Since the Maple Leaf Club has been mentioned, I'll throw in a curious little tidbit here that may be of interest to my fellow-Canuckians: In my younger days, I used to bumble through Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag on piano, and I always wondered about the name - it didn't seem very Southern-y. Then I found out that Joplin had taken the name from the club at which he played. But that just moved the question a degree: why did the club have that name? Eventually, I learned that it was founded by two black brothers from Toronto, who named their den of vice and iniquity and fine music in honour of their homeland.
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