Tracy Doyle, former resident of Marengo, Illinois (birthplace of composer Egbert Van Alstyne) took a huge risk in producing the June 26-28, 1998 "first ever" Egbert Van Alstyne Ragtime Festival with venues in not one, but three historic rural communities -- Marengo, Woodstock, and Union, Illinois, but the results were tremendously gratifying.

Locals disguised as comic strip villains for Woodstock's annual Dick Tracy Days (Dick Tracy's creator was born in Woodstock); students researching term papers at the McHenry County Historical Society in Union; Marengoans arriving to picnic at their annual pre-July 4 Sunday in the Park suddenly found themselves tapping their toes to some delightful, but unfamiliar, music, much of it composed by one of their own, Egbert Van Alstyne (a celebrity they had never heard of before, although, yes, they knew his "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree").

Once the townsfolk learned they could attend concerts full of this wonderful stuff at the Woodstock Opera House, they began to line up for tickets. Soon they were crowding around the performers' sales tables and cramming into the Pub on the Square for the after-hours festivities, looking just as addicted to ragtime as the rest of us.

Recognizing that this "first ever" Egbert Van Alstyne Festival might suffer from lack of local publicity, Doyle cleverly arranged to have "Ragtime" Bob Darch playing all day and night at Woodstock's popular Pub-on-the-Square restaurant starting Wednesday prior to the Festival. At first a group of local ladies (who apparently met regularly at the pub for lunch) asked Darch if he could please play a little softer, but by day's end, they were clandestinely tapping their feet and wiggling in their seats. By Thursday the Pub staff was so overloaded with orders, their regular pianist (and local attorney) was getting his tips by waiting tables! "Ragtime" Bob Darch, as evidenced by his performances at this year's Scott Joplin Festival in Sedalia, was in special form, playing lots of new material, including especially delightful renditions of such Egbert Van Alstyne compositions as "Navajo" and the raggy intermezzo, "Piccolo."

In addition to Darch , the Festival line-up included California's Richard Zimmerman, Sue Keller (sporting her wedding band and new name -- Mrs. Howard Vigorita of Chicago), Detroit's Mike Montgomery, Missouri's Etcetera String Band, Indiana's Elite Syncopators, plus Ms Doyle, herself, as Mistress of Ceremonies and stand-in vocalist. Every presentation was top-notch, as suitably proven by receipts at the sales tables, very effectively run by Marilyn and Ralph Andresen, but "Ragtime" Bob Darch was the major star of the Festival.

Attendees from various parts of the country began arriving Thursday for the "All Star Evening of Ragtime with Bob Darch and Friends" and Friday for the "Ragtime Reunion Luncheon" both held in Woodstock at the Pub on the Square. Participants were greeted with packets that included Doyle's very informative 20-page Festival brochure complete with a biographical sketch on Van Alstyne and a map and instructions for touring Marengo to locate his probable birth home and other family and boyhood sites.

The first of three symposia began Friday afternoon at the refreshingly air-conditioned McHenry County Historical Society Museum in Union where Mike Montgomery and yours truly gave a presentation on the Jerome Remick Music Co. where Van Alstyne worked as a key staff composer for most of his professional life.

Beginning with this symposium, it soon became apparent that all performers had been thinking along similar lines when preparing for this event. Focusing on the life and times of Egbert Van Alstyne, another underlying theme that unified all our presentations and created a unique Ragtime weekend filled with new historical insights and a wonderful array of rarely played ragtime compositions was the importance of Chicago in the development and spread of ragtime.

Naturally, Zimmerman was way ahead of us in making this discovery. On Saturday, following Tracy Doyle's well documented and enjoyable symposium on "Egbert Van Alstyne, American Composer," Zimmerman unveiled some amazing data on "The Chicago Connection," creating an incredibly convincing case for proclaiming Chicago the "First City of Ragtime."

Friday evening's concert in the beautifully restored Woodstock Opera House was dedicated to the memory of Egbert Van Alstyne. It began with a recording of a piano roll of Van Alstyne's "Jamaica Jinjer," (1912) played by the composer himself. Zimmerman's opening set included "Come On Along," one of Van Alstyne's first fox trots (1915); a wild medley of Van Alstyne's forgotten song successes, the titles of which were not provided, and a well received medley of ragtime blues published or composed IN CHICAGO.

After entertaining all day for the Pub's lunch and cocktail crowd, Darch had the unenvied responsibility of following Richard Zimmerman's amazing opening set at the Friday and Saturday evening concerts. Undaunted, Darch appeared on stage just being himself, winning over the audience with his down-home humor and his gentle, low-key, Midwestern charm, not to mention his selection of audience-pleasing and amusing songs like "Big Chested Woman," brought ragtime home to the uninitiated. This was music they recognized from some beer joint somewhere in their past. The lyrics were funny, the jokes corny, and, well, if this is what ragtime is all about, the audience was all for it. The cheers began and after that, the townsfolk seemed well prepared for whatever was to follow.

