Last week, I received my copy of the Old-Time Music Preservation Association's newsletter, The Old Piano Roll News. And, unlike previously copies of this quarterly publication, this quarter's edition came in two pieces.
The first piece was the actual newsletter. (This time, the main article in there sang the praises of this year's World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival.)
The second piece was a letter from the man who cooked up the Memorial Day weekend event, none other than Ted Lemen.
It was a good news-bad news situation.
The bottom line was: OTPP, which just got through having its 40th iteration (and first at the Embassy Suites in East Peoria, IL), is gasping for breath.
When I read Ted's letter, I felt stunned.
I didn't even know the contest was sick...let alone on its death bed.
Attendance was down from 2013 (the second and last year the C&F took place at Peoria's Sheraton Four Points Hotel), not as many people attended the Saturday night event called "Dinner with the Champion" or the Monday morning Red, White, and Blue Brunch, and not as many people purchased contest T-shirts or other OTPP souvenirs.
But revenue was down from last year...and that was enough for Ted to take emergency measures to rescue this one-of-a-kind event.
He's looking for solutions to take to the OMPA board next time the association convenes.
If you've got any answers to making sure there'll be a 41st annual Old-Time Piano Contest and Festival (and MANY more), call Ted at 815 922-3827 and/or send him an email at hi_jeanx@yahoo.com.
If you love old-time piano, now's your chance to let 'em know!
Friday, June 27, 2014
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! (5-25-2014, That Is!)
It's gone from an event held outdoors and subject to at least the worst atmospheric conditions Central Illinois tends to face in late May to an event held in hotels that keep getting better. (Every time this event has to find a new venue, the next venue tends to work out better than the old one.)
At first, it was a contest hurting for participants. Then it got to the point where so many contestants entered that a limit was eventually put on the field (26 is now the max).
When the event began, pianists of all ages competed for one prize. Then in 1985, a Junior Division was created so that players 17 or younger could go for the glory. (Now, performers in that division and the Regular Division fight for ten cash prizes...and the winner in each sector gets a trophy.)
And it's gone from a competition whose first five championships went to two women (1975-76 champ Joybelle Squibb and 1977-79 titleholder Dorothy Herrold) to an event whose biggest prize hasn't gone to a woman since Mimi Blais added the 2000 title to the championship she won in 1994 to a contest where its Regular Division hasn't had a female participant since 2012...the first (and- thus far- only) year Tennessee's Diana Stein went for the Big Trophy.
This year, people who spent Memorial Day weekend at Illinois' Embassy Suites East Peoria missed out on the chance to hear a Texan named Melissa Roen Williams show off her old-time piano skills.
And that's how eleven RD contestants (to go with seven Junior Division participants) ended up competing in the 40th annual World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival.
After 13-year-old Daniel Souvigny got his Junior Division crown back on 5-24-2014, it was up to contest judges Brian Holland, Patrick Holland, and Terry Parrish to eliminate one Regular Division contestant and send the remaining ten into the next day's semifinals.
This year's unlucky so-and-so was...was...was...
Well, actually, all eleven RD players moved on to the OTPP semifinals!
As was the case in the previous day's prelims, Damit Senanayake went first. I didn't get to find out what his first semifinal piece was (maybe one of you reading this blog can disclose the answer)...but I do know his second selection was "Blue Room."
Another thing about OTPP: You get fifteen minutes of rehearsal time before it's your turn to play the contest piano, that 1883 Weber upright better known as "Moby Dink." (As contest coordinator Faye Ballard- who spent the 1976-2010 period as a contestant before becoming just the second coordinator in C&F history- likes to say: "If you snooze, you lose.")
I put in the rehearsal time...after hearing Michael J. Winstanley pump out his two semifinal tunes during his own rehearsal time: "If You Knew Susie" and "Smiles and Shuffles."
And so, while Michael J. went to River E and F (the combined space where the actual competition took place) to perform his two semifinal selections, I took over at the rehearsal piano (a 1960s Hamilton studio piano placed just outside the Green Room).
To tell you the truth...I felt more comfortable during the semifinal round (my first semis since 1994!) than I did during the 2014 prelims. This round, I picked out "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" and an obscurity from 1902, "Robardina Rag," a number written by a St. Louis composer named E. Warren Furry.
Plus: I was so pumped up about making the semifinals that I did the same thing that Sunday as the day before: I ran to the stage.
And, just like the day before, Ted Lemen had to tell me: "No running!"
Domingo Mancuello was next up to bat...and he DID hit it out the park, with "I Get the Blues When It Rains" and "She Was Just a Sailor's Sweetheart."
William McNally followed, playing Joseph Lamb's "Topliner Rag" and the weekend's second edition of "Limehouse Blues."
Then came the man with the only other "Limehouse" rendition: Ethan Uslan.
Whereas William M. came out in a different tuxedo than the one he put on for the prelims, Ethan hit the stage wearing a...straw hat, striped T-shirt, swim trunks, and a life preserver.
And when Kate's husband (and Ben's and Henry's dad) got to the Embassy Suites stage in that getup, I figured: "That did it. Give Ethan the trophy!"
Ethan made it stick by stroking out "By the Beautiful Sea" and one called "Yack-a-Hula-Wicki-Doola."
All of that gave William Bennett a tough, tough act to follow.
And the Ann Arbor native did it, too! His semifinal entries were "How'd You Like to Spoon with Me?" and "Hothouse Rag."
David Cavalari brings some interesting, off-the-beaten-path numbers to the contest, and this round was no exception. In it, David rocked out "Impecunious Davis" and "Running Water."
"Perfessor" Bill Edwards followed up with "Swampy River" and "Old Folks at Home." (That's right...THAT "Old Folks at Home!")
John Remmers carries Ann Arbor's banner, too (he used to teach at the University of Michigan). With that great style of his, you know you can count on John reaching the semis year after year. And this time, he staked his claim with James Scott's "Prosperity Rag" and one titled "The Whistler and His Dog."
Now it was Samuel Schalla's turn to round out the 2014 OTPP second round...and I like what this physics student did with Joe Jordan's "That Teasin' Rag" and Luckey Roberts' "Nothin'."
When the semifinals were finished, Brian, Patrick, and Terry went off to do some more ciphering; Ted and fellow emcee Adam Swanson kicked back for a while; and the audience did some kicking back all its own...either inside River E and F or just outside the two combined rooms.
After all the judges' ciphering came to an end...Bill Edwards came back onstage to tackle ol' Moby Dink.
And tackle that 1883 Weber upright he did, hammering out "Red Raven Rag" and "The Blues (My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me)," a 1920 number made famous by Ted Lewis, the bandleader famous for "Is Everybody Happy Now?"
This year's wildcard theme was (drum roll)...color!
As things turned out, the other Bill ended up getting in line to get paid. As a result, we got a chance to hear the now four-time New Rag kingpin do "Green River Blues" and Maceo Pinkard's "Liza."
Bill McNally was followed by one of old-time piano's most passionate performers. (You guessed it...Domingo!)
After Domingo got the crowd a date with "Me and My Shadow," he invited the fans to say "Hello, Bluebird."
