After a long career that started with writing ragtime and supposedly ended after a string of successful songs and musicals co-written with partner Noble Sissle, Eubie retired from performance and composition in his sixties to a life of leisure. Really? The renewed interest in ragtime that was prompted by the Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis book They All Played Ragtime (1950) in which Eubie provided much valuable information about ragtime and those who created it, may have also renewed Blake's interest in the genre as well. Rolling back to 1945, one of Eubie's first goals in pseudo-retirement was to become more musically educated. So he went to school to learn music theory and ended up taking classes learning the Schillinger composition system. Joseph Schillinger (1891-1943) had created an innovative theory of composition in which certain elements of rhythm, melody and harmony were simplified into mathematical and geometric relationships. In fact, he actually created a catalog of all of the possible results of these relationships. Eubie took quickly to the methodology and completed the four year course in two years. To codify this knowledge Eubie composed what he called his thesis paper on the topic, Dicty's on Seventh Avenue. This and They All Played Ragtime sparked the beginning of his second career as a professional ragtime pianist that would last until his death at 100. Dicty's is full of interesting chord progressions and voicings, but also has a great deal of that "Eubie touch" that is so distinctive. While I have heard it played (even by the composer) at a pretty good clip, I have found that slower performances (as I first heard it) actually allow the harmonic complexities to better present themselves. I also include a return to the A section to present a tidier ending, including the cool riff that opens the piece. Incidentally, a "dicty" was described by Blake as a social "swell" or "dude" that hung out on the corners along Seventh Avenue, although for what purpose is unclear.

Born Gilbert Lieberknecht in the south of the Bay Area in California, Gil Lieby was part of a musical family. Both of his parents played the zither and other assorted instruments. After his mother died when he was 14, Gil and his father Henry moved to Omaha where he stayed for the rest of his life. He discovered ragtime during the mid-1950s and the honky-tonk piano craze, and after hearing Bob Darch play ragtime live decided to play and write his own works. When the second ragtime revival was just gaining some footing in the mid-1960s, Gil wrote this triumphant and vivacious piece to commemorate the famous Goldenrod Showboat built in 1909, which had been restored in the early 1960s through the efforts of Trebor Tichenor, Dave Jasen and others. It was seen on the Mississippi River around the St. Louis area for many years, hosting ragtime festivals and always featuring good times and good music, which is reflected in this rag. While this performance if fairly respective of the score, I do throw in one key change suggested by Marty Mincer, one of the first to record this piece on a CD commissioned by the composer. Incidentally, this was, according to some reliable sources, the very boat that inspired Edna Ferber to write her novel Showboat, which became the famous Jerome Kern musical in the 1920s. After three decades in St. Louis the Goldenrod was moved to the Missouri River in 1990 and renovated once again. It was also registered as a National Historic Landmark. Sadly, as of 2008, the year that Gil passed away, the Goldenrod was sitting on the Illinois River with its future in doubt, perhaps to be burned to its hull. Continued court battles keep the status of this ship up in the air, and unless some other concern purchases it this piece of American and Ragtime music history may disappear. Hopefully through the efforts of Gil and others it will still be long remembered.

When Terry Waldo sat down with Eubie around 1973 to put together a portfolio of some of his pieces with an accompanying bio, it was in some ways similar to the "rediscovery" of Joseph Lamb in the late 1950s. Eubie played many pieces for Waldo that were written well after his peak during the decades of ragtime and early jazz, and even after a successful career as a composer for stage shows. Among them were Eubie's Classical Rag, Tricky Fingers, and Rhapsody in Ragtime. Blake said he had long been appreciative of several facets of classical music, and tried to incorporate them into some of his later pieces. There are lots of interesting motifs throughout this "rhapsody", liberal doses of rubato, and a consistent return to the initial theme. This recording of Rhapsody is a paraphrase of the transcription, which was taken from a piano roll that Eubie had cut of it. It is a challenge due to a large number of tempo changes and some rather hefty patterns of moving tenths in the left hand. If you want to know how a 90-year-old man could play it, just look at the accompanying cover picture. I recommend Waldo's book of transcriptions for anybody who wants to study Eubie's purely unique style.

