A Potpourri

LifeReports.net

    It is a beautiful day here in Chicagoland. It is in the low 70s, everything is green, the flowering trees are still flowered, and there is not a cloud in the bluest of skies. I am still cooling my jets from the end of challenging but rewarding school year.

     I wanted to post something today, but really didn’t have a topic that compelled me to write about it. Rather, I had lots of bits and pieces, a potpourri, if you will. As I have not penned a potpourri in a long while, that is exactly what I will do. 
     First and foremost today, it is my sons 38th birthday. We called and sang him happy birthday first thing in the morning. He has been a blessing and a joy. While I might say , “I cannot believe it has been 38 years. It seems like just yesterday.” I think both are true. It does seem like just yesterday and it most definitely has been 38 years. He is now married and he and his wife have blessed us with three wonderful children. 
     Number two on my mind, this lovely day, is the Arab Concert of the Middle Eastern Music Ensemble this weekend. We have our last practice tonight, on Friday we have a workshop with our guest artist Huda Asfour, Saturday is the dress rehearsal, and finally the concert is Sunday late afternoon. This means I get to drive to Hyde Park four days in a row. While this would normally be a huge imposition. My schedule is so sparse this Memorial Day Weekend that I am actually looking forward to it 
     The next thing on my mind is the chaos that seems to be our Federal Government these days. The news is full Tax returns, impeachment, abortion, tariffs, infrastructure, and people already running for president instead promising to fix everything else instead of doing their jobs and fixing the issues now. These are the last things I want to be thinking about on such a lovely day. 
     Lastly, I am amazed two reports from possible fake news or parody sites:

• Kansas Police Urging People To Not Shoot Their Guns At Tornadoes
• Pastor arrested for selling tickets to heaven to members for $500 (After I posted the first on Facebook, Ara Topouzian posted the second as a comment.)

The above is about all you need to read. I was laughing out loud in reading just the titles of the articles. You can’t make this stuff up. The pastor, from Zimbabwe, is just a scam artist but still funny. I really like the Kansas Don Quixotes attacking windmills… er… tornadoes. There is something oddly comforting that in this modern world of high tech connectivity and all the resources available on the internet, that we still have people in this country who think shooting a gun at a tornado will make a difference. In a way, we are reassured that there is a core of human nature and behavior that progress will have zero effect on. Plus, these stories erased any and all angst I was feeling about the mess in DC. 
     It is a beautiful day.

Abortion

     Abortions? The right to life? The right to choose? It is a hot topic today. Again.
     For some reason, I have decided to write about it. I would no doubt receive less shots and be less battered if I took a stroll through a minefield. The right to life versus the right to choose, there is no middle ground. While it seems like two choices, there are probably three. For those committed to the right to choose there is no compromise. Ohers committed to the right to life, also, offer no middle ground. I am certain that there is percentage of the population that wishes that all of these arguments would stop, and we would just be told what to do.
     Laws are being enacted in several states that either limit abortions or, as in Alabama, virtually eliminate abortions. These new laws are or will be challenged in the courts by right to choose groups. The right to life folks welcome this hoping that one or more of these cases make it to the Supreme Court where the conservative majority on the court will overturn Roe v. Wade. This 1973 case that basically affirmed that a woman had the right, under the fourteenth amendment, to have an abortion. There was plenty of debate leading up to his monumental decision and that debate has continued forward resulting in the flurry of laws, lawsuits, and debate we are embroiled in today.
      I am not sure where I stand on this issue. I can argue for either side. But I am sure about one thing if abortions are banned. People who really want abortions will still get to them.
     Before Roe v. Wade, people were getting abortions. Richer folks would have them in doctor’s office. Of course, no physician ever “officially” performed an abortion. Physicians would do an exam or a D&C (dilation and curettage) and a pregnancy that was never officially diagnosed was eliminated. In the case of poorer folks, pregnancies were ended essentially by midwives who performed the service outside the medical establishment. In this latter case, the cost will be disproportional and the health risk will be higher.
     There is another difference between 1973 and today. Today, there are percription pills that induce abortions. No doubt they will have to be banned as well if abortions are ever banned. Again, I have no doubt that these pills will still be available but only on the black market. If the pills are legally made anywhere in the world, they will make their way to this country. There will probably even be websites dedicated to providing them. If they are not hard or too costly to make, black market labs will pop up in this country.
     In summation, all of this legislation we are currently buzzing about and the legal cases that will be stories on news sites and channels over the next few years may result in a change of the legal. The issue will certainly be factor in the 2020 elections. Either way, I am not sure what the impact on the incidence rates of abortion will be. What was once underground will indeed become underground again.

