The Dog Days of October

Even though this was my first weekend off since August, I went to Austin for part of it. One reason was because I hadn't gotten to see my sister and her family in quite some time, and the nephews do grow up quickly, after all. The other reason was to be able to meet this little guy:


Say hello to my new four-legged "nephew," Fletcher. He's the newest in a series of Sheltie dogs in my sister's family, but unlike their previous ones, he's both smart and friendly. In fact, he loves people and is always eager to meet someone new. (And yes, he has a regular-sized tail; I'm just a crappy photographer at times.)

It was great to get away; before this weekend, my last trip of any kind was to a business meeting in Indiana back in July. I did all the usual bits of righteous road food that are characteristic of this trip--Fazoli's in Waco, the Czech Stop in West, and so on. I'm pretty exhausted right now, and this week (like all of them lately) will be quite busy, but it was worthwhile. The grind resumes tomorrow...

Tonight, There Is Joy in Mudville

Over an hour after the end of the game, it's still sweet to type this sentence: The Texas Rangers are going to the World Series! But believe me, it rolls sweetly off the fingers...

I've been a Rangers fan for the past 24 years, or at least that's when I attended my first game (against these Yankees; I looked it up). A few years in, I got to enjoy the thrill of the Nolan Ryan era, when people decided which games to attend by which night he was on the mound. Later on, I enjoyed the thrill of a brand-new ballpark and the first playoff years. And other times, I spent many hours watching some mediocre teams, and a few outright bad ones. Also--being one of those who enjoys baseball on TV and radio, not just in person--the team has seen me through many a night off and more than a few long drives. I may have grown up an Astros fan, but the Rangers integrated themselves into the fiber of my being as an adult.

When the final out was imminent, I turned down the TV sound and cranked KRLD on the clock radio from the next room; Eric Nadel deserved to be the one I heard make the final call. I was on my feet for that entire last at-bat, just like everyone in the ballpark, and I did my share of jumping up and down at game's end. (And how sweet was it that A-Rod struck out to end the game! As a friend of mine commented on Facebook, A-Rod finally sent the Rangers to the World Series. Nice.)

Did I tear up a bit when all this went down? You bet. But not right away; I was (literally) jumping for joy at first. What got me was the postgame interview with series MVP Josh Hamilton; of course, he started out by praising God, and right after that, he deflected all the credit to his teammates, and it hit me that Nolan Ryan had done the exact same thing after the game where he got his 5,000th strikeout (a game I had the privilege to attend). And now Nolan is co-owner and team president, and it sure seems that the team-first attitude is being taught from the top of the organization. Not only is it great to see our team win the pennant, but it's great to see this team do it; from all indications, they're a bunch of stand-up guys.

When Rangers Ballpark was being built, I was finishing up my stint at KNTU, for whom I'd occasionally go and report on a game. As I watched the structure take shape, I made a few promises to myself: 1) I would be there on opening night. 2) I would be at the All-Star game whenever it was held there. 3) I would be at the first playoff game hosted there. And in due time, all these things came true. But now, with the World Series coming to Arlington next weekend, I'll probably need a lottery win in order to get tickets (if only I'd had the $75 to spare a week ago when tickets went on sale!). But maybe this will come through as well; I have a week to get things together.

As I went on a late-night grocery run after the game, a couple of kids joyfully ran ahead of me into the store, shouting happily. One of them looked back and me and said, "Woooo, Rangers." My reply: "You got that right; I've been waiting for this since before you were born." No matter what happens next weekend, I'm going to enjoy this moment for a while.

In the End, He Couldn't Dodge This Bullet

The news itself wasn't surprising at this point, but the timing was: The UNT athletic department chose today to fire Todd Dodge as head football coach:

Dodge came to UNT before the 2007 season, fresh off winning his fourth Class 5A title in his last five seasons at Southlake Carroll High School — rolling up a 79-1 record in those five years. He was never able to replicate that success at UNT and finished with a 6-37 record with the Mean Green.

Dodge never won more than two games in a season and was 1-6 just past the halfway point of his fourth campaign.

“While coach Dodge has done some great things with our men between the lines, it rolls out to 6-37,” UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal said. “The decision is not based on the last seven games. It’s about a body of work over the last 3 1/2 years, and at this point I believe we should have been much further along.”

Offensive coordinator Mike Canales, who is in his first season at UNT after serving for three seasons as coordinator at the University of South Florida, will take over as interim head coach. The search for a new head coach will begin immediately.

