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2009 WCRF
Theme Sets †
November 20, 21 and 22 This page updated 11/17/2009. Prior update 11/2/2009. |
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A Tribute to Ragtime Piano legend Charley Straight |
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| Brier Plays Brier Tom Brier, Friday, 1:30 pm – 2:15 pm, Camellia A set of all originals played by the composer himself, Tom Brier. |
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| European Popular Music From the Ragtime Era Christoph Schmetterer, Friday, 5:15 pm– 6:00 pm, Sierra Pianist Christoph Schmetterer of Vienna, Austria, presents selections of European popular music from the ragtime era. |
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| Remembering Wally Rose and Pete Clute Rosemary Hallum & Cleve Baker, Friday, 6:00 pm – 6:30 pm, Comstock 3 Rosemary Hallum and Cleve Baker present a special set on the late San Francisco pianists Wally Rose and Pete Clute. Rosemary and Cleve will tell how they met these two legendary Ragtimers, tell a few anecdotes about them, and play solos and duets written by or connected with them. |
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| Cakewalk
Demonstration Porcupine Ragtime Ensemble, Friday, 8:00 pm, Martinique Ballroom Here's your chance to strut your stuff. Everyone gets to do the cakewalk. High-kicking, bending, bowing. It's all part of the dance styles of the Turn of the Century, to the music of the Porcupine Ragtime Ensemble. If you'd like to really know the steps, go to the Cake Walk dance class, on Friday at 5:15 P.M., in J.B.'s Lounge, taught by our head instructor, Bruce Mitchell. Even if you can't make the class, get to the Martinique Ballroom at 8 pm, where the dance floor will be open for all. And when the cakewalk is over, there's a slice of cake for everyone. |
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| Hot Piano from Chicago Ray Skjelbred Trio, Friday, 8:00 – 8:45 pm, J.B.’s Lounge Ray Skjelbred will present the music of some of Chicago's leading early jazz and blues pianists, including Alex Hill, Jimmy Blythe, Frank Melrose, Cassino Simpson, Earl Hines, Art Hodes, Jelly Roll Morton and more. |
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| Youth
Master Class Frederick Hodges, Saturday, 10:00 am – 11:15 am, Sierra Capturing the spirit of ragtime and running with it straight to your heart, the first place winners of the 4th Annual WCRS Youth Ragtime Piano Competition, held November 8th, will participate in the festival Master Class. Under the expert tutelage of Master Teacher Frederick Hodges, these junior players will perform their winning numbers and then receive Frederick's sensitive and artful coaching. Emceed by Chris Bradshaw, Competition Coordinator. |
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| Tango Dance Set Stanley Stern & Nancy Piver, Saturday, 12:30 pm – 1:15 pm, J.B.’s Lounge Dance accompanists Stanley Stern and Nancy Piver will present a special set for dancers to practice their tango steps and individual arrangements of classic tango moves. The set will feature classic tangos from Argentina, European tangos, American tangos and Tango Nuevo as well as maxixes, milongas and tango waltzes. |
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| The Forgotten Verse Squeek Steele, Saturday, 2:00 pm – 2:45 pm, Sierra Squeek Steele presents some long forgotten verses to ragtime tunes. In the early 20th Century, most popular song began with a verse. The verse “set” the stage for the (often) more important chorus, creating dramatic and musical tension. Verses fell out of favor somewhere mid-century and it is rare to hear them today. The “FORGOTTEN VERSE” revives these musical gems and gives the listener the “full story” of the song as the composers intended it. |
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| The Dolceola: A Miniature Piano Ray Skjelbred, Saturday, 2:30 pm – 3:15 pm, Camellia Ray Skjelbred will play a set of rags, blues, jazz and gospel music on the Dolceola. |
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| Rhapsody in Blue Richard Dowling, Saturday, 4:45 pm – 5:30 pm, Martinique Ballroom Pianist Richard Dowling presents George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” in his own solo full-length arrangement. |
