Hell’s Coldest Day

This may come as a shock to many people but…. the classical music world is very strange. Case in point – this weekend, which found me the one place I was pretty sure I would never be again, and though it was a balmy 64 degrees in Minnesota it was certainly the coldest day in the history of hell.

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The Desolation of ……. HeDaCam

It’s that time of year, when good little boys and girls eagerly await the next installment from Middle Earth. I can’t wait for 25 years from now when at Christmas time I will take my grandkids to see Peter Jackson’s 29th installment from Tolkien’s universe – The Children of Hurin: Revenge of Mȋm. If you don’t get the reference don’t worry about it. That story also involves a dragon, and a desolation….

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What Biko Taught Me

Well, it’s happened again. There goes another bitter confrontation centered around the Minnesota Orchestra lockout. What I wonder, though, is how people could manage to have so disparate views about what has happened?

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Dear M.O. Patron: Screw You.

Dear Patron of the Minnesota Orchestra: We have a very important message to send to you at the beginning of the second (yes, that’s right, the 2nd!) lockout year, brought to you by sheer intransigence, uncommon arrogance, and a total disregard for ethics, morals, or anything else: screw you.

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The Cheap Seats

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I found ourselves down the street at the house of our neighbors, Richard and Ross. This is one of my favorite places to be since it usually involves good food, good wine, and a lot of laughter. This time, though, there was something else there – a good lawyer.

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Get Ready for Labor Day Madness

I start writing this blog on the anniversary of the March on Washington. I have a direct connection to this historic moment because my father, along with 250,000 of his closest friends, was on the National Mall 50 years ago. It was a seminal moment in his life, something he always spoke about with pride and reverence.

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The Fiscal CLEF!

I was fully prepared to leave the Minnesota Orchestra posts to my partner in Blog Bill, and Drew at Adaptistration, but something I read really ticked me off!…..this is about attitude….

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