I'm still alive

Just wanted to let you all know that we are still here and it's just been incredibly hectic this fall. You can't even imagine. I will catch you up when I have time.

And the Winner is.......

Me... Last weekend I was given an award for a Musical that I music directed and Conducted with the Hawthorne Players in the summer of 2006. That year we produced "Kiss Me Kate." I had 18 volunteer orchestra musicians and a great cast and the award was titled "Outstanding Acievement in Musical Direction." Below is a picture of me accepting the award.



Arts for Life is Community theatre group that raises money for different charities and every year they present a best performance award ceremony for the entire St. Louis area. My nomination was up against 5 other shows and music directors. I am not one to toot my own horn but some accomplishments I am very proud of and this is one of them. Below is a picture of everyone who received an award that night.

Unrest in Guatemala

Lately there has been a lot of turmoil going on in Guatemala regarding orphanges that were raided. And now, children who were waiting to come to America with their adoptive parents, have gone missing. We are so blessed that we got Christopher out of there when we did in 2004. I can't imagine what these families are going through now. Here is a link to some news stories that were aired here is St. Louis last week. Scroll through the news stories to find that Guatemala ones and watch the videos.

The Final Weekend

Well.... this is it. Next week both Christopher and I go back to school. Me to teach, he to learn. We have had an exciting summer with Man of La Mancha, hot weather (right now it is 97, forecast for Sunday is 102...WOW). And lots of picnics and family outings. This fall brings some excitement as well. I will be teaching a Jazz History class at the local communtiy college which could lead to something full time in the St. Louis Community College system (finally, my masters degree comes in handy.) I also have been invited to sing with the international award winning barbershop chorus the Ambassadors of Harmony. Their director, whom I have met in passing, saw our Man of La Mancha production and invited me to join on the spot. I feel very flattered, but it is such a huge committment. So... I am thinking about it and discussing it with my wife. Click here to see their performance a few months ago in Denver, Colorado, where they came in second at the international competition (In 2004, they won it!)

So anyway... back to work. I am excited about what is coming up at school this year. What shows we are doing (Meet me in St. Louis and The Wizard of Oz),the students that I will have and the people that I am working with.

We are closing this weekend by having a barbecue for my niece, Genni, who will be going away to college in a couple of days. She is going into Music Education at McKendree College. I am very proud of her and will help in any way I can.

Until next time.

Marc

Man of La Mancha Pictures

Here are some pictures of our Man of La Mancha Production


This is a picture of me as the Padre in the confessional listening to Don Quixote's Niece and house keeper singing "I'm Only Thinking of Him."


This is our Don Quixote and Sancho on their "horses".


Me at the end of the show singing the reprise of "To Dream the Impossible Dream."


Our Whole Cast

The Show is On

We opened our production of "Man of La Mancha" this past Friday night and it went really well. Our cast is very strong vocally and when we are backed up by a full 24 piece orchestra, you can't go wrong. Click here to read one of the reviews.

I will post some pictures of the show on my next post.

Marc

I'm a little late

OK, I have been a little lazy with keeping up the posts. But I will try to be better. I wanted to share with you a really cool opportunity I had at our 4th of July concert. Every summer the band I play in, Northwinds Concert Band does a concert in front of thousands of people in our town right before the fireworks go up. This year's theme was broadway. So we did some broadway and some patriotic music. I asked the director if I could sing a song from one of my favorite broadway shows "Jersey Boys." If you don't know this show it is the story of Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons. Anyway... so I arranged "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" for concert band and we peformed it. It had a few little bumps in the performance but the arrangement worked great. I am very proud of that accomplishment.

We also spent some time last week sight seeing around the St. Louis area. One of the places we visited was Meremac Caverns. If you are familiar with the Caverns, it is a big cave where Jesse James was reported to hide out with stalactites that are millions of years old. A truly awesome sight. Here are some photos.




My niece Genni is graduating from high school and going into Music Education at McKendree University next fall (proud Uncle Marc). She had her graduation party last weekend and we had a blast. We got to see some family that we haven't seen in a long time and who have never met Christopher. Here are some photos from that.


Genni, Kara, Christopher, Ethan and Caleb (My son and my brothers kids)



The whole family with my Mom's side. My Grandparents, Mom, brothers, their significant others, their kids, Jennifer and Christopher.



Christopher and Ethan