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| Charles L. Johnson String Band Music Ragtime Skedaddlers, Saturday, 5:30 pm – 6:15 pm, Camellia The Ragtime Skedaddlers will present a special set of string band arrangements of tunes by the Kansas City, MO composer Charles L. Johnson (1876-1950). In addition to being a fine pianist, Johnson was a member of a group that consisted of two mandolins, a banjo-mandolin, and two guitars. Perhaps this explains why string band arrangements of his tunes sound so authentic. In this special set, the Ragtime Skedaddlers perform arrangements for two mandolins and guitar from Whitney Warner collections and other period sources. |
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| Meet the Modern Player Piano: Yamaha’s Disklavier Saturday, 5:30 pm – 6:15 pm, Yosemite West Coast Ragtime Society is pleased to have this year’s festival pianos sponsored entirely by Yamaha. One of Yamaha’s premier pianos is the Yamaha Disklavier. Come see a demonstration of the modern player piano! Festival performer, Carl Sonny Leyland, will be on hand to help demonstrate how the Disklavier works. |
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| Scott Joplin’s “Elite Syncopations” Sam Williams & Tom Brier, Friday & Saturday, 9:00 pm – 10:00 pm, J.B.’s Lounge Fri_
Sat_At this year's West Coast Ragtime Festival, Sam Williams will present two performances of a show called "Scott Joplin's Elite Syncopations." Sam Williams is Co-Chair of the Theatre and Film Department at American River College in Sacramento, CA. Sam will take you through a reenactment of the life and times of the "King of Ragtime" in a show featuring music, dance, mime, song & a lot of fun. Sacramento's own Tom Brier, will accompany Sam on piano for these performances. Sam’s show will take place once on both Friday and Saturday evenings in J.B.’s Lounge. The Saturday show will be a repeat of Friday’s performance, so if you miss Friday’s show, you’ll have a second chance to catch it! |
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| Trio Plus One Carl Sonny Leyland Trio & Ray Skjelbred, Saturday, 10:00 pm – 11:00 pm, J.B.’s Lounge This set features the Carl Sonny Leyland Trio joined by Seattle pianist, Ray Skjelbred. |
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| The Great Illustrated Songs Show!: Song Slides from the Nickelodeon Theatres Frederick Hodges & Sean Sharp, Sunday, 9:00 am – 10:00 am, Martinique Ragtime singer Sean Sharp and ragtime pianist Frederick Hodges present for the first time at the West Coast Ragtime Festival a special revue of famous ragtime songs exactly as they would have been presented in an authentic Nickelodeon theater using beautiful, clever, hand-colored, and incredibly rare original song slides. The show will include such songs as “Ocean Roll,” “The Baseball Glide,” “On A Monkey Honeymoon,” “The Ragtime Goblin Man, and “At The Ragtime Ball.” You will sit in stunned amazement as you listen to these terrific songs while watching the fantastic, kaleidoscopic color song slides that the music publishers issued to Nickelodeon theatres during the ragtime era. |
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| Celebrating the Women of Ragtime
Nan Bostick, & Taslimah Bey, Sunday, 9:30 am – 10:30 am, Camellia Nan Bostick and Shirley Case hold forth on two pianos to celebrate ragtime’s women composers while projecting vintage photographs depicting women’s importance in the proliferation of ragtime and samples of their gorgeous sheet music covers. Detroit’s Taslimah Bey has been invited as their special guest artist during this multi-media set. (Shirley Case was to have joined Nan and Taslimah for this set. Regrettably, due to a personal matter Shirley won't be attending this year's festival.) |
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| “Modern” Rags from the Ragtime Revival Tom Brier, Sunday, 9:45 am – 10:30 am, Sierra Tom Brier plays an entire set of “modern” rags written during the ragtime revival. |
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| Vintage Songs of Yosemite Tom Bopp, Sunday, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm, Camellia Join Yosemite entertainer, Tom Bopp, for a delightfully nostalgic romp with old Yosemite songs, rare recordings and newly uncovered films and images documenting 100 years of the Yosemite Experience from the 1870s to the 1960s. The DVD version is available in the Ragtime Store and at YosemiteMusic.com |
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