Darch also threw in a few familiar pieces like Euday Bowman's "12th Street Rag," plus an amusing parody of Lucien Denni's "Oceana Roll" -- where due to the sea-sick passengers, "the fishes got their wishes and a lot of fancy dishes," wrapping up with "That Teasin' Rag" and "Old Black Crow" (with audience participation) composed by Joe Jordan, famed orchestra leader and musical director of the Pekin Theatre IN CHICAGO.

The Elite Syncopators followed with two Percy Wenrich tunes, "Cotton Babes" and "Red Rose Rag," sung by washboard wizard, Mike Schwimmer. Though explaining that Wenrich was known as the "Joplin Kid" from Joplin, Missouri, they were quick to point out that Wenrich was enrolled in the Chicago Musical College and got his musical start IN CHICAGO. They also played a truly kicky Van Alstyne rag called "Easy Pickins'." Thanks to pianist Terry Parrish, the light, melodious themes of this rag were well brought out; noticeably folksy, but quite different from the Missouri variety, most likely because they were created IN CHICAGO.

Following intermission, Mike Montgomery, as sing-along maestro, inspired a highly enthusiastic, though slightly off-key, full audience rendering of Van Alstyne's biggest hits: "Pretty Baby," "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree," and "Memories."

Mrs. Howard Vigorita (AKA: Sue Keller) appeared next with a thrilling interpretation of Charlie Johnson's "Crazy Bone Rag" and Stanley Murray's "Hawaiian Blues" both of which, she explained, were published by Forster IN (her new home town) CHICAGO. Mrs. Vigorita truly deserved a prize for having learned more Van Alstyne rags than anyone else for this program. She presented "Ragtime Chimes," his 1900 composition (published by Rossiter IN CHICAGO) which first introduced the chime effect that because a popular ragtime cliché. She also sang and played "That Slippery Slide Trombone" (1913, Harry Williams lyrics); "That Devil's Rag" (1913, with Ed Madden lyrics predicting the hellish destiny of all ragtime composers -- especially those FROM CHICAGO), and accompanied Bob Ault of the Etcetera String Band in a basso profundo rendering of the popular "Memories" (1915, lyrics by Gus Kahn OF CHICAGO).

At this point, producer Tracy Doyle joined Ault in a vocal duet of Van Alstyne's "I'm Afraid to Come Home in the Dark." In the last verse, she turned the tables on her partner by impersonating a highly inebriated wife, who like the husband, used the song's title as her excuse for returning home after dawn.

This set the audience up for the Etcetera String Band's performance, truly enhanced by the superb acoustic resonance of Woodstock's well designed Opera House. Their performance of E. J. Stark's arrangement of "Maple Leaf Rag" for mandolins and guitar was one of the outstanding "hits" of the evening. In addition to an inspired presentation of the Haitian "La Duceur" from their unique CD "Bonne Humeur," the Etcetera String Band played a dazzling rendition of the rare "Hu-la Hu-la Cakewalk" (1899) and "Honey Rag Two-Step" (1909) both composed by Van Alstyne.

The townsfolk would have been clearly satisfied had this been the end of the program, but a few grand finale pieces sweetened what was already a rich ragtime delight. First, Sue Vigorita-Keller and Richard Zimmerman tore up the piano with a four-hand rendition of Van Alstyne's challenging "Tangomania" (1914) which Zimmerman had created from an arranged piano roll and orchestration. Not a flute or piccolo or trombone was missing from the notes that erupted from their flying fingers. The audience stood up to applaud for that one.

Appropriately, Doyle then took the opportunity to introduce her special guests from Michigan, Mrs. Alice Van Alstyne, the composer's daughter-in-law, and her son (Van Alstyne's grandson) and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. David Van Alstyne. By now, thoroughly proud of their home-town-boy-turned-famous-composer, the locals were craning their necks to get a glimpse of the Van Alstyne kin, unaware that they were to be further treated with the premier of Tracy Doyle's quartet arrangement of Van Alstyne's "Sailing Away on the Henry Clay" (1903). This was performed with wonderful gusto in four-part harmony by Doyle, Vigorita-Keller, Ault, and Schwimmer to Zimmerman's accompaniment at the piano. (Keller, by the way, deserves special praise for singing with perfection a couple of difficult flatted fifths that found their way into the alto's part. Doyle paid for this mistake, however, by having to execute that interval more than once in her own part.)

After the concert, some of the audience and all of the performers hopped across the town square to the afterhours at The Pub, where yet another treat lay in store. The young Chicago ragtime composer, Reginald Robinson, had come to the concert, then graced the guests with an impromptu afterhours performance.

