June 6, 1992 at Sedalia, MO. My relationship with John Hancock had begun a decade before when he was a teenager and ragtime prodigy. We always got along ... his enthusiasm forgiving and overcoming my vulgar cynicisms. And a special bond grew between us stemming from things like smuggling him into bars while under-aged in order to hear and play with great ragtimers, acting as chauffeur for him so John could be where he needed to be and see what he needed to see, and staying up almost all of one night to compose a ragtime piece at Fran Ellison's house.
Here, now, a decade later, stood State Representative John Hancock, campaigning for Secretary of State of Missouri. I was carrying an old Zeiss Ikon for the large negative and just stood John up against a stucco building in a Sedalia alley and the whole photo became very Richard Avedonish. John, at this point, was a born again Christian, while I was still the unrepentant atheist I had always been ... so, once again, I was a disappointment to my friend. But John's ragtime performances still sparkled and continued to bring the house down. His ragtime compositions "Mississippi Motion" and "Dixon" will live forever.