PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS:  SEDALIA, MISSOURI--MAY-JUNE, 2007

        

"Sedalia, Missouri, the Cradle of Ragtime, hosted its Annual Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival between May 30 and June 2, 2007.  Perhaps the most colorful of the many ragtime festivals held in different parts of the country, the Joplin Festival features performances by world-class ragtime orchestras, pianists, guitarists, brass players, even whistlers; symposia by knowledgeable historians; and a ragtime dance, where period costume is encouraged.  Many stages are located out-of-doors, in the heart of central Sedalia, and the fact that a lot of the buildings along those streets were standing in Scott Joplin's day goes a long way toward transporting attendees back in time, as they listen to the music that made Joplin and Sedalia famous.

"I never need an excuse to go to the Festival, but this year, I had one anyway.  The Liberty Center Association for the Arts invited me to give a talk, and copies of The Ragtime Kid were available for sale at the Ragtime Store on Ohio Avenue, the Railway Depot Store, and Sedalia Book and Toy.  The enthusiastic reactions I got from ragtimers and native Sedalians was more than gratifying.  And of course the music was wonderful, ranging from Joplin's classic ragtime to early jazz and stride piano, to syncopated work by Gershwin.  John Petley, a fine ragtime pianist from Maryland, played tunes by the real-life Ragtime Kid, Brun Campbell, and other composers of the midwestern/southern/fold ragtime school."--Larry Karp

 

 

Click pictures to enlarge
The lovely Liberty Theatre (formerly the Lona Theatre, which opened in 1920 to show first silent films, then talkies), and now the home of the Liberty Center Association for the Arts.  This was the site of most of the concerts at the Festival, as well as my talk.	Here I am, next to the advertising poster for my talk in the display window of the Liberty Theatre.	The Scott Joplin Mural, painted in 1994 by Stan Herd, on the northern side of the 1880S Romanesque Revival-style building at 211 South Ohio Avenue.	The gorgeous Missouri Trust Co. Building at 322 South Ohio Avenue, originally built in 1889.  The Pettis County Commission is well along in its work to restore the structure to its original elegance.	My wife Myra and me in the Grand March, which opened the Ragtime Dance.  Myra's giving the fish eye to our friend, Dan Brown (no, not that Dan Brown), who took all the photographs you're seeing here...well, all but one.
Myra poses with the elegantly-attired Dan Brown.  You couldn't get me into that suit with a shoehorn and a shotgun.	Another couple in the Grand March.  The lady in the red dress is Bay-Area ragtime pianist and historian Nan Bostick (the grand-niece of Charles (Uncle Charlie) Daniels, who played an important role in "The Ragtime Kid".  Nan's partner is San Francisco ragtime enthusiast and supporter, Richard Reutlinger.	With my partner's customary patience, I can get through a slow dance here and there.  What I ain't got is rhythm.	Richard Dowling, New York City pianist, who played some spectacular music by Gershwin.	The Sedville (original name of Sedalia) After-hours Honky Tonk at the Best Western Hotel.  In the first photo, Eytan Uylan and Adam Swanson entertain with impromptu selections.
In this second photo of the Sedville After-hours Honky Tonk, it's "Perfessor" Bill Edwards, Adam Swanson, and Jeff Barnhart.  Adam is all of 15 years old, and the way this kid plays ragtime, I can't even begin to imagine how he's going to sound at 25 or 35.	Here I am, giving my talk at the Liberty Center Auditorium, telling the audience how the line, "They say the devil once spent a week in Missouri in July, then went back and set up hell to specifications" came into my head during my first visit to Sedalia, a summer Sunday morning a few years back, when the temperature and humidity were both 96.	Ragtime pianist Dave Majchrzak as "Agnes in Wonderland" at the Ragtime Music Hall, the closing concert of the Festival.	After the Festival, on our way out of Sedalia, we paid one more visit to Maple Leaf Park, where Dr. Marvin Albright delivered the beautiful invocation prayer with which "The Ragtime Kid" concludes its story.

 

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