SACRAMENTO RAGTIMESOCIETY NEWSLETTER

In This Issue

See continued on page 4

See continued on page 4

By Virginia Tichenor

E ditor's Note! While we believe a full blow by blow review of the recently completed

West Coast Ragtime Festival is in the works, this issue presents a few personal observations by festival participants starting here with festival director Virginia Tichenor's comments.

During this year’s West Coast Ragtime Festival, I probably spent more time back-stage than out and about at Red Lion, but my role as Festival Director made it essen-tial for me to be more behind-the-scenes than as visible as I might otherwise have been. So, my brief perspective on the festiv-al is written mainly from the backstage view.

Probably the most exciting day for me was Thursday, the day before the festival began, as all the preparations were taking place at Red Lion. The festival pianos were delivered earlier than expected, so room setups went even more smoothly than in past years. Thursday is always an exciting day as not only is the hotel getting ready, but many of our performers and at-tendees are arriving. It was fun to see the rooms taking shape while greeting old

friends and meeting new ones all day. Thursday’s volunteer reception and pre-fest-ival warm-up party were a great prelude to the festival weekend. I really enjoyed hav-ing our pre-festival warm-up party in J.B.’s Lounge this year, and hope that we can make that an annual tradition with Red Li-on.

Most of my time during the festival was spent backstage in Martinique or run-ning between venues to play my own sets. When I could, I enjoyed sitting in the audi-ence in the Martinique Room to enjoy the scheduled sets.

The Martinique backstage was a very lively place to be during the festival as per-formers were preparing to go on or exit the stage. Although we kept the backstage area as quiet as possible, there was a lot of activity in a limited space, with performers making last-moment adjustments to their sets or special arrangements, or listening and reacting to others’ performances. The special show events were a lot of fun to co-ordinate, and I was very fortunate to have

by Chris Bradshaw

F ifty kids ranging in age from 8 to18 competed brilliantly in the 6th Annu-

al West Coast Ragtime Society Youth Com-petition, held on November 6th at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Sacramento. Bring-ing with them their parents and friends, along with a combined 315 years of piano lessons under their flying fingers, you bet that they played like gangbusters.

Performing the wonderfully crafted teaching rags by Martha Mier and John Kember up through the Joplin, Marshall, Lodge, and other classic rags and even some ragtime novelty and stride numbers,

the broad spectrum of ragtime was well rep-resented. These kids know their stuff, giv-ing judges Jack Bradshaw, Tom Brier, and Petra Sullivan some pretty tough decisions. In fact, you will notice below that in Divi-sion 3, there were 4 winners in both the first and second places.

There is something so lively, and so hopeful when you get a large group of talen-ted piano-playing youth together. The quiet audience of kids and adults are seriously re-spectful as each child performs. Doing everything with all the conviction they can muster, each participant struts to the front,

SACRAMENTO RAGTIME SOCIETY

By Tom Brier & Julia Riley

T he October meeting of SRS turned out to be “group day”. Usually there are more solo performers than groups, but

this meeting was the exception. As Merv Graham, the moderator for the day said,”SRS has spawned several new groups recently”. In that light, we might expect to have a group named “Salmon Swimming Upstream” some day soon. For the present however, we will have to be satisfied with “Sullivans and Drivons”, “Ragno-lia Ragtette”, “The Porcupine Ragtime Ensemble” (commonly re-ferred to simply as “The Porcupines”, “Raspberry Jam Band”, and “Hedgehogs”.

In the spirit of the day (Halloween) there were a number of costumed attendees. Lady Liberty made her appearance as well as members wearing various pieces of headgear including horns, spiders and other spooky ornaments. Also in honor of the day, there were performances of tunes in eerie minor keys and with ap-propriately Halloween-type titles. It is no trick that this meeting was a real treat.

RASPBERRY JAM BAND

Mark Meeker, tuba; George Preston, euphonium & *vocal; Mary Preston, violin; Julia Riley, flute & piccolo; Kitty Wilson, percus-sion; Tom Brier, piano

Wild Tom-Tom Christoph Schmetterer, 2003Bagdad Jack Yellen – Milton Ager, 1924*I Say It’s Spinach Irving Berlin, 1932Kitchen Tom Eubie Blake, 1962

Jack Bradshaw, piano

Norsk Rag No. 4 Morten Gunnar LarsenRed Rambler Rag Julia Lee Niebergall, 1912

THE HEDGEHOGS

Elliott Adams, piano; Julia Riley, flute & piccolo; Kitty Wilson, percussion; Tom Brier, upright piano

What You Goin’ To Do When The Rent Comes ’Round (Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown)

Andrew B. Sterling – Harry Von Tilzer, 1905Georgia Grind Ford T. Dabney, 1915The International Rag Irving Berlin, 1913Trilby Rag Carey Morgan, 1915

Petra Sullivan, piano; Bub Sullivan, vocal

At the Devil’s Ball Irving Berlin, 1913

Petra Sullivan, piano; Bub Sullivan, mandolin and *vocal; Robyn Drivon, tuba; Steve Drivon, drums

Cotton Babes Percy Wenrich, 1909Peach Blossoms Maude Gilmore, 1910*The Skeleton Rag Edward Madden – Percy Wenrich, 1911Zacatecas Genaro Codina, 1891

RAGNOLIA RAGTETTE

Chris and Jack Bradshaw, four-hand piano; Robyn Drivon, tuba; Steve Drivon, drums

