Tracy Doyle:  

covering the city of Marengo (a thriving metropolis of about 4,000 people), which happens to be the birthplace of composer Egbert Van Alstyne. I was avidly collecting ragtime sheet music at the time an became intrigued by him. I have been researching him since the mid-'90s. My record collecting has been ancillary to my sheet music collecting. I also have more than a few piano rolls. In 1995 I met my significant other, Richard (Dick) Zimmerman, and to make a long story short I quit my job, sold the farm (I also bred quarter horses and ran a carriage company), moved to Grass Valley, California and fully dedicated myself to researching ragtime (and Egbert and my genealogy) and helping Dick manufacture magical effects (yes, he's also a top-notch magician and his illusions are being used by famous magicians all over the world). I wrote a lot for The Rag Times. My parents' health issues motivated us to move back to Illinois in 2001. We now reside just outside of Rockford. In April, 2012 I bought a yarn store (I'm also an expert knitter!) and I've been pretty much married to the business ever since. I still manage to dig into my favorite research subjects (especially Egbert), and I opine freely on my belief in individual freedom. I'm opinionated, I question authority and am proud to not be a product of our American so-called "educational" system. I have too many interests to be healthy. I'm rarely intimidated and seldom afraid to speak my mind, which at times gets me into trouble. I'm also direct, which some people find rude or offensive, which I don't often mean to be. Truly, I feel malice toward none. Now for the shocking bits: I'm a libertarian-leaning right-winger and former Tea Party organizer. I listen to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Mark Levin. I love to engage in intelligent discussion of political issues, but I find the intelligent discussion all too rare as I frequently become the subject of an ad hominem attack in the process. I don't play that game and I do not suffer insults gladly.".