MEME: Meet Edward and Eli

      The Middle Eastern Music Ensemble of the University of Chicago Arab Concert under the direction of Wanees Zarour takes place on Sunday, March 26. As is my recent habit, I like to profile a musician or two in a blog to both honor some of my fellow musicians and create some buzz for the concert. For this concert, I would like to profile my fellow oud player, Eli Suzukovich III, and our accomplished percussionist, Edward Hanna.
     Every musician I have profiled in this series of blogs are wonderful, talented, and very nice people. This time I might have picked the nicest of the nice to write about. Both of these are gentlemen, kind, helpful, and knowledgeable in the music we play and, generally, in life.
     It is truly a pleasure being in this ensemble with fellow musicians like Eli and Ed.

Eli:
     Eli, 42, was born in and raised in Chicago. He fell in love with anthropology which he majored in at UIC. He went on to the University of Montana to earn both his masters and PhD in the subject. Currently, he teaches at Northwestern

and is a Research Scientist at the Field Museum. He has also been an anthropologist and urban ecology advisor for the American Indian Center in Chicago. At the American Indian Center, Eli has been involved in projects like producing maple sugar from urban trees.
     It has been a great pleasure having dinner with Eli before practices in the Logan Center Café and sitting next to him in practices. His is a very smart fellow and a wealth of general knowledge that speaks to how well-read he is. His perspectives are generally unique and always thought provoking. Becoming friends with Eli has been a real bonus of being part of MEME. More often than not, when we are playing a new and complicated piece for the first time, I lose my place in the music which is peppered with dal segnols, codas, sections, and repeats. I will ask Eli, “Do you know where we are?” Sometimes, he will point to a measure but most of the time he looks at me, shrugs… and we laugh.
     Eli has a wonderful ethnic heritage. He is both Krajina Serbian and Little Shell Band of Chippewa-Cree. I asked Eli what brought him the Middle Eastern Music, thinking it was from his Serbian-Croatian roots and the influence the Ottoman Empire had on that culture. That wasn’t quite the answer, however. It turns out that his maternal grandfather was a hydro-engineer working for Bechtel. During and after World War II, he worked in India, Indonesia, and Iran. His mother’s half-brother was Uzbek. So, she grew up listening to regional music form those various countries and cultures. She continued that play it at home after she got married and had children. Eli’s brother was a huge Ravi Shankar fan, so Eli grew up listening to this incredible mix of music growing up. He was also exposed to Greek, Serbian, and Croatian music from the neighborhood he grew up in. He played cello in grade school and later taught himself both guitar and bass guitar.
     At the University of Montana, Eli met a lot of Iranians of the Bahai faith. He bought a setar from an Iranian Luthier and got some informal training from these Iranians. He was exposed to Mahmoud Sabah and Jeffery Werbock who were touring, lecturing, and performing Azeri maqam (mugham) music. He had some master lessons from these artists. In meeting Azeris living in Idaho and Montana, he learned to play the Azeri tar and dutar.
     When Eli moved back to Chicago in 2011. He watched videos of and then took setar lessons from Kazem Davoudian in a formal fashion. He also took informal lessons (the sufi style of learning) from Kazem’s friend, Mohammad Fathi. His love for Persian classical and folk music was firmly established under the tutelage of these masters.
     Eli came to hear that the lauta was making a return to Serbian music. Until then he never cared for the lauta or the oud. He started listening to oud virtuosos Hamza al-din and Armand Sabach. It motivated him to buy an oud and take lessons at The Old Town School of Music with Ronnie Malley. He also took lessons and workshops at Oldtown from Wanees Zarour and Majed Abu Ajamia as well. Because of his knowing Ronnie, Wanees, and Majed, Eli joined MEME in 2014 for the Persian concert and has been a part of the ensemble ever since. In 2015, he joined the Shalizar Ensemble when the ensemble leader, Negin Almassi, put out a call for musicians.