Kalimba Capers Chris Bradshaw, 2005Kansas City Rag Ernest Kramer, 2000Champagne Rag Joseph F. Lamb, 1910

Tom Brier, piano

Mad Scientist Rag Ron O’Dell, 2001The Clifton Rag Jeremy Stevenson, 2005Laurette Frank Banta, 1929Igloo Stomp (Will Thaw Icycles) “Eskimo” Bill Wirges, 1927

PORCUPINE RAGTIME ENSEMBLE

Elliott Adams, piano; Sue Desper, flute & piccolo; Robyn Drivon, tuba; Steve Drivon, drums; Bub Sullivan, cümbüsh and *vocal; Petra Sullivan, violin

Good Times Rag Christoph Schmetterer, 1999*By the Silvery Nile Jack Yellen – Charles L. Johnson, 1921Bunch O’Blackberries Abe Holzmann, 1899*Ain’t That A Grand And Glorious Feeling?

Jack Yellen – Milton Ager, 1927Pigeon Walk James V. Monaco, 1914

“Sugar” Willie Erickson, upright piano;Tom Brier, piano

Black and White Rag George Botsford, 1908

“Sugar” Willie Erickson, piano & vocal;Tom Brier, upright piano

The Squaws Along the Yukon Cam Smith, 1936

Merv Graham, vocal; Elliott Adams, piano

At the Codfish Ball Sidney D. Mitchell – Lew Pollack, 1936Second Hand Rose Grant Clarke – James F. Hanley, 1921

Elliott Adams, piano and *vocal; Tom Brier, upright piano

The Wish-Bone Rag Charlotte Blake, 1909*(I’m Tired of) Fattening Frogs for Snakes Carrie Edwards, 1932The Volcanic Rag Leah M. Robb, 1912The Razor Club Walter V. Ullner, 1900

I n the October issue we listed Yorkman Lowe as a contact for locating vintage clothing. Unfortunately, your editor

slipped a digit on Yorkman's phone number area code.

The correct phone number is 510-601-9675.

SACRAMENTO RAGTIME SOCIETY

By Hal Krueger

Y ears ago I enjoyed a media presenta-tion entitled “TWTWTW” (That

Was The Week That Was). I thought of this as a starting point to write about the week leading-up to our 24th Annual West Coast Ragtime Festival. There are many treasured memories and a few of them are shared here.

I would be remiss if I did not first give credit to Festival Director—Virginia Tichen-or for the well-planned event. It is pure joy to work with Virginia throughout each year. We are already discussing WCRF-2011. (Stay tuned for announcements to appear in future publications and website updates).

Excitement usually mounts quickly as festival-time draws near. A “kick-off” for WCRF-2010 occurred with concerts the weekend before at Richard Reutlinger’s Vic-torian home in San Francisco. This year Stephanie Trick was the featured pianist. Stephanie’s signature now resides on the same piano framework that contains auto-graphs of many well-known artists featured in Richard’s home concerts and at our fest-ival over the years. It is a thrill to peek in-side that piano to view all the original signatures, and to reflect on each per-

former’s contribution to our musical memories and personal relationships.

Tuesdays at Pier 23 often includes per-formers and festival attendees in town early to experience the buzz of upcoming hap-penings. (Thanks to Marty Eggers for co-ordinating those popular Tuesdays). Sometimes we get a “sneak-preview” of a new tune or medley that we look forward to hearing again during the festival. Stephanie was invited to perform there as well.

Wednesdays at Straw Hat Pizza in Sac-ramento affords another opportunity for festival-goers to get a preview of “what’s coming”. (Thanks to Bill Schoening for or-ganizing that activity). Virginia and Marty did the honors entertaining the crowd. Several persons there came from afar to take it all in.

Thursday evening preceding the festiv-al featured the reception for Festival Staff and Volunteers, followed by the Pre-Event Welcome Party for performers and at-tendees. The JB Lounge was a fine venue for musical entertainment while socializ-ing, renewing acquaintances from past fest-ivals, and meeting new friends of ragtime. Long Live Ragtime Music!

by Kitty Wilson, Hospitality Coordinator

M ost of those attending our wonder-ful West Coast Ragtime Festival

each year move from venue to venue at the Red Lion Hotel throughout the weekend, enjoying the great music. Certainly, all the performers enjoy playing for you, but they also need some time off, away from their enthusiastic fans. Our Hospitality Lounge is a special “back room” where the per-formers can unwind, refresh their energy with good food, and visit with each other. Since their performance schedules don’t usually allow them time to eat in the hotel’s restaurant, it’s important that we provide them with a convenient alternat-ive. Our Hospitality Lounge is always ex-tremely popular with the Festival

musicians—thanks to the efforts of a dedic-ated group of volunteers [including SRS “regulars” Irma Keenan and Nancy Wal-lace, and cake-baker supreme Tracie DiBar-tolomeo] who staff it, extending a friendly welcome all weekend long. Along with comfortable sofas and chairs, the Hospital-ity Room has two pianos, on which per-formers may practice, and—often—develop impromptu collaborations.

Each morning, we offer our per-formers an inviting Continental Breakfast buffet. While many of them have stayed up late playing in the lively nightly After-glow, and therefore sleep in later, others are daily “earlybirds”—particularly those from abroad, still operating on European time! I can’t complain about setting out the breakfast treats and making up fresh fruit trays, while I can hear Christoph Schmetterer play Franz Lehar selections

from “The Merry Widow,” or Johann Strauss waltzes at 6:30 A.M.! This year, it gave our Festival a particularly sophistic-ated touch to have Christoph and Martin Jager conversing animatedly in Ger-man…soon joined by equally-fluent Stephanie Trick!

