The Monmouth Civic Orchestra is coming to town!

This year, the Monmouth Civic Orchestra will be sharing the stage not only with renowned baritone Lionel Marcoux, but also with the collective children's choirs of Immaculate Conception School of Monmouth (those would be the Immaculate Conception Children's Choir and the Immaculate Conception Youth Choir, both under the direction of Mrs. Alisa Ramer). The program this season is, naturally, a Christmas one, with quite a few of the old family standards, and, probably, a few pleasant surprises.

If you are in Monmouth, IL -- or the general vicinity -- this coming Saturday evening (13 December, 2008, at 7:00), please come join us in supporting the arts in our community. The concert is to be held at the First Lutheran Church, just across the street from Monmouth High School, in the 100 block of South "B" street.

Admission is, as always, free of charge. However, we do encourage those who enjoy the arts to give what they can to support them.

Mike Cavanaugh, R.I.P.

The father of an old friend of our family --and, indeed, somewhat of a friend, himself -- has passed away this Wednesday. Michael "Mike" Cavanaugh, of Monmouth IL, died at home.

Mike's firstborn son, Michael, was in my sister's class in school, and the two of them ran with the same crowd. Michael is a bright, witty, charming, decent and honorable man, and, as they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Mike, too, was all that.

Mike was also, in my experience, kind and thoughtful, quick with a smile, and therefore, quite the opposite of what one might expect were one to walk into his workplace, the local office of the Illinois DMV (even when he, himself, was obviously having a bad day).

He was a very good man, and he will be missed by all.

A funny thing happened

On my way through impersonal corporate rejection, I was actually recognized by face and name, by an insurance agent I see maybe twice a year... and what's more, he was able to help me.

It all started out with a windstorm... the pictures of the pickup truck with the tree resting oh-so-gently upon it are from directly in front of my house. But that wasn't the only tree branch damage. In my back yard, I had a rather substantial shade tree, as well. I'm told it was a slippery elm, but I don't know trees except deciduous and evergreen. This one was deciduous (other trees drop leaves in the fall -- mine drop large branches), and about 45-50 feet tall, with a crotch about 7 feet off the ground starting to split (I've heard of split-crotch panties, but probably not in this size), and with a smaller tree trying to take root in the divide. At any rate, while this large tree in the back had not, as yet, split asunder and landed upon my garage, the neighbors' garages, and the neighbor's house, it was only a matter of time.

As a matter of fact, it decided, during this summer's storm, to drop a 16-inch diameter major branch onto my garage roof -- my pretty corrugated fiberglass garage roof, which Pop just finished three summers ago! I called the insurance office (State Farm) and asked if there were any point to filing a claim -- would somebody like to come look at it and give me a reasonable assessment, or was that a stupid thing to do? Mostly, I was trying to keep Pop from doing himself grievous bodily harm in the few days before his 50th-anniversary-gift trip with Mom to Alaska. If left to his own devices, he'd have climbed up ladders, tossed a couple of ropes about, and wrenched his back trying to remove the giant tree limb from the garage roof. Then where would his trip have gone? No train, no ferry, no Alaska -- just to bed and Grumbleburg!

At any rate, the insurance company sent an adjuster out, filed a claim for me to the tune of $33 above my deductible. Apparently, just phoning them constitutes filing a claim (I did not know this -- I thought one could ask without committing to an actual claim. Isn't that what some company's ads say you can do?) A few weeks later, I got a check in the mail for $33. Whoopee.

Next thing I know, though, I'm getting a letter informing me that, because I've had three claims in six years, they're canceling my policy, as of the first of the year. Over a $33 check! (exclamation point!!!!)

So right before Thanksgiving (a few days after having received the notice), Mom and I (Mom and Pop are part-owners of my house) went down to the agent's office, and asked if we could get a little help. The assistants said the boss, Jon Ferguson, was out sick, then took our names & number, said she'd have him call us when he got back to work.