Edward:
     Edward is an Assyrian from Basra, Iraq. He is in his early 70s. He is an amazing percussionist, but he is also a gifted teacher. At first, in Basra, he was physical education teacher. Today, he has an amazing skill at helping musician’s move to the next level. He quickly assesses a musician’s skill level and coaches them on playing the maqam and selections correctly. He then encourages and challenges everyone to take the next step. He never makes any feel inadequate or that they are being scolded. Ed has personally been a great advisor to me. I love his tenet in this regard, an Arabic proverb: Learn from the day you are born

until they day you die. Another proverb that Ed taught me is: Not everyone person can be an artist, but not every artist is a prophet. I do believe that heeding these two proverbs is why Ed is such a good teacher and a such a wonderfully humble man.
     Ed’s grandfather moved the family from Iraq to Belgrade. Ed’s father was born and grew up in Belgrade. Then the family came back to Iraq to be closer to family. Ed’s father was an accountant for a British petroleum company.
     Growing up in Basra, they lived in the Armenian quarter. As Ed always tells me, the first melodies to hit his ears growing up in Basra were Armenian. He neighbors were a family of Armenian musicians, the Hagopians, who all worked with Edward’s father. One of the girls, Seta Hagopian, went on to be a popular singer in Iraq.
     He started playing music when he was 7 or 8 years old. His mother’s brother came to live with Ed’s family for work. He played oud. He liked Abdul Wahab and Asmahan. When he played oud, he would have Ed play the rhythm which his uncle would teach “dum tak tak…” In the summer, the Armenian club near his house would have outside parties in the summer. Ed would fall asleep on the roof of the house, as was the custom in those days before air conditioning, listening to the mix of continental and traditional music. The next day, Ed would get some cans and play the rhythms he fell asleep to the night before.
     Ed developed quickly. He had a set of drums and could play continental and popular music. He also, learned the def, riq, and dumbek for folk and classical Arabic music. When he was in his late teens, his friend invited him to join a middle Eastern group. A kanun player, Hamid, took Ed under his wing and taught him the maqam system and to read music and the maqam system. This training serves Ed well to this day, making him an invaluable member of MEME and a teacher to all.
      Ed performed with some of the best-known musicians in Basra and Iraq. His musical talents had him in bands playing in Iraqi TV and films. He also backed-up notable Arab singers when they were in Basra. One story he related was performing with the great Lebanese singer Wadi el-Safi in the early 1970s. Ed was playing drums in an American themed nightclub. The owner of the nightclub worked with a Lebanese contractor to bring Wadi and other Lebanese singers and musicians to come to Basra for four days of concerts. The first two days the concerts went well. But, the Lebanese contractor stiffed the musicians and so the musicians refused to play, so Wadi recruited local musicians, including Ed, to play the last two days of the tour.
     Ed left Iraq in January 1982 as a result of the Iraq-Iran war. He stayed with his wife and three kids in Rome for the remainder until he could he was approved to immigrate to the US. He came to Chicago because his sister lived here. Jobless for three years until 1985 he got a job as an accountant with Newark Electronics. He worked there for 27 years. Needless to say, he taught new employees the accounting basics used in the company.
     Ed was happy in Chicago with its large Assyrian and Arab community. It wasn’t long before he was playing music again, mostly with traditional Arab groups. In the heyday, in the 1980s, Ed would play three to four nights a week. Combined with his working full time, Ed kept quite a schedule. The groups back then included several musicians including violin, keyboard, oud, guitar, nye, riq, def, dumbeg, singers, and belly dancers in the Arab night clubs in Chicago e.g. Juliana.
     He used to play three or four nights. To play music well and not be so tired for his full-time day job, Ed established some rules for himself. Ed focused on the music, no band politics, no drinking, just he played the music he loved. In his musical career here in Chicago, he has played all over the city and toured in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and California.
     Ed’s family appreciates and supports his dedication and love for the music. In MEME, we all see and admire that love. From my perspective, his love and dedication is contagious. Ed is the kind of musician that lifts the entire ensemble up.
     Ed has been with MEME for the past three years. He became friends with Kathy Cantone on Facebook. Kathy is a long term member of MEME, a percussionist in her own right, and an icon in the Middle Eastern dance scene in Chicago. She is also a member of Shalizar with Eli. Kathy told Ed that she learned a lot from watching him play in night clubs and that he influenced her drumming. She invited him to play in the 2018 Persian Concert of MEME. Cathy introduced him to Wanees Zarour, our director, who also encouraged him to join the Ensemble.

    

Come to the Middle East Music Ensemblefor our yearly Arab Concert as we

explore the music of Iraq! The featured guest artists this year are Huda Asfourand Hani Al-Dahshan.