Adam and Ted regaled the OTPP audience with tunes (as well as old-time piano pointers) after Domingo's and the Two Bills' final sets. And after one last clinic, the two hosts turned it over to David...who turned in Duke Ellington's and Bub Miley's "Black and Tan Fantasy" as well as the romping "Shreveport Stomp."
This left Ethan as the last finalist...and he came out dressed like Abraham Lincoln (right down to the black suit, stovepipe hat, and fake beard).
Ethan picked up the Stephen Foster baton that "Perfessor" Bill ran with in the semifinals, and the 2007 and 2012 RD titleholder nailed "Old Black Joe" and "Oh, Susanna."
Well, in a nutshell, Bill E. finished fifth and won $250, David got fourth prize and earned $400 for it, Domingo outdid his 2013 showing by grabbing off third (that meant $550), and Bill M. won second place...and walked away with $800.
And Ethan racked up his third Regular Division title, good for $1,350 and that Ted Lemen Traveling Trophy.
And so it's time to practice up for next year...and to see what 2015 will bring. .
At first, it was a contest hurting for participants. Then it got to the point where so many contestants entered that a limit was eventually put on the field (26 is now the max).
When the event began, pianists of all ages competed for one prize. Then in 1985, a Junior Division was created so that players 17 or younger could go for the glory. (Now, performers in that division and the Regular Division fight for ten cash prizes...and the winner in each sector gets a trophy.)
And it's gone from a competition whose first five championships went to two women (1975-76 champ Joybelle Squibb and 1977-79 titleholder Dorothy Herrold) to an event whose biggest prize hasn't gone to a woman since Mimi Blais added the 2000 title to the championship she won in 1994 to a contest where its Regular Division hasn't had a female participant since 2012...the first (and- thus far- only) year Tennessee's Diana Stein went for the Big Trophy.
This year, people who spent Memorial Day weekend at Illinois' Embassy Suites East Peoria missed out on the chance to hear a Texan named Melissa Roen Williams show off her old-time piano skills.
And that's how eleven RD contestants (to go with seven Junior Division participants) ended up competing in the 40th annual World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival.
After 13-year-old Daniel Souvigny got his Junior Division crown back on 5-24-2014, it was up to contest judges Brian Holland, Patrick Holland, and Terry Parrish to eliminate one Regular Division contestant and send the remaining ten into the next day's semifinals.
This year's unlucky so-and-so was...was...was...
Well, actually, all eleven RD players moved on to the OTPP semifinals!
As was the case in the previous day's prelims, Damit Senanayake went first. I didn't get to find out what his first semifinal piece was (maybe one of you reading this blog can disclose the answer)...but I do know his second selection was "Blue Room."
Another thing about OTPP: You get fifteen minutes of rehearsal time before it's your turn to play the contest piano, that 1883 Weber upright better known as "Moby Dink." (As contest coordinator Faye Ballard- who spent the 1976-2010 period as a contestant before becoming just the second coordinator in C&F history- likes to say: "If you snooze, you lose.")
I put in the rehearsal time...after hearing Michael J. Winstanley pump out his two semifinal tunes during his own rehearsal time: "If You Knew Susie" and "Smiles and Shuffles."
And so, while Michael J. went to River E and F (the combined space where the actual competition took place) to perform his two semifinal selections, I took over at the rehearsal piano (a 1960s Hamilton studio piano placed just outside the Green Room).
To tell you the truth...I felt more comfortable during the semifinal round (my first semis since 1994!) than I did during the 2014 prelims. This round, I picked out "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" and an obscurity from 1902, "Robardina Rag," a number written by a St. Louis composer named E. Warren Furry.
Plus: I was so pumped up about making the semifinals that I did the same thing that Sunday as the day before: I ran to the stage.
And, just like the day before, Ted Lemen had to tell me: "No running!"
Domingo Mancuello was next up to bat...and he DID hit it out the park, with "I Get the Blues When It Rains" and "She Was Just a Sailor's Sweetheart."
William McNally followed, playing Joseph Lamb's "Topliner Rag" and the weekend's second edition of "Limehouse Blues."
Then came the man with the only other "Limehouse" rendition: Ethan Uslan.
Whereas William M. came out in a different tuxedo than the one he put on for the prelims, Ethan hit the stage wearing a...straw hat, striped T-shirt, swim trunks, and a life preserver.
And when Kate's husband (and Ben's and Henry's dad) got to the Embassy Suites stage in that getup, I figured: "That did it. Give Ethan the trophy!"
Ethan made it stick by stroking out "By the Beautiful Sea" and one called "Yack-a-Hula-Wicki-Doola."
All of that gave William Bennett a tough, tough act to follow.
And the Ann Arbor native did it, too! His semifinal entries were "How'd You Like to Spoon with Me?" and "Hothouse Rag."
David Cavalari brings some interesting, off-the-beaten-path numbers to the contest, and this round was no exception. In it, David rocked out "Impecunious Davis" and "Running Water."
"Perfessor" Bill Edwards followed up with "Swampy River" and "Old Folks at Home." (That's right...THAT "Old Folks at Home!")
John Remmers carries Ann Arbor's banner, too (he used to teach at the University of Michigan). With that great style of his, you know you can count on John reaching the semis year after year. And this time, he staked his claim with James Scott's "Prosperity Rag" and one titled "The Whistler and His Dog."
Now it was Samuel Schalla's turn to round out the 2014 OTPP second round...and I like what this physics student did with Joe Jordan's "That Teasin' Rag" and Luckey Roberts' "Nothin'."
When the semifinals were finished, Brian, Patrick, and Terry went off to do some more ciphering; Ted and fellow emcee Adam Swanson kicked back for a while; and the audience did some kicking back all its own...either inside River E and F or just outside the two combined rooms.
After all the judges' ciphering came to an end...Bill Edwards came back onstage to tackle ol' Moby Dink.
And tackle that 1883 Weber upright he did, hammering out "Red Raven Rag" and "The Blues (My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me)," a 1920 number made famous by Ted Lewis, the bandleader famous for "Is Everybody Happy Now?"
This year's wildcard theme was (drum roll)...color!
As things turned out, the other Bill ended up getting in line to get paid. As a result, we got a chance to hear the now four-time New Rag kingpin do "Green River Blues" and Maceo Pinkard's "Liza."
Bill McNally was followed by one of old-time piano's most passionate performers. (You guessed it...Domingo!)
After Domingo got the crowd a date with "Me and My Shadow," he invited the fans to say "Hello, Bluebird."
Adam and Ted regaled the OTPP audience with tunes (as well as old-time piano pointers) after Domingo's and the Two Bills' final sets. And after one last clinic, the two hosts turned it over to David...who turned in Duke Ellington's and Bub Miley's "Black and Tan Fantasy" as well as the romping "Shreveport Stomp."
This left Ethan as the last finalist...and he came out dressed like Abraham Lincoln (right down to the black suit, stovepipe hat, and fake beard).
Ethan picked up the Stephen Foster baton that "Perfessor" Bill ran with in the semifinals, and the 2007 and 2012 RD titleholder nailed "Old Black Joe" and "Oh, Susanna."
Well, in a nutshell, Bill E. finished fifth and won $250, David got fourth prize and earned $400 for it, Domingo outdid his 2013 showing by grabbing off third (that meant $550), and Bill M. won second place...and walked away with $800.