Throughout the day, the hotel provides assorted fresh sandwiches, and our Hospitality volunteers prepare and serve tempting snack trays of freshly washed and cut vegetables and fruit they’ve brought in from home, or home-baked goodies, for all-day nibbling. The volun-teers work hard, but are amply rewarded by the opportunity to meet and chat with the Festival performers, and hear them prac-tice on the pianos and their other instru-ments. It’s great duty for our volunteers, and such a valuable retreat for our per-formers: a Win-Win!

C hip Lusby's popular Skunk Hollow re-treats have featured fine performers

in the past and now he promises to host two more with with fabulous performers Carl Sonny Leyland and Mimi Blais.

The first concert, on January the 8th, will feature Carl Sonny Leyland. Starting time is 2:00 P.M. at Chip Lusby's home, 50 Gold Dust Trail in Sutter Creek. Ticket price is $20 per person.

The second, featuring Mimi Blais is set for February 19th at the same time and place. Tickets for this event are $25 in ad-vance and $28 at the door. However, you should make reservations with Chip at 626-806-3021 or SutterChip@yahoo.com.

Advance sales should be made with checks payable to the performer and forwar-ded to Arlo Lusby II, POB 431 Sutter Creek, Ca. 95685

Both events will feature a potluck din-ner following the concert with a jam ses-sion after that. A few spare bedrooms are available at Chip's house for overnight guests who want to continue the revelry Sunday morning. Contact Chip.

SACRAMENTO RAGTIME SOCIETYContinued from page 1

Continued from page 1

on-the-spot help from Merv Graham and Judy Hendricks during the weekend to make sure everything ran smoothly.

My only regret was that my schedule kept me from seeing many sets I wanted to catch. However, highlights of my festival weekend included working with Jeff Barnhart, back at West Coast again after a long absence. Working with Jeff Barnhart as he emceed the “Ragtime 1910” and late-night “Variety Show” on Saturday was a lot of fun. It was also great to welcome back the Heliotrope Ragtime Orchestra from San Diego. I really enjoyed hearing their Friday evening set. I was also able to enjoy part of the silent movies this year on Friday night with Frederick Hodges’ wonderful pi-ano accompaniment. It was delightful to see Richard Dowling on Saturday morning, leading an informative Youth Master Class. I enjoyed playing a two-piano set with Tom Brier on Saturday afternoon, the first time we were able to do that at West Coast. I also really enjoyed playing sets with my hus-band, Marty Eggers, throughout the week-end.

It is always sad for me when Sunday of the festival arrives, because that means this year’s festival is on its last day. Despite the rain and cold weather, there was plenty of hot music inside the Red Lion to keep us all warm inside for one last day! Our “Fest-ival Finale” concert on Sunday was a great way to wrap up the festival. I’m still amazed at Jeff Barnhart and Frederick Hodges for bringing down the house with their version of “Waiting for the Robert E. Lee” played in every style imaginable. Their “arrangement” was fun, creative, and totally spontaneous, which made for a very exciting performance! Our post-festival dinner at Red Lion is always a great wind-down and I’m pleased that we’ve been able to make that an annual tradition, too.

I may have been the only one at the festival, besides Merv Graham, who was able to enjoy so much of the festival from the backstage!

takes a bow and shows the piano who’s boss. But once each division has finished and the judges leave the area, the tension is released and the room erupts with chatter-ing and giggling voices all mingling togeth-er, over the backdrop of the next division’s players warming up. You get such a lift that the air almost feels like it is carbonated.

An important goal of the WCRS is to foster and encourage young pianists to play and enjoy ragtime and that’s exactly what happened on the 6th. What fun it was to observe these talented youth performing, chatting over snacks, and creating import-ant bonds with both the music and each other.

Again, the students went home with colorful badges, piano pins, participation certificates, and a ragtime Sampler CD of performances by the adults who are connec-ted with the competition.

By the time you are reading this, the first place winners from each division will have participated in a Festival Master Class led by Master Teacher, Richard Dowling, a world renown classical and ragtime pianist. A report on the Master Class will appear in a future SRS newsletter.

This year’s winners are:Division 1 (ages 8 to 10)1st - Adeline Zhou - Serpentine Rag - John Kember2nd (tie) - Lillian Lau - Good Time Rag - Martha Mier2nd (tie) - Olivia Lau - Steamboat Rag -

Martha MierHM - Melody Mei - Steamboat Rag - Martha MierDivision 2A (ages 11 to 14) Junior1st - Ethan Kau - Two-Tone Rag - John Kem-ber2nd - Augustine Nguyen - Good Time Rag - Martha MierHM - Vincent Wong - Pine Cone Rag - Martha MierDivision 2B (ages 11 to 14) Classic1st - Alexander Fang - Ragtime Dance, The -Scott Joplin2nd - Michelle Zhang - Lily Queen - Scott Joplin & Arthur MarshallHM - Clarence Lai - Temptation Rag - Henry LodgeHM - Christy Lopez - Efficiency Rag - James ScottDivision 3 (15 - 18)1st (tie) - Vincent Johnson - Sweet Pea - Vin-cent Johnson1st (tie) - Elliot Lee - Piano Phun - Lou Alter1st (tie) - Will Perkins - Sweet Georgia Brown - Bernie, Pinkard, Casey, arr. Don Ewell1st (tie) - Jacenta Yu - Stoptime Rag - Scott Joplin2nd (tie) - Clarisse Lau - Sugar Cane Rag - Scott Joplin2nd (tie) - Sergey Smirnov - Good Gravy Rag - Harry Belding2nd (tie) - Iris Tran - Favorite, The - Scott Joplin2nd (tie) - Linda Zhang - Pineapple Rag - Scott Joplin

SACRAMENTO RAGTIME SOCIETY

See Continued on page 7

By Lewis Motisher

A mid the exciting musical frivolity, the West Coast Ragtime Festival

once again presented six informative and entertaining lectures on various aspects of ragtime history which served to stimulate the imagination and enhance the enjoy-ment of the musical treats offered else-where.