Doors open at 4:30, come early to beat the crowds and get a seat! This event is kid-friendly and FREE with a suggested donation of $10 for general and $5 for students/children.

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The Middle East Music Ensemble (MEME) at the University of Chicago is a 45 piece orchestra that was established by the Music Department in 1997, to provide a performance space in which theoretical, practical and historical interests in Middle Eastern music could be explored, and performers from across the university and the neighboring community could share their expertise and learn from one another.

Chernobyl

www.sputniknews

     I have missed Game of Thrones, House, Breaking Bad, Orange is the New Black, Downton Abbey, and the like. I have not watched one episode while the series were airing nor have I ever watched a single episode on-demand. While it is not all people talk about, but these series are a topic of conversation and they generate buzz. They are the TV shows of today and none of them are on the major networks I grew up watching. They are high stakes programming with budgets that rival major films. More often than not, these series have serious themes. They are dramas.
     That changed a week ago when I was lured to watch Chernobyl because of the subject matter. As I am writing this, I am watching the second episode of the HBO miniseries, Chernobyl, about the nuclear disaster that began on April 26, 1986. Honestly, this is first such miniseries I am watching since the term binge-watching was coined.
     The first episode was a bit disappointing. It seemed like a hodge-podge of vignettes that did not drive the narrative. They might have made it a bit unclear and confusing perhaps to mirror the chaos, denial, and confusion surrounding the crisis in its early hours. No one wanted to look bad to their superiors so there was more cover-up and trying to fix the problem locally than communication. This was presumably a result of the culture of fear that was the Soviet Union. The second episode was a bit better. There was a bit more narrative and character development.
     I think I was looking more documentary or reliable docudrama than what the series is delivering thus far. The first two episodes seem more like Hollywood than history. My view was in line with a review I just read in the New York Times.

“Chernobyl…” takes what you could call a Soviet approach to telling the tale. This is incongruous, since one of the messages of the program is that Soviet approaches don’t work. But there it is: the imposition of a simple narrative on history, the twisting of events to create one-dimensional heroes and villains, the broad-brush symbolism. ~ New York Times

     The Chernobyl disaster was unprecedented and hopefully will never happen again. Here is a high-level summary of what happened:

• The Chernobyl accident in 1986 was the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel.
• The resulting steam explosion and fires released at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the atmosphere and downwind – some 5200 PBq (I-131 eq).
• Two Chernobyl plant workers died on the night of the accident, and a further 28 people died within a few weeks as a result of acute radiation poisoning.
• UNSCEAR says that apart from increased thyroid cancers, "there is no evidence of a major public health impact attributable to radiation exposure 20 years after the accident."
• Resettlement of areas from which people were relocated is ongoing. In 2011 Chernobyl was officially declared a tourist attraction.  ~ World Nuclear Association

     Contrary to the above assessment by the World Nuclear Association, Sputnik International reported a more grim death and health toll:

In total, about 8.4 million citizens of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine were exposed to radiation. 

According to the Union Chernobyl of Ukraine, about 9,000 Russian liquidators died and over 55,000 were disabled as a result of the Chernobyl tragedy.

On July 7, 1987, six former officials and technicians at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant went on trial on charges of negligence and violation of safety regulations. Three of them – Viktor Bruyihov, the former Chernobyl power station director, Nikolai Fomin, the former chief engineer and Anatoly Dyatlov, the former deputy chief engineer – were sentenced to 10 years in prison. ~ Sputniknews

      Back when it happened, there was great concern about the long-term health threats of the people in Europe where the winds carried the massive plumes of smoke laden with radioactive particles. While the Soviets are blamed for the reactor design and training of the personnel working in the control room, their reaction to disaster, once they acknowledged the severity and scale of the problem, was pretty impressive. The devised and executed a plan to construct a cement crypt to enclose the core. They did this all in 209 days. The workers, on-site, that made this happen have been portrayed as the true heroes of this saga.

     I will watch the remaining three episodes of this mini-series. But, I also read reviews about the various books on Chernobyl and just ordered the acclaimed Midnight in Chernobyl published just this year.