And Ethan racked up his third Regular Division title, good for $1,350 and that Ted Lemen Traveling Trophy.
And so it's time to practice up for next year...and to see what 2015 will bring. .
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Oh, Brother! Oh, Sister! Oh, Baby!
No more than 26 people can annually enter the main competition at the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival...and that means the Old-Time Music Preservation Association (the group that puts on the C&F) cuts the preliminary competition off at sixteen Regular Division contestants and ten Junior Division (seventeen and younger) combatants.
This time around, we had seven JDers and eleven RDers.
And the seven who competed for five Junior Division cash prizes came out of five families.
Speaking of families...births lightened the 2014 OTPP field. First of all, Martin Spitznagel (the contest's 2011 Reg champ) stayed home with his wife so that they could enjoy their first child.
And the reigning Regular Division titleholder, Russell Wilson (from the same Washington, DC area the Spitznagels now live and work in), couldn't come to the Embassy Suites East Peoria (IL) because his wife was due during OTPP Weekend with their first child.
So there we were...all eighteen of us gathered in the Green Room of the Conference Center portion of the Embassy Suites East Peoria at 7:30 AM (Central time) on Saturday, 5-24-2014. We'd gathered to draw numbers to determine playing order.
And, as things turned out...Washington's (America's 42nd State, not America's capitol city) Damit Senanayake became the first 2014 OTPP contestant...and the first Regular Division pianist to try and take Russell's 2013 title away.
Damit's got a pleasant, sedate, stately style...and he brought that style to Irene Giblin's most famous rag, "Chicken Chowder," as well as to Vincent Youmans' "Without a Song."
Then came Isaac Smith, the seventeen-year-old Iowan out to make it two Junior Division championships in a row.
Isaac made a strong bid by playing "Kitten on the Keys" and a very interesting version of "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain." (In Isaac's version, the "she" in the tune had to get six new horses!)
The audience assembled at the Conference Center's combined River E and F Rooms would soon find out that Isaac was the older half of a brother act (stay tuned).
It was back to the RD battles...and the next performer to get in the ring was Pennsylvanian Michael J. Winstanley, who brought his stompin' style to Scott Joplin's "Stoptime Rag" as well as to "Kansas City Stomp."
Michael J. gave way to the other Smith Brother in the competition, eleven-year-old Eli.
Isaac's 2013 success gave Eli plenty of reasons to see if he could get himself that Junior Division crown. Eli's two selections were "Twelfth Street Rag" and "Champagne Rag."
After meeting the younger half of a brother act, the OTPP enthusiasts then met the younger half of a sister act: North Carolinian Miasol Yara (Mia for short).
By the way...you pronounce Mia's first name "MEE uh," not "MY uh."
Mia turned in a really bluesy set, and it consisted of "Ma (He's Making Eyes at Me)" and an abbreviated "Rhapsody in Blue."
One thing about the JD competition...the younger performers have to prepare just two songs while the older ones have to get six tunes ready. That way, OMPA crowns the Junior champion that Saturday afternoon of OTPP Weekend.
Then it was back to the Regulars...with Virginian-turned-Minnesotan David Cavalari taking to the 1883 Weber upright (the piano better known as "Moby Dink").
David had a couple of interesting selections this round: "Ragtime Chimes" and "Tico Tico." (That's right, that "Tico Tico," the one made famous by organist Ethel Smith.)
So glad that Samuel Schalla made the trip from his native Tubingen, Germany this year. He's got a stately style of playing, too, and the 20-year-old Regular Division contestant brought that style of his to "Texas Fox Trot" and "Some of These Days," the Shelton Brooks number made famous by Sophie Tucker.
William McNally (he'd just won the New Rag competition the night before- the fourth time he's snagged that contest's "Remarkably Small Trophy") was looking to add this year's RD title to his collection. Bill likes to load his sets with very interesting tunes...stuff off the beaten path; in this year's prelims, the Pennsylvanian-turned-New Yorker brought home "Piano Puzzle" and something called "Chopinata." (I hope I got that name right!)
The next pianist in competition was a JDer from Illinois, Leo Volker.
Leo was having a great time up there as he delivered two Scott Joplin pieces: "Magnetic Rag" and "Reflection Rag."
Around 11:30 AM, we all took a lunch break (and took advantage of all the fine restaurant choices in and surrounding the hotel).
Then...
21-year-old Michigander William Bennett was the next performer to step up...and he didn't disappoint the crowd, either, with George Gershwin's "Rialto Ripples" and Irving Caesar's "Just a Gigolo."
I couldn't join that crowd at the moment, because I had to practice up for my own first-round set. And as a result, I didn't get to hear what "Perfessor" Bill Edwards (that Californian-turned-Coloradan-turned-Washington, DCer-turned-Virginian) brought to the first round. (Can somebody tell me what "Perfessor" Bill played?)
I had a good feeling about going up there for 2014; I wanted to show that I'd been taking the messages brought forth in "The Entertainers" to heart (messages like: "When you're playing a song, you're telling a story!")...and I wanted to have fun.
So...this time, I did "Hello Ma Baby" and followed that up with a 1925 number written by Billy Rose, Al Dubin, and Joseph Meyer: "A Cup of Coffee, a Sandwich, and You." (Really had a lot of fun with the latter tune!)
When I was done, I hurried back and found a seat in the audience...and caught Ethan Uslan's two first-round tunes: "Dardanelle" and the durable "Limehouse Blues."
When he's not tickling those keys all around the world, New Jerseyite-turned-North Carolinian Ethan also teaches others to tickle those 88s. Some of his students include his eight-year-old son Ben and...the Yara Sisters (one of whom we've already met).
Glad to see Pennsylvanian (and RD contestant) Domingo Mancuello come back to get another crack at the Ted Lemen Traveling Trophy. Domingo's one of the most passionate performers in all of old-time piano, and in the prelims, he showed just why...doing "When You're Smiling" and a rag called "Chickenfoot Bob."
Then one of the steadiest performers in old-time piano, Michigan's John Remmers, stepped up to the plate. I really enjoyed his version of "Where the River Shannon Flows," which the one-time college math professor followed with "Under the Southern Moon."
The Junior Division provided the 2014 OTPP competition with the last three performers...starting with Miasol's thirteen-year-old sister, Madeline.
Maddy brought a bluesy style of her own to "Dolly Dimples" and to Mabel Wayne's "In a Little Spanish Town."
By the way...Maddy and Mia really do have a sister act going: When they're not playing old-time piano, the Two Yaras make up half a local (Charlotte area) rock band, the Control Freax. In the Control Freax, Mia and Savanah play guitars (Savanah also plays keyboards), Maddy plays the bass, and Maureen rounds out the act on drums.
The Freax really have it going on, and if you'd like to find out for yourself, just log on to www.youtube.com and type in "Maureen's band" or "The Control Freax." (I like what the band did with "Roll Over Beethoven.")
An Illinoisan named Reed Phillips rounded out the newcomers in the 2014 OTPP field. And he let 'em know that he was after Isaac's JD title, too. Reed (as did Leo) turned to the King of Ragtime to make his bid, selecting "Peacherine Rag" and the second "Stoptime Rag" heard in the prelims.
