Cesar Chavez Day

Today is Cesar Chavez Day, an official holiday in 8 states, but unfortunately, not here in Minnesota. For those of you not familiar with Mr. Chavez, he founded the United Farm Worker's union to fight for the rights of the largely Hispanic migrant farm workers in the 1960's. A devotee of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., Chavez led a non-violent movement to bring dignity to migrant farm workers, which spilled over to Hispanics in general. Pretty incredible, when you think that Chavez took a bunch of poor farm workers who were severely marginalized by society, and ended up forcing concessions from the huge California corporate growers.

Unfortunately, not many folks know about Cesar Chavez. Everyone knows about King, but Chavez gets kind of dusted into a corner. Usually gets about a paragraph in American history survey texts. Which is too bad, because he truly was a great man, someone to be respected.

I'd encourage you to sign the UFW's petition to make Cesar Chavez Day a national holiday here.

Si se puede!

Fun Times

I don't know what you losers do for fun. Check it.

Road Trip Recap

Hi folks. Haven't blogged much lately, since I've been on a spring holiday road trip, extending from Decorah in the south, Madison in the middle, and Milwaukee in the east. As is expected, it was a welcome diversion from the entity known as law school.

It's kind of redundant (and boring to others) to just recap what I did, but a quick rundown of the facts is probably in order. Got down to Decorah late Friday night, and spent a very sunny Saturday playing frisbee golf, playing trombone, and hitting favourite Decorah haunts. Such as the Mexican restaurant formerly known as Sabor Latino II and La Rana. Sunday, got up, had some breakfast, and hit the open road to Madison, with a slight detour to the New Glarus Brewery. Sunday evening and Monday was spent visiting friends in Madison, contributing heavily to the Wisconsin economy, going to Irish pubs, etc, etc, etc. Tuesday, headed off to Milwaukee, where we hit the art museum and (unfortunately) the Miller brewery. And Wednesday, a quick stop north of Milwaukee to pick up a trombone part, and back to Decorah.

It's probably too obvious to point out, but the real highlight was being able to spend some time with good friends from college. It seems to me that often times, distance and time starts to erode those friendships that formed at college. Which seems so odd, since they tend to be such intensely personal friendships. They're formed at a time of great personal growth, a time of close proximity, a time of common involvement in common interests. I suppose though, just as water carves canyons out of solid rock and stuff, time and distance does an equal job. And admittedly, I don't always keep up the best contacts with some of my college friends. But what I find most comforting, is the fact that most of my really good college friends have the same interest in keeping those friendships going. So even if we haven't talked for a while, or know what is going on, once we get together, it's like nothing has changed. And I feel extremely fortunate for that.

Of course, it's always nice to be in Decorah, I always tend to have a good time there. It's always a bit odd to walk around the Luther campus not in the student capacity, but the essence of the place is always the same. I don't think that changes. I thought it was great fun to be able to play some trombone in Sperati, which might be my favourite room on campus. And I'm proud to say, I won our second round of frisbee golf. My greatest respect to my crew and all... but suck it.

I had the opportunity to visit two friends in Madison, both of whom work at Epic Systems. One is a good friend from Nottingham, the other a good friend from band. It was very eye-opening to get a tour of the Epic facility outside of town. Words wouldn't really do it justice, but it was something else. I've never seen a workplace of such scale or, I don't know, themed buildings with treehouse conference rooms. No law offices I've been to have a theme.

Anyways, it's always so redundant to explain trips to people, because people get bored hearing about things they didn't experience. So I think I'll stop now. But it was a great trip, a welcome diversion, and a much needed pick me up.

Back to property...

Funny.

Too funny.

No work, jazz, travel, etc.

I'm at a Starbucks, the quintessential home of the blog. And for the first time in a long time, I'm not here poring over my property casebook or writing arguments for a brief. I'm just here, being leisurely and having some coffee. It feels great. Even better, "Freddie Freeloader" from Kind of Blue is on the muzak.

As you may have surmised, my appellate brief is completed, and the property quiz has been taken care of. As far as I'm concerned, there's now just a week long countdown until spring break. Of course I still have normal homework, but the stress/busyness level has been drastically reduced.

I'm going to hear the Luther jazz orchestra tonight, which will probably be sort of an out of body experience. Considering I played in that group specifically for a year and a half, and jazz at Luther in general throughout my tenure. But I'm really excited to hear them play, as well as visiting with Tony and some other friends in the group. It probably won't be quite like the Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra who I heard play last week (with Wynton Marsalis!), but I suppose that's to be expected.

