I am … unhindered by talent

What a crazy couple of weeks! First we had the insanity of the Mutant Variety Show, which has already been discussed at some length here. Above we have a cool photo (courtesy of Joey Iverson!) of “Looking for my leopard”, with Sub-Evil conducting our all-girl boy chorus of Huck Brock (L) and John Hanson (R). You gotta love Sub-Evil’s excellent pink jacket, and that top hat he’s wearing is a silk top hat from the 1920’s, which both I and my grandfather were married in. (I’m wearing the jacket from that same suit, but you can’t really see it in this photo.)

Then I took a couple of students to Owatonna, home of Federated Insurance, for a College Fair hosted by Federated on Thursday and Friday. Federated hosted a fine event (they certainly fed us wonderfully!), and it was cool to catch up with Chad Zeman (alum of a few years ago who now works there). I also got to shadow one of their software developers for an hour, which was a really excellent way to really get a more detailed sense of their processes and operations.

We headed back promptly on Friday because Sub-Evil and I had been invited to perform that night at the annual Pride Week Drag Show. We made good time, and I actually got to watch the entire show, which was thoroughly excellent. Sub-Evil and I didn’t actually perform in drag, or as part of the drag show proper, but instead provided a little light and silly entertainment at the end while the judges were off deliberating. We did “Taco Man” (to thunderous applause and enthusiastic sing-along), “Looking for my leopard” with Huck in his alter-ego form as Zoey Vulturina doing the backup singing (most excellent!), and rounded things off with “No more booze (Fireman save my child)”.

The next night (Saturday) was the 3rd annual UMMys (UMM’s film festival), with yours truly as the MC for the event. We had four nice films, including a very silly comedy produced by various alum-turned-staff at UMM and an excellent short by Tyler Hutchison reflecting on the uncertainties of life and the one’s mark on the world.

Tomorrow we begin the process of on-campus interviews for my sabbatical replacement (oddly enough I get to serve on the committee to find my replacement :->), and Friday morning way too early we head up to Grand Forks, ND, for the 40th Anniversay MICS conference. Somewhere in here I hope to sleep and grade, but don’t hold your breath. Sadly, on-line participation is gonna be very thin on the ground for a while.

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For the bored among you, I’ve posted the accounting or the Mutant Variety Show as a Google Doc.

I’m writing the checks to the two organizations as we speak, and we’ve raised (to date) a total of $748, or $374 for each organization (the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) and the Cancer Kids Fund of the Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota).

People can continue to donate in our name to LAF via their Mutant Variety Show web site, and I’m sure that Cancer Kids wouldn’t argue if you sent them a check.

Thanks a zillion to all our wonderful performers and our incredibly generous audience!

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OK, now I’m officially exhausted. The Mutant Variety Show is done, and all the wonderful folks that came were amazingly generous! I just finished counting out the donation jars, and we raised nearly $450 tonight which, along with the (currently) $253 donated on-line at our Lance Armstrong Foundation site, makes a total just a hair short of $700!

You all rock!!!

It was a whole lot of fun. Our many guest performers were really wonderful, and the audience was splendid, singing along, dancing, and generous with their support and applause. We had a bit over a 100 folks in attendance, mostly UMM students, along with staff, faculty, and members of the Morris community. We should have audio and video recordings of the event soon, so those of you who missed it may have an opportunity to check it out later. Stay tuned!

Sub-Evil Boy did a great job, and I was totally proud of him. Well done sir! His great “Taco Man” was a well deserved hit. (There are rumors of another performance of “Taco Man” at this year’s Pride Week Drag Show…)

A final reminder that you can still donate on-line at our LAF site. Thanks a ton to everyone!

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Drum (at rest) (new color), originally uploaded by Unhindered by Talent.

Man, have I been swamped recently! Between classes, the upcoming concert, committee work, etc., sleep has often been way too optional, and my on-line life has really been weak. Sorry.

One of the more pleasant distractions, however, was Saturday’s Powwow. The Circle of Nations Indian Association (CNIA) student group on campus hosts a powwow every year that draws people from all over the region and is a really excellent event.