All through the competition, Ted and fellow emcee Adam Swanson (that's right, that Adam Swanson) showed the audience just what makes old-time piano so infectuous. (One of their most memorable interludes featured Ted- the man behind OTPP- playing a tune like "Happy Birthday to You" in the conventional way...only to see Adam- the most decorated pianist in contest history- turn the number into a rag.)
Yep...2014 not only was a year without Martin or Russell competing, it also was a year without Morgan Siever, the sole 2005 JD newcomer to not only come back for 2006...but also keep competing at the C&F into the 2010s.
Morgan's two-year reign atop the Junior Division (2010 and 2011) was ended by the last contestant to tackle Moby Dink for 2014: Fellow Illinoisan Daniel Souvigny.
And thirteen-year-old Daniel let EVERYBODY know he wanted that JD championship back. Big time.
Daniel came out roaring, putting over killer versions of "King Chanticleer" and "Tiger Rag." (To prepare for "Tiger Rag," Daniel even turned his vest inside out...to reveal tiger stripes!)
Well, with the competing over for the day, contest judges Brian Holland (the 1997-99 RD champ), Terry Parrish, and Patrick Holland got together to tally up scores...and, along the way, they found out the Smith Brothers outdid the Yara Sisters.
And as things turned out, Reed won fifth place (and $40), Eli got fourth place (and was able to pocket $60), and Madeline earned $100 for finishing third.
Isaac settled for second place and its $125 prize. (And 2014 started to look like 2008 in the JD competition; that year, the previous year's Junior Division kingpin, Missourian Wesley Reznicek, surrendered his title to the last pianist to compete: Cassidy Gephart from neighboring Kentucky.)
Eli's older brother surrendered his JD crown to...the last 2014 pianist to compete.
And that's how Daniel was able to go home $250 richer (and with his second JD trophy).
After the Saturday smoke cleared, it was time to find out which ten Regular Division contestants would do their thing at the hotel's River E and F rooms the next day.
Yep...according to the rules, one RDer would have to be sidelined.
And when I come back, I'll tell you who got sidelined.
This time around, we had seven JDers and eleven RDers.
And the seven who competed for five Junior Division cash prizes came out of five families.
Speaking of families...births lightened the 2014 OTPP field. First of all, Martin Spitznagel (the contest's 2011 Reg champ) stayed home with his wife so that they could enjoy their first child.
And the reigning Regular Division titleholder, Russell Wilson (from the same Washington, DC area the Spitznagels now live and work in), couldn't come to the Embassy Suites East Peoria (IL) because his wife was due during OTPP Weekend with their first child.
So there we were...all eighteen of us gathered in the Green Room of the Conference Center portion of the Embassy Suites East Peoria at 7:30 AM (Central time) on Saturday, 5-24-2014. We'd gathered to draw numbers to determine playing order.
And, as things turned out...Washington's (America's 42nd State, not America's capitol city) Damit Senanayake became the first 2014 OTPP contestant...and the first Regular Division pianist to try and take Russell's 2013 title away.
Damit's got a pleasant, sedate, stately style...and he brought that style to Irene Giblin's most famous rag, "Chicken Chowder," as well as to Vincent Youmans' "Without a Song."
Then came Isaac Smith, the seventeen-year-old Iowan out to make it two Junior Division championships in a row.
Isaac made a strong bid by playing "Kitten on the Keys" and a very interesting version of "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain." (In Isaac's version, the "she" in the tune had to get six new horses!)
The audience assembled at the Conference Center's combined River E and F Rooms would soon find out that Isaac was the older half of a brother act (stay tuned).
It was back to the RD battles...and the next performer to get in the ring was Pennsylvanian Michael J. Winstanley, who brought his stompin' style to Scott Joplin's "Stoptime Rag" as well as to "Kansas City Stomp."
Michael J. gave way to the other Smith Brother in the competition, eleven-year-old Eli.
Isaac's 2013 success gave Eli plenty of reasons to see if he could get himself that Junior Division crown. Eli's two selections were "Twelfth Street Rag" and "Champagne Rag."
After meeting the younger half of a brother act, the OTPP enthusiasts then met the younger half of a sister act: North Carolinian Miasol Yara (Mia for short).
By the way...you pronounce Mia's first name "MEE uh," not "MY uh."
Mia turned in a really bluesy set, and it consisted of "Ma (He's Making Eyes at Me)" and an abbreviated "Rhapsody in Blue."
One thing about the JD competition...the younger performers have to prepare just two songs while the older ones have to get six tunes ready. That way, OMPA crowns the Junior champion that Saturday afternoon of OTPP Weekend.
Then it was back to the Regulars...with Virginian-turned-Minnesotan David Cavalari taking to the 1883 Weber upright (the piano better known as "Moby Dink").
David had a couple of interesting selections this round: "Ragtime Chimes" and "Tico Tico." (That's right, that "Tico Tico," the one made famous by organist Ethel Smith.)
So glad that Samuel Schalla made the trip from his native Tubingen, Germany this year. He's got a stately style of playing, too, and the 20-year-old Regular Division contestant brought that style of his to "Texas Fox Trot" and "Some of These Days," the Shelton Brooks number made famous by Sophie Tucker.
William McNally (he'd just won the New Rag competition the night before- the fourth time he's snagged that contest's "Remarkably Small Trophy") was looking to add this year's RD title to his collection. Bill likes to load his sets with very interesting tunes...stuff off the beaten path; in this year's prelims, the Pennsylvanian-turned-New Yorker brought home "Piano Puzzle" and something called "Chopinata." (I hope I got that name right!)
The next pianist in competition was a JDer from Illinois, Leo Volker.
Leo was having a great time up there as he delivered two Scott Joplin pieces: "Magnetic Rag" and "Reflection Rag."
Around 11:30 AM, we all took a lunch break (and took advantage of all the fine restaurant choices in and surrounding the hotel).
Then...
21-year-old Michigander William Bennett was the next performer to step up...and he didn't disappoint the crowd, either, with George Gershwin's "Rialto Ripples" and Irving Caesar's "Just a Gigolo."
I couldn't join that crowd at the moment, because I had to practice up for my own first-round set. And as a result, I didn't get to hear what "Perfessor" Bill Edwards (that Californian-turned-Coloradan-turned-Washington, DCer-turned-Virginian) brought to the first round. (Can somebody tell me what "Perfessor" Bill played?)
I had a good feeling about going up there for 2014; I wanted to show that I'd been taking the messages brought forth in "The Entertainers" to heart (messages like: "When you're playing a song, you're telling a story!")...and I wanted to have fun.
So...this time, I did "Hello Ma Baby" and followed that up with a 1925 number written by Billy Rose, Al Dubin, and Joseph Meyer: "A Cup of Coffee, a Sandwich, and You." (Really had a lot of fun with the latter tune!)
When I was done, I hurried back and found a seat in the audience...and caught Ethan Uslan's two first-round tunes: "Dardanelle" and the durable "Limehouse Blues."
When he's not tickling those keys all around the world, New Jerseyite-turned-North Carolinian Ethan also teaches others to tickle those 88s. Some of his students include his eight-year-old son Ben and...the Yara Sisters (one of whom we've already met).