I first met Sue Keller (now Keller-Vigorita) at the World Championship of Old Time Piano in 1988, when she attended with her parents who had been there previously. She played quite well back then and showed a real passion for ragtime done right that continues to this day. Sue has told me about the enjoyable times she spent in Cape Cod, Massachusetts both in residence and during subsequent visits, and how inspiring the environs could be at times. It was there in Centerville in 1983 that she wrote this keyboard romp, named after the abandoned cranberry bog behind her house. I've been there and it's hard to miss the cranberries growing all over the area. I was entranced when I first heard it and helped to notate it. (It has since been engraved by her own publishing company). It was berry good! Make no mistake that it is a rag in format but with a bit of a stride feel in places. The rising progression in the B section builds up a good head of steam dynamically, and the variances in syncopation within are well thought out. The opening of the trio is elegantly simple, and soon works into a tricky descending pattern for contrast in its second half. After a reiteration of the B section she closes out with a variation on the introduction. It's hard to improve on this juicy piece, so instead I've just adapted it somewhat to my style. Please visit her site, The Ragtime Press, where you can purchase a copy of this piece and listen to some of her other works as well.

Written by the myself as part of a college composition class, Hanon Rag is an antidote to those who have had to suffer long and tedious hours plowing through this ubiquitous set of finger dexterity exercises. They were initially released in a book titled The Virtuoso Pianist around 1873 by Charles-Louis Hanon, a French composer. The collection is divided into three sections, each focused on a different area of technique and development, and all with the common goal of developing finger dexterity equally to all eight fingers and the thumbs. The Hanon Rag includes snippets from at least four or five exercise (who knows, they all sound kinda the same after a while), including minor variations of them in the C interlude. This piece has also been recorded by my friend and prolific artist, "Ragtime" Sue Keller, among others, and was included in at least a couple of editions of the old computer game Doom. The cover should look kind of familiar as well, but not quite. Don't take it TOO seriously, but remember the old Latin saying: "Playeth Ragtime Welleth".

This composition was actually inspired by the title, which was suggested to me by "Ragtime" Sue Keller one afternoon... actually as a title for something she wanted to write. Sooooo.. I stole a bit of her thunder (the admission is a form of contrition!), as well as the title (I am still apologizing to her) and ran with it (it's a great title Sue!). For no known coherent reason, the first theme that came to me was the ubiquitous Yo Ho Ho And a Bottle of Rum, a true classic associated with pirates of the sort that haunted the southeastern coast of the United States and the Caribbean in the seventeenth century. So I chugged a bit of rum (and raisin ice cream, that is), expanded on that theme, and out it came. Note how no section actually resolves until the end of the piece, as each one leads into the next through chord changes or an elision. The left hand runs in the C section will actually produce the desired(?) effect as suggested by the title, if it is played with force and true dedication. I have heard this performed in a few places by my ragtime friends, and it hurts even then to hear it.

I have long been enamored with the haunting and flowing melodies of the 19 (+2 posthumous) Nocturnes of Fredric Chopin. Part of the romantic in me, I guess. "Nocturne" is Italian for "night tunes" and implies the pieces to be "night music." While Chopin did not introduce the nocturne format (British composer John Fields preceded him by some twenty years), he certainly championed it and became its primary representative. So when I was looking for an unusual premise for a rag, I challenged myself with the goal of adapting a nocturne melody into ragtime, or vice-versa as the case turned out. The primary motifs are reminiscent of Chopin, but otherwise original themes. In order to fit the true nocturne style into this format, the first section had to be divided into halves. The first half in 4/4 is clearly more classical, followed by a 2/4 section that is obviously ragtime in nature. The C section never actually resolves fully, creating an elision into the romantic/ragtime climactic interlude, and ultimately back into the initial nocturne theme. I highly recommend obtaining Artur Rubinstein's 1967 cycle of the Chopin Nocturnes for an awesome listening experience. As with Chopin's nocturnes, this piece is best enjoyed in the evening hours.