The anticipation got me thinking about the tour to Brazil last summer. Plus, I've been listening to a lot of bossa nova lately. Man, that tour was fun. One of the things I'll never forget about that tour was one of the first nights in Sao Paolo. We had played a gig or something, and our driver stopped at a gas station on the way back to our hotel. The folks in my room and myself were intent on celebrating being in Brazil, so we purchased some Brazilian beer, and some chips or something. We got back to our hotel, and we dragged a bunch of our room furniture out onto our little patio. It didn't overlook anything really, just the urban jungle that is Sao Paolo, but it was outside. Tom, the other jazz instructor came over with some cachasa, and we sat outside, talked jazz, and just had a great time. One of those things that isn't really significant enough to tell people about, but it was one of those simple pleasures of travel that often gets lost in the muck of everything else. So, in honor of tonight's concert, I'm sharing the story now.

Speaking of travel, I'm getting ready to purchase a ticket to London for my class this summer. It hasn't really hit me that I'm going abroad until I actually had to start searching for fares. I think British Airways is going to be the best deal. Which is incredibly convenient, since I love British Airways.

Anyways, my class ends on a Wednesday, and I think I'm going to stay in Europe until Sunday, in order to go on an adventure. I was thinking last night, where do I want to go? Here are the options.

1- St. Petersburg

I would kill to go here, but Russia seems the sort of place best tackled using the buddy system, and I'm flying solo on this trip.

2- Scandinavia

Maybe I'll go on a quest in search of my heritage. Or maybe just go to Finland. It is kind of expensive though.

3- Germany

Didn't see much of Germany, save for one semi-cognizant night spent in Munich.

4- France

Always an option, but I think it is best saved for a weekend excursion.

5- Remote Alpine Village Somewhere in Switzerland

I would like to have my photo taken with a cow on a brilliant summer day, high in the Alps, surrounded by breathtaking mountain scenes, with a Lindt bar in my pocket, wearing lederhosen, and have a man playing the alphorn behind me. Failure to accomplish any of these would be unacceptable.

6- Budapest

This is where I'm leaning. Just go a nice eastern European city, and chill for a few days. Drink coffee, listen to music, read pretentious books, etc. I'll probably have to save my appetite though, since I'll be in Hungary (pun).

If anyone has any opinions, please let me know.

I'm going to finish my coffee now. Later.

World Baseball Classic

I was planning on writing some sort of thing encouraging you folks to watch the World Baseball Classic, but it was turning out like crap.

This is exciting stuff, I'd recommend watching it. Especially since the US has a good team, and the Netherlands just ousted the Dominican Republic. It's competitive, it's good for the game, it's just fun to watch.

In the interest of coherence, I'll just stop here. I have more property crap to read anyways.

TROMBONE CONCERT! YES!!!!

Now is as good a time as any to plug my upcoming concert this Sunday. That's right folks, for an admission price of free (save that suggested freewill donation), you can listen to the Minneapolis Trombone Choir change your reality with hours of beautiful trombone music. For you fellas out there looking to impress your ladies, it's the perfect date night. And for you ladies out there looking for love, you must know that the overwhelming majority of trombonists are single.

Minneapolis Trombone Choir - 36th Annual Concert
Judson Memorial Baptist Church
41st and Harriet Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, March 8, 2009

7:00 PM

To add to the fun, we will also be joined by the St. Olaf Trombone Choir.

If you have never had the pleasure of attending a trombone choir performance, I'd highly recommend you come. Now, I realize trombone choir music is kind of a niche genre. Like sitar music. However, it has its own noble history, and we are playing some interesting pieces. A little Gabrieli, some jazz charts, an original piece composed for THIS VERY OCCASION, and a crazyass piece called "Osteoblast" that no one has any idea what's going on with. Don't forget that the trombone is the brass family's cello, and it produces a beautiful and robust sound. In the Renaissance, whenever a composer wanted to represent the Divine with music, that theme was always given to the trombone. Bottom line, no one's got shit on the trombone.

And seriously, if nothing else, the people watching will not disappoint. There's something about the trombone (and as a trombonist, I'm qualified to say this) that draws some of the most socially awkward people out of the woodwork. I saw this phenomenon at perhaps its peak at Luther, but I was happy to see that it replicates even up here in Minneapolis. In fact, at Luther, one of my friends was able to keep an "Awkward Trombone Player of the Week" game running for an entire year, without ever having duplicate winners. Really an impressive feat, I think.

So yes, make sure you put this down in your calendar. It's an event you cannot afford to miss.

As a special incentive, I have free backstage passes to whoever can identify the trombone player in the above photo. I will also be happy to pose for photos with the winner.