Glad to see Pennsylvanian (and RD contestant) Domingo Mancuello come back to get another crack at the Ted Lemen Traveling Trophy. Domingo's one of the most passionate performers in all of old-time piano, and in the prelims, he showed just why...doing "When You're Smiling" and a rag called "Chickenfoot Bob."
Then one of the steadiest performers in old-time piano, Michigan's John Remmers, stepped up to the plate. I really enjoyed his version of "Where the River Shannon Flows," which the one-time college math professor followed with "Under the Southern Moon."
The Junior Division provided the 2014 OTPP competition with the last three performers...starting with Miasol's thirteen-year-old sister, Madeline.
Maddy brought a bluesy style of her own to "Dolly Dimples" and to Mabel Wayne's "In a Little Spanish Town."
By the way...Maddy and Mia really do have a sister act going: When they're not playing old-time piano, the Two Yaras make up half a local (Charlotte area) rock band, the Control Freax. In the Control Freax, Mia and Savanah play guitars (Savanah also plays keyboards), Maddy plays the bass, and Maureen rounds out the act on drums.
The Freax really have it going on, and if you'd like to find out for yourself, just log on to www.youtube.com and type in "Maureen's band" or "The Control Freax." (I like what the band did with "Roll Over Beethoven.")
An Illinoisan named Reed Phillips rounded out the newcomers in the 2014 OTPP field. And he let 'em know that he was after Isaac's JD title, too. Reed (as did Leo) turned to the King of Ragtime to make his bid, selecting "Peacherine Rag" and the second "Stoptime Rag" heard in the prelims.
All through the competition, Ted and fellow emcee Adam Swanson (that's right, that Adam Swanson) showed the audience just what makes old-time piano so infectuous. (One of their most memorable interludes featured Ted- the man behind OTPP- playing a tune like "Happy Birthday to You" in the conventional way...only to see Adam- the most decorated pianist in contest history- turn the number into a rag.)
Yep...2014 not only was a year without Martin or Russell competing, it also was a year without Morgan Siever, the sole 2005 JD newcomer to not only come back for 2006...but also keep competing at the C&F into the 2010s.
Morgan's two-year reign atop the Junior Division (2010 and 2011) was ended by the last contestant to tackle Moby Dink for 2014: Fellow Illinoisan Daniel Souvigny.
And thirteen-year-old Daniel let EVERYBODY know he wanted that JD championship back. Big time.
Daniel came out roaring, putting over killer versions of "King Chanticleer" and "Tiger Rag." (To prepare for "Tiger Rag," Daniel even turned his vest inside out...to reveal tiger stripes!)
Well, with the competing over for the day, contest judges Brian Holland (the 1997-99 RD champ), Terry Parrish, and Patrick Holland got together to tally up scores...and, along the way, they found out the Smith Brothers outdid the Yara Sisters.
And as things turned out, Reed won fifth place (and $40), Eli got fourth place (and was able to pocket $60), and Madeline earned $100 for finishing third.
Isaac settled for second place and its $125 prize. (And 2014 started to look like 2008 in the JD competition; that year, the previous year's Junior Division kingpin, Missourian Wesley Reznicek, surrendered his title to the last pianist to compete: Cassidy Gephart from neighboring Kentucky.)
Eli's older brother surrendered his JD crown to...the last 2014 pianist to compete.
And that's how Daniel was able to go home $250 richer (and with his second JD trophy).
After the Saturday smoke cleared, it was time to find out which ten Regular Division contestants would do their thing at the hotel's River E and F rooms the next day.
Yep...according to the rules, one RDer would have to be sidelined.
And when I come back, I'll tell you who got sidelined.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Hello There from East Peoria!
I had to fight to get this opportunity.
And I'm glad for this chance.
Things have worked out so that I could attend the 40th annual World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival...which is now on its sixth venue: The Embassy Suites Hotel in East Peoria, IL.
If my boss at the plastics factory I work at hadn't encouraged me to fill out a vacation request form earlier this month (and if the plant manager hadn't okayed the form), and if my car had broken down someplace along the way, well...I'd be typing this out in Omaha, NE (and talking about another subject).
This time, I went from the Omaha/Council Bluffs/Bellevue area directly to the Peoria area...and I commenced the trip yesterday morning. And I fought the rain (okay, much-needed rain) until I reached Exit 110 on Interstate 80 (eleven miles west of West Des Moines, IA).
In addition, I fought through six different lane closings on the Iowa stretch of I-80...and through the demolition of the Bettendorf, IA convenience store where I filled up my car's gas tank before reaching Illinois.
But here I am...seven hours away from reaching the Green Room at the hotel's Conference Center to join eighteen other contestants in drawing out numbers to determine playing order as the meat of this year's OTPP Contest approaches.
Before that...
Made it to the hotel at 4:22 PM (Central time) yesterday, then an hour later, I caught a shuttle to the Sky Harbor Steakhouse (located in another Peoria suburb, West Peoria) to be a part of the contest-opening tuneups.
At the tuneups, anybody who wants to has an opportunity to play the restaurant's rinky-tink piano, a Grinnell Bros. upright from early in the 20th Century.
Lots of people- not just OTPP contestants- did.
On top of that, those who signed up to pound away at that upright were treated to a free buffet...featuring ribs, chicken, macaroni and cheese, a roll, your choice of vegetables, and your choice of beverage.
Personally, things went better at the Sky Harbor than they did a year ago. What's more, the steakhouse party didn't stop until around 9:15 PM.
Then earlier today, I tackled an experience I wasn't able to engage in since 2007: I boarded, for just the second time in my life, the local riverboat known as Spirit of Peoria.
I want to go back on that boat next year, too!
Just as is the case at the Sky Harbor Steakhouse, the food on the riverboat is great. On the Spirit, you get a lunch buffet that includes several different salads, your choice of chips, a few dessert items, three beverage choices, and a wonderful line of sandwich fixin's.
And...the boat has a spinet piano on each of the first two decks plus a calliope on the third (top) deck. (Okay...the actual calliope doesn't work anymore. They hooked up an electronic keyboard to the calliope's framework. And it still sounds great!)
Had a chance to work out on both the electronic keyboard-cum-calliope and the second deck's spinet. (Things turned out better for me here in 2014 than was the case seven years ago.)
At 4:38 PM this afternoon, it was off to the Embassy Suites Conference Center, where Paul Asaro did an impressive workshop on 1920s-1930s stride piano.
One great thing about this Embassy Suites is all the eateries within close proximity...like the Steak 'n' Shake next door. [About 50 minutes prior to the start of this year's New Rag Contest, I joined contestants Samuel Schallau and William Bennett (nope...not THAT William Bennett) and William's mom Sue for dinner at Steak 'n' Shake.]
And I tasted just why Steak 'n' Shake is legendary.
I want to go back there, too!
At 7:00 PM, it was time for New Rag...and out of seven contestants (it would've been eight had I entered), William McNally walked away with his fourth rag-writing title.
He gets to split it with a Californian named Vincent Johnson, who wrote the entry William M. played: "And So Fourth."
Then came the first of several get-togethers called "afterglows." In these afterglows, they've got open piano (two studio models) in one room- the one where the New Rag competition took place- while the other afterglow room is meant for people who play other instruments (you'll find a studio piano there, too).
I stayed in the New Rag room and was the last of seven to sign up to play.
And it felt more comfortable this time around than in 2013.