Marty Mincer is an Iowa apple farmer that happens to play championship level ragtime. He has twice been the World Champion of Old Time Piano Playing. Marty enjoys being a farmer because it allows him to be "out-standing in his field." Actually, he has been playing ragtime most of his life, as has the "Perfessor". I helped him transcribe this composition and designed the initial cover, but he did the hard work in writing it. It could be classified as a modern folk rag, because the themes contained within reflect the style of folk tunes from the area of southwest Iowa and western Missouri. The A melody is simple, but contains enough syncopation to give it some punch. The B section actually comes across as an extension of A, accidentally or not. In the C section, the omnipresent three over four pattern is found with a slight variation from what is expected. This is certainly not a rag for those who are "mechanically disinclined"!

Lawrence "Buck" Kelly was a great musical friend of mine. He played banjo all over the world, including for Disney, across the European continent, and for anyone who would listen. I met and worked with him in Alexandria, Virginia, but only had five years of his time, as he died of cancer in 1990 at the age of 47. Buck was a true inspiration to me, and gave me sound and worthwhile advice, even if it was hard to listen to. He often told me to "just play the damn piano and keep your mouth shut," which was good advice at that time in my life. I composed this piece for the celebration of his life that followed his funeral, and had the privilege of playing it that day. It is a traditional cakewalk with some non-traditional chord progressions, and is based partly on one of his favorite tunes, Little Rock Getaway. I have published it as both a piano solo and a piano/bass/banjo trio, the latter which is represented here.

Terwilliger "Thumbs" Malone is one of the thankfully more obscure characters of the Los Angeles ragtime scene (as if there was one of significance)! As it turns out, I am the only historian who has wasted any amount of effort finding out what I could about him (a biography is forthcoming). He had a propensity for writing rags way out of the mainstream, and was even known to have written a ragtime operetta called "Dirty Laundry - a Soapy Opera". This particular piece was composed to annoy rowdy patrons in the bars that Thumbs would perform in in downtown Los Angeles or San Diego. He would detune G5 (1 1/2 octaves above middle C), and the note would grow progressively worse out of tune throughout the rag; partially because there were increasing repetitions of it as the piece progressed. In the end, he would finally stop the piece just short of the ending, tune the errant G, and finish out in another key that did not require the use of that note. Listen for a clear plagiarism, er... quote of Poet and Peasant among other themes. (Please note that I have been a piano technician by trade, and that doing to much tuning to a single peg repeatedly will loosen it. So try this at somebody else's home.)

Having been a participant in the World Championship of Old Time Piano Playing for well over a decade, I have made many excursions to Decatur, Illinois. At each entrance to Decatur the signs proclaim it as the "Pride of the Prairie." So when I decided to write a rag for the 1999 New Rag Contest, this title suggested itself. There was a song with a similar title published in 1908, but this rag is in a different vein and without lyrics. I set out to create a classic rag using the guidelines set by the compositional style of Joseph Lamb, including eight measure phrases where possible, and other points of continuity. The unusual moving break in the middle of the C section is actually more indicative of advanced Joplin rags, and gives a temporary sense of a transition back into the opening key of Bb instead of the new key of Eb. The D section is a loose interpolation of the chorus of America the Beautiful ("the fruited plains" or prairie), and is a full 32 bar section by necessity, with a coda derived from the A section. The cover art is meant to reflect the nearly-lost art of eye-catching sheet music covers. This rag was well received in its first public performance, and I hope you enjoy it as well.

Another gem composed for the World Championship of Old Time Piano Playing New Rag Contest, I decided to pay tribute to my rag-crazy spouse. I had wanted to write a "lady rag" for some time, so titling it was easy (that is, after I was dutifully informed that old girlfriend's names were taboo)! Like her, it is a feisty number full of spunk. The A section evolved from somewhere between the popular rags of Botsford and Johnson and some honky-tonk stylings used during the 1950s revival. There is also a little novelty lick or two dwelling within. The B section, while rhythmically tied to A, harkens more to some of the great minor sections from classics like Scott Joplin's New Rag and Chrysanthemum. The trio is clearly influenced by 1920s traditional jazz, and even uses the Charleston rhythm in the repeat. The contrary scale pattern was used in several 1920s novelty pieces as well. While it didn't win (I hadn't learned it too well), it did a respectable second, and I have since been asked for it by name. Right honey?

