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Summer 2018

The 32nd AnnualWest Coast Ragtime Festival

by Virginia Tichenor, Festival Director

The 32nd West Coast Ragtime Festival will be here before we know it! Make your plans for this year’s event, November 16 – 18th at the Sacramento Marriott Rancho Cordova. This year, the festival welcomes back numerous international performers! Morten Gunnar Larsen is returning from Oslo Norway. Neville Dickie is coming from London, England, Ezequiel Pallejá from Argentina and Mimi Blais, of Mon-treal, Canada will all grace the festival’s stages this year. The international two-piano team of Stephanie Trick and Paolo Alderighi are also returning to the festival this year! Back by popular demand, Richard Dowling will also be per-forming at this year’s West Coast Ragtime Festival! Festival favorites Danny Coots, Frederick Hodges, Brian Holland, Carl Sonny Leyland, Adam Swanson, and Max Keenlyside will all be appearing this year, too!

There are new faces coming to this year’s event! West Coast welcomes Matt Tolentino of Dallas, Texas to this year’s fes-tival. Matt is a very talented multi-instrumentalist. Expect to see Matt playing ragtime accordion during the weekend! He’ll also present a Seminar on the connections between ragtime and early jazz and the dance crazes of that time. St. Louis based

blues specialist, Ethan Leinwand, is also making his first ap-pearance at this year’s event. You’ll enjoy hearing Ethan play old St. Louis blues piano in addition to presenting a seminar on the connections between ragtime and barrelhouse piano. This year’s festival will feature many traditional special events and shows. A few highlights of what is being planned include the “Festival Sampler” program, silent movies, song slides with Sean Sharp accompanied by Frederick Hodges, the cakewalk demonstration, the Saturday evening Grand March, the Sun-day morning gospel set, the “Youth Concert” and the Sunday afternoon “Festival Finale!” The West Coast Ragtime Festival website at www.westcoastragtime.com will have complete de-tails of the festival program and schedule, so please check the website for regular updates. For a complete list of this year’s festival line-up, please see page 7 of this newsletter.

November will be here in a blink. Now is the time to make your hotel reservations and buy your badges. You won’t want to miss the 32nd annual West Coast Ragtime Festival of 2018! See you there.

-Virginia

Summer 2018

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Robyn DrivonLayout

Lewis Motisher

The WEST COAST RAGTIMERis published by

West Coast Ragtime SocietyP.O. Box 13346

Sacramento, CA 95813-3346

www.westcoast ragtime.com

President Bub Sullivan Vice-President Robyn DrivonSecretary Bob GonzalezTreasurer Hal Krueger

Festival DirectorVirginia Tichenor

DirectorsRobyn DrivonBob GonzalezHal KruegerLinda Kuk

Bub Sullivan

Seminar CoordinatorKathleen McNulty

Youth CoodinatorChris Bradshaw

WebmasterRon O’Dell

West coast Ragtime Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Ragtime and vintage American music.

If you heed the Latin phrase above, and Always Wear Badges you will likely not hear from a hearty volunteer to show them your badge. But, who are those

people asking to see your badge? They are an essential cog in the “festival wheel” of success, the volunteers! Yes, you see them at the venue entrances asking to see badges with a smile, but that’s merely a portion of what volunteers do at our festi-val. No volunteer is more indefatigable than our own Linda Kuk, who has served ragtime and jazz festivals for a very many years with her organization skills, enthu-siasm and volunteer care, feeding & support.

There is a group of strong guys who volunteer to assist with moving pianos before and after the festival. The volunteers in the musicians’ hospitality room make life tasty and relaxing for performers “down time” by making sure that food is avail-able for them as they have time to visit and collaborate with other performers and take time to relax between their sets. The California Ballroom has a special set of volunteers who manage the stage; helping to set up for various acts and special sets, working with the performers to keep the flow of the program moving as intended, and working with the performers and sound crew for maximum quality of sound.

The group at the festival registration table are multi-talented; they sell badges, memberships, dinner tickets, and they possess a wealth of knowledge to answer questions posed by festival guests!

Now back to those folks at the venue doors! Yes, they want to see your badge each time you enter a venue but there is more they do such as counting the audience size during each shift, seeing that sets end on sched-ule, periodically checking dance floors for safety, making certain that aisles are clear, that areas are open for those with disabilities, watching the people in the room for issues that disrupt others, and more.

