Features and Reviews
Tom Brier, Nan Bostick Debut at Old Town Music Hall
By Bill Mitchell
Making their first appearance at the Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo Sunday evening, July 14, 2002, Nan Bostick and Tom Brier (billed as "Granny Nanny" and "Hot Rod Tommy") headlined a program that provided well-performed ragtime rarities along with hokum and hilarity aplenty. Three surprise guest artists contributed to this intriguing variety show.
The music of Nan's "Uncle Charlie" (Charles N. Daniels/Neil Moret) was featured. According to Nan, her uncle wrote about 400 pieces, including such standards as "Moonlight and Roses" and "Sweet and Lovely," but he may be more famous among ragtimers for having his name as arranger on the cover of Scott Joplin's "Original Rags."
Seated at the Bosendorfer and Steinway grand pianos, Nan and Tom got things off to a syncopated start with "Borneo Rag," a seldom-heard Moret number from 1911. This was followed by "Margery," an early Daniels march (1898) played by John Philip Sousa. They were joined on this number by Kitty Wilson on washboard. Her graceful percussion enhanced several of the evening's numbers. She, like all the program's participants, was garbed in clothing typical of the ragtime era.
"Cotton Time," perhaps Daniels' best rag, featured a stop-time chorus which the audience was invited to punctuate with dual hand claps. Played next was "Sugar Plum," by Jules Lemare (another of Daniels' pen names).
Taking a breather from Daniels' music, the duo played "My Ragtime Baby," an 1898 hit by Fred Stone.
John Phillip Sousa and his band used to play this one. Sousa was not averse to including ragtime in his concerts, and in his autobiography the great blues composer, W.C. Handy, mentions that his band once played this number to win over a ragtime-hostile audience.
Next on the program was "Louisiana," an obscure Daniels tune not to be confused with the number recorded by Bix Beiderbecke.
Nan and Tom then performed Daniels' 1902 Indian intermezzo, "Hiawatha." Ever since Sousa, bands and pianists have been playing this one. Some dixieland bands erroneously call it "Hiawatha Rag," or "Lizard on a Rail." It is one of Daniels' most charming compositions. It kicked off a series of "Indian" numbers by other composers. While on a roll, Daniels wrote "Indian Summer" (not to be confused with the Victor Herbert number of the same name). The Daniels tune begins sounding like "King Chanticleer," and later borrows a bit from "Old Folks at Home."
At this point Nan called to the stage Eric Marchese, who, with Tom Brier, had written an Indian intermezzo of their own called "Morning Star." The boys had dedicated it to Nan, who then wrote some lyrics for it. Nan invited Eric join her on the mike for a vocal duet, with Tom on piano.
Brier and Marchese have written several other collaborations, and with Nan taking a breather, they duetted on a novelty piece, "Crunchin" the Keys," which was a tribute to the 1920s piano novelties. They followed up with a Charley Straight number of that era called "Humpty Dumpty."
With a nod to the women ragtime composers, Nan, Tom, and Eric gave us a six-hand version of Charlotte Blake's "That Poker Rag." Nan mentioned that Ms. Blake eventually worked in the Southern California aircraft industry and died here in 1976. She is buried in Santa Monica.
That brought us to intermission, where we were invited to leave the auditorium marching to something called "Sanitol March," inspired by a toothpaste!
The second half began with Tom Brier soloing on his 1994 stride piece, "Razor Blade." Tom's speed and accuracy were amply demonstrated on this rouser.
Nan returned to the stage to play her own "Ragtime in Randall Rag," named for the town of Randall, Iowa (pop. 135), where she was invited to give a ragtime show that the entire town seemingly turned out to attend.
Speaking of festivals, she put in a plug for the upcoming ragtime weekend in Sutter Creek, California, up in the Gold Rush country. She then played, with Tom at the other piano again, Gil Lieby's musical tribute to the festival, "Sutter Creek Strut."
It was now tango time, with the duo playing "Dark Eyes," Uncle Charley's contribution to the tango craze. Abandoning her thimbles temporarily, Kitty Wilson added some atmosphere with a pair of castanets.
Nan, who has been doing some research on Detroit's ragtime history, introduced the audience to the work of Harry P. Guy, who wrote the stately but syncopated waltz, "Echoes from the Snowball Club." The Snowball Club was the nickname of the black musician's union founded by H.P. Guy in Detroit. Nan and Tom continued with another Guy piece, "Pearl of the Harem."
Another surprise guest was Shirley Case, a Laguna Beach piano teacher, who demonstrated masterful technique on Eubie Blake's "Eubie's Classical Rag." Interestingly enough, the composer had played this number on the very same piano at the OTMH some thirty-odd years ago. He would have been delighted with Shirley's performance. She followed up with Billy Mayerl's "Marigolds." Mayerl was a British piano prodigy of the post-ragtime novelty piano era.
Returning to Uncle Charlie's output, Nan and Tom played "Silver Heels," a melodic number of the same high quality as "Hiawatha." Kitty accompanied on her ornate washboard. Again proving that Uncle Charlie was not the only composer in the family, Nan played her own "Bean Whistle Rag." (Wherever did that title come from?)
The penultimate number was a comic version of Daniels' "Song of the Swamp," sometimes called "Chloe." Nan belted out the memorable Spike Jones line, Where are you, you old bat?
The grand finale found the entire ensemble of Nan, Tom, Eric, Kitty, and Shirley delivering a rousing take on "Dill Pickles," by Charles L. Johnson.
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