For those who haven’t attended these fascinating talks, don’t expect a dry academ-ic atmosphere. The personalities of the presenters, all of whom were also festival performers, and the often dramatic, tragic, humorous, or scandalous (often, all four at once) stories they tell, bring the music and the times alive in unexpected ways. As much as I enjoy the music and hate losing six hours of it, I find myself drawn to these mesmerizing lectures each year and often look back on them as highlights of the fest-ival.

This year was no different.

Being a resident of San Francisco, Bruce Vermazen’s sketch of the “Paris of America’s” cabaret district—the drinking, dancing, prostitution and police corrup-tion—was a decadent treat, and biographic-al details of high-flying personalities like composer/performer (and drug-smuggling pilot) Jay Roberts were the chocolate chips in the cookie. This was a time when there were 13 men for every ten women in San Francisco, and as Vermazen said, “not enough gay men to make up the differ-ence.”

Next was Vincent Johnson’s explora-tion of the novelty piano idiom, complete with a new way to organize what until now was the chaotic world of such varied stylists as Zez Confey, Charley Straight, and Billy Mayerl. His account of piano roll genius Charley Straight’s dreadful death was un-avoidably wince-inducing.

Mike Lipskin gave an anecdotal ac-count of the history of stride piano com-plete with reminiscences of his associations with Willie the Lion Smith and Donald Lambert. One audience member who felt like he’d listened for too long and still didn’t know the difference between Rag-time and Stride caused a brief scene. Lipskin handled it well, but was clearly shaken. It was the first time I’d seen a per-former heckled at a ragtime festival. As Louis Armstrong is said to have replied when asked what the definition of jazz was, “If you don’t know now, you never will.”

So I missed three hours of music (darn, I wanted to hear the Ragtime Ske-daddlers) but I learned a lot I didn’t know and there were still three more seminars on Sunday.

First up was one of the best seminars this festival, Frederick Hodges’ talk on the Ragtime Song, “From Coon Songs to Broadway Hits” delivered with his charac-teristic charm and wit. I can’t help but think that the provocative use of the term “coon song” was deliberate, but it was en-lightening and historically accurate. We fi-nally got to hear the lyrics to the infamous

“All Coons Look Alike to Me” as sung by Ann Gibson. They turned out to be both less offensive and more offensive than ex-pected, seeing as how they were written by black composer and famous vaudevillian, Ernest Hogan.

Richard Zimmerman’s seminar on the pervasive influence of Chicago from its very beginnings as a mosquito-infested wide spot in the river was dense with in-formation, so dense that I have yet to sort it all out though its story seems similar to that of Detroit. One thing Chicago had that Detroit didn’t, was a World’s Fair that reputedly was a germinating ground for rag-time and musicians and made Chicago an early center of all things ragtime.

Finally, it was time for Terry Waldo’s musically-illustrated talk about the new edi-tion of his book, This Is Ragtime. In an in-formal talk he told us about how the new book came about and what was new and different in its heavier, slicker, all-color pages. Just now, when looking up “Ernest Hogan” in the new volume, I came across a mention of “Frederick Hodges.” Talk about up-to-date! Now if he would just change his entry saying that the Goldenrod Showboat burned down. (According to Vir-ginia Tichenor, it’s still with us, though quite a bit worse for wear.)

So that’s how I spent six hours at the West Coast Ragtime Festival. Sure, I missed some music, but it was worth it. I’ll get to hear the Skedaddlers some other time.

By Julia Riley

A s a musician in the festival, you don’t get to see a lot of other per-

formances. Often the performances that you see take place in the Musicians’ Lounge, where other musicians warm up or put together a performance with anoth-er musician. This is where some of the col-laborations are born between people, one of whom lives, for instance, in Texas and the other in New York or California or the Mid-West. It may be that the best perform-

ances are in the Musicians’ Lounge. Per-haps these performances are so spectacular because they are not in front of an audi-ence or it may be because they know they are playing in front of other musicians. Anyway, some truly great performances have been behind the scenes of the regular festival.

Most of what musicians see at the fest-ival are people who come before or after their own performances. This is often a random event but results in performances

they might not have attended otherwise. This also can result in some wonderful mu-sical surprises and some interesting collab-orations.

A couple of the performances I saw that were very entertaining were Big Mama Sue and Fast Eddie and a collaboration between Ian Whitcomb and Adam Swan-son. These are people who are profession-al entertainers. I had never seen Big

SACRAMENTO RAGTIME SOCIETY

See Continued on page 8

By Fred Hoeptner

E ditors Note! Fred's delightful and detailed review of last June's festival in Sedalia is

long enough that we need to break into several installments. This is the fouth of the series.

