5th Anniversary of The Syncopated Times
Larry Melton December 29, 2020
It doesn’t seem like five full years since the first issue of The Syncopated Times began appearing in our mailboxes. Since the February 2016 issue,
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It doesn’t seem like five full years since the first issue of The Syncopated Times began appearing in our mailboxes. Since the February 2016 issue,
I remember reading Bill Hoffman’s fine column last year in The Syncopated Times describing his first visit to a West Coast Ragtime Festival (WCRF) and
Sadly, Steve Radeck informs us that “Professor” Don Burns has died at the age of 81. Don was a familiar ragtime entertainer in western New
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
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 a full solo program at the Kennedy Center
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.
Will Benefit Music Education and Appreciation in Schools The Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival Foundation in Sedalia, Missouri, has established a Memorial Fund to honor author,
No dusting off this month, only fresh anecdotes and delightful reminiscences. I managed to spend a week at the 38th Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in
This month I am going to use this tiny Sedalia newspaper snippet from 1902 to discuss some thoughts on research and then segue to writing
Recently, letters written between 1945 and 1951 by S. Brunson Campbell (Scott Joplin’s white pupil in Sedalia in the late 1890s) were made public for
Back in November, those of us interested in all things ragtime were excited to learn of Bryan Wright’s Grammy nomination in the Best Liner Notes
A fond memory from the ragtime revival years of the early 1970s was a trip to Texarkana, a community which famously straddles the border between
Throughout mid-February, I was suitably entertained watching the Winter Olympics. I thoroughly enjoy the amazing feats of skill, endurance, agility and downright courage the athletes
“In the future, everyone will be world-famous for fifteen minutes.” This line, credited to Andy Warhol from a Stockholm exhibit catalog in 1968, has gone
At a time when most people are just beginning to hit their stride, Sam Post already has a long list of accomplishments to his name
I was visiting recently with a friend about angels. Not the Gabriel types, with trumpets blaring, or the ones like Clarence waiting to get their
Among the treasures of the Sedalia Ragtime Archive are sections of G. Thomas Ireland’s old clarinets. Though Sedalia ragtime is usually associated with Scott Joplin,
In the St. Louis region, Dennis Owsley has been the source of jazz programming on the local NPR station KWMU since 1983. His Jazz Unlimited
Fred Hoeptner’s paper on the origin and use of the term “ragtime” delivered at last Summer’s Joplin Festival in Sedalia has had me thinking about
This month I’m not so much blowing off the dust as I am clearing out some cobwebs, and delightful cobwebs they are thanks to Andy
Perceptions As I was wandering the Internet this month for ragtime news, something Jeanie Wright wrote on her Facebook page caught my attention. When asked
Haze of Memory Not very much happened of ragtime interest in Sedalia in the years after World War I. The bustling town moseyed along, growing
Earlier Festivals in Sedalia As I am writing this, the 37th Annual Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Missouri, is well under way and by
1983 was a busy year… I note that as the Director of Symposia for the 2017 Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival, Bill Edwards will present
I enjoy working with the ephemera of the Ragtime Archive in Sedalia and, as a diversion, I work with my own accumulation of personal scrapbook
While blowing off the dust this morning, an old newspaper clipping fell out of a scrapbook and it took me back to Sedalia, Missouri in
One of my fondest memories (and there were many) of last summer’s Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in Sedalia is of meeting Kyle Stark and his
This pre-publication book review is unusual in that it is on a work of fiction. It is the last of author Larry Karp’s four mystery
In the month supposedly reserved for New Year resolutions, I prefer to look back forty years to an as yet unrealized resolution from the 1970s.
I’ve been reminded again recently that archival work isn’t all about shuffling old papers and blowing the dust off of old artifacts to conserve them.
It is significant that T.S. Eliot and Scott Joplin lived in St. Louis at the same time. In fact knowing of Eliot’s fascination with English
I can’t believe that I ever functioned without Internet email, social media, and especially without the benefit of search engines and databases. As someone who
At the opening concert of this year’s Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Missouri, Mayor Stephen Galliher announced that the Missouri State Legislature had
In December it is customary to review the major events of the year but I’m far too off-put by this year’s chaos so I decided
