"The Sting" was one of those vinyls that I begged for and got some long-ago Christmas because the music was so tasty. Years come and go, and palates change, but striking up a little Scott Joplin can always make me smile.

His music has aged so well and still caresses the ear so easily that it's hard to believe it was almost exactly 115 years ago -- in a spot not very far away from where I am right now -- that Scott Joplin began to introduce himself to the wider world by playing outside the midway of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, where (the story goes) his quieter music was often drowned out by John Phillip Sousa marches being performed by eight million piece brass bands.

Who knew it translated so well to guitar?

"The Entertainer" composed by Scott Joplin and played by Chet Atkins. In your face, Sousa!