When I come back, I'll let you know how the first round of non-New Rag OTPP competition went.
I'm Jim Boston...thanks for reading this blog!
And I'm glad for this chance.
Things have worked out so that I could attend the 40th annual World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival...which is now on its sixth venue: The Embassy Suites Hotel in East Peoria, IL.
If my boss at the plastics factory I work at hadn't encouraged me to fill out a vacation request form earlier this month (and if the plant manager hadn't okayed the form), and if my car had broken down someplace along the way, well...I'd be typing this out in Omaha, NE (and talking about another subject).
This time, I went from the Omaha/Council Bluffs/Bellevue area directly to the Peoria area...and I commenced the trip yesterday morning. And I fought the rain (okay, much-needed rain) until I reached Exit 110 on Interstate 80 (eleven miles west of West Des Moines, IA).
In addition, I fought through six different lane closings on the Iowa stretch of I-80...and through the demolition of the Bettendorf, IA convenience store where I filled up my car's gas tank before reaching Illinois.
But here I am...seven hours away from reaching the Green Room at the hotel's Conference Center to join eighteen other contestants in drawing out numbers to determine playing order as the meat of this year's OTPP Contest approaches.
Before that...
Made it to the hotel at 4:22 PM (Central time) yesterday, then an hour later, I caught a shuttle to the Sky Harbor Steakhouse (located in another Peoria suburb, West Peoria) to be a part of the contest-opening tuneups.
At the tuneups, anybody who wants to has an opportunity to play the restaurant's rinky-tink piano, a Grinnell Bros. upright from early in the 20th Century.
Lots of people- not just OTPP contestants- did.
On top of that, those who signed up to pound away at that upright were treated to a free buffet...featuring ribs, chicken, macaroni and cheese, a roll, your choice of vegetables, and your choice of beverage.
Personally, things went better at the Sky Harbor than they did a year ago. What's more, the steakhouse party didn't stop until around 9:15 PM.
Then earlier today, I tackled an experience I wasn't able to engage in since 2007: I boarded, for just the second time in my life, the local riverboat known as Spirit of Peoria.
I want to go back on that boat next year, too!
Just as is the case at the Sky Harbor Steakhouse, the food on the riverboat is great. On the Spirit, you get a lunch buffet that includes several different salads, your choice of chips, a few dessert items, three beverage choices, and a wonderful line of sandwich fixin's.
And...the boat has a spinet piano on each of the first two decks plus a calliope on the third (top) deck. (Okay...the actual calliope doesn't work anymore. They hooked up an electronic keyboard to the calliope's framework. And it still sounds great!)
Had a chance to work out on both the electronic keyboard-cum-calliope and the second deck's spinet. (Things turned out better for me here in 2014 than was the case seven years ago.)
At 4:38 PM this afternoon, it was off to the Embassy Suites Conference Center, where Paul Asaro did an impressive workshop on 1920s-1930s stride piano.
One great thing about this Embassy Suites is all the eateries within close proximity...like the Steak 'n' Shake next door. [About 50 minutes prior to the start of this year's New Rag Contest, I joined contestants Samuel Schallau and William Bennett (nope...not THAT William Bennett) and William's mom Sue for dinner at Steak 'n' Shake.]
And I tasted just why Steak 'n' Shake is legendary.
I want to go back there, too!
At 7:00 PM, it was time for New Rag...and out of seven contestants (it would've been eight had I entered), William McNally walked away with his fourth rag-writing title.
He gets to split it with a Californian named Vincent Johnson, who wrote the entry William M. played: "And So Fourth."
Then came the first of several get-togethers called "afterglows." In these afterglows, they've got open piano (two studio models) in one room- the one where the New Rag competition took place- while the other afterglow room is meant for people who play other instruments (you'll find a studio piano there, too).
I stayed in the New Rag room and was the last of seven to sign up to play.
And it felt more comfortable this time around than in 2013.
When I come back, I'll let you know how the first round of non-New Rag OTPP competition went.
I'm Jim Boston...thanks for reading this blog!
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
You Reap What You Sow
After I got home from work last night, I turned on my TV set to watch a rerun of MSNBC's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell (with Lawrence on vacation, it was actually The Last Word with Ari Melber instead)...and I couldn't believe what I heard.
I saw a clip of (Men's) NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressing his first major crisis since he replaced David Stern this past February:
"Donald Sterling...has been banned...for life."
The Los Angeles Clippers (the team Sterling bought in 1981, when the club still lived in San Diego) will have to find a new owner...as soon as possible.
You know what I say about that?
I say: "RIGHT ON!!!"
It's more than that hour-long conversation this 80-year-old billionaire had with his 29-year-old girlfriend, V. Stiviano. You know, where the real-estate magnate let the cat out of the bag...and demonstrated that he thought of his West Coast basketball team as a Southern plantation.
Sterling's desire that African Americans stay away from the Staples Center when the Clips are the home team (meaning keeping Basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson, among others, out of the building) was the icing on the cake.
Here's the rest of the cake:
Until just the last couple of seasons, the Clippers had been a laughingstock...courtesy of The West Coast Donald.
Today, the NBA is thirty teams strong. But in time for the 1970-71 season, the team owners okayed a triple expansion- to seventeen squads. (This at a time when we still had the ABA- at that time, a league with eleven clubs, four of which were six years away from joining the NBA in a partial merger.)
In time for that campaign, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Portland Trail Blazers debuted.
So did the Los Angeles Clippers.
But at first, they lived in Buffalo and were nicknamed the Braves.
*To make a long story short, the Blazers have made it to the league playoffs 30 times since entering the circuit. Portland became the first of the NBA's 1970-71 newcomers to win it all; under Jack Ramsay (a Basketball Hall of Famer who just passed away recently), the Trail Blazers- led by HOF'er Bill Walton- knocked down a heavily-favored Philadelphia 76ers squad, four games to two, in 1976-77...the year the partial merger took effect.
Rip City got to the league finals in 1989-90 (only to lose to the Detroit Pistons) and 1991-92 (when Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls stopped the Blazers), too.
*The Cavaliers got to the playoffs 18 times in club history...none of them since LeBron James left Cleveland. In fact, the Cavs finally got to the (Men's) NBA championship series in 2006-07...only the San Antonio Spurs- one of those former ABA contingents- proved to be too much for King James and Co.
*The Clippers are still looking for their first contact with the NBA finals.
Portland's got four division titles to its credit. Cleveland has topped its division three times.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Clippers are two-time division champs.
The 2012-13 and 2013-14 Pacific Division titles are the first ones for this franchise that Donald Sterling purchased 33 years ago. What's more, the Clips' 57-25 mark for this past regular season (one-time Boston Celtics head man Doc Rivers' first as the Clips' head coach) was the best in team history.
But even with Rivers' and predecessor Vinny Del Negro's efforts these last three seasons (and those of players like Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Jamal Crawford, and J.J. Redick), the team did better in Buffalo (259-397 from 1970-71 to 1977-78). Still, the Clips' two division titles enabled the club's Los Angeles history (915-1,497 since 1984-85, the team's first campaign in Tinseltown) to finally top its San Diego tenure (186-306 from 1978-79 to 1983-84).
