joint celebration was briefly considered, it was abundantly clear to all that each man deserved his own recognition and celebration.

After a suitable amount of time passed, Tim contracted former director of the Stanley Theater, Jerry Krause.

“Jerry gave me the contact person at the Stanley to talk to,” says Tim. “I reached out and we started comparing available dates that would match up with key people and their availability.”

Once a date was agreed upon, it was time to assemble musicians, but, given Jon’s popularity and his influence on multiple generations, gathering an all-star cast of musicians was easy.

Presenting an evening of music, much of it some of Jon's original compositions, will be some of his closest contemporaries, including some currently performing nationally. Included in the stellar lineup will be members of the band, Showtime, a reunion of the original Justice McBride Band, Liebing’s long-time friend, guitarist John Kelsey, well-known local drummer Lenny Milano, CNY stand-outs Mark Macri, Frank Talerico, Billy Carmen, Mike Sales, Billy Davidson, Jamie Notarthomas, Ed Hildreth, Shawn Smith, Max Scialdone, and as the saying goes, many, many more.

Unfortunately for the multitudes who would be interested in going, because seating is limited to the number of seats that can be put on the actual stage, the event is sold out, but plans are underway to make the show available to those who were shut out.

“We hope to have a streaming process in place this week or perhaps folks could sign on for maybe $5 and watch the event,” says Tim.

All proceeds from ticket sales and raffles will be donated to the local branch of the cancer society.

For those not fortunate to join the celebration in person, a GoFundMe page has been set up at https://gofund.me/53ddba93 for donations to help defray the significant cost of putting on an event of this magnitude.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Remembering Jon Liebing with a musical tribute