Monday, February 14, 2022

Monday, 2/14/2022

 2022 mileage: 1067.4

This afternoon, as our cold persists (20° mid-afternoon!), I gladly climbed on the stationary bike once more. I enjoyed a virtual ride on a route whose location was not given, but it was a broad, nice road, moderately curvy and hilly, with lovely sunshine.

While I rode, I enjoyed some fun music. Recently I was pleased to read an article online about a recent NPR (National Public Radio) piece on the Scott Joplin ragtime classic The Entertainer, which was featured in the 1973 movie The Sting and led the way to a great rebirth of interest in ragtime. Here is a recording of the piece, which will be quite familiar to folks my age.

The Entertainer

The article also includes a link to a Spotify playlist of numerous versions of the song—many for keyboard, of course, but also many for strings (both bowed and plucked), woodwinds, and brass. It was great fun to experience this wide variety. Here, for instance, is a sparkling Entertainer Rag played by the virtuoso small ensemble Canadian Brass:

Canadian Brass - Entertainer Rag

And here is guitarist Chet Arkins playing it:

Chet Atkins - The Entertainer

Finally, there is this creative and challenging version by jazz pianist Jacob Koller

Jacob Koller - The Entertainer

I settled for a shorter ride than I had originally intended, doing 15.9 miles in 1:02.

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Saturday, 12/31/2022

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