The Entertainer

I remember going to sleep listening to the Jackson 5 Greatest Hits and stuff like that, and my grandparents listened to The Beatles and things like that, so.

But when I was about eight or nine, uh, there was a little bit of a ragtime revival in the States due to this movie that came out in the '70s called The Sting, where they used a lot of Scott Joplin songs, and, uh, so everyone was playing The Entertainer.

You know, the ragtime thing.

So I just loved the sound of that music and wanted to take piano lessons, even though I was kind of too small to, you know, reach the pedals or whatever.

Yeah, dude.

I, I said, [laughs] "I've been playing my whole life." And, uh, and then I, and he was like, "Oh, great, so you're gonna play this song, Scott Joplin's The Entertainer.

Like, uh, should be, you know, not too hard." And I was like, "Great."

Yeah.

And we hang up, and I immediately listen to the song.

[laughs]

And if it was any other director I would've called back right away and been like, "You know what, dude?"

Yeah.

It was, of course, the Jazz and Heritage Festival there that has a wonderful collection of not only jazz in various forms, but also folk music from Louisiana, which is very interesting to listen to.

And I've also been going to Sedalia, Missouri, which was Joplin's hometown when he wrote his famous pieces like Maple Leaf Rag, The Entertainer, and other pieces.

And they have an annual Scott Joplin Festival.

So I've played there three years in a row now.