Saturday: Fashion Contest, Legacy of Joplin, Music Hall

The usual parade had to be dispensed with this year because of expected street construction. The vintage fashion contest was held in the fashion museum, Nostalgia Antiques, with six categories: girls 13 and under, boys 13 and under, men 14 and over, women 14 and over, couples, and a “mixed theme” (two or more people). An announcer described each entrant’s attire as he or she came onstage. A wide variety of dress was displayed, all of it elegant but not necessarily formal. One female entrant sported a reproduction of a 1920s bathing suit; another, a 1920s flapper dress. Some outfits were inherited family heirlooms, oth-ers reproductions. Boys commonly wore knickers, argyle socks, vests, and flat billed hats. The winners were to be announced at 11:00 a.m. in the Stark Pavilion.

When I arrived at the Stark Pavilion, the Kansas City Ukesters were just finish-ing their sing-along set with “Whispering,” “Over There,” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag.” While awaiting the results, Larry Lyles introduced Sedalia’s Mayor Mary Elaine Horn who welcomed the festival guests to her city. Other local supporters and political notables were recognized and thanked. Then Dave Majchrzak made the announcement for which many had been waiting: “The recipient of the Scott Joplin Achievement Award for this year is Sue Keller.” Sue, who was present to receive the award, spoke of how much it meant to her. She also thanked her father, who has Alzheimer’s disease, for conveying to her the ability get along with people of all sorts. First place fashion contest winners were awarded certificates for photographs in costume and second and third place win-ners bags of gold coins.

At 2:00 P.M. the Legacy of Scott Joplin concert “Just Joplin” began in the church. Host Brian Holland announced the format

as “where we get to hear the master’s works in unexpected ways.” Roy Eaton assured the audience that he would comply with Joplin’s well-known admonition “Do not play this piece fast.” Using classical proto-cols he executed engaging renditions of “The Entertainer,” “The Chrysanthem-um,” and “Euphonic Sounds.” Richard Egan, who had the difficult task of substi-tuting for Scott Kirby, adhered to Joplin’s original scores with minor but effective de-viations; however, his innovative dynamics brought Joplin’s music alive to a degree that I had not previously experienced. He performed “A Breeze from Alabama,” “Gla-diolus Rag,” “Magnetic Rag,” and “Reflec-tion Rag.” Brian Holland offered a sensitive “Bink’s Waltz, and a spirited “Scott Joplin’s New Rag,” changing key for the final chorus. He followed with a meld-ing of “Solace” and Roy Orbison’s “Blue Bayou.” John Remmers added some inter-esting bass work and runs to “Weeping Wil-low” and continued with renditions of “The Sycamore,” “Paragon Rag,” and “Something Doing.” The famed St. Louis Ragtimers, having played together since 1961 with Trebor Tichenor piano, Don Franz tuba, Bill Mason cornet and Al Stricker, banjo and vocals, took the stage for the final set and announced that they would skew slightly away from Joplin. However, they started with a Joplin collab-orative work, “Swipesy Cakewalk,” and fol-lowed with “The Easy Winners,” “Coon Hollow Capers” by Gillis, and “Blind Boone’s Rag Medley #2.” Both of the latter had tenuous connections to Joplin, the first having been played by the Queen City Concert Band of which Joplin had been a member, and the second by Boone at a sporting house where Joplin had been em-ployed for awhile. It was then back to Joplin for the collaborative work “Helio-trope Bouquet.” They capped the concert with their theme song “Mississippi Rag”.(Krell) to warm audience approval.

A Saturday afternoon tradition contin-ued with the final performance at the John Stark Pavilion on a very warm afternoon. A tent overflowing with fans greeted Jeff

Barnhart and Brian Holland as they moun-ted the stage. Soon the music was as warm as the temperature. A string of ragtime hits—“Pine Apple Rag”; “Bohemia” with a music box effect in the trio and a key change on the final strain; “Crazy about My Baby” with Danny Coots on drums; “Stompin’ ‘Em Down” with shouts of en-couragement from the audience; and “The Entertainer,” played as a stomp until the fi-nal strain repeat when it became a romp but unexpectedly ending back on the first strain as a gentle blues—built to the finale. Then, starting the stomping strains of “Shake that Thing,” Jeff encouraged the audience, “We’ve been working for four or five days, but now we want you to work too.” The audience responded by echoing Jeff’s “Shake that thing” with each verse. Then he exclaimed, “Everybody stand up. You can’t shake that thing sitting down. Clap your hands for joy—that’s what it’s all about.” Thus ended on a jubilant note an-other rousing Saturday afternoon in Sedalia.

The Ragtime Music Hall, always a sel-lout, moved to the junior high school audit-orium this year and elicited grumbling about uncomfortable seats and muddy acoustics, especially in the balcony. Appar-ently the Joplin Foundation had little choice to accommodate the crowd, al-though the same problems had been appar-ent the last time this auditorium was used in 2006. The show, titled “Pianos on Fire,” dispensed with the usual buffoonery in fa-vor of pianistics and show tunes. Host Dave Majchrzak introduced Martin Spitzna-gel to open the program. He included a medley of tunes from “Mary Poppins” and a “Tiger Rag” arranged per Art Tatum with elaborate runs. He invited Sue Keller to the other piano, and they offered a straight-forward “Dill Pickles.” Sue remained on-stage and was joined by Danny Coots on drums for “One for the Road” and “One for My Baby” exhibiting her considerable talents as a chanteuse. Frederick Hodges, a class pianist specializing in show pieces from the vaudeville era, introduced beauti-

SACRAMENTO RAGTIME SOCIETY

Continued from page 5

P rior to joining Wisconsin's Brian Keenan as a headliner for this Octo-

ber's 23rd Ragtime in Randall Festival in Iowa, Nan Bostick arrived a week early to present her multi-media "From Gaslight Ragtime to Electrified Swing Time" pro-gram to K-12 students at 15 different schools in the greater Des Moines area. She reached over 2,000 children, the younger ones particularly enthusiastic about flapping their wings to Irene Gib-lin's "Chicken Chowder," gobbling through J. B. Lampe's "Turkey Trot," and do-ing their best to demon-strate how to dance the Lame Duck (after all, Iowa is a poultry state).