Three Deans

Dean Wes Lindahl

     There is a reception today, May 9, 2019, at North Park University to honor three Deans that are stepping down or retiring from their positions. Dean Craig Johnson of the School of Music, Art, and Theater and Dean Linda Duncan of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences are retiring. Dean Wes Lindahl, our dean, from the School of Business and Nonprofit Management is stepping down as Dean and while continue on as a member of our faculty.
     We are not a large University. We are less than 4,000 students and thus the changing of three Deans is kind of a big deal. All have long term ties to North Park. Deans Lindahl and Duncan actually have their undergraduate degrees from this gem of a school on Chicago’s north side. While Dean Johnson did not attend North Park University, his uncle penned the Alma Mater. I believe all are members of the Evangelical Covenant Church. All three schools have flourished under the leadership of these three leaders. 

     We have a small Music, Theater, and Arts programs compared to larger, more well known, universities. But, the quality of music, art, and theater has impressed me since my days as an adjunct at North Park. I am truly impressed with the creativity and talents of our students. Dean Johnson has been an excellent leader, coach, and inspiration to that school. In my first year as a full-time faculty, Dean Johnson also served as acting Provost. In my humble opinion, he did a phenomenal job. Certainly, he handled all the administrative items

Dean Craig Johnson

expertly. Even though he was only in that position for a year, he got to know all of the faculty. While he could make the tougher decisions, he never wavered from his kind and friendly demeanor. I admire this most about Dean Johnson. I appreciated his leadership so much that I encouraged him to throw his hat in the ring and become the Provost. He was appreciative of the affirmation, but graciously declined. I will miss seeing him on campus and miss our conversations.
     Of the three deans, I know Dean Duncan least. She has grown the nursing department and has a reputation of being a no-nonsense leader. I think you have to be a no-nonsense leader in a professional school that must comply with licensure requirements of the state. Ultimately, the lives of the patients that are under the care of the nurses we graduate are at stake. A program such as nursing has to be tightly and expertly managed. Dean Duncan has done just that. Professor Vollmert

Dean Linda Duncan

and I, served on a new student orientation panel with her once. Brian and I did our usual competent-comical job. We had her laughing out loud. Ever since then, we will always stop and chat a bit whenever our paths cross. She always tells me, “you and your buddy are a riot.”
     Needless to say, I know Dean Wes Lindahl the best. He has been the Dean of the School of Business and Nonprofit Management during my two years as an adjunct and five years as full-time faculty member in the School of Business and Nonprofit Management. In my first year as an adjunct, I was in the Math Department teaching Statistics. I saw an advertisement for an adjunct position to teach operations management. I jumped at it. I first met Dean Lindahl during the interview and classroom observation. I was delighted to get that assignment. While teaching that first course, Dean Lindahl informed me that they were looking for a full-time professor in operations management and encouraged me to apply. Naïve to the ways of higher education, I just assumed I needed a PhD. Dean Lindahl told me I could apply for as a professional track vs tenure track applicant. I took his advice and applied as I always wanted to be a full-time professor. I submitted my materials in December of 2013. At the end of April, the following year, he gave me a call offering me the position. I am eternally grateful for his suggesting that I apply for the position.
     I have had great and horrible leaders in my career. Dean Lindahl has been great. We get along wonderfully even though he is proactive, and I am a master at just-in-time (i.e. procrastination). I know it frustrates him at times, but we make it work. Being a dean is not like being a corporate boss. Faculty can be an independent bunch. Leading them is akin to herding cats. Wes has been wonderful for me. If I comply with the dates for getting grades and syllabi in, if I schedule and hold office hours, and a few other administrative details, Wes is happy and has always given me a lot of freedom. As he saw my performance and capabilities, he has graciously given me more responsibilities and opportunities. Again, being new to higher education, his door has always been open, and he has been a great help in interpreting policy, providing advice on how to accomplish this or that, and generally coaching me along and answering any inane questions I might have. This last part has been invaluable, and I greatly appreciate him for that. On top of this, he is a nice fellow. We get along. We are about the same age and are both grandfathers. We have a lot to talk about. What more can one ever want from a boss?
     Dean Lindahl is North Park through and through. His father was a professor here. He, his wife, and their children all went here. He has a passion and love for the university and the Evangelical Covenant Church that is quite special. I credit being around him as a major reason for the passion and love I now have for this university. As he steps down and becomes a colleague, I know his door will always be open for advice, guidance, and camaraderie. I look forward to this next chapter.
     Congratulations to all three Deans for their service, dedication, and jobs well done!

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Note:  Click on the captions of each photo to go to their respective faculty profiles.

The Three Deans with Provost Michael Emerson and President Mary Surridge
at the reception held in their honor.

