All That Glitters!
The 11th Annual Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival
by Chris Bradshaw

No diamond in the rough, this polished gem of a festival, held August 14-16, 2009 in Sutter Creek, glimmered and glittered from beginning to end. A unique celebration of vintage American Music encompassing ragtime, stride, boogie and blues, the 11th annual Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival sparkled with talent, enthusiastic listeners and the special chemistry that just happens when you bring together professional performers with die-hard ragtime fans. The outcome — a melange of theater concerts, youth performances, silent movies, instrumental ensembles, the Town Square Harmonizers barbershop quartet, two great festival shows, and plenty of fine solo sets all joyously celebrating the best of the ragtime era — was a series of magical moments strung together as gleaming pearls from the first note to the last.

Setting the tone was the pre-festival event held Thursday evening at the Greenhorn Creek Resort in Angels Camp. Hosted by Keith Taylor, other festival performers Andrew Barrett, John Remmers, the Bradshaws, and Stevens Price joined him for a festival teaser. Good food, a great piano and a warm and encouraging audience made for a wonderful evening.

As is tradition, Friday’s festival opened in the Ice Cream Emporium amidst the reverie of an excited, ice-cream-spooning, soda-slurping audience with Keith Taylor dishing up a tasty original take on Original Rags (1899) by Scott Joplin. Another standout performance during the festival from Keith’s eclectic repertoire was his own Ghosts of Sutter Creek (2007), one of Keith’s finest offerings. Tom Brier and Keith burned up the keys on opposing pianos with Tom’s Razor Blades (1994) — two of only a handful of players in the country who know that difficult piece.

And speaking of Tom, as the pianist for Julia Riley’s Raspberry Jam Band (also including Mark Meeker on tuba, George Preston on euphonium, Mary Preston on violin, and Kitty Wilson on washboard), he got a workout when the Raspberries found themselves in a real jam. It looked like curtains for that group when one of their set pianos was pitched a half-step below standard pitch. Tom came to the rescue and played all of his parts a half tone higher than written. Talk about flexibility! When choosing up musical sides, you’re gonna want Tom on your team.

The Raspberries also featured Ron O’Dell, a man of many talents, singing “The Wed Wose Wag” — a.k.a. The Red Rose Rag (1911) by Percy Wenrich — in the voice of cartoon character Elmer Fudd. Ron, the web warrior for this festival, is known in ragtime groups for his compositional and computer skills, but little did we know that he has some other hidden talents as well.

One of the surprises at this festival was the Drivon Duo. Usually we hear Robyn and Steve as integral parts of other groups. In case you are wondering, they stand alone very well. With Robyn on tuba and Steve singing and strumming any number of his stringed instruments, they were quite delightful. From Singing in the Bathtub (1929) by Michael Cleary, to Walter Donaldson’s I Wonder Where My Baby is Tonight (1926), plus a whole lot of tunes in between, they proved to be a welcome break from a mainly piano festival. The Drivon Duo also teams up with the ragtime piano duo-playing Bradshaws as the Ragnolia Ragtette for some fun. Most memorable was Ragnolia’s performance of Thomas Henry Lodge’s famous Temptation Rag (1909), taken at breakneck speed but still retaining the integrity of dynamic changes.

Coming the furthest to perform at the festival was John Remmers, from Ann Arbor, Michigan, who made a “state-ment” with David Guion’s Texas Fox Trot (1915) and The Alabama Slide (1915) by Charles L. Johnson. And speaking of far-away places, Monty Suffern, an Australian who currently resides in Texas and jokingly gets no credit for traveling the furthest to the festival, made his debut this year playing both medleys and rags. One medley — incorporating such tunes as When You’re Smiling (1928) by Shay, Fisher and Goodwin, Row, Row, Row (1912) by William Jerome, and Percy Wenrich’s hit from 1914, When You Wore a Tulip — was a hit with audience members humming along. With Larisa Migachyov, Monty played his own A Bohemian Companion (2008) while she played Joseph Lamb’s beloved Bohemia Rag (1919). Larisa, also making her official debut this year at the festival, was very well received for her lyrical playing. Echo of Spring (1939) by Willie “The Lion” Smith was especially noted.