Had the local publicity folks understood what a ragtime concert meant, one suspects they would have announced Friday's event in the paper earlier than Friday morning and the audience would have been larger. However, Friday's concert was so well received that word quickly spread throughout the county (one advantage of small-town living) and the attendance nearly tripled for Saturday's "Tribute to Chicago Ragtime Concert" at the Opera House .

Presented by the same line-up of performers, the Saturday concert provided a completely different and marvelous ragtime menu. The audience was well prepared and anticipated each act with great enthusiasm, many, by now, having heard the phrase "IN CHICAGO" countless times and feeling well informed about Chicago's ragtime "firsts" having attended the symposiums.

Richard Zimmerman opened this salute to Chicago ragtime with William Krell's "Mississippi Rag," played so well that you really heard that brass band marching in and out, completely forgetting it was Zimmerman doing this at the piano. He also presented an incredible piano rendition of Harry Alford's "Misery Rag," available only in orchestral form, his fingers handling just about every instrument found on the score, with a few extras thrown in for good measure. Another thrill was Zimmerman's interpretation of "Hunting the Ball Rag" (by Chicago QRS roll artist and arranger, Max Kortlander, 1922). This sounded more like a four-handed piano roll than an actual two-handed live performance, but seeing was believing.

Once again, "Ragtime" Bob Darch charmed the audience with medleys of familiar ragtime-era standards, such as "Ma, She's Makin' Eyes at Me," and had everybody singing along to "Moonlight Bay," and laughing till tears filled their eyes over "I Used to Call Her Baby." Little wonder that Darch was the first to achieve a total sell-out at the sales tables.

The Etcetera String Band was a highlight in itself. Opening with "Georgia Jingles" (Wenrich, 1908, published IN CHICAGO), followed by a medley of Osmond Dudley [sp?] Trio string band arrangements including the "St. Louis Tickle" (Bennett, 1904, published by Kremer, IN CHICAGO), they thrilled us all with their performance of a seldom-heard mandolin club arrangement of "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin (after announcing when Joplin lived IN CHICAGO).

Terry Parrish and Mike Montgomery teamed up to demonstrate a popular rhythm found in many Chicago rags, rattling off female names like Mary Lou and Nancy Ann to help the audience grasp the beat. They followed their explanation with a rousing medley of Chicago rag tunes dedicated to all the women with two-part names in the audience.

Mrs. [Sue Keller] Vigorita, assisted by Schwimmer on the washboard, came back with even more Egbert Van Alstyne tunes, including the novel "Hold Up Rag," and "Honolulu Rag." She had her listeners out of their seats with her stunning combo of Berlin's "I Love a Piano" and Joseph C. Northup's "Cannon Ball Rag."

The Elite Syncopators kept things rolling with their special brand of ragtime interpretation, captivating the audience with their renditions of George Cobb's "Russian Rag," (1912, Rossiter OF CHICAGO) and "Oh! Willie, Play That Thing" (1952 by Bill Krenz, of "Breakfast Club" radio fame, but also a pianist and renowned orchestra leader IN CHICAGO).

Everyone came back on stage for a spectacular grand finale -- the performance of F. Henri Klickman's "Knock Out Drops" based on the orchestration. This was played by Zimmerman and Vigorita-Keller at the piano accompanied by members of the Etcetera String Band and the Elite Syncopators. The full cast then invited the crowd to join in for singing "Chicago." Demanding an encore, the audience received a jolly repeat of Doyle's quartet arrangement of "Sailin' Away on the Henry Clay."

The response to Saturday's program was simply glorious -- ample indication that holding a theme-based ragtime festival is an idea worth repeating. Loyal ragtime enthusiasts were delighted to hear rarely played and, in some cases, totally unfamiliar material, but even more exciting was the number of new "ragtime converts" this Festival created.

But it didn't end there.

Sunday afternoon, June 28, the performers were back on stage, this time outdoors in the muggy heat, entertaining a brand new crowd of picnickers at Marengo's annual pre-4th of July "Sunday in the Park" village picnic, sponsored by Marengo's Summer With The Arts organization. From 2:30 to 5:30 all of the above and more was played and amplified in all four directions by our dedicated ragtime crew, much to the delight of the uninitiated and those who, after Saturday evening, simply had to hear more.

Tracy Doyle, and her line-up of amazing performers, deserve great praise for the number of new ragtime aficionados created by this wonderfully produced event. By audience and community demand, Doyle must now commit to a "second ever" Egbert Van Alstyne Ragtime Festival next year, so stay tuned and make it a "must." You will truly enjoy the visit to Marengo, Union, Woodstock, and other neighboring towns. They are superbly kept, amazingly clean, and filled with unique turn-of-the century homes and buildings, plus antique shops in abundance.

p.s. For a glimpse of Illinois' historic Woodstock (albeit in winter garb), rent "Ground Hog Day," an amusing comedy that was filmed in this lovely town.