Our volunteers are wonderful and bear their responsibilities well! If you think you might like to volunteer for the festival, contact our website: http://www.westcoast ragtime.com/volunteers.htm, or drop us a note at WCRS – Attention: Volunteer Coordinator, P.O. Box 13346, Sacramento, California 95813. Include your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address. Also, indicate the volunteer activity you prefer. You will be contacted to confirm your preference for the type of volun-teer service you can do for the festival and to work out your schedule.

We will definitely talk! Remember, each day volunteers work a shift they have free admission to all events.

Semper Ubi Badges!by Linda Kuk, WCRS Volunteer Coordinator Emeritus

Summer 2018

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Tantalizing Titanical TitillationNotes from our Ragtime L.I.C. (Leader-In-Chief)

We are in full prepara-tion mode for anoth-

er great West Coast Rag-time Society Festival in November. We are running through the tune choices from 1918 to be featured in the Century Show and making sure that travel arrangements allow for the serendipity of musical matchmaking that occurs throughout the weekend. A special treat this year is “Titanic: A Musical Jour-ney.” I think it will bring

festival-goers some tantalizing titanical titillation, and that’s saying something, brother!

Year after year, we receive such positive feedback from each of you (yes, we read every one of those end-of-festival surveys!) and we work each year to achieve a special festival and unique experience. Could anything be better than last year’s festival? YES—this year’s festival! Again musicians will come from Northern and Central Europe, South America and Everytown, U.S.A.

Our lineup of professional musicians is the secret to our suc-cess. These talented geniuses bring the artistry of the hearts and minds to our festival where we have the privilege of watching the magic happen. It is our honor to provide them this forum, don’t you think so too? The serendipity of the thrills & spills of live music brings up the goosebumps, just thinking about it. How about you?

No festival survives solely on ticket sales, we are no different. The WCRS is well managed and always seeks to operate in the black. For now we have sufficient funds to cover operating costs, can this last much longer? While we raised our badge

prices modestly, we perpetually battle the rise in expenses. Please know that we heartily resist raising badge prices for fear of out-pricing some of our fellow Ragtimers on limited budgets who also spark their joy over the weekend. So, here’s a thought: if you want to consider making an extra tax deductible donation to the WCRS (501c3) this year, a documentation letter will be provided, of course. We are a fully volunteer organization ex-cept for a modest stipend for the tireless festival director.

The Board of Directors thanks you, festivalgoers, past and fu-ture donors, for your vital help in producing our annual cel-ebration of inspired and joy-inspiring human talent. To all you dear friends, we really appreciate it. Checks may be made out to West Coast Ragtime Society and sent to:

WCRSPO Box 13346

Sacramento, CA 95813

or charge it online at our website: WestCoastRagtime.comHome page > Order Badges > gray box on right “Purchase Badges” > scroll to bottom > “Make a Donation” > pick a fund (“General” our preference, but you choose.)

Donation Desk Is OpenJust a reminder that our festival depends on enough generous tax-deductible donations to afford our wonderful performers and still keep the badge prices very reasonable.

We thank you past supporters for your vast wisdom, your exquisite taste in all things, your prize-winning good looks, and your priceless and peerless wit.

See you very soon, Bub

by Bub Sullivan, WCRS President

Max Morath Retires from West Coast

West Coast’s festival organizers are sad to report that Max Morath has decided to retire from the annual West Coast Ragtime Festival. We are fortunate that Max

was able to participate in the last 6 festivals. We’ll all miss Max’s presence at the annu-al festival. West Coast thanks Max wholeheartedly for all his wonderful contributions to the past 6 festivals! Max’s wife, Diane, may attend this year’s event as a guest.

Summer 2018

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Youth in the Spotlightby Chris Bradshaw, Youth Coordinator

Ragtime sprouts new wings as our youth performers take flight. With this being the 14th year of the West Coast

Youth Ragtime Competition we have seen a full cycle of rag-time kids grow up before our eyes and new ones joining the procession. Who would have guessed all those many years ago that we’d have such a rich collection of younger players. Here is what some of them are up to these days.

Ramona Baker just graduated from high school and is going to further her interest in music by taking a gap year before college. Diego Bustamante is about ready to enter his sopho-more year at the University of Pacific Conservatory where he is getting many opportunities to perform in plenty of a variety of settings. Although he is studying classical piano literature, he is known about the campus as “Mr. Ragtime.” Vincent Johnson is having a great time and finding success in per-forming house concerts. As you know Max Keenlyside per-formed an entire CD of Vincent’s compositions. Max, by the way, keeps himself busy performing, composing and tuning pianos. Being from Prince Edward Island, Max didn’t come through the competition, however, it was others who did, who found him.

