OCRS 2014 Flyer PDF

OCRS – the Orange County Ragtime Society – was formed in November, 2001, due to popular demand for local live ragtime performance following the second annual RagFest in October, 2001. Founder Eric Marchese assembled a schedule of Saturday afternoon meetings at venues such as Steamers Jazz Club, Mo’s Fullerton Music Center, Rutabegorz Restaurant and Rockin’ Taco Cantina.

OCRS musicales typically start at 1 p.m. and wind up at 4:30 p.m. and feature terrific pianists, ragtime musicians and ragtime vocalists from all over Southern California playing ragtime and ragtime-related music. The 2012 OCRS schedule features eight such performances. All eight are being held at Steamers Jazz Club & Cafe in downtown Fullerton.

The performances allow Southern Californians to hear some of the best in vintage and contemporary ragtime music. There is no cover charge or admission price required and no reservations are needed. In addition, ragtime fans can enjoy a wide variety of food and beverages from Steamers’ menu.

Steamers is located at 138 W. Commonwealth Ave. in downtown Fullerton a block west of Harbor and four blocks south of Chapman Ave., with plenty of free street and lot parking all around. For more detailed information on OCRS, contact Eric Marchese at 714-836-1104 or emarchesewriter@gmail.com.

OCRS 2013 schedule dowloadable printable PDF

Nixon Library performance will be a RagFest preview

You’re invited to join us on Sunday, October 2, for a special performance of ragtime piano at the Nixon Library. This 90-minute concert is a preview of RagFest 2016, which happens in downtown Fullerton on October 15. Featured performers include Andrew Barrett, Shirley Case, Vincent Johnson, Eric Marchese, Paul Orsi and Ryan Wishner. Each will present a brief set of outstanding piano rags, along with some interesting and vital commentary about each selection, its composer and its history. As a bonus, we’ll have flyers with more details about RagFest as well as some special discount coupons that you’ll be able to use at the door when you arrive at our festival.
When: Sunday, October 2, 2016, from 2 to 3:30 p.m.
Where: Nixon Library auditorium, Nixon Presidential Library, 18001 Yorba Linda Blvd., Yorba Linda
Cost: Free of charge
For more information: Eric Marchese, 714-836-1104 or emarchesewriter@gmail.com

It’s once again time to ‘Listen to That Lamb’!!

It’s true – last year’s concert at Bradford House focusing on the music of ragtime composer Joseph F. Lamb was so popular, we’re bringing it back again, giving local ragtime fans a chance to once again “Listen to that Lamb”!
Most ragtime fans know that Lamb occupies a crucial place in the music’s history – a white, east-coast self-taught composer who idolized the works of Scott Joplin, whose output was greater than the master, and for whom ragtime was an avocation and a labor of love. His pieces include songs, waltzes and, of course, piano rags – but he wrote in many different ragtime styles beyond the ‘Classic’ ragtime of Joplin. Lamb was a prolific composer, and several of the rags submitted to Mills Music for publication, but unpublished and presumed lost for all time, surfaced in recent years and were featured by us last year.
This year’s roster of Lamb interpreters includes Paul Orsi, Doug Haise, Andrew Barrett, Shirley Case, Ryan Wishner, Eric Marchese and Bob Pinsker. The selections will include pieces published by John Stark between 1908 and 1919; pieces from the 1964 folio “Ragtime Treasures”; numerous pieces later transcribed for piano; and some of the “lost” Lamb rags from the Mills files.
When: Saturday, September 17, 2016, from 2 to 4:30 p.m.
Where: Bradford House, 136 E. Palm Circle, Placentia
Cost: Free of charge, but we will request donations for the Placentia Founders Society and to help fund this year’s festival, RagFest 2016
For more information: Eric Marchese, 714-836-1104 or emarchesewriter@gmail.com