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
Looking back on the 2016 Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival with all its usual joy and frivolity, I am reminded more and more of the
David Reffkin’s email on Tuesday, October 11th brought sad news: “Larry Karp died this morning at a hospital in Seattle…” Though I have read Larry’s
As I was writing last month about the excellent newspapers and newsletters in the fields of jazz and ragtime, I was also reminded of the
I have been reflecting recently with an old friend by email, about all the sources of information we have regarding Ragtime, from learned authorities to
