The Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival
 

This is my favorite time of year. First, Pagan Fest culminates over Memorial Day weekend, and then, the following Saturday, the humble Missouri town of Sedalia hosts a gathering of some of the most accomplished musicians on the planet. Although I could only attend one of the two days of Joplin Festival events, my second-ever trip to this amazing event was pleasurable in every way.

If you are not a follower of the march tempo/syncopated/whorehouse inspired musical form known as "ragtime" (allegedly so-called because it was what the piano players in the bawdyhouses played for the girls who were on their...ahem...um...monthly one-week sabbaticals), then you might not know who any of these people are, but they are the absolute best at what they do. Artists such as Jeff Barnhart, Mimi Blais, Brian Holland and many, many others walk amongst we mere mortals, alternating between being "just folk" and then playing the most mind-boggling, stunning piano rags, boogies and cakewalks one can conceive.

But why are such a stellar array of luminaries gathered each year in this old railroad town? They are there to pay homage to Mr. Scott Joplin, without a doubt the greatest and most enduring composer of the genre of ragtime. Scott Joplin only lived for a few short years in Sedalia while he attended the black college there, completing his musical education. While in Sedalia, Joplin worked at The Maple Leaf Club (and probably tickled the ivories in one of the many purpose-built brothels located throughout the bustling railroad town). Indeed, his best known piece is named for the club.

The building which housed the Maple Leaf Club burned to the ground in 1950, leaving the City of Sedalia to place this marker there to commemorate the historical significance of the trackside site. If you had stood in the entrance of the Maple Leaf, the second picture is what you'd have seen across the street...a row of buildings (now abandoned and on the National Historic Buildings register), some dating back to the 1880s, when Sedalia was something of a railroad boom town.

Indeed, Sedalia is quite rife with interesting architectural tidbits, not the least of which being this church, where the extremely interesting and informative symposia about Joplin, ragtime and the sociological period in which they prospered are delivered (the more keen eyed among you will note that the cornerstone to this church was laid in 1880).

There is the Hotel Bothwell, once a mecca to railroad and lumber barons at the turn of the century, and which now apparently has a good place to get coffee...

There are other structures contemporaneous with the Methodist church; structures equally ancient, equally unique...and just as abandoned as the storefronts opposite the old Maple Leaf site.

Indeed, architectural artifacts of interest are everywhere in this small, courthouse square area. In some ways, the search for these was almost as entertaining as the festival itself.

Aging limestone, in some cases worn beyond restoration, the fading product of the craftsmens' hands, the withering visages of a nearly lost art.

AMVSEMENT and EDVCATION. Excellent.

I like the one with the red trim.

In the end, though, we were there for the music...chicken-hatted percussionist and all.

The last picture is a brass reproduction of the first printing of The Maple Leaf Rag...the first piece of music composed by an African American for which a publishing contract was signed and royalties paid. When next you watch "The Sting" on late night television, take a moment and thank Marvin Hamlisch for helping to keep the genius of Scott Joplin alive, and the joyous sound of ragtime in the American consciousness.