If we are going to mention the performers who came the furthest to the festival, it’s only fair to mention the performer who lives the closest. That would be Stevens Price — pianist, singer, composer, emcee and ice cream scooper par excellence — who just happens to be proprietor of Sutter Creek’s famous Ice Cream Emporium.

Whether playing as soloists or joined together as the Crown Syncopators, with Frederick Hodges on piano, Marty Eggers on bass, and Virginia Tichenor on drums, this slick group of polished performers added pizazz to the festival. As soloists, each one shines. Demonstrating some of the cleanest, crystal-clear, delicious playing of the entire weekend, Frederick’s fingers danced their way through Nanette (1927) by Adam Carroll. Marty delighted everyone by inviting one of the fine next-generation players, Will Perkins, to join him in an exciting performance of Jelly Roll Morton’s Kansas City Stomp. If you missed Virginia’s Bucksnort Stomp (1964) by Trebor Tichenor, you really missed something terrific.

Youth players were a strong presence at the festival. Leading the pack was Andrew Barrett, who as senior member of the youth brigade proved his talent on piano and washboard throughout the festival. Most memorable were his performances of May Aufderheide’s A Totally Different Rag (1910), Hesitation Waltz (1914) by Nat Johnson and his own Ragtime Amanda (2008-2009). Others in the next-generation category were Will Perkins performing some pretty incredible ragtime and stride numbers, Vincent Johnson playing graceful and awesome novelty numbers, as well as Tim Rotolo whose speciality is rolling with his own Disney-esque honky-tonk arrangements of familiar songs of the past.

Saturday afternoon the Second Annual Sutter Creek Youth Ragtime Concert, held in the American Exchange Hotel, showcased the talents of the younger ragtime players. The kids were well prepared and took to the piano like pros. Sergey Smirnov, the first-place winner in Division 2B of the West Coast Youth Ragtime Competition, performed four numbers and is a kid to keep an eye on.

Adding some tasty variety to the weekend events was Carl Sonny Leyland, who alone, or with Patrick Aranda, and then in his trio grouping with Marty Eggers on bass and Hal Smith on drums, added blues, boogie and swing to the mix. Patrick, also a hit on his own, took to the stage with Steve Drivon for a battle of the trombones on Zez Confrey’s Buffoon (1932) and Henry Fillmore’s Bull Trombone (1924).

One of the hottest sets of the weekend was “3 Pianos on Fire” with Frederick Hodges, Tom Brier and Patrick Aranda burning up the keys for all they were worth. The venue was packed, they brought down the house and folks are clamoring for more next year.

Putting together a festival of this caliber doesn’t happen without a dedicated set of volunteers. Special thanks goes to festival director Ilah Blauvelt, and members of the festival committee Frank Blauvelt, Marilyn Norton and Dan Lucas. Also thanks to Helen Lucas, Stevens Price, Ron O'Dell (the webmaster), Lewis Motisher (producer of the festival sampler CD), Kathy Berg (the volunteer coordinator), and Stacey Rhoades, who helped print our program. Also very special thanks for donations from the Sutter Creek Promotions Committee, John J. Dieser, Bub and Petra Sullivan and Lisa Klosowski.

Frank and Ilah are retiring from the festival but want you to know that the festival will go on in the capable hands of Marilyn Norton and Dan Lucas. Frank and Ilah are most appreciative of all the support they have gotten over the years for the festival and they are looking forward to next year, when they will be front row and center at all the events. So, save the dates August 13-15, 2010, because Sutter Creek’s 12th annual festival will be a blast. And if you can, also join us at the pre-festival gathering in Angels Camp on the 12th.