Will Perkins is embarking on a new musical journey this September when he and his wife McKenna move to Bos-ton. Will has enrolled in the piano technology division at the North Bennet Street School. McKenna will be enrolled too, in the cabinetry and woodworking course.

Anthony Sarginson, with just about three and a half years of piano instruction has made his first CD which will be ready for the Sutter Creek Festival. His CD is a tribute to the music of Tom Brier. And speaking of Tom Brier, Michael Chisholm is hard at work arranging piano rolls for Tom’s label on a project started with Tom Brier before his accident.

You will also hear pianist and composer Frank LiVolsi, a hard working mechanical engineer from Rhode Island whose speciality is ragtime and early jazz. John Reed-Torres is also on the bill. He has been earning some airplane miles as he spent the spring traveling to perform in various states. Did I hear correctly that he impersonated “Blind Boone” in Kan-sas?

You will also have the pleasure of seeing and hearing Ryan Wishner at the festival. He is studying mechanical engineer-ing at UC Riverside, and has a great interest in mechanical music machines. His performance goal is historical accuracy based on old recordings and piano rolls.

As far as sprouting new wings, we will be welcoming Jade

Anderson, age 13 to the festival. She was a first place winner in the competition last year and will have her first festival ap-pearance at Sutter Creek, later this summer.

If you think the youth are taking over ragtime, you just may be right. Their enthusiasm, joyfulness and superb playing add so much to festivals!

On Saturday, November 3, the West Coast Ragtime Society will hold its 14th annual Youth Ragtime Piano Competition at the United Methodist Church in Woodland, CA. All are invited to attend. The first place winners will be invited to participate in the Master Class held at the West Coast Ragtime Festival November 17, hosted by Jeff Barnhart. Come hear the future of ragtime!

Summer 2018

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Six Splendiferous Seminars at WCRF 2018

The Festival doesn’t just offer you great music and dancing, each year we provide scholarly research presentations on a

myriad of topics. Where and when? In the Junior Ballroom aka “Seminar Central,” on Saturday and Sunday, mid-day, for three hours each day. And what’s on the schedule for this year?

Michael Chisholm: A “www” for Ragtime Sheet Music

Come hear an update about the sheet music digitization project Michael was working on with Tom Brier before Tom’s automobile accident in 2016. Tom’s and Michael’s goal was to create a centralized source—a website—on which Tom and Mi-chael would post all the Ragtime sheet music they could find for ev-

eryone to enjoy. It’s an ongoing effort and labor of love. Come learn the status of the project from Michael.

Frederick Hodges: George Gershwin—The Ragtime Years, 1915-1920

George Gershwin is one of the greatest composers of the Twentieth Century. His name is synonymous with the best of Broadway, film, and concert music of the 1920s and 1930s. But Gershwin’s musical con-tributions extend further back into the Ragtime era. Starting in 1915, Gershwin was a famed Ragtime pia-nist, recording artist, and composer of instrumental piano rags and Ragtime songs. In his Seminar, Frederick will explore Gershwin’s early career to illustrate how his trend-setting creativity in the Ragtime era paved the way for his well-known accomplishments of the 1920s and 1930s.

Ethan Leinwand: Lost Traditions inBarrelhouse Blues—Texas and the Deep SouthThrough the lives and music of Robert Shaw and Little Brother Montgomery, Ethan tells the story of two regional styles of bar-

relhouse blues. Difficult to define, barrelhouse blues is the music that developed from mixing Ragtime with Folk Blues traditions. Forged in working-class African-American communities, barrelhouse blues were being recorded by the late 1920s, and paved the way for the later boogie-woogie craze. Using videos, recordings, interviews, and

piano demonstrations, Ethan will help you gain insight into the distinctive character of this music, its origins, and its forgotten Masters.

Jack Rummel: The Mystique of theComplete Joplin Recordings

What drives an artist to study the music of Scott Joplin and ultimate-ly to issue recordings of his com-plete works? There are at least 16 such collections, all made between 1960-2017, but it appears that there is little or no consensus for the defi-nition of “complete.” Some of these 16 collections were made by well-known Ragtime musicians, some were begun, but never finished, and some were from mysterious sources, to say the least. In his Seminar, Jack will present rel-evant information and recorded examples from these “complete” works, and encourage his audience to help solve the mysteries therein.

