A Visit with Galen Wilkes, Ragtime Renaissance Man

In the German language, it is common to find compound nouns. They certainly would be useful in describing Galen. The only possible way to capture him is to invent a word like, “Musician-Pianist-Conductor-Self Taught Composer-Ragtime Historian-Archivist-Preservationist-Researcher-Silent Film Buff-Prodigy-Organizer Extraordinaire of Festivals-Revivalist-Cultural Critic-Comedian-Announcer-Writer of Liner Notes1-General Factotum-for-anything-from-the-era-of-1890-to-1930.” Even that doesn’t fully describe him nor all his activities. I first met Galen in 1991 at the Scott Joplin Festival in Sedalia, Missouri, and have been incessantly astounded by his boundless energy and dedication to bringing both ragtime and the general culture of the era to the attention of the general public. He organized the New England Ragtime Festival in 1993 and 1994, and from the perspective of having participated, my opinion is that it was one of the most exceptional and diverse festivals I’ve ever seen or known about. He was constantly trying to experiment and make it more interesting, rather than just having one person after another play the conventional ragtime repertoire on an out-of-tune piano. Those of us who are fortunate enough to know him well, are privileged to experience not only his expertise in so many fields, but also his delightful sense of humor. There has been more than one occasion whe