Portland Ragtime Society new monthly meeting place

From the Elevated Coffee website, please note the new change of venue for the monthly meeting of the Portland Ragtime Society:

The Portland Ragtime Society conducts their monthly meetings at Elevated Coffee every first Sunday of the month

Everyone is welcome to participate.

DATE: Every first Sunday of the month

TIME: 3:00-6:00

LOCATION: Elevated Coffee, 5261 NE M. L. King Jr. Blvd, Portland, OR 97211 (see map)

Elevated Coffee is located in the Vanport Square, one block south of Killingsworth, and across the street from the Blazers Boys & Girls Club.

Map of location.

Come one, come all. I'll be there once again for sure and have fun with their new, white baby grand piano at Elevated Coffee.

A Bag of Rags

Two weeks to go til I go to the next monthly Portland Ragtime Society get together and I'm thinking about trying "A Bag of Rags" piece by W.R. MacKanlass. I was looking at the piece today and played my fingers on my kitchen table just to get a feel of it. A doable piece to do in a short time. Maybe memorize it by then? Dunno since I continue to practice other pieces such as Kitten on the Keys which I'm improving slowly. Maybe in time for the October meet up instead? Plus I really like the toe tappin sound of A Bag of Rags piece.

Here's the YouTube version. And here's the free music sheet A Bag of Rags you can download from.



I may even do Humoresque of a Little Dog by Ron O'Dell. A new piece but more modern rag piece. The tune came from a Nintento role-playing series called "Mother" which is the Japanese title but the English title is "EarthBound." It was composed by Hirokazu Tanaka. The piano sheets can be downloaded here. Though I don't know if I will be ready by then since I'll be wanting to do A Bag of Rags first while I have time. We'll see.




And here's the original Humoresque of a Little Dog "Mother Earth" just to get the idea of what it sounds like.



And it has the same bit of rag heard in a 1928 popular guitar ragtime piece called "Dallas Rag."

Portland Ragtime Society Meetup

Today I met up with Mark Nuismer and another older gentleman named Kurt (sorry, didn't get the last name!) at their monthly Portland Ragtime Society get together. Although I arrived late at the It's a Beautiful Pizza restaurant where the ragtime piano playing was taking place. It was well past 2 PM. At least they were happy to see that there a 3rd player show up since it was only between the two of them on the piano for four hours (from 2 to 6 pm). Next time I'll show up on time.

(Please note there has been a change in venue since last year. Visit my updated blog on the new monthly meeting location).



Mark Nuismer plays a ragtime piece.


Mark in the background. Front of restaurant (It's a Beautiful Pizza)looking from the front to back. Psychedelic wall coverings and peace signs (in another room).

The piano I played on was quite old (didn't even look what brand it was) but I'm sure it was or used to be a player piano along with some loose keys, some were exposed down to the rough wood, and some of the white keys were missing, too. It was a bit different playing that piano with such a crappy keyboard condition, though it did carry an alright tune for its age. I am so used to a piano keyboard that's smooth with all the black and white colors in place, nicely laminated. One piece of a white key covering actually flew off when I played Black and White Rag. I heard a "click" sound and then suddenly a white piece from a white keyboard flies off. It startled me enough to ruin my concentration. I introduced my piano pieces through a microphone to a listening audience. And did some short commentaries just to keep things moving. All in all I wasn't that nervous to begin with and it was enjoyable. No picture of me playing it. I completely forgot about that one. Next time, for sure, I'll put one up.

I played one new ragtime piece that neither Mark nor Kurt heard of and that was K.K. Ragtime. Kurt even asked about it and I told him where he can get an electronic copy of it. Mark laughed when I explained to him how KK Ragtime came from a tune in a Nintendo game called Animal Crossing.

Afterwards Mark told me about another place in Portland where there is an open-mic night for musicians tomorrow and he invited me to join him and play some ragtime tunes. I can't go since my mother will fly up to visit me and then her sister in The Dalles, Oregon. Told him to keep me in touch if he wants me to join him in on those open-mic night. But here's the good news. They split up the money from the tip jar and I got $10. Whoo hoo! Ok. Not that much but at least this opportunity allows me to play before an audience. Meanwhile, Sept 6 will be the next Portland Ragtime Society get together.

July 5 - A Ragtime Piano Show in Portland

Mark Nuismer - founder of Portland Ragtime Society
Picture from The Oregonian in article on the July
2, 2008 get together.

Every first Sunday of the month the Portland Ragtime Society puts on a "show" where members play ragtime pieces for the public at the "It's a Beautiful Pizza" place on 3342 SE Belmont, Portland from 2 to 6 PM. And it's open mic as well. There is a Behr Brothers upright from the 1890's and it's a little rickety but it can play a good tune. Members of PRS may bring their own musical instruments as well. Doesn't matter as long as it's ragtime.

There are about 130 members in Portland Ragtime Society. Last year on the 4th of July the pizza place was packed. They even ran out of chairs. With warm and dry weather during the month of July you can expect more people flocking to the pizza place just to hear the intoxicating tunes of ragtime. Who couldn't resist to take a spell and grab a tune or two?

But alas, I will not be there. I have plans to be up in Seattle with my in-laws and spend a couple of days with them on their new 44-foot long yacht. But I expect to show up in Portland for the ragtime montly get together on August 5, Sunday, and introduce myself to everybody during open mic and give ragtime a whirl on that old rickety piano.

The get together is on the first Sunday of each month from 2 to 6 PM located at the "It's a Beautiful Pizza" place on 3342 SE Belmont, Portland. Click here to get map directions.

Be there or be square. It'll be fun. I promise.

The Portland Ragtime Society

Well, I finally found one close to my home in Battle Ground, Washington where there's a monthly ragtime get-together located in Portland. It's the Portland Ragtime Society.

The Portland Ragtime Socieity meets on the first Sunday of every month at It's a Beautiful Pizza Come and play and/or listen and LIVE!! All instruments welcome. We were established in Jan. 2006, with Mark as our founder and president. We have no dues, no newsletter, no website and no other officers YET.

The get together is on the first Sunday of each month from 2 to 6 PM at the It's a Beautiful Pizza place on 3342 SE Belmont, Portland. (Please note there has been a change in venue since last year. Visit my updated blog on the new monthly meeting location).

I came across this in a last year's Portland review article "Live Music Preview: Portland Ragtimie Society" about the founder, Mark Nuismer, on how he discovered ragtime as a teenager hearing Maple Leaf Rag for the first time. Ragtime, as you will discover, has an intoxicating effect.