During the Oct. 9 and 10 festival, 21 pi-ano students age 12 to 16 performed beauti-fully during the special young ragtime artists' session, assuring the audience that ragtime

will live for at least another generation. Ragtime in Randall co-founders Ellis An-derson and Bob Lien joined Brian and Nan in several of the well-attended week-end's concerts at Randall's Elim Lutheran Church, where ragtime was even in-cluded in the Sunday morning service. The population of the idyllic farm town of Randall is approximately 150 (if you count the sheep) yet over 350 people (but no sheep) filled the church for each con-cert.

In Late October Ken Lusk had a fall and fractured a couple of vertebrae. He entered the hospital but before they could do the required surgery, he succumbed to pneumonia on Nov. 2, 2010.Ken had served in the army and later worked for many years as an Employment Counselor for the Sacramento County De-partment of Health and Human Services until his retirement. After his retirement he helped as a volunteer for the West Coast Ragtime festival until his physical limitations somewhat curtailed his activit-ies. His limtations certainly never slowed his enthusiastic contact with his many friends and his abiding love of ragtime mu-sic!

This he shared with his devoted wife Marion, who survives him.Those attending and/or participating in any of the ragtime activities or perform-ances could always count on an upbeat and smiling Ken to be a part of the festivities. He will be missed!

Mama Sue and Fast Eddie before. I would highly recommend seeing them. They were very entertaining. I particularly liked the nice informal relationship between Ian and Adam. They had never worked togeth-er and were mostly “winging it” but did so very cleverly and engagingly. It was a pleas-ure to see them. I won’t bore you by relat-ing all the other performances I attended, but I have to say that every performance I saw/heard was entertaining and enjoyable.

I do wish that everyone could have been backstage at the FINALE. I have been backstage at these events every year, but never have I been backstage when musi-cians were so uninhibitedly having fun. Usually things backstage are quiet and sub-dued, but not this year. It all started when Adam Swanson started blowing a train whistle during Ann Gibson and Frederick Hodges performance of “When the Mid-night Choo-Choo Leaves For Alabam”.

This was totally unrehearsed and must have come as quite a surprise to Ann Gib-son, who carried on like the professional she is. Adam was egged on by Jeff Barnhart who held an active microphone up for Adam as the train whistle toots got closer and closer together. Every musician backstage was practically rolling on the floor and everything seemed to get more funny as the event wore on. Formerly dig-nified musicians were peeking through the curtains to get a better view of Frederick Hodges and Jeff Barnhart playing versions of “Waiting For the Robert E. Lee” – in the manner of Mozart, Gershwin, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc. If you missed this finale, you really missed quite a show. It was a fitting end for this fine festival.

I would urge festival attendees in fu-ture years to consider (1) volunteering for Musicians’ Lounge duty and (2) extending their stay for the finale. It is the highlight of the festival.

SACRAMENTO RAGTIME SOCIETY

normally meets the last Sunday of the month. If

you would like to receive the monthly newsletter,

the subscription rate is $16 per year. The

subscription year runs from August 1st to the

following July 31st. Subscriptions beginning

after August 1st may be pro-rated.

Payments should be made payable to Sacramento

Ragtime Society.

Merv Graham, PO Box 2286, Grass Valley CA

95945

530-273-0487 or mgraham@funkyfiddler.org

Sacramento Ragtime Society events are starred (*) and up to date information can always be obtained from the society's web site at

www.SacramentoRagtime.com.

Please let us know as soon as possible about upcoming ragtime or ragtime related events so we may list them.

Dec 15 Tom Brier & Kitty WilsonDec 22 Roger SnellDec 29 Dr. Bach with Tom BrierFor more information call 916-987-7434 or e-mail Bs25ss28@aol.com

Dec 14 Crown SyncopatorsDec 21 Marty EggersDec 28 Frederick HodgesFor more information call 415-362-5125

ful Ann Gibson, elegantly attired a la Mae West in a filmy black dress, a cape slung to one side, and a sparkling headdress, who sang “I Never Broke Nobody’s Heart.” Hodges followed with his arrangement of “Lion Tamer Rag,” taken at a speedy clip. Gibson reappeared for “You Cannot Make your Shimmy Shake on Tea,” a musical ode to prohibition. Next up was Jeff Barnhart, who continued the songs with “I Guess I’ll Get the Papers and Go Home.” He then called up his flutist wife Anne and drum-mer Danny Coots to form the trio “Ivory and Gold” and to perform “That Red Rose Rag,” Glenn Jenks’s contemplative “Planxty,” and “I Got Rhythm,” the last at a bravura tempo, Anne joining on the second chorus. The intermission followed.

