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
My column requires a disclaimer this month because frankly, it amounts to little more than a grandfather bragging obnoxiously about his grandchildren. That written, I’ve
The Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation (SJIRF) has recently announced the Larry Karp Memorial Fund Award Program. The award will recognize and educate young ragtime
In my April 2018 column, I wrote of the accomplishments of the good people of Texarkana and the work they are doing to preserve their
Not many 27-year-old performers have a professional career spanning over a decade and a half, including a performance at Carnegie Hall with Michael Feinstein and
Making new friends and learning more about older acquaintances is one of the many rewards of being part of the on-line ragtime community. I am
To have known Trebor Jay Tichenor is to have known a ragtime legend. In fact, this St. Louisan might have been a ragtime original had
During an especially poignant moment at this year’s Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival, David Reffkin presented the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award to Swedish ragtime performer, composer,
Those who have been moved by the lyrically sensitive compositions of David Thomas Roberts and have found them to stimulate mind and soul will understand
They All Played Ragtime (Alfred A. Knopf, Ltd., 1950) by Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis is a wonderful story of our ragtime heritage. There have
A new CD of Max Morath’s compositions played by Sue Keller and Jeff Barnhart includes liner notes written by Morath. The notes provide an insight
Each year as a Scott Joplin anniversary rolls around, I get to pondering the composer’s tragic life and the lack of acclaim he received while
Imagine the privilege of sitting a few rows behind Eubie Blake on the night of January 28, 1972, and watching his whole body move to
I am often asked about my background in music, what instruments I play, and when I first became interested. My flippant response is that I
Just when I was becoming accustomed to getting my ragtime music solely from the Internet and recordings, I had a pleasant surprise. Virginia Tichenor emailed
This month, I fear I will be rambling even more than usual. So many things rattle around in my head these days, so I’ll just
When given the task of writing about a legend of ragtime, I was instantly struck by how inadequate a few words describing such a life
I have recently been blowing the dust off nearly 50 years of photos and ephemera from the many annual trips my wife and I took
“My sitting next to you and your wife at the concert in Sedalia was truly serendipitous,” Fred Hoeptner wrote me after we met for the
For some time now, I have been gathering material on “Ragtime” Bob Darch in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of his birth in 2020. I
The Age of Sound I recently discovered that the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry has made the final selections for it’s now completed “500
I spend a lot of time blowing the dust off of old newspaper clippings, especially articles about the ragtime festivals in Sedalia over the years.