Well, a month went by. We didn't see Ferguson's name in the obits, so we went by his office again last week, assuming that our note simply got lost in the stacks of messages (it's been a busy year around here). He was in... and mostly recovered. We told him of my plight, he called the main office in Bloomington, IL, and managed to get a reversal of the decision to cancel -- and he even had my payments reduced, with a little restructuring. He said to the person on the phone, after all, our family had been steady customers of his since we returned to this community, and had been with State Farm since... I dunno, since time immemorial, I guess, and it seemed sorta problematic to lose a customer over a $33 check, anyway (that should have never been submitted as a claim, said he, and should be considered an "office error"), especially since the offending trees have now been removed at chainsaw-point, so there's no further risk of tree damage to the house or garage (unless one of the neighbor's trees gets picked up and blown over one of their houses and into mine). He drove over by my house, took a photo or two to e-mail to the main office, as evidence of tree absence.

I received a "disregard previous letter" letter yesterday, in my mailbox.

I genuinely appreciate doing business with Jon Ferguson -- he's what an insurance agent ought to be: friendly, professional, swift and helpful. He treated Mom and me as human beings, and kept me from getting lost in the big, bad system.

And I love living in a small town, where people know each other and actually care!

(BTW -- a friend of mine has been doing the basic emergency repairs. The down side to living here is, we have so few reliable contractors available to do "small jobs." Many of us have had to learn to do our own simple tasks, like roofing, plumbing, wiring, and such, or depend upon the kindness of neighbors.)

Monmouth's Living Windows draws good crowds

Thursday night we in Monmouth were hit with a couple of inches of snow

so conditions were pretty good by Friday evening, when Downtown Monmouth had its Living Windows Festival. I got a call from my friend, Janet, asking me if I'd like to join her in exploring events at the downtown extravaganza, so I agreed to meet her about an hour before things were to start.

I got there just a little early, so I took a few pictures of some of the bigger, better buildings in the downtown area, like the Court House

and the Colonial Bank, in full Christmas regalia

and a shot of the barber shop near the old theater.

My friend Marsha's store window was filled with fun -- Santa and his elf, Eric were getting wild and crazy

On the square, Ronald McDonald greeted cookie-buyers and cocoa-hunters

while, in the Christian book store, sweet songs wafted across the shelves, a cappella

and an electric piano accompanied three members of a barber-shop quartet (with surprisingly good results!), at the Wells Fargo bank.

But the big draw is always the Buchanan Center for the Arts/Warren County Library corner. Crowds outside were, sometimes, ten bodies thick, to see

the kids performing in the windows of the BCA.

From the inside, you could see how much magic was in the air

Ghosts of Degas

Past and present

Back out on the street again -- rides in horse-drawn carriages were available for a small fee.

Santa's helpers were following in Hermey's footsteps

To cap off our evening, Janet and I made our way to Turnbull Funeral Home, where, each year, the Monmouth College bagpipers have come to perform in the main parlor...

Following a rousing performance of Scotland the Brave, Janet and I went to the Maple City Baptist Church a block away, where members of the congregation were serving a hot supper -- coffee, cocoa, choice of chili or hot dog, and a variety of deserts. We ended our evening at the door, after having our fill. We said our farewells, I drove home and collapsed, falling almost instantly to sleep, with visions of sugarplums dancing in my head (or, maybe it was sugar-Clydesdales?).

Monmouth Civic Orchestra succeeds once more

Sunday night, I had the pleasure of attending the Monmouth Civic Orchestra's fall 2007 concert, and, once again, came away satisfied that the arts were not being neglected in this small community.

The concert, originally slated for last month, had been reworked several times, until all the professional and amateur musicians in the orchestra could manage to work the concert into their tight holiday schedules. And, the change didn't really cost us much of the audience -- all the regulars were there again.

I was glad to see that the quality of performance did not suffer for those scheduling woes.

Donna Hauge looked downright regal as she conducted the orchestra's stellar performance...

And, now, for a little history:

Donna has been in command of the Monmouth Civic Orchestra since she founded it, more than a quarter-century ago. Her goal has always been to see that music -- the stuff not covered by high school marching band and current disc jockeys -- does not vanish from our otherwise rather isolated community.

