Disney World

Just back from Disney World last night, after an 11-hour drive from Orlando. We had a great time, and the weather was perfect. Crowds were outrageous, though. Even so, with Fast Passes we never had to wait more than about 30 minutes for anything we wanted to do, and the crowds thinned out later on in the week.

One of the highlights was The American Idol Experience at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It's exactly like the real thing. To audition, you have to sing in front of a music director for screening, then if you're one of the few that pass (they pass only 40 in a day out of 250-400 that try out), you have to audition in front of the Producer to see if you're one of three people that sing in front three judges (one of which plays the jerk) and an audience of 1,000 that vote on a winner. There are 4 such live shows per day, and the winner from each compete against each other at the 7 p.m. finale, where the winner gets a golden ticket to move to the front of the line at a real American Idol audition anywhere in the country. Caitlyn and I both tried out (no upper age limit), but Sarah was too young (14 min) and Chris opted out. You can only try out once per day, and on the third try, Caitlyn passed the first screen and made it to the Producer. She got some great feedback but didn't quite make it all the way to the stage. Still, it was a huge thrill for her to be in the top 10% that tried out that day, and a great experience for her.

Another highlight (except for the ridiculous traffic) was watching the shuttle Discovery launch from Cape Canaveral. It scrubbed the week before, so we got lucky and witnessed the nighttime launch last Sunday. It was a spectacular sight, but unfortunately the wind was at our backs so we didn't get the usual roar.

Watch for more pictures on Facebook and/or through an invitation on KodakShare.

JRJO

One of the best musical projects I have been involved with lately involved recording and performing with the Jeff Richmond Jazz Orchestra last fall. Jeff is a doctoral student in music composition at UN-L, one of Paul's good friends, this band is one he put together to record his music and to play for his dissertation recital. We did one rehearsal, and then played the concert the next weekend. Jeff had it professionally recorded and released on his web site. The compositions are cutting edge - and the band is one of the best I have played in, with ringers brought in from Kansas City and Tampa, and many of the best players in Omaha and Lincoln. Paul has a couple of nice solos on the recording. Check it out:

Jeff Richmond Jazz Orchestra

Eastman Trip

Paul and I traveled to Rochester, N.Y., this weekend to visit the Eastman School of Music where Paul auditioned for a graduate assistantship in jazz trumpet. The weather and scenery was not quite like Oregon - in fact it snowed every second we were there. Here is the view from our balcony:

When we checked into the hotel, they gave us a room with one king bed instead of the two queen beds which I had reserved online. When I went to the desk to discuss this with the staff, I was told that all of those rooms were full. When I showed them my confirmation print-out, they apologized and said that they would give us a suite for the same price. As a result, we ended up in a two bedroom, two bathroom, full kitchen, 1400 square foot suite for $89 a night.

On Friday morning, we went downtown to the school for the orientation meetings and the auditions. This is the main hall of the school of music - which is huge.

The main hall is in the oldest building which takes up an entire city block and is five stories high. It contains the theater, as well as rehearsal rooms, classroooms, faculty studios, and some other smaller recital halls. Across an alley, connected by skywalks to the main building, is the nine story Annex, which contains more faculty offices and the majority of the practice rooms. Across the street is another, newer building which holds the library, bookstore, classrooms, and administrative offices, as well as a couple of cafes and a restaurant. Down the street is the living center, a 16 story dormitory which is only used by Eastman School of Music students. The school has 900 students, 400 of whom are graduate students. 20% are from foreign countries - in fact, Paul auditioned in between students from California and Sweden.

When Paul wasn't auditioning, we listened to some of their student ensembles rehearse in the 3700 seat Eastman theater. This building is one of the finer concert halls in the U.S., with excellent acoustics and insteresting architecture. Here are some pics from inside the theater.

Friday evening, we attended a concert by the Eastman Wind Ensemble, one of the finest musical ensembles in the world. Here they are in rehearsal:

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel, where the director of jazz studies, Bill Dobbins, was playing with a group in the restaurant in the hotel.

Aside from the weather and the fact that Rochester didn't seem to be that cool of a town, it was a good trip. Paul has teaching assistantship offers from U. of Maryland and U. of Oregon, and is likely to get one from UN-L, so now we wait and see if Eastman comes through with an offer and we'll go from there.

Facebook

I want to encourage all of you to get on Facebook. I've been spending much of my on-line time on this social networking website, and have connected up with a lot of friends I haven't spoken with in years. It's self-explanatory and a lot of fun, and you can share all of the same kind of stuff we're currently sharing on this blog. Not advocating we stop blogging, just that we add the more real-time component on Facebook. See you there!

National Honor Society

Sorry, I haven't been on in so long, couldn't remember my logon. Chris was inducted into the National Honor Society last night. It was a nice evening with Coach Cook, the volleyball coach gave a talk on leadership.

Campus Visit #1

Paul and I flew to Portland, Oregon, and then drove down to Eugene to visit the U. of Oregon so Paul could audition for a graduate fellowship in jazz studies there. Eugene seems like a lively town, lots to do, and certainly one of the great places in the country for outdoor recreation. One hour to the east is some prime skiing, one hour to the west is the ocean. The town is also known for cycling - bike paths and dedicated bike lanes are everywhere, and the sport of jogging in the U.S. was basically invented there - the Oregon track coach who coached Frank Shorter and Steve Prefontaine there started Nike.

On Friday, while Paul went to the music building to practice, I went exploring. First I took a drive just east of campus up this small mountain. I drove by Pre's rock on the way down - where Steve Prefontaine was killed in a car wreck.

Next I wandered around the campus. Here's a pic of the track and stadium around the track.

More campus.


This picture is of Pioneer Cemetery, which is right next to the music building.


We had to take some pictures of all the "Animal House" sites that still exist (the campus served as Faber College in the movie). If you're a fan of the movie, you will recognize, in order, Paul standing outside of Dean Wormer's building, the fraternity house used by the bad guys (Niedermeyer et al), and Mandy Pepperidge's sorority house (site of Bluto peeping at the pillow fight).



Paul had his audition on Saturday morning, after which we had plenty of time to sightsee. We drove to the coast to take some pictures as neither of us had seen the Pacific ocean. The drive was a really nice hour long trip through mountains and woods.

About 10 miles up the coast on the coastal highway, we found a cool beach and a lighthouse to hike to that allowed for some great pics.


After visiting the lighthouse, we parked and waited for the sunset, then headed back to Eugene to get ready for a full day of travel on Sunday.

Now we just have to wait to see if he gets a fellowship job offered to him. In the meantime, we head to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. in two weeks for visit #2.

Paul's Newest Composition

This is Paul's new piece, called "Three Day Weekend" as performed by the UN-L Jazz Combo I.