Ray Skjelbred: “Kansas City Frank” Melrose

Frank Melrose spent nearly all of his working career in Chicago, first studying violin and then being self-taught on piano. Although being in Chicago helped him gain some rec-ognition in the late 1920s, his deci-sion to stay in the Windy City re-sulted in his obscurity during most

of the 1930s. He worked at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, taught music, and played local clubs until his mysterious and early death on Labor Day in 1941. Come hear more of Frank Melrose’s story, including how he got the nickname of “Kansas City Frank,” from Chicago native and fellow pianist, Ray Skjelbred.

Matt Tolentino:The Ragtime Dance

Matt’s Seminar focuses on the connections between Ragtime and early jazz and the dances of that period. He’ll discuss how the mu-sic affected the dance crazes, and how the dance steps influenced the music. Although Ragtime and early jazz can be enjoyed by a listener, Matt will illustrate how danc-ing drove the styles and fueled the development of America’s music. Using live musical examples on his accordion, taking you from the Bunny Hug to the Charleston, Matt will explore the indelible link between music and dance.

So if you want to learn more about these topics, walk all the way down the corridor to the Junior Ballroom and join us for one or all six of the Festival Seminars. And if you do stop by, please enjoy a traditional “Seminar Snack” from See’s Candy. All are welcome!

by Kathleen McNulty, Seminar Coordinator

Summer 2018

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Marriott Room Rates per DayRates not available after Friday, September 28, 2018

so reserve early!

Standard guest room with one king size bed. $109.00Standard room with two queen size beds. $119.00 Concierge King room $129.00 Concierge two queen room $139.00

All room rates plus taxes and fees.

Reservations can be made directly with Marriott at

(800) 228-9290 or (916) 638-1100

ALL EVENTS BADGE now $105Price goes up to $115 after Oct. 31, 2018, so order early

Day and combo badges also available - see below Friday day badge: now $50 Saturday day badge: now $60 Sunday day badge: now $40

After Oct. 31, prices go up $5 Fri/Sat combo: now $95 Sat/Sun combo: now $85

After Oct. 31, prices go up $10

See Badge Order Form on back of newsletter.

Book Your Room at the Marriott

West Coast has reserved a large block of rooms for festival attendees at the Sacramento Marriott Rancho Cordova,

our festival location. Rates are $109 - $139. To book a room for the West Coast Ragtime Festival, call (800) 228-9290 or (916) 638-1100.

Here’s the online reservations link:https://book.passkey.com/e/49655515

The festival cut-off date for the room rates is Friday, September 28, 2018. Please book now, so Marriott will hopefully extend the cut-off date into October!

Rivermont Records has released a new CD featuring Adam Swanson on piano. The CD is called “Revival Ragtime”

and features contemporary ragtime of Johnny Maddox, Max Morath, Tom Shea, Trebor Tichenor, Ian Whitcomb and Bob Milne. See a full review of the CD on Jack Rummel’s website at: http://www.ragtimers.org/reviews/

Available for $20.00 plus postage (or $9.95 as a digital download) from <cdbaby.com>

Adam Swanson, along with actress Barbara Chronowski, will be featured at this year’s festival in a new show called

“Titanic: A Musical Journey.” The show played to enthusiastic audiences in El Dorado Hills, CA this past May, and West Coast is pleased to include this special program at this year’s festival. “Titanic: A Musical Journey,” is the first live event to showcase the music as it was actually heard on the R.M.S. Titanic. Rag-time music was all the rage in 1912 and delighted passengers with its upbeat tunes, frothy melodies, and buoyant lyrics. The show stars Adam Swanson, one of the world’s most acclaimed ragtime pianists who made his New York debut at Carnegie Hall; and Barbara Chronowski, who portrayed a first-class passenger in the blockbuster movie, “Titanic.” Adam portrays Theodore Brailey, Titanic’s pianist, who played to the very end and went down with the ship. Barbara Chronowski portrays Mrs. Helen Churchill Candee, a suffragette, author, and first class Titanic survivor who provides dramatic accompaniment to Brailey’s lively piano selections. Feel what it was like on board —before the iceberg cometh!

Adam’s “Titanic” Show

Adam Swanson’s New CDPress Release

Summer 2018

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You may also order badges by phone using a credit card, online with Paypal, or at the door. (415) 891-3096