A Necromancer is a kind of sorcerer who dabbles in mystic arts and future events, and who communicates with the world of the dead. I had this title in mind for a number of years, but just needed the right themes to fit it. Inspiration came from many sources, including The Alchemist by Glenn Jenks, the Ghost Rags by Bill Bolcom, and Paul Dukas' immortal Sorcerer's Apprentice. The first two served as models only, but the last one actually makes a brief appearance within. The opening is mildly dissonant and sets up the first strain, which falls in and out of dissonant patterns. The B section holds more to classic rag format, but dropping the traditional left hand bass-chord pattern in favor of a syncopated flowing bass. The trio moves from 2/4 into a 12/8 feel, with one of the better-known patterns from the Dukas composition anchoring the melody. Note the arhythmic use of that pattern in bars 13/14, and the descending diminished chords heard in the introduction to Sorcerer's Apprentice. A return to the opening pattern leads into a mystical extended ending. The Necromancer won the 2001 New Rag Contest at the World Championship of Old-Time Piano Playing now held in Peoria, Illinois. The cover painting, Deliberation, was given to me by former Washington Redskin running back turned painter/sculptor George Nock.

Wiener Schnitzel Rag was composed for, or rather appeared in my head one night just a week ahead of the 2002 World Championship of Old-Time Piano Playing in Peoria, Illinois, in which it won the new rag contest. When I say it "appeared" to me it is in the literal sense. In much the way Paul McCartney tried to figure out how Yesterday just popped into his head one morning, I tried to figure out how to get this tune OUT of my head (it is certainly NOT Yesterday), especially since I already had another perfectly fine piece I had been working on for the contest. But the tune persisted. And I did as well in my efforts to ignore it. The rag finally won me over, as well as the judges. Since the opening few notes reminded me of the infamous Tom Lehrer's Wiener Schnitzel Waltz, and due to the obvious inference of a Germanic polka in parts of the piece, I dubbed it Wiener Schnitzel Rag after the favored veal dish (translated it means Vienna cutlet - see recipe) that originated in Austria. Besides, since the rag seems to stick in people's brains (as I have since discovered), I figure the title should also. Note that Wiener is not the same as the German Weiner, a derivative that is often associated with wiener wurst (hot dog), both of which are pictured on the cover in a surreal scene of culinary macabre. It opens with what is clearly a polka introduction, appended by a typical rag introduction. Then we launch into the real veal of the piece, a forceful syncopated polka. The B section, which also came to me at the same time, resembles the use of chimes or bells as found in pieces of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The trio was culled from the ideas used in marches of the 1890s to 1910s, where the bass took the melody, although in Austria this usually occurred in the B section. But this is America, so live with it! Besides, I follow it up with an enhanced melodic line in the right hand. The opening section is just so much fun that I had to finish it out there, but with a little unfortunate interference. By the way, if you really want to hear how good a polka this makes (so I've been told), just try it on an accordion sometime. Just...  not...   around me!

This piece stems from a couple of themes that popped into the head of my playing partner, ragtime artist Marty Mincer. He was uncertain of their origin, and wasn't sure if they were original or not (we haven't heard them elsewhere), but dubbed the combination "Cartoon Music" since it resembled such music from the 1930s. So I had him record what was more or less an incomplete rag, and then branched out by finishing it out in time for entry in the 2002 edition of the New Rag Contest at World Championship of Old-Time Piano Playing in Peoria, Illinois. It took second to the Wiener Schnitzel Rag (see previous listing) so I can't feel too badly about it. Both of us participated in the recording of this piece as well. The title was influenced by a combination of the cartoon idea (as depicted on the cover) as well as Marty's family avocation as an apple farmer. The opening two themes (played by Marty) consist of interesting minor melodies from which the cartoon music reference was evolved. Then Marty breaks into a folk-style section that rips along. I appended it with a short interlude that makes this section almost song-like. After a return to the first minor theme, I composed and played the trio which is based in part on some of Marty's favorite riffs in his song arrangements. Things are tied into a nice package with a final return to the minor theme (Marty) and a subtle ending (Bill). Hopefully you'll enjoy this to the core.

