What brought 88 Luther alumni from 22 different states (plus Mexico) to Decorah this week? It had something to do with singing - with reconnecting with friends - and with revisiting one of the most gorgeous places on earth. But mostly, it had to do with paying tribute to one of our most treasured teachers,
It’s been a great time with the Weston Noble Alumni Choir, which - if I understand its history correctly - formed for the first time in 2006 to give any interested Nordic Choir alums the chance to once again sing under the inspiring leadership of the master himself. This year’s group is the biggest yet,
I am so blessed to have the nieces and nephews that I do - and as I’m sitting here at the Spencer-Berg dining room table, for some reason I find myself reflecting specifically on the contrast between my nephew Kaj (Randi and Matt’s youngest) and my niece Lorelai, the daughter of Polly and Mark. They
Kathy and I have had our delightful niece Lorelai staying with us for the last few days - and it may have left us bone- crushingly exhausted, but only in the best sense - the kind of exhilarating exhaustion that comes from packing a ridiculous amount of fun in short amount of time, and having
There was a very special sort of electricity in the air at Holy Communion this past Sunday, and not just because the thermometer was reading 90-plus degrees. What was in the air was excitement and anticipation as we finally welcomed our new senior pastor, Bill Grimbol. I say finally because it seems like forever since
I had a little time to kill this morning and could think of nothing better to do than to turn on channel 12 and take in a few minutes of “The View.” Call me crazy, but I do find this show to be entertaining, although it’s usually in a “you’re- driving-me-crazy” / “why-can’t-you-shut up-and-listen-to-each-other” /
One of the great pleasures of the theater guild’s summer musicals is that we discard the pre-recorded synthetic accompaniment tracks that we use for our December and May shows in favor of live accompaniment with real live musicians. Occasionally it’s just me at the piano - for “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change”, for
I’ve been having a great time with the Racine Theater Guild’s production of the musical of “I Do I Do” (which opens this weekend) . . . thanks to two very able cast members who are also fun and appreciative people, two very skilled pit musicians who have been so easy to work with, and
As I left our house yesterday morning about 7:30, the sky was a rather nondescript gray. By the time I got to the Kenosha campus of Gateway about 7:50, the sky had turned extremely dark - and we were under a severe thunderstorm warning. And as I turned on the control room mic to introduce
One of the things that draws me to the world of opera is the high-stakes sense of risk that is so often in the mix. . . the drive to step past what is comfortable and utterly safe and attempt what is just out of easy reach. For me this is one of the things