The story begins with a music director hired for the high school, a director who promised he would keep the solidly successful orchestra program, but within five years of his settling in on the job, there was no more high school music program other than a single chorus and the PRIZE-WINNING MARCHING BAND (he always spoke of it in such glowing terms, although we at MHS were seldom anywhere near national competition material). And not that we begrudge the kids their glory, but it is rather unlikely that they will any day incorporate strings into the parade group. It was hard enough keeping our actual champeen bagpipe band going at the local college (my alma mater, too). Imagine trying to persuade a farming community that they needed to keep Latin classes and a string ensemble, but would have to cut the frosh football team from the budget....

But I digress.

Because the orchestra program was so crudely murdered at the high school, Donna Hauge took it upon herself to save young local musicians the heartache of having to abandon violin, cello, tympani, etc. in favor of the sousaphone, simply because the band director wanted it so. She created the Monmouth Civic Orchestra as a means of offering these young musicians the opportunity to play in a large ensemble. (Many of the musicians one sees in the MCO are regional professionals, paid fully for their contribution to the group's performance, but a few still donate long hours, in order to aid Donna and the MCO.) This allows the kids a chance to learn how to work with others in a semi-professional arrangement, so they will learn musical "teamwork", as well as learning the understanding of real musical dynamics beyond the end of their bows or elbows.

If they paid everybody in this merry band of rogues according to his real worth, the MCO would have been fiscally bankrupt long ago. As it is, the MCO is always teetering on the brink, for it depends heavily on donations from concert-goers, from the Buchanan Center for the Arts, and from state agencies.

I realize we're not the only community facing hard times for our arts programs -- what this is about is more than money, though. Every community needs artistic outlets such as this, or the community stagnates. The programs need interest -- musicians to play, and listeners to attend the concerts; sculptors, painters, photographers to create visual works, eyes to admire those works. And, most of all, they need people like Donna Hauge to continue to be the driving force behind the artistic communities. We really can't afford to lose the quality of performance we had this past Sunday night.


So, next MCO concert, in the spring of '08, I expect to see you in the audience, supporting Donna and the rest. They're here for all of us, after all. The least we can do is show we're there for them.


For the record, I've spent the past few years donating my time and graphic arts skills (such as they are) to creating and printing the posters and programs for the MCO. My mother donates the paper and printer inks, thereby freeing up a little more cash for the musicians. In return, I get a whopping great ego when people like my work... and Mom gets very little credit outside a mention in the acknowledgments, when, in fact, there is little I could do without her artistic input and her computer/equipment. A little art and inspiration spreads around a whole lot.

More Music from Monmouth Civic Orchestra

I'll be leaving this up at the top of the page, as a reminder of the upcoming concert in Monmouth, IL. I hope to see more than a few of you all there, Sunday, 2 December! Our community's arts and artists deserve -- and need -- all the support they can get.

Happy Birthday to Eva Zeisel!

There are lots of folks out in the world who have never heard of Eva Zeisel -- in fact, I hadn't, until only a few years ago. In the art world, the name is often everything. Today, Chihuly and Picasso and other successes have become practically household names, for their revolutionizing their media. But in the world of ceramics, the hand is all. Eva Zeisel has one heck of a hand.

There are plenty of sources for her biography, but too often they skip over the brief time, in the early 1950s, she spent here in Monmouth, IL (except when they're trying to buy or sell pieces she designed/crafted while here, at Western Stoneware).

There's a fellow who comes the the local auctions, now and again (he used to come every week, but his health is fragile... he's probably only about 10 years younger than Zeisel, after all), who worked pretty much all his adult life at the Monmouth Pottery, primarily making cups and mugs. One day, when the auction house had about a dozen locally-made Zeisel pieces up for sale, the gentleman commented that he had worked with her, and had never been impressed by her and never much liked her stuff -- it just didn't look strong enough, or words to that effect.

I have to admit, I look at them and think of fluids, of motion, of laughter and whimsy, and the gent at the auction didn't strike me as one who had a sense of humor about dishes. He likes the chunky, clunky, almost purely utilitarian stuff with the horrid green glazes, and the drip-glaze pieces.

If it weren't for Eva Zeisel's works, I suspect tableware would still be serious, stiff, and depressingly formal -- or worse, permanently 1970s-avocado-green-ugly. Certainly stoneware -- and Western Stoneware -- took on new light when she first cast clay.

