The Last Hotel

Every time I drive by the Last Hotel in Saint Louis, I am reminded that my grandfather worked in that building for decades, when it was the home of International Shoe Co. It’s been a hotel for two years. How did it take me two years to get the word play in the name? The

From afar

I am no longer the music executive at Webster University. But for better or for worse, my fingers are all over various policies, endeavors, and outlooks, and will be for the next two or three years. So I took special joy in noticing the roster of students in last week’s opera scenes. Our recruiting has

Full weekend

As I write this Friday evening, I am facing a full weekend, perhaps one of the busiest ones I’ve had since the Spring 2021 semester. At the office at Webster, I have make-up lessons to teach (already in the second week of the semester!) and a rehearsal for a recital my students are giving next

Worth a reminder

My colleague D Self posted this years ago. I ran across it again this week. As many of my colleagues are at the state music teachers’ conference right now, I thought I’d share it again: https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/students_b_4422603 Once again, this article describes how I wish to be remembered when I am no more.

#TBT: McDonald’s

In 1987 and 1988, I worked for a McDonald’s franchise owner as his Director of Public Relations. Truth be told, I don’t know that I added anything to his bottom line. And after about 15 months, it was apparent that I needed a different job. But from my time at McDonald’s, a happy memory: We

Bat out of hell

NPR ran this story earlier this week. I took it all in, and loved the breakdown. https://www.npr.org/2022/01/24/1075383870/like-a-bat-out-of-hell And then on Tuesday, they ran an articles about “Don’t stop believin’.” https://www.npr.org/2022/01/25/1075624862/encore-dont-stop-believin-goes-on-and-on-because-we-need-it-to Must be ‘break down a song’ week at NPR!

Genius

I am finally a very stable genius. At least according to the New York Times, where yesterday I hit the top mark in the Spelling Bee game. By bedtime, I was at 120 points, but I have no idea how I missed some of these five-letter words that would have driven my score even higher.

At the office

Well, the church-gig office in my continuing “have fingers, will jingle for Jesus” string of gigs resumed yesterday. These are from Glendale Presbyterian Church in Glendale yesterday, where I noodled on the mighty 4-rank Quimby organ. One would never know I’ve dropped five pounds since the first of the year.

Attorney General

The news reports the last couple of days have told of the mind-numbing, attention-seeking, pander-to-his-basest-base lawsuits filed against school districts by our nitwit, Governor-appointed Missouri state Attorney General. I shan’t even speak his name. Here’s an update from the Saint Louis NPR affiliate:https://news.stlpublicradio.org/education/2022-01-21/missouris-attorney-general-files-anti-mask-lawsuits-against-school-districts This guy keeps dragging our tax dollars into losing causes:https://www.riverfronttimes.com/stlouis/hartmann-will-missouri-taxpayers-ever-tire-of-losing-other-peoples-lawsuits/Content?oid=35758471 What a

Spelling Bee

Over the last year, I have gotten hooked on the New York Times daily game feature Spelling Bee. In this on-line game, you must use the center letter in each word you find, and words must have a minimum of four letters. You shoot for the panagram as well. My daily goal is to into