The St. Louis Ragtimers, celebrating their 49th anniversary, opened the second half with “King Chanticleer” and “Loadin’ Up the Mandy Lee.” Adam Swanson offered “Chevy Chase” (Blake) and “Alabamy Bound,” including the verse, in-terpolating “Swannee River” in a clever ar-rangement that he had prepared for the Old-Time Piano Contest. He introduced Carl Leyland, who contributed a boogie im-

Continued from page 6

provisation. Leyland in turn introduced Bri-an Holland, who noted that he had written a piece for Steve Standiford, “The Chips Are Down.” Taking the cue, Jeff dragged Martin back onstage. Brian and Martin du-etted on the catchy stride piece and fol-lowed it with “Snowy Morning Blues.” Danny Coots joined the pair for “Maple Leaf Rag.” By audience demand Jeff re-turned for a blues duet with Brian, whom he called his dear friend, to close the con-cert.

SACRAMENTO RAGTIME SOCIETY

Sunday Brad Kay, The Unurban, 3301 West Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica, 2:00–4:00 P.M.Sunday Devine's Jug Band, On the Corner Cafe, Divisadero & Oak, San Francisco, 2:00–4:00 P.M.1st Sunday Friends of Scott Joplin—Ragtime Rendezvous, The Pub Above at Dressel's, 419 N Euclid St. St Louis, MO, 5:30–8:30 P.M.1st Sunday Portland Ragtime Society, Elevated Coffee, 5261 Northeast M. L. King Blvd, Portland, OR, 3:00-6:00 P.M.1st Sunday Classic Ragtime Society of Indiana, Even-numbered months (e.g. February, April, etc.) only. For more info contact

Josi Beeler 317-359-6452, josibee@sbcglobal.net or Irene Weinberg 317-578-7883, turtleindy@aol.com.1st & 3rd Sunday—Sacramento Banjo Band, Straw Hat Pizza, 2929 Mather Field Rd, Rancho Cordova, 2:00–4:00 P.M.2nd Sunday Mont Alto Ragtime & Tango Orchestra–Tea Dance, Temple Events Center Uptown, 16th & Pearl, Denver, CO,

Lessons 1:30–2:00 P.M. Dancing 2:00–5:00 P.M. Call 303-655-9413 or 303-449-5962 for more information.Last Sunday Rose Leaf Ragtime Club, Aztec Hotel’s Mayan Restaurant, 311 W. Foohill Blvd., Monrovia, 2:00–5:00 P.M.

Participating musicians free, $2 donation for others, 626-358-3231 or 818-766-2384Tuesday Ragtime and Vintage Piano Music, Pier 23, San Francisco (See separate listing)Tuesday Victorian Dances, Lake Merritt Dance Center Lounge – Oakland Veterans Bldg. 200 Grand Ave, Oakland, 7:00 P.M.

Beginning & Intermediate classes and dance. $8, For more info: 530-759-9278 or www.vintagewaltz.comTuesday Piano Ragtime Cutting Contest, Frederick's Music Lounge, 4454 Chippewa, St. Louis, MO, 7:00–9:00 P.M.

Contestants appear on the Ragtime St. Louis TV show. For more information 314-968-2635 or ragtimefest@aol.comWednesday Ragtime & Vintage Music, Straw Hat Pizza, Rancho Cordova, (See separate listing)Wednesday Craig Ventresco & Meredith Axelrod, Cafe Divine, 1600 Stockton St. (across from Washington Square) San Francisco,

7:30–9:30 P.M. 415-986-3414Wednesday East Bay Banjo Band, Round Table Pizza, 1938 Oak Park Blvd. Pleasant Hill, CA 7:30–8:30 P.M. 925-372-0553Wednesday Peninsula Banjo Band, Cabrito's, 685 E El Camino Real, Sunnyvale, 7:00 P.M., Info: 408-993-2263Wednesday Happy Time Banjos, Soprano's Pizza, 373 Main St., Redwood City, 7:00 P.M., Info: 408-253-36762nd Wednesday—Marty Eggers & Virginia Tichenor, Hot Ragtime & Classic Jazz Piano, The Belrose Theater, 1415 5th Ave. San Rafael

5:30–8:00 P.M. 415-454-6422 or 510-655-6728, Wine bar, beer & light food available. No cover charge.Thursday Oakland Banjo Band, Porky's Pizza Palace, 1221 Manor Blvd. (corner of Farnsworth) San Leandro, 7:30–9:30 P.M. 510-357-4323Friday Jerry Rothschild, Curley's Restaurant, corner Willow & Cherry, Signal Hill (So. Cal), 7:00–10:00 P.M. 562-424-0018

19* Sacramento Ragtime Society Session, Red Lion Sacramento Inn, 1401 Arden Way, Sacramento, 1:00-4:00 P.M., Info: 916-457-3324 or www.SacramentoRagtime.com, NOTE! This is a change to the third Sunday.

