Recently, I have been considering the relationship between ragtime and the railroads more intently than ever. First, because Marcello Piras wrote to inquire about railroad
When I get a message from Ed Berlin, it gets my immediate attention. Last month I received a most fascinating document Ed was passing along,
Last month I began my comment on the confusing heritage of Sedalia’s Maple Leaf Club (MLC). Was it the benign men’s social club of the
The River Raisin Ragtime Review Board of Directors announced on Thursday, Kelsee Vandervall will be the new Music Director following the retirement of founding director
“There has to be a balance between literally white-washing or ignoring history and presenting it in actual context…it appear(s) no matter what approach is taken,
Writing for The Syncopated Times reminds me of the experience of being alive. We go from experiencing the joy and ecstasy of the music we
Several years ago, I met a remarkable young man at the Sedalia Ragtime Festival named Brandon Byrne. Later, I discovered an on-line newsletter he produces
I knew of Peter Bergin as a fine performer from his YouTube postings, so I was delighted to learn he was recording an album utilizing
Like many reading this, I suspect you are nearly overwhelmed by the negativism accompanying the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a pessimistic time and for many
One of the great ragtime adventure stories I ever heard was of Peter Lundberg’s tour of America in 1963, vising and interviewing ragtime greats across
I met Steve Spracklen almost 50 years ago when I arranged a concert through Bob Vernon billed as “Three Generations of Ragtime.” Steve, Peter Lundberg,
I grew up in the 1940’s reading science fiction stories of time travel and of mysterious flying carpets. Today as I sit here in still
One of the earliest second-generation ragtime performers, Gale “Gaslight” Foehner died on February 9th this year. He was 91. His career as a ragtime pianist
As I was contemplating a column for this month, I came across a Facebook posting that inspired this article. It was a recent photo in
THIS EVENT IS POSTPONED UNTIL AT LEAST MAY 31st DUE TO CORONAVIRUS 2020 will be the 100th anniversary of “Ragtime” Bob Darch’s birth and, thanks
When Andy Senior mentioned in an email that Lew Shaw was publishing a second Jazz Beat volume of personality essays, I decided it was time
The docents at the KATY Depot Visitors Center in Sedalia regularly receive inquiries about the city and its ragtime heritage. Since the folks there are
From Larry Melton: When I read that Buck Henry died on January 8th, I remembered fondly the night we first met in Sedalia at a
Over the years I have lost track of the “Complete” Joplin sets that have been produced. The first such effort I acquired was Richard Zimmerman’s
When the notifications icon bell at the top of my Ragtimers Club Facebook page has a red number in double digits on a Sunday afternoon
This is supposed to be a column for the new year, but I find myself beginning to write on Thanksgiving Day, thinking of all the
I knew Treemonisha. Well, I should have written “a Treemonisha.” I certainly knew her as surely as if the fictional heroine of Scott Joplin’s opera
The sad word has come to us tonight, that Ian passed yesterday, Sunday Morning the 19th. We have posted an obituary: Pop Idol turned Ragtime
From The Ragtime Ephemeralist to Rusty Brown For some time now I have wanted to interview Chris Ware for The Syncopated Times. Over the years