In terms of winning percentage, that means .395 in Buffalo, .378 in Ess Dee, and .379 in El Lay.
Speaking of Buffalo...Ramsay was the first head coach to guide the franchise to postseason action (1973-74 to 1975-76). The bottom had dropped out for the club by the late 1970s, and its then owner, KFC magnate John Y. Brown, swapped clubs with the then owner of the Celtics, Irv Levin.
Levin moved the Braves to San Diego in time for the 1978-79 season...the team's first under the Clippers name.
That first season in California, the team went 43-39...and missed a playoff spot. The team's record got worse and worse with each passing season...until a disastrous 1981-82, when the Clippers limped home 17-65.
By then, Levin had sold the team to Sterling...who was itching to move the Clippers up Interstate 5.
I wasn't too impressed with Sterling's rationale for bringing his club to America's second largest city: "I always thought there should be a team in the Los Angeles Sports Arena." (The Los Angeles Lakers used the Sports Arena from 1960-61- their first campaign since leaving Minneapolis- to 1966-67. Then they switched to a facility in Englewood, the Staples Center predecessor called the Great Western Forum.)
While the Lakers became Showtime (thanks to a cast headed up by Johnson and fellow HOF'er Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), the Clippers couldn't draw flies, let alone people.
The Lakers (under Jerry Buss) became the textbook example of how to run an NBA franchise...and Sterling's questionable decisions (like running the team like a plantation) kept many of the Sports Arena's seats empty. And things stayed the same when both teams moved into the Staples Center at the start of the 1999-2000 campaign.
It wasn't enough that Sterling's antics killed men's pro basketball in San Diego.
The wasted draft choices, the questionable choices for head coaches (with a few exceptions- like Larry Brown), other questionable decisions (like the canning of Brown after the 1992-93 season, a rare playoff campaign for the Clippers), and so on and so forth...all of that made Sterling's club the NBA's laughingstock.
It's only since Paul left the Big Easy and came to the Big Orange that the Clippers have been able to fill up Staples...game after game, season after season.
This is the best this once-lowly franchise has been able to do. Ever.
And Donald Sterling's racist rants had put excrement in the punch bowl.
I'm so glad that Silver and the players in the league got together to throw out that punch bowl and get a new one...as well as a new punch recipe.
If you're going to buy a franchise in one of the most diverse sports leagues in the world, only to treat your team like a plantation, and you have plenty of contempt for not only your players and coaches, but your team's fans as well (and all of this at a time when your team's playing the best ball in the club's history)...you're barking up the wrong tree.
Here's hoping the next owner of the Los Angeles Clippers will be able to help the team get up to the next level...namely, the top of the NBA.
I saw a clip of (Men's) NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressing his first major crisis since he replaced David Stern this past February:
"Donald Sterling...has been banned...for life."
The Los Angeles Clippers (the team Sterling bought in 1981, when the club still lived in San Diego) will have to find a new owner...as soon as possible.
You know what I say about that?
I say: "RIGHT ON!!!"
It's more than that hour-long conversation this 80-year-old billionaire had with his 29-year-old girlfriend, V. Stiviano. You know, where the real-estate magnate let the cat out of the bag...and demonstrated that he thought of his West Coast basketball team as a Southern plantation.
Sterling's desire that African Americans stay away from the Staples Center when the Clips are the home team (meaning keeping Basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson, among others, out of the building) was the icing on the cake.
Here's the rest of the cake:
Until just the last couple of seasons, the Clippers had been a laughingstock...courtesy of The West Coast Donald.
Today, the NBA is thirty teams strong. But in time for the 1970-71 season, the team owners okayed a triple expansion- to seventeen squads. (This at a time when we still had the ABA- at that time, a league with eleven clubs, four of which were six years away from joining the NBA in a partial merger.)
In time for that campaign, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Portland Trail Blazers debuted.
So did the Los Angeles Clippers.
But at first, they lived in Buffalo and were nicknamed the Braves.
*To make a long story short, the Blazers have made it to the league playoffs 30 times since entering the circuit. Portland became the first of the NBA's 1970-71 newcomers to win it all; under Jack Ramsay (a Basketball Hall of Famer who just passed away recently), the Trail Blazers- led by HOF'er Bill Walton- knocked down a heavily-favored Philadelphia 76ers squad, four games to two, in 1976-77...the year the partial merger took effect.
Rip City got to the league finals in 1989-90 (only to lose to the Detroit Pistons) and 1991-92 (when Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls stopped the Blazers), too.
*The Cavaliers got to the playoffs 18 times in club history...none of them since LeBron James left Cleveland. In fact, the Cavs finally got to the (Men's) NBA championship series in 2006-07...only the San Antonio Spurs- one of those former ABA contingents- proved to be too much for King James and Co.
*The Clippers are still looking for their first contact with the NBA finals.
Portland's got four division titles to its credit. Cleveland has topped its division three times.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Clippers are two-time division champs.
The 2012-13 and 2013-14 Pacific Division titles are the first ones for this franchise that Donald Sterling purchased 33 years ago. What's more, the Clips' 57-25 mark for this past regular season (one-time Boston Celtics head man Doc Rivers' first as the Clips' head coach) was the best in team history.
But even with Rivers' and predecessor Vinny Del Negro's efforts these last three seasons (and those of players like Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Jamal Crawford, and J.J. Redick), the team did better in Buffalo (259-397 from 1970-71 to 1977-78). Still, the Clips' two division titles enabled the club's Los Angeles history (915-1,497 since 1984-85, the team's first campaign in Tinseltown) to finally top its San Diego tenure (186-306 from 1978-79 to 1983-84).
In terms of winning percentage, that means .395 in Buffalo, .378 in Ess Dee, and .379 in El Lay.
Speaking of Buffalo...Ramsay was the first head coach to guide the franchise to postseason action (1973-74 to 1975-76). The bottom had dropped out for the club by the late 1970s, and its then owner, KFC magnate John Y. Brown, swapped clubs with the then owner of the Celtics, Irv Levin.
Levin moved the Braves to San Diego in time for the 1978-79 season...the team's first under the Clippers name.
That first season in California, the team went 43-39...and missed a playoff spot. The team's record got worse and worse with each passing season...until a disastrous 1981-82, when the Clippers limped home 17-65.
By then, Levin had sold the team to Sterling...who was itching to move the Clippers up Interstate 5.
I wasn't too impressed with Sterling's rationale for bringing his club to America's second largest city: "I always thought there should be a team in the Los Angeles Sports Arena." (The Los Angeles Lakers used the Sports Arena from 1960-61- their first campaign since leaving Minneapolis- to 1966-67. Then they switched to a facility in Englewood, the Staples Center predecessor called the Great Western Forum.)
While the Lakers became Showtime (thanks to a cast headed up by Johnson and fellow HOF'er Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), the Clippers couldn't draw flies, let alone people.
The Lakers (under Jerry Buss) became the textbook example of how to run an NBA franchise...and Sterling's questionable decisions (like running the team like a plantation) kept many of the Sports Arena's seats empty. And things stayed the same when both teams moved into the Staples Center at the start of the 1999-2000 campaign.
It wasn't enough that Sterling's antics killed men's pro basketball in San Diego.