Originally composed for the 2002 World Championship of Old-Time Piano Playing New Rag contest, this piece was actually trumped by another one of my compositions that year (posted above), and attempted in 2003, but it didn’t make another appearance for a while. Resurrecting it for my album Stridz I was able to discover some new elements of this fun stride composition which never quite left my head. While it is still mine in construction, the beginning two sections are clearly inhabited by Fats Waller and his contemporaries, but the trio is a nod in some regards to contemporary composer, the late Robin Frost, and is just plain fun. The "strategery" is in the waiting, and each time after the "middle eight" the wait gets increasingly longer. As for the unusual title, it famously comes from a memorable Saturday Night Live sketch and a word concocted by Will Ferrell as presidential candidate George W. Bush when at a debate he and Al Gore are both asked to present an argument for their candidacy with one word. Gore (Darrell Hammond) answers "Lock box," followed by a resolutely confused Bush uttering "Strategery." Bush later used the term in interviews as a nod to Ferrell's portrayal. As for my take, viewed on the cover, I figured it to be a board game made from remnants of pretty much all the classic board games. Go figure.

Dr. Steve Standiford is a Wisconsin original (now in Philadelphia) who is a talented surgeon, and loves ragtime piano, cheese curds and cats. In fact, he has named his cats after ragtime pieces as well. So this talented surgeon and ragtime pianist/bassist/tuba player wrote Belly Rub to honor his cats who love belly rubs (and who doesn't?). It was cats who influenced the themes as well. The older kids among us will remember Top Cat in the 1960s, the theme on which the A section was modeled. The B section bears some resemblance to the notorious St. Louis Tickle, which is of course the best kind of tickle to a cat. In 2005, our mutual friend Virginia ragtime performer Dave Tucker arranged Belly Rub for publication (look in the cover window for more information and a link). I was intrigued by the piece as well, and have done a take on it that comes some from the original and some for Dave's arrangement of the piece, creating yet another version of the core piece. It is versatile enough that it can be interpreted at several speeds, all of which should make your ragtime engine purr nicely. If ya love it, or preferably if you want to buy a copy, let me know and I'll pass the word on to the composer, who will likely paws to reflect on it.

We had a cat. He was Smokey. I was fine with Smokey. Masculine, docile, affectionate, independent. Then on the day after Thanksgiving 2003, we accidentally encountered (in a pet store) the little Tuxedo Cat. I was fine with one cat. Mrs. Perfessor, not so much. Guess who won? So into the house came... Bandit. Yep, Smokey (the aged enforcer) and the Bandit (the young rebel). Insurance has covered at least some of the damage that he has inflicted on us since that time. Maybe he'll mellow some day. Anyhow, it did not stop there. I was then commissioned by Mrs. Perfessor to write a piece for Bandit. Harumph. Guess who won? Here it is. Entered in the 2004 edition of New Rag Contest at the World Championship of Old-Time Piano Playing held in Peoria, Illinois, it did respectably well, but came a vote or so short of the (world's smallest) trophy. Either it was my playing, or the cat himself. I already had a couple of those trophies, so I can blame the cat without any guilt. So I have now massaged the piece a bit and presented here is the current rendition of The Tuxedo Cat Rag. The vision that came to me in a dream was that of dancing cats in tuxedos. Actually, it was more like a nightmare of hungry cats dancing on my face. The repeated motive found in the intro represents playfulness. The minor key represents mysterious airs. The little slurred figure at certain cadences is the meow. Also, the trio starts out sounding like a transition, which it is not, representing the deceptive nature of felines. But now I'm just getting catty, so I'll paws at this point, the tail end of things, which you can probably purrceive is me-now!
Let it be known that Bandit finally succumbed to old age on April 19, 2023, and danced his way onto the Rainbow Road. He did mellow near the end, and always managed to show us love in his own way. Given some rough incidents over the past two decades, we were surprised he outlived the average Tuxedo by at least two or more years, but also grateful. He was supremely loved and will be profoundly missed!