Reading Day

     Today is Reading Day at North Park University. Classes ended yesterday. Finals begin tomorrow. Today? Well, today is Reading Day meaning, really, that it is a study day for finals. This is exactly how Reading Day is defined in the Urban Dictionary. Some universities, per Wikipedia, have several Reading Days. When the number of successive Reading Days equals five, this set of Reading Days is called a Revision Week in the UK.  Go figure.
     North Park University is the first university I have been either a student or instructor at where I have seen this term. It was obvious that it was a study day for final exams. But, part of me, the wishful and hopeful, wanted it to be something more. I wanted to be a day where I be obligated read a book I have been meaning to read and just haven’t got around to it yet.
     I did not have the time today to read a full book. It would have been a delightful extravagance to read a novel, doze off, read some more, doze again, and then sit outside with a cigar and a cup of coffee to finish the book. The bulk of my reading, today, was more practical. I read and graded papers and online discussions.
     Per the photograph, I did read other things. I began with the Wall Street Journal which is part of my daily, well almost daily, regimen. It is the perfect way to start the day by getting an update on the general and business news. I like to clip stories on of higher education, economics, retail, and a variety of other topics into Evernote. I tend to use them in the classroom to relate topics we are covering to current events. I believe this piques student interest and learning.
     I read a few poems by the Armenian poet Sarmen, nee Armenak Sarkisian (1901 Van – 1984 Yerevan). Sarmen is a minor Armenian poet but his language of his poems Knjouki Yerk and Siro Yerk are lyrics to two of my favorite songs. Certainly, reading Sarmen on this Reading Day fulfilled my desire both to read literature and something obscure and something esoteric. When reading something this obscure, I often wonder just how many others might be reading the same thing around the world and conclude that maybe I might be the only one.  While, it is kind of an odd Reading Day thing to contemplate, it makes reading something obscure quite special... in my mind.
     Lastly, I read a chapter of book on the development of the Ford Taurus. It is the story of how Lew Veraldi lead a team to design and engineer a customer-focused vehicle. The Taurus was the last passenger car to be number one in national sales for Ford. It was clear Veraldi crafted an improved product develop process, but Ford never made it the norm. It is arguably one of the largest errors in the history of the company. I was motivated to buy and read this out of print book because my own blog posts: Ford Motor Company: Another Turnaround?and Ford Drives Sedans Out of their Showrooms. I wanted to have a better view of what Veraldi and his team did.
     I like the idea of Reading Day and may have to schedule another soon.

Chidem Inch: A Night of Armenian Composers

Brand Ridenour and Barbara Schubert

     I am always amazed when there are Armenian history, cultural, or arts events sponsored by non-Armenian individuals and organizations. Perhaps it is a bit of an inferiority complex but, really, that is not the case. I am proud of our culture and arts. I wish our history was different certainly in terms of the calamities we have faced as a nation. But it is our history and those calamities that define us and have made us more resilient. That theme is certainly reflected in our artistic ethos.
     The reason I am amazed when a program is put together without Armenian involvement is more because we are not a large population relative to other cultures. We are therefore not a defining or dominant culture in the world. Yet, for our size, I want to say, with full Armenian bravado, that we have contributed both sciences and arts beyond our proportions.
     On Saturday, April 27, 2019, we awoke to a mid-spring winter storm. We received an email informing us that an April 24thcommemoration planned by all the Chicagoland Armenian Churches was cancelled due to the weather. We were wondering if the snow was going to accumulate and create treacherous driving conditions? This was certainly a rare event so late in April? As we were digesting this, we got another email. It was from our friend Zaven Tokatlian who forwarded a flyer about an all Armenian concert presented by

It was a serious Spring snow.

the University of Chicago Symphony Orchestra that very evening.
     As we contemplated attending the concert, the snow started and soon was accumulating. It was a very wet and heavy snow accompanied by howling winds and the temperatures well below the April 27thaverage. None the less, we decided to venture down to Hyde Park to attend this concert. We called another Armenian couple and asked if they wanted to go. They were debating the same thing we were, and our calling tipped them towards attending. We all piled in my 4Runner and we headed south. We ate first at The Cedars, a great Lebanese restaurant just north of the University. We then ventured our way to the beautiful Mandel Concert Hall.
     The program was indeed all Armenian:

• Masquerade Suite by Aram Khachaturian
• Mysterious Mountain (Symphony #2) by Alan Hovhaness
• Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra in A-flat Major by Alexander Arutiunian
• Lezghinka from Gyaneh Suite by Aram Khachaturian