8 & 9 Carl Sonny Leyland at Skunk Hollow Retreat, Chip Lusby's house, Skunk Hollow, Sutter Creek, 2:00 P.M. Saturday, $20, Info: sutter-chip@yahoo.com

9 Raspberry Jam Band at the STJS rent party, The Dante Club, 2330 Fair Oaks Blvd. Sacramento, Noon, $8 STJS members, $10 others, Info: http://www.sacjazz.org/

30* Sacramento Ragtime Society Session, Red Lion Sacramento Inn, 1401 Arden Way, Sacramento, 1:00-4:00 P.M., Info: 916-457-3324 or www.SacramentoRagtime.com

13 The Bradshaws & Drivons with Tom Brier, Foothill Prebyterian Church, 5301 McKee Road, San Jose, 3:00 P.M., $10 at the door, Info: 408-258-8133

19 & 20 Mimi Blais at Skunk Hollow Retreat, Chip Lusby's house, 50 Gold Dust Trail, Sutter Creek, 2:00-5:00 P.M. Saturday, $25 Advance sale, $28 at the door, Info: sutterchip@yahoo.com or 626-806-3021, Pot luck and afterglow to follow Sat. & Sun.

20 The Raspberry Jam Band at annual Music For Humanity, Pioneer Methodist Church, 1338 Lincoln Way, Auburn, 2:00 P.M., This concert be-nefits Habitat for Humanity & local food closet.

25 Jack & Chris Bradshaw in Concert, Warren Jennings Home, 31 Oak Forest Place, Santa Rosa, 2:00 P.M., $20, Info: 707-526-5077 or Con-certs@RagtimeHome.com, Seating is limited, advance reservations required.

27* Sacramento Ragtime Society Session, Red Lion Sacramento Inn, 1401 Arden Way, Sacramento, 1:00-4:00 P.M., Info: 916-457-3324 or www.Sacramento Ragtime.com

6 The Raspberry Jam Band, Reutlinger Mansion, 824 Grove St., San Francisco, 2:00 P.M., $20, Info: Reservations required, contact Kitty Wilson 408-720-8365 or kitty_w2003@sbcglobal.net, There may be bus transportation available, contact Julia Riley 530-888-6493

11-13 Fresno Flats Ragtime and Vintage Music Festival, Historical Park & Oakhust Lutheran Church, Park-49777 road 427, Church-road 426 Oakhust, Fri/Sat 2:00 P.M.-Park, Sunday 2:00 P.M.-Church, Info: Bea at 559-641-2272 or bkwalden@sti.net, Performers: The Bradshaws, Tom Brier, The Drivons,Larisa Migachyov and Will Perkins

27* Sacramento Ragtime Society Session, Red Lion Sacramento Inn, 1401 Arden Way, Sacramento, 1:00-4:00 P.M., Info: 916-457-3324 or Sacra-mentoRagtime.com

SACRAMENTO RAGTIME SOCIETY

SACRAMENTO RAGTIME SOCIETY

c/o Merv GrahamPO Box 2286Grass Valley CA 95945

Mondays The Ragtime Machine, KUSF, 90.3 FM, San Francisco. 9:00—10:00 P.M. Host: David Reffkin, www.kusf.orgSundays Syncopation Station, KDHX 88.1 FM, St. Louis, Missouri, 4:00—5:30 P.M. Host: Vann Ford, www.kdhx.orgThursdays Ragtime America, KGNU, 88.5 FM, Boulder, Colorado, 8:00—9:00 P.M. Host: Jack Rummel. www.kgnu.orgContinuous Rocky Mountain Ragtime, Ragtime 24 hours a day, www.live365.com/stations/rmragtime

Friday Keith Taylor, Mad Matilda's, 1917 Main St, Baker City, Oregon. For information call 541-519-4072Friday Friday Night Waltz, 1st United Methodist Church, 625 Hamilton St. (& Cowper), Palo Alto, Lessons: 7:00–9:00 P.M.,

Dancing 9:00 P.M. to Midnight. 650-326-6265, Check web site to confirm time and location, www.fridaynightwaltz.com2nd Friday Chico's Ragtime/Tin Pan Alley Sessions, The Terraces, 2750 Sierra Sunrise Terrace, Chico, 6:30–8:30 P.M.

Contact: Bernie or Bob LoFaso 530-894-6854, b_lofaso@hotmail.com4th Friday Vintage Dance & Waltz Lessons, Finnish Hall, 1970 Chestnut, Berkeley, $6 for dance; $8 lesson & dance

8:00 P.M. Lesson; 9:00 P.M. to midnight, Dance. For more info: 530-759-9278 or www.vintagewaltz.com1st Saturday Bitterroot Valley Ragtime Society, Hamilton Public House, Victor, Montana, 4:00–6:00 P.M.

For more info call 406-961-3245 or visit www.bitterroot-ragtime.com1st Saturday San Francisco Banjo Band, Molloy's, 1655 Mission Road, Colma, 7:30 P.M. Info: 650-692-78782nd Saturday San Francisco Starlight Orchestra, Little Switzerland, 19080 Riverside Drive, Sonoma CA, $15. 2:00–5:00 P.M.

Info: www.sanfranciscostarlightorchestra.com2nd Saturday The Valley Ragtime Stomp, Henri's Restaurant, 21601 Sherman Way, Canoga Park, CA , 1:00–4:00 P.M.

Info: Ron Ross at ragtimeron@earthlink.net2nd Saturday East Bay Waltz, Veterans bldg, 200 Grand ave (at Harrison), Oakland, 7:00 p.m.–midnight. Info: eastbaywaltz.com3rd Saturday Mother Lode Ragtime Society, Sutter Creek Ice Cream Emporium, 51 Main St. (Hwy 49), Sutter Creek CA,

7:30–9:30 P.M. [Odd numbered months only] For more information call 209-267-0543 or sodajerk@volcano.net3rd Saturday Cascade Ragtime Society–Ragtime Jam, Noah's Ark, Winston, Oregon [Even numbered months only] 541-784-1261