Features and Reviews
Ragtime Hits Sutter Creek, 2002
By Ron Ross
Here are a few reflections on the Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival of 2002, held in the quaint little Gold Rush town of Sutter Creek, California on August 9, 10 and 11:
I arrived on Friday night, August 9, managing to find the lovely Historian Inn, a fairly new facility on the north end of town, which was the official hotel for the Festival. Checked in and made it back to Belotti's Inn in time to catch the dueling pianos of Nan Bostick and Tom Brier going at it tooth, nail and ivory. Here you had two marvelous old uprights, with the fronts removed with two excellent piano players banging out the great ragtime tunes. There was, of course, the obligatory mechanical hand sitting on top of "Hot Rod" Tommy's piano, trying to distract him, and the lovely Kitty Wilson rapping on her washboard to distract everyone else. But the music won out, and a good time was had by all.
When the dynamic duo took a break, we got to hear Elliot Adams and Carl Sonny Leyland. Carl plays the most amazing and accurate boogie (or boogie-woogie) and stride piano that you are likely to hear in this day and age. Although not strictly a ragtime player, Carl nevertheless "stole the show" over this remarkable weekend and anyone who likes good rollicking piano music of the '20s, '30s and '40s needs to go hear Carl Sonny Leyland whenever he can. He is scheduled to perform at the Orange County RagFest in October, incidentally.
Saturday's highlights included the hilarious stage show "Dill Pickles Ranch" melodrama, which is so bad, it's good. Stevens Price plays the piano as a motley crew of thespians acts out the tale of Sweet Sue and her trials and tribulations with her darling Jack and the villainous landlord who is determined to have Sweet Sue for his own. I wish I had seen the beginning, so I could give you a better flavor of the plot, but suffice to say the plot is not the thing. What is the thing is the over-the-top performances by all, the clever and not so clever puns, the amusing set and props and the interaction of the cast with the piano player. Highly recommended if you go next year. I somehow missed the notice of it in the program, thinking it was part of the evening concert but it's usually scheduled for morning and afternoon performances on Saturday at the Main Street Theater.
The most fun venue, although a bit crowded because of its small size, is the Ice Cream Parlor, where Stevens Price hangs out (it's his place, that's why he hangs out there). You can order some terrific ice cream and sandwiches while listening to the music. The piano is another upright with the front removed and sounded darned good to me. I even got a chance to play it during the open piano periods a couple of times.
Other venues included Belotti's Inn, where a large banquet room was the site of two pianos and held about 100 people (rough guess). Here you could go into the bar and bring back drinks or dine in the restaurant.
The town legitimate theater was a comfortable place to listen to the pianists in a more formal setting. I listened to Carl Sonny Leyland and Keith Taylor perform in this setting. Keith is a former southern Californian who has lived in southern Oregon for 25 years, he tells me. Keith plays the classic and contemporary rags very well and sometimes wears a black cowboy hat to go with his western outfit
Another pleasant setting was Susan's Place, the little indoor-outdoor restaurant, located a half-block down from Main Street, but my one attempt to eat dinner there on Saturday night was thwarted. You see, you had to have reservations or wait an hour, neither of which I qualified for or had time for before the Saturday night concert.
Now that was the piece de resistance, with the six headliners putting on a great show. Stevens Price mc-ed and started off the show and then brought on Nan Bostick ("Granny Nanny"), Carl "Sonny" Leyland, Pat Aranda, Tom Brier and Keith Taylor. Then came the grand finale, with the whole gang playing "Dill Pickles" in an uproarious round robin. If you've never seen one of these, it's a real hoot. One person starts the piece, then, after playing one section or less, the next person slides in at the piano and picks up where the first person left off, and so it goes, with each of the six players putting his own particular stamp on the classic rag (Leyland's boogie version was delicious). In this case it went on for about 10 minutes until finally the janitors (in the guise of Granny Nanny and "Sweet Sue" Jan Stevens) began sweeping up the place with giant push mops, including sweeping the piano and closing the lid of the grand piano until the performers finally cried "Uncle" and the thing came to an end.
(Nan Bostick wrote the following, since I was not able to stay for the Sunday performances):
Tom Bopp's solo performance Sunday noon at the Main St. Theater, was tops, Tom Bopp at his best (as you folks get to see at Old Town Music Hall each year). Sunday afternoon's dual piano concert with Bopp and Keith Taylor went fine till the rest of the crew decided to crash the 2nd half with their antics. This included: Granny Nanny Bostick with rifle, dragging a reluctant Tom-Tom Brier, threatening to shoot up the place if they didn't let Tom play; the two of them taking over the pianos till Deputy Sheriff Patrick Aranda, armed for bear, hauls them off on a "nuisance" charge; Sheriff Stevens Price entering with Carl "Sonny" Leyland in handcuffs pleading with Aranda to keep the varmint busy at the piano. Ends with a free-for-all multi-handed "Maple Leaf Rag" including the sound crew and all comers. Life continued for another couple of hours at the Ice Cream Parlor, "Granny" at the keyboard, her fingers wrapped in electrical tape.
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