This year I was honored by a request from CNIA to "officially" take photographs of the event, apparently something no one had ever done in all the years we’ve had the event here. I took something like 1,600 shots in 11 hours on Saturday, and it’s gonna be a while before I get through them all. I also need to be careful about what I post publicly, so some of the best ones may not ever show up here.

It was enormously cool, and I’m really grateful that I was invited to be part of the event like this.

Here we have one of the drums covered with a blanket. The drumming groups are arranged around the edge of the dance area, and play in turn in a circle. There are enough groups (something like a dozen this year) that groups can take time to dance, socialize, eat, etc., between times.

There’s so much I’d like to say about the powwow, but no time now. Later? We’ll see.

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Sax in profile, cornet beyond, originally uploaded by Unhindered by Talent.

Can’t come to the big show but still want to contribute to the good causes? The Lance Armstrong Foundation makes it easy to donate on-line! They have provided us with a nice little web page on their site, complete with the ability to make donations electronically. My wonderful sister (check out how incredibly cute the hamsters she works with are!) has already started the ball rolling, so get in there quick!

The photo, BTW, is Joe Alia (on sax, left) and Sub-Evil Boy (on cornet, right) rehearsing over at Joe’s house.

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Mutant Variety Show poster, originally uploaded by Unhindered by Talent.

As mentioned earlier, In a little less than three weeks, Sub-Evil Boy and I will be hosting a strange evening of music and fun, with donations going to cancer-related charities.

And so here we have our advertising poster :-).

The octopus image comes from PeeZed’s blog, the photo of Sub-Evil and I from Ellery Fisher, and the banjo shot is mine. The background is a manipulated detail from a photo of some of WeatherGirl’s wonderful art.

Hardly high art, but still it has an antique etching of an octopus, and that’s gotta be worth something!

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Misty, originally uploaded by Unhindered by Talent.

Sub-Evil Boy and I went over to Joe Alia’s house Sunday to practice as part of preparations for the big concert Sub-Evil and I will be hosting in 3.5 weeks. I brought my camera along and took a few shots of the two of them playing. I’ll probably post several over the week on flickr as I sort through them, but this is definitely one of my favorites.

Joe has worked up a chart of "Misty" for the two of them (Joe on sax, Sub-Evil on battered cornet), and here they’re working on playing it together for the first time. This is a special song in my family, and especially between my dad and sister. Its popularity in the 60’s led to my parents calling my sister Misty (even though her "official" name is Mary), and the song has become part of the powerful jazz bond between my father and sister. Given that the concert is (for me) largely about family and friends (and to raise a little money for cancer charities) to have Sub-Evil play this song is really wonderful. Joe gets huge props for working with us on this; having Tom play with him is essentially private lessons with an excellent musician, and I’m extremely grateful.

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It may be 460 miles from Morris to Wall Drug, but it’s only 28 days from here to The Mutant Variety Show!

Yup - Thursday, 5 April 2007 at 7pm, in the HFA Recital Hall right here on the UMM campus.

This will be a crazy evening featuring all manner of music and fun, all for the good cause of supporting cancer-related charities. Roughly half the program will be Sub-Evil Boy and me, doing both originals like “Taco Man”, “Fat fly”, and “Crabgrass”, as well as covers goofy and serious (”Looking for my leopard”, “Strange fruit”, “Personal Jesus”, and “I’m so lonesome I could cry”).

Your reward for sitting through the two of us, though, is all the other wonderful performers that have agreed to join us, again doing a mixture of (brilliant!) originals and (great!) classics. Huck Brock on the many problems with Barbie Dolls! Joey Iverson drifting out through the solar system and beyond! John Hanson’s love song, complete with bats! Brittney Stone and Eagan Heath leading us in a round of jigs! And, of course, the mighty Jazz Stylings of Joe Alia!

Oh, yeah, it’s gonna be fun :-).

There will also be some cool spoken word (Athena Kildegaard’s excellent “Dirt: A poem in four voices”), a possible short film, and various improvisational silliness! There might even be a celebrity appearance!

All this is free and open to the public, with donations gladly accepted to benefit cancer-related charities.

So mark your calendars now: 7pm, Thursday, 5 April 2007, in the HFA Recital Hall! And then get out there and pass the word!

Props to PeeZed for the most excellent octopus, and thanks to Ellery Fischer for the photo of our performance of “Taco Man”.

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