is not that the good ones are all taken (as the Wall Street Journal would have you believe); it’s that there are too few good ones to begin with. These may be two ways of saying more or less the same thing. But since I happen to be stuck in the middle of this task myself, it has brought home just how hard the job is.
The challenge here is to come up with a name that evokes a feeling without being too literal. The band in question, which makes its debut March 18, 8pm, at Barbès in Brooklyn, will play my arrangements of classic ragtime. The sound will not be historically authentic—in other words, not Victorian or four-square. Instead, imagine a collision between Scott Joplin and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Another inspiration is Brave Combo, which began life as a punk polka band.
To be avoided at all costs: puns, which are essentially acts of violence against language. This is why the word rag must not appear in any shape or form. I toyed briefly with Cakewalk, but there is music software with that name, and who needs a lawsuit?
Titles by Scott Joplin are an obvious start. Perhaps too obvious? We may end up being Dean Olsher and the Easy Winners. But then I also love Euphonic Sounds. I may be the only person who does. One friend has recommended another Joplin tune: The Strenuous Life. If you come up with something better I promise a suitable reward.
How about "the Red Back Books", "The Entertainers", "Treemonisha", or if you really want to get down and gritty, "Tertiary Syphillis".
Your last suggestion does have a nice trochaic lilt to it. I'm putting it into contention. Thanks!