In 2004 the world, myself and my sisters lost my father and my mother's husband, a great entertainer in movies, television, stage, records, and most importantly, radio from virtually the inception of the radio serial in the early 1930s. Sam Edwards often played juvenile characters on radio into his 60s since his voice was perfect for it, and he could play the tough punk or comedic sidekick just as well. But he was also a pretty good singer. On his first radio show with his brother, produced by his dad, Sonny and Buddy (1933 & 1935), he sang Sonny Boy based on Jolson's famous performance in The Singing Fool. When tapped for the entertainment corps in World War II, he performed Sonny Boy frequently for millions of troops (perhaps more than Jolson), as well as General Eisenhower and associates. His final public performance a month before he died at 89 was at REPS (Radio Enthusiast of Puget Sound) where I accompanied him singing Sonny Boy, the last song he ever sang. The Radio's Gone Silent incorporates this theme near the end of the trio, as well as paraphrases from the radio version of Gunsmoke and the Dragnet fanfare, both from shows he frequented in the 1950s. Then, my radio goes silent. Cheers.

This piece, entered in the 2007 New Rag competition in Peoria IL, came about to fill a gap in the musical animal lexicon. While there has long been an Alligator Crawl, Fats Waller's great musical treat, the crocodile has been overlooked, or cast as a villain or simple-minded buffoon. Even in the Disney pantheon, alligators were given star treatment in Fantasia dancing to those hours. Yet a crocodile is seen as the totally silly bane of Captain Hook in Peter Pan. Well, that's enough! It was the great Crocodile Hunter himself, the late Steve Irwin of the Australian Zoo, who brought to bear that crocodiles, and so many other reptiles and strange creatures, are actually very beneficial to the natural balance of life on our planet. They have their own interesting lives and stories like we do. They just happen to kill and eat other animals (as many of us also do, actually). So what! Ragtimers eat pianos for breakfast, and spit them out before lunch. So hopefully this piece will right a number of wrongs, or at least raise awareness for both endangered species - crocodiles and ragtime pianists. Prayers and many thanks go to Steve's widow Terri, his dynamic daughter Bindi who is following in dad's boot prints, and his son Bob who has a great journey ahead learning about his magnificent father. It is to Steve's memory that this piece is dedicated.

Part of the 2009 New Rag competition held in Peoria IL, this piece, intended as a pseudo-novelty, suggested its own fascinating origin. This is the story I told when introducing the rag. You can believe or not, but I swear it's a story. In my research of the Chinese themes I wanted to used in this novelty, I ran across a little known political story about China in the 1950s that was ultimately overshadowed by news from the United States, or likely suppressed. It turns out that recently installed communist leader Mao Zedong had a favorite little Shar Pei dog that roamed his home freely. In August of 1952 the erstwhile pup bit one of the staff of the household, and before he could be contained, stories leaked out about how the creature got preferential treatment over many people, ate better than most of the country's populous, and generally terrorized the beleaguered staff. To counter this, Mao gave a speech on national radio in late September of 1952 defending the dog, stating that the dog made him happier, and that happiness was in turn conveyed to the people of China. So I decided to name this rag after the lesser known of two similar speeches, thus Chinese Checkers. In truth, I had much of this tune in my head for the better part of a decade, and was finally able to let it escape with the help of a Q-tip. Some of themes are about as authentic in Asian origin as the game of Chinese Checkers, which actually may have originated in Germany. The stereotypical motifs were commonly found in silent movies (back then they just called them movies) accompaniment books and some songs of the day, including the song Chinatown, which is liberally quoted in the trio. So no offense is meant to anybody of Asian origin or otherwise. It's more of a musical pun than anything else. Now if I could just learn to play it so well...

