Choral Concert at Peru State College

On Sunday, February 20, the Peru State College Concert Choir, the Madrigal Singers, and the Misty Blues entertained a large and enthusiastic crowd in the Peru State Theater.

You will enjoy watching the slide show from all three performances.   As always, you can download individual photographs or the entire album, with one simple click.

The first video features the Concert Choir singing two pieces,  "Hallelujah, Amen" and "Gloria in Excelsis Deo."

I enjoy a great deal the second video, "The Kerry Dance," a wonderful Irish number that puts me in mind of a departed and beloved friend, Dr. Toney McCrann.  He would have enjoyed this piece a great deal.

 

After the Concert Choir left the stage, the Madrigal Singers entertained.  

This video from the performance includes three numbers, "O occhi, Manza mia" ("O eyes of my beloved"), "There Was An Old Man," and "O Mistress Mine."

And as always, Peru State College's Misty Blues brought the concert to a conclusion with their energetic dance and song.

For this show, I posted two videos.  The first features "Blue Skies" and "Bye Bye Blackbird," two new numbers performed live for the first time by the group.  


In the second video, the Misty Blues perform the concluding moments of "Celebration" and the complete "Ease on Down the Road" from The Wiz.


I hope that you enjoy the videos and the photographs from this exciting concert.

Soul Specimen at Cotty's..

Soul Specimen put on quite a show at Cotty's in Peru on Friday, 18 February. 

As the photographs collected indicate, everyone enjoyed the music, which features some special songs.

I added three videos to the growing You Tube collection of Soul Specimen numbers.  Two of the videos feature Laura Fortney in her debut as lead vocalist.

In this number, Laura belts out "White Rabbit," a favorite song from Jefferson Airplane's Gracie Slick.  And she also sang another familiar song, the title of which I will add later.   I think you will enjoy both numbers.

 And the other video captures John Hnida singing a Dylan song, "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues."

As I noted previously, we all enjoyed the good music and the excellent fellowship that occurs when this band plays.

Enjoy the music and the pictures.

Marat and Sade and the Peru State Theater Company

Thursday, February 10, through Sunday, February 13, the Peru State Theater company performed for enthusiastic crowds Peter Weiss' Marat and Sade.

I attended the play on opening night and took a series of photographs after the compelling performance by Peru State College students.  As always, feel free to download images that appeal to you.

In addition, I filmed a few scenes from Marat and Sade on two separate videos posted in HD on You Tube.  Part One covers action until the intermission,  and Part Two includes material leading to the play's conclusion.

You will find, I think, that reading about this play--that the wonderful Peter Brook directed in 1964--will fascinate you and help you appreciate what everyone connected with the Peru State Theater Company achieved in their depiction of this demanding work.

NSEA-HEA Advocacy Conference in Kearney and More

Higher Education Advocacy Conference  in Kearney, Higher Education Gathering in Los Angeles, and NEA in Washington, DC

 

 This Friday, February 11,  I drove to Kearney for this year's Higher Education Advocacy Conference sponsored by the Nebraska State Educational Association and the Higher Education Academy held at the University of Nebraska-Kearney.

The conference got off on a positive note Friday night when Al Koontz, NSEA Assistant Director of Communications Tools and Strategies, Kristi Capek, NSEA Graphic Artist/Web Master, and Mary Goebel-Lundholm, SCEA President, talked with a group of higher-education leaders from across the state about a variety of communications' topics, including newsletters and blogs.

As the collection of nearly a hundred photographs from the gathering indicate, the agenda drew an excellent number of people to UNK for this annual and  informative group of sessions on a variety of topics, from Greg Gascon's discussion about "Finding the Money--Analyzing Governing Board Audits, Budgets and Financial Data" to "Using Comparability Data to Bargain Your Next Contract."  

I served on the panel about comparability data, and can attest to the fact that despite the often dry-sounding titles, the sessions presented important information.  And I attended for a while each of the sessions to get photographs and can attest to the gathering's success.

Those interested in collective bargaining in Nebraska will find of special interest the fifteen-minute video I made of Mark McGuire's discussion of the history of the Commission of Industrial Relations and the Special Master in the state.

National Plan for Higher Education

On 21 January, I flew to Los Angeles for a one-day gathering of Higher Education leaders to discuss the present state of higher education in the United States and to lay foundations for a National Plan for Higher Education.  

 

You can read about this engaging meeting of over seventy people on the Huffington Post.  I posted photographs from the meeting which include some shots of an excursion to Manhattan Beach.

I enjoyed meeting concerned higher-education people from all over the country and look forward to hearing more from them.  In addition, when my plane took off from Kansas City, the thermometer registered 5 degrees F; when I got off the jet in Los Angeles, 75-degrees and sun welcomed me.  So getting to the beach Saturday evening pleased me a great deal.

 National Education Association Bargaining Seminar

And in early August of 2010, the National Education Association invited me to speak about union organization and contract negotiation at an annual meeting in Washington, DC. 

  
Sixteen states, from Idaho to Maine, sent four representatives each,  including four members of the NEA administration here in Nebraska,  so I got a chance to talk with folks from all over the country about a variety of matters concerning K-16 Education in the United States.

As the collected photographs underscore, quite a few people attended.  

And  I enjoyed my interactions with all the people and the chance to walk around Washington, DC, for the first time, so the photographs from this long walk remain special to me.

Since I first saw the Lincoln Memorial in The Day The Earth Stood Still and the Washington Monument in Earth Vs the Flying Saucers, I have wanted to visit these places.  The trip provided me this opportunity.

Jane Henry Recital

 

After one cancellation last week, Jane Henry finally got the opportunity to perform for friends, teachers, and a crowd of others in the audience Sunday afternoon on January 30 in the College Theater.

Jane performed a wonderful variety of songs for her Senior Recital.  The video features songs from Brahms, Paul Bowles, and Cole Porter--I kept the video under fifteen minutes to ensure high HD quality on You Tube.

And as the collection of photographs from the afternoon fun suggests, all, including Jane especially, enjoyed the hour-long performance.