     The orchestra was amazing! With 102 musicians, they were large and lush. It was mostly students and some faculty under the expert direction of Conductor Barbara Schubert. They performed each piece very well and sounded as good as any professional orchestra to me. And with the suggestion donation of $10 per ticket, it was truly a fine art value worth drive.
     The featured artist, on trumpet, was Brandon Ridenour. This 2006 graduate of Julliard is considered one of the best young trumpet virtuosos in the US and he was fantastic. We learned from the program notes by Andrew Malilay White, a PhD candidate in Music History, that “Brandon has quickly established a prominent career through his wide-ranging activities as a soloist and chamber musician, as well as composer and arranger, offering versatile performances and unique repertoire to his audiences.” He addressed the audience before and after the Arutiunian Concerto as if he were talking to us as friends. Barbara Schubert did the same before the other piece and did so in the same casual style. Their comments set a tone of warmth for the whole concert.
     We were familiar with the two Khachaturian and Hovhaness selections. It was the first time we had experienced Arutiunian’s Trumpet Concerto. Again, per the program notes: “Arutiunian’s name might not be familiar to the average concertgoer, but it is a very familiar

name for trumpet players. His trumpet concerto, composed in 1949 and 1950, is a warhorse of that instrument’s twentieth century repertoire.” The Concerto was in six movements was wonderful. It ranged from soulful and emotional to lively and energetic. It was a great delight to hear Brandon Ridenour expertly perform this wonderful piece.
     After the concert, they had a soft-drink and cookie reception. We had a chance to congratulate and chat with all the musicians and Barbara Schubert. I asked how she came to have an all Armenian composer program. She was quite matter of fact in stating that it started with her delight in booking Brandon Ridenour to perform the Arutiunian. Then as she contemplated the remainder of the program the Masquerade Suite seemed to fit nicely and then “I thought, why not just make it a program of Armenian composers.” There you have it. A very special engaging evening of symphonic music of Armenian composers was put together without one Armenian advocating for it or funding it.

A Mere Three?

http://www.imagenow.ie/projects/tv-rebrand

     April has come and gone. It was a blur of a month. I had great writing/blogging ambitions when the month dawned. As it ended, I only had three posts. Three! That was the least number of posts since December 2017 when I had zero posts.
     I thought I would get to five or six posts. I had stated two and stalled. One of those turned into my rememberance of my friend Angel. It was not easy to write. I wrote a few paragraphs and then mulled over what I had written and what I really wanted say about my dear friend. I started another, an homage to a new friend, Haig Utidjian, from Prague. Again I wrote a few paragraphs and stalled out. I wanted to make sure I was properly portraying the depths and breadth of his talents and passions. I was struggling to do so. That piece is still a work in process… hopefully this month.
     There is an ebb and flow to creativity and energy. In April, it was definitely more ebb than flow. It just happens. I can neither plot it nor predict when there might be a peak or a valley. It is something like biorhythms but not really. For me, it is more random in both frequency and duration. I do believe over the years I have learned how to work my way out of such funks and take advantage of the energy and clarity at the peaks to maximize productivity.
     So, here I am in the waning hours of May 1st. I am bound and determined to get five-hundred words down and get my first post for this month. Am I forcing this a bit? You bet I am. Look at the topic? It is not really a topic. It is a bloggy bit about nothing to borrow from the Seinfeld show. Let me be clear, the Seinfeld show about nothing was infinitely more interesting and funny than this drivel I am pounding into the keyboard might ever be.
     But you work through a doldrum. You bear down and return to fundamentals: write every day and the quality and subject matter will materialize. Write about anything. Write about nothing. Just write. Just Do It. That’s it I will slogan my way through this dang thing.
     Unless I write a lame piece like this, no one may sense that I am going through this. I assume others have the same kind of ebb and flow in whatever they do. I can only assume it is true since I really have not ever actually noticed it in others. There is no real way to surmise this short of the noticing that someone’s productivity seems less than their norm.
     There is another factor that I know juices up my productivity. That would be an impending deadline. Nothing is clears out the doldrums and gets the blood coursing like a deadline. Necessity drives action and squelches the lethargy. There is no wonder that this week is more productive since it is the last week of classes. Things simply have to get done and pronto. 

Oddly, it makes me want to write more at the same time. 

     Dang, who woulda thunk?