The challenge was laid down in early 2014 to compose a new rag or waltz in honor of Lucille Salerno of Columbia, Missouri, who had spearheaded the yearly Blind Boone Ragtime Festival in that town for many years. I took this challenge to heart, as well as my knowledge of Lucille and her generosity and joy for the music, and took the rules to a new literal level, combining waltz with rag with even a bit of stride in the middle. The end result encompassed a poignant opening theme which bookends two other themes full of joy and laughter. I put as much polish on it as I could before submitting. Several weeks (seemed like years) later, after a panel of esteemed judges (some very familiar names in ragtime) went through the entries, I received word that I had done well in the competition - had actually won it in fact. The hard part was sitting on that news until the announcement was made at the Boone competition in early June of 2014. There was a bit of panic in the days just prior to it as I found out that recording the rag in chunks for the submission and playing it live were two different things, since I usually tend to compose just slightly beyond my usual competency. While I was deeply honored to present this to Lucille, the day before she had sustained an injury and was hospitalized, so she had to enjoy it later via a video recording made that evening in the Missouri Theater. She eventually largely recovered from this, and from the unfortunate death of her husband soon after, and despite these setbacks, Lucille Salerno continued exuded her joy of music - and of life. We lost her on July 3, 2020, after a fulfilling life with many admirers and much music, and she will be sorely missed. I am deeply honored to have been able to convey her joy and spirit through the Lovely Laughing Lucille.

This work was initially composed for the World Championship of Old Time Piano Playing New Rag competition in 2012. While it did not win that year, I was given several thumbs up and a call to have it published. Then it got put aside. I pulled it back out in 2017 and added some polish to the score, retaining most of the original sketch. What it unintentionally became was not so much a traditional rag, but a cross between Zez Confrey (Greenwich Witch, Kitten on the Keys, Dizzy Fingers) and the descriptive works of Leroy Anderson (The Syncopated Clock, Sleigh Ride, The Typewriter). Even if it was subliminally informed happenstance, I just enjoy what came out of the effort. I have been a roller coaster fan since I first went on a small one at Uncle Ben's Kiddieland on Sepulveda Blvd. in the San Fernando Valley, probably at age five or so. I realized a coaster lover's dream in my late teens when I worked at Six Flags Magic Mountain just north of the Valley, and got to help "warm up" coasters each morning, even shooting a commercial and a billboard on the famed Colossus (closed in 2014). Since then I have been up to the challenge of the best of the wooden and steel coasters, preferring the more rough and tumble aspects of the former, while still enjoying the rapid loops and turns of the latter. Some of them, like Disney's Space Mountain, or the famous ride in This is Cinerama even have soundtracks built in, which heightens the experience. But the only other work I found titled Roller Coaster was by Lou Busch (a.k.a. Joe "Fingers" Carr). While it is exciting, it does not capture the full experience of a coaster ride, which I have endeavored to replicate here. As a pianist, it can heighten the listener's experience at a live performance if you can actually "ride" the coaster while playing it. This includes leaning back during the introductory hill climb, looking over precipice before commencing downward, swaying around the turns, and jolting forward when the brakes are applied. A giddy smile now and then would also be appropriate - but please don't put your hands up, as that would probably stop the performance. Let's GO!

Arlo "Chip" Lusby has been an ardent supporter of ragtime and related arts for most of his life. Every year for some decades, when the famous Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival is held in his town of the same name, it is sometimes literally in his back yard, or at the very least, his front parlor. Chip's home and property are affectionally known as Skunk Hollow, for which this and several other piano rags were commissioned and named to honor his dedication to us, the contemporary composers and musicians keeping ragtime alive into the 21st century. I was quite honored to be amongst that batch. The cover art was designed to reflect the title, showing off his beautiful Victorian mansion and the hollow (in this case a bit enhanced) in which it resides. Of course, a skunk was necessary, but the sweetest possible one I could render to grace the woods in front of the property. I want to believe it is really there; and so, therefore it must be. As for the music, it is intentionally contemplative (some may argue it is brooding), a bit richer than some of my previous works, and thematically tied together by at least three different motifs, especially the resolution measures at the end of each section. The parallel patterns in the B section and again in the trio help create a sense of traveling through the woods on a search for some new wonder of nature or a scene of awesome beauty, which I put in as the destination for the trio, inspired perhaps a bit by the textures of famed ragtime composer Joseph F. Lamb. I was further trying to reflect some of the musical patina of a mixture of intermezzos, fantasias, and other parlor music of the early 20th century that might resonate from the pianos in Chip's gorgeous parlor. And then go out for a refreshing ice cream cone. So, even though the original wealth of gold and riches first discovered at Sutter Creek is long gone, there is a different variety of riches available there when mining for our American musical heritage. And guess where you can find it!