The wasted draft choices, the questionable choices for head coaches (with a few exceptions- like Larry Brown), other questionable decisions (like the canning of Brown after the 1992-93 season, a rare playoff campaign for the Clippers), and so on and so forth...all of that made Sterling's club the NBA's laughingstock.
It's only since Paul left the Big Easy and came to the Big Orange that the Clippers have been able to fill up Staples...game after game, season after season.
This is the best this once-lowly franchise has been able to do. Ever.
And Donald Sterling's racist rants had put excrement in the punch bowl.
I'm so glad that Silver and the players in the league got together to throw out that punch bowl and get a new one...as well as a new punch recipe.
If you're going to buy a franchise in one of the most diverse sports leagues in the world, only to treat your team like a plantation, and you have plenty of contempt for not only your players and coaches, but your team's fans as well (and all of this at a time when your team's playing the best ball in the club's history)...you're barking up the wrong tree.
Here's hoping the next owner of the Los Angeles Clippers will be able to help the team get up to the next level...namely, the top of the NBA.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Sussex 235
It spent 19 weeks on this country's Billboard Pop chart and left the magazine's Rhythm & Blues chart (then known as "Hot Soul Singles") after spending 17 weeks on it.
On 6-24-1972, the song displaced Bobby Womack's "Woman's Gotta Have It" at the top of this country's R&B chart, staying that chart's leader for an entire week...and did even better as a pop song, making it to Number One on said survey on 7-8-1972, the day it kicked Neil Diamond's "Song Sung Blue" out of the Hot 100's driver's seat (and enjoyed a three-week run as the most popular single on Billboard's Pop list).
This song proved so durable that the 1980s dance/disco group Club Nouveau put its own spin on it (Warner Bros. 28430)...and in early 1987, Club Nouveau made it a smash all over again- bringing the number to the top spot on the Pop chart and to Number Two on the Billboard R&B survey.
It's been a staple at contemporary worship services ever since at churches everywhere.
It's the song its composer (Bill Withers, the man who had the original recording, on Sussex Records) is most associated with.
The ditty's message is timeless and universal.
And until very recently, I've had so many doubts about whether that timeless message has ever had any REAL meaning for me.
You see, at the time "Lean on Me" came out, I was still in my teenage years and fighting to survive life with an alcoholic mother...the exact same fight my younger brother was engaged in.
One thing about it, after being told by Mom that "I WISH YOU'D NEVER BEEN BORN!" I just couldn't count on coming to her for any sort of support for any reason.
I didn't dare seek support from any adult relative. (A cousin telling me I'd have to learn to cope with this or that situation was the closest I could come to receiving any support from kin at the time.)
Had better luck at school...but even then, I had to be very, very careful about who to tell my troubles to.
Lately, however, I've been giving "Lean on Me" another chance in my life...and fighting the temptation to go back to saying: "I don't need anybody!"
Way down inside, we DO need each other.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
America's Most Beautiful City
And I found out just how San Diego, CA lives up to its nickname: "America's Most Beautiful City."
Until 3-12-2014, I'd never, ever set foot on America's West Coast before.
National University's decision to show "The Entertainers" (that 2012 documentary about the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival) gave me all the more reason to come out to California.
To get to the Golden State, I caught a pair of Southwest Airlines Boeing 737s (I changed planes in Denver, CO).
On the way out to San Diego, I was nervous. After all, this was just the fifth flight I'd ever taken in my life. (My other plane trips happened in 1967, 1981, 2002, and 2012.)
And this 2014 flight was the first plane excursion that didn't involve work or going to see relatives.
Once I saw Michael Zimmer (one of the documentary's codirectors) at the San Diego International Airport, I started to finally relax.
I knew everything was going to be all right.
Michael rented a Chrysler 200 sedan and drove us out to our hotel, Courtyard (by Marriott) San Diego Central (8651 Spectrum Center Dr., 92123).
Great place to stay!
Not only did National pay for our hotel rooms and fly us out to America's most heavily-populated state...the school (Michael teaches a screenwriting class at National's Los Angeles campus) wined and dined us.
Matter of fact, a few hours after I had a chance to kick back in my room, we ate dinner at a restaurant on Park Blvd. [I've been racking my brains trying to remember the eatery's name. All I know is that its name has "Bellezza" in it...and that its menu features pizzas with people's first names as the pizzas' monikers (handles such as "Julieta").]
And we- Michael, girlfriend Tiara, his parents (Michael Sr. and Margaret), "Perfessor" Bill Edwards, and I- really loved that restaurant.
The pizzas themselves are fired up in a brick oven- the same way they were made when pizza came over to the United States around and after World War 1.
Speaking of fired up...I was really fired up about the next day, one that would culminate in the actual showing of "The Entertainers."
And after we ate breakfast at the hotel's restaurant, we went sightseeing...and we focused on Balboa Park.
Balboa Park, all by itself, makes Ess Dee earn the "America's Most Beautiful City" nickname. Lots of gardens (including a striking Japanese one)...lots of museums...and the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, home of America's largest outdoor pipe organ.
The 1915 installation (built by the Austin Organ Co.) used to be the world's largest...until one of the cities in Austria put up an outdoor pipe organ that passed up the San Diego one. (But now, the Spreckels Organ Society and San Diego's government leaders are out to give the lead back to the instrument that currently boasts 4,518 pipes with 73 ranks...with four manuals to control it all.)
We split the pre-movie sightseeing in half...and in the second half, Faye Ballard joined us. (A blizzard messed things up in the Chicago area, forcing flights out of O'Hare International Airport to get canceled...meaning Faye couldn't get a plane from Champaign, IL to Chi-Town that Wednesday. So she got a plane from Champaign to Dallas-Fort Worth, then changed planes in the Metroplex and came out to San Diego.)
Meanwhile, Four Arrows was in San Diego...at a teaching seminar across town.
Before we were all given the chance to get inside the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, the entourage splintered...and Faye and I got a chance to tour Balboa Park's Museum of Photographic Arts (the very venue where "The Entertainers" would be screened that night).
That week, MOPA exhibited a mind-blowing display of photos depicting political leaders in action, acts of civil disobedience, and virtually anything else that could've been ripped out of your local newspaper (or at least out of the Associated Press files).
Then, after touring Spreckels, we all made it inside MOPA, whose 200-seat auditorium was set up to show that documentary about the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival.
At that time, Four Arrows (an online college professor when he's not playing old-time piano) was en route from the seminar across town.
It was 7:00 PM (Pacific time)...and just as the film started rolling, Bill, Faye, Tiara, Margaret, the two Michaels, and I went out to eat (Bill: "We've all seen the movie before!").
So we ate at a restaurant in the middle of the park, The Prado.
Even if Omaha's got more eateries per capita than any other city in America, that's no reason to put San Diego's cuisine down. When it comes to restaurants, SD gives the Big O a run for its money...and The Prado is one of the many proofs.
At The Prado, they serve a half chicken as an entree...and that chicken rocked!
As things turned out, the 140 people who came to see "The Entertainers" found out the movie rocked, too.
They loved Bill, Faye, Four Arrows, Michael the Younger, and me. The Q-and-A session was a blast...and so was the concert Four Arrows, Faye, Bill, and I launched into after the Q-and-A.
Had a great time in San Diego...and if things turn out, I'm going back there as soon as possible.
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