I raise a glass in honor of her birth, one century and one year ago, today.

Reception for Cordery a big success

Saturday evening, Stacy Cordery -- celebrated author and member of Monmouth College's history department -- was fêted in style at the home of her colleague Dr. William Urban and his wife, Jackie.

Among the guests to attend were MC fixture Eileen Loya, who had been on the staff as early as the 1930s, and

two MC presidents -- one present, one past (Mauri Ditzler and Bruce Haywood, respectively).

The crowd of faculty, emeriti and spouses seemed to enjoy themselves, arriving, for the most, right at seven o'clock and staying until the party ended at nine.

The spread of treats -- cheeses, crackers, puff pastry rolls, and especially the desserts prepared by Ann Sienkewicz -- was exemplary, the wine and champagne flowed easily and conversation remained lively.
I rather enjoyed myself, as well (although I'm claustrophobic and crowds make me severely anxious). And, from what I gather, (the more important aspect of the evening) Stacy and Simon Cordery enjoyed the company of all these good people, and the festive atmosphere.

Reminder: OFTA (Old Friends Talk Arts) on Wednesday morning

I know it's a couple of days ahead of time, but I'd rather be early than late in posting a reminder that Henry Joe will be the featured speaker for this Wednesday's (10 Oct. 2007) 10:00 a.m. meeting. He is expected to discuss his exploration of Early American salt-glazed pottery.

As is mentioned by Jim DeYoung in his post at Stirring the Pudding, Henry Joe is a Professor Emeritus of Art at Knox College -- the rival to my own alma mater, the college at the heart of this community of Monmouth, IL. But what Jim doesn't say is that Henry and his lovely and talented wife Pat are long-time residents of Monmouth, and have many deep ties of friendship here.

This is why I can't give an unbiased report of Henry and his lectures -- Pat is one of my two closest friends (bestest in the whole wide world) , and her family is rather much an extension of mine. But I can tell you that, every time our families sit down for a relaxing evening of conversation and companionship, I come away feeling as though I've been subject to exceptional enlightenment. If you come to the OFTA meeting, be prepared: Henry speaks softly and carries a big idea (or two or three or more).

I hope to see you there.

Mike DiFuccia, R.I.P.

My mother & I received an e-mail yesterday from our former neighbor and associate, Jim DeYoung. The message read thusly:

Mr. Mike Difuccia, the executive director of the Buchanan Center for the past nine years, suffered a massive heart attack over the weekend and passed away. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at this time, but I will get you information as soon as I have any more details.

Mike was a good man, and a very good administrator for the Buchanan Center for the Arts, here in Monmouth. He will be sorely missed.


Update, Wednesday, 26 September: Services are this evening, up in Port Byron, IL. For further information, see here.

Meet me at the fair

So, Thursday evening, after I attended to all the beasties in our many houses (and got soaked to the skin in the process of returning Rizzo from his playground/yard to his home), I made my way to the fairgrounds, to meet up with my friend and classmate, Janet.
(click any photo for larger view)

For the record, the rains stopped just as I got Rizzo indoors.

For the further record, I'm not a big fan of the midway activities. When I go to the fair, I like to stop at the tents and booths, and to see whatever shows they have scheduled.

I don't generally ride the rides or play the games.

I leave that stuff for those who will genuinely enjoy them.

Instead, Janet and I managed to arrive only a few minutes after the start of the performance by Mad Chad Taylor, the chain saw juggler.

Taylor managed to entertain a modest audience, including the WCPBF Princess and her court -- he worked 2007 Princess Jane Lovdahl into his act...
and a couple of strapping young men

before he cleared the stage and brought out the chain saws.

The show was a success (for all that it had so small a crowd). Afterward, I was out of energy and inclination to stay around the fairgrounds, so I made my way back to the car (parked at the back of the midway), and gave one last glance back before coming home to the beasties.

See also: DRA coverage of "Mad Chad" Taylor's performance. The last four grafs give an idea of what we, by arriving just a tad late, stumbled into the middle of... juggling ex-jugs!?!