Features and Reviews
Tom Brier, Nan Bostick & Friends at Old Town Music Hall
By Bill Mitchell
Nan Bostick and Tom Brier, our ragtime friends from northern California, appeared in concert with guest performers Eric Marchese and Shirley Case at the Old Town Music Hall the evening of June 26, 2005. We heard a nicely varied program of the old and new, including a few originals.
Brier and Marchese, composers both, opened the proceedings with a delightful duet of the latter's 1989 folk rag, "Ramblin' through Town." They followed with "Crunchin' the Keys," a novelty foxtrot they co-wrote in 1999.Nan joined the boys to play a trio version of "Such Is Life," a seldom-heard Doc Cooke rag. They encored with a beautifully voiced version of Joplin's "Original Rags."
Nan and Tom played a set of piano duets, beginning with a march by Nan's Uncle Charlie (Charles L. Daniels) entitled "The Jolly General," and continuing with his "Chung Lo," subtitled "A Monkey Doodle." Their third selection was "Sutter Creek Strut," by Gil Lieby, written to commemorate the annual ragtime festival in the gold country town of Sutter Creek.
With Shirley at the piano, Nan sang "Let Me Entertain You." Then the two played a pair of rags written by women; "The Smoky Topaz" by Grace Bolen, and "Chicken Chowder," by Irene Giblin.
Tom and Nan returned to play the Daniels standard, "Chlo-e," a dramatic song that was once spoofed by Spike Jones and his City Slickers. They followed up with a Brier composition in a minor key, "Sundown Rag." Tom then soloed on another of his rags called "Over the Top." Nan soloed on her composition, "That Missing You Rag," which she dedicated to the late Bill Coffman of the Old Town Music Hall.
After the intermission, Nan and Tom began set of the "Indian" numbers that were so popular early in the 20th Century. They began with the hit number that started the trend, "Hiawatha," by Neil Moret (Daniels), and continued with "Iola," by Charles L. Johnson. After the huge success of "Hiawatha," Daniels continued to compose "Indian" numbers for several years, including "Topeka" and "Silver Heels." On the latter Eric manned the third piano in a trio rendition of this very catchy piece. He soloed on his compositional contribution to the genre, "Indian Orchard." With Tom accompanying them, Eric and Nan sang a number called "Indian Intermezzo." Tom and Nan played Daniels' "Indian Summer" (Not to be confused with Victor Herbert's song of the same name.) Wrapping up the program, Tom and Nan played two more Daniels numbers, "Pretty Wild Thing" and "Woodland Dove."
The evening was an informal and enjoyable program of classic and contemporary ragtime admirably performed. There was a certain amount of hokum and hilarity involved, which we can always expect from this cast. At one point Nan appeared in a red wig and appropriate costume as Little Orphan Nannie. Pam Eisenberg impersonated a "jolly general." Eric donned a feathered bonnet for part of the Indian sequences. A good time was had by all.
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