This is disappointing to me, even if pretty much everyone expected it to happen at the end of the season. As I noted when Dodge was first hired back in December of '06, I think that he's a class act, and he definitely helped bring about some new enthusiasm for the program, which resulted in, among other things, the favorable vote for the new stadium that's under construction across the street from the aging white elephant that is Fouts Field. And while I don't know for sure whether all the losses this season could be attributed to Dodge's coaching, I wonder what anyone else could have done with a team that's been as decimated by injuries as this year's squad has been.

So, two quick questions to ponder:

• Todd Dodge will certainly land on his feet again, most likely at the high school level where he excelled for so many years. Which area high school do you predict will snap him up?


• Who would you like to see as the new coach of the Mean Green for next year?

The comments are open; fire away.

8-0

The good guys win again; what else can I say? Cliff Lee is still a beast (I think there's a new "Mr. October" in baseball), and the Rangers continue to vanquish old ghosts.

One of these days, my blog posts will be longer than glorified tweets, but it's hard to get a lot of work done with meaningful baseball this late in October. Still, what fun it is!

Behind the Green Red Door

The newest "renovation" of Casa de Kev, done yesterday:


(And most of it took place while I was teaching. Thanks to Mom and Dad for the help.)

My door hadn't been painted since I bought the house over nine years ago, and it just seemed like it was time for a change. And I've watched enough HGTV to know that all the cool kids paint their doors red now, and, after getting a number of color chips and plastering them up there, I found one that I liked. I think it adds a lot to the entryway, even if the door itself is somewhat secluded from the street.

I'm off to UNT Homecoming today. More later.

Association Day

On this day in 1995, a group of brothers in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, meeting at what was then called Friday's Front Row Grill at the Ballpark in Arlington (site of a hopeful Rangers victory tonight!), voted to form what we now know as the Dallas/Ft. Worth Area Alumni Association. We're the oldest of the modern-era alumni groups in the fraternity, and we're still going strong. (The anniversary of our founding, coming nine days after the national Founders Day, often gets lost in the shuffle, so I'm plastering this news in as many places as possible today in an attempt to rectify that situation.)

Thanks to those who have built upon what we started that day, and may our banner truly "float for aye"! (And if you're a Sinfonian in the DFW area who has stumbled across this post, please hit the second link above to contact the organization; we'd love to see you!)

RANGERS WIN!

Fifty years of franchise futility came to an end tonight; what more can be said? (And if, as I predict, I end up being too excited to sleep for a while, I might come back and say more later.)

A Beautiful Day in a Beautiful Hall

I've hyped this for a few weeks now, strictly on the basis of an "artist's rendering" picture from UNT's website. But I'm happy to say that the beautifully-renovated and newly-christened Voertman Hall is absolutely gorgeous:


View from the inside entrance


View from the stage
The concert went extremely well, and we helped break the place in with everything from big band to rock band, and from full chorus to "chanted" chorus. This is a great addition to the College of Music's facilities, it repurposes an aging venue in fine fashion, and it will be the home of great music for decades to come. Kudos to all who were involved in the planning and construction of this wonderful room.

10.10.10

Here we are again--the day when all three numbers of today's date converge in two-digit form everywhere in the world (even the places that would call today 10 October 2010). I've been blogging about this phenomenon for the past five years, and, as noted before, I'll almost certainly keep it up all the way through 12/12/12.

As for today, I'm spending the bulk of the day in Denton for the annual Sinfonia Founders Day Concert, where I get to direct the province-wide big band in its one gig of the year. It starts at 3:30 p.m., admission is free, and it's in the newly-renovated Paul Voertman Concert Hall that I talked about a few weeks ago. Seeing the hall itself would be reason enough to come to the concert, plus you'll get to hear the music of talented Sinfonians from around the North Texas area.

Also, the One O'Clock Lab Band is taking its CD release party to Ft. Worth tonight, celebrating Lab 2010 on 10/10/10 off-campus at McDavid Studio in much the same way it did with its 2009 effort on campus a year ago last month. If you're in the area, it's something not to be missed.

A Glimpse of the Future at My Alma Mater

(The new stadium that's under construction at UNT, as seen from the parking lot of the current one.)

It's a shame that there will likely be a new coaching staff leading the Mean Green into this place next fall, as the team can't seem to steal a win this season. Tonight's loss was by a mere five points, which has been par for the course this season. With the team's record at 1-5, it would take a miracle to save the Todd Dodge regime; can the guys pull it off over the next month and a half?

Among the good things that happened in the game: Four field goals by Zach Olen, and fourth-string quarterback Chase Baine did pretty well, and--unlike most of his predecessors this season--came back from an injury scare to rejoin the game. He was replaced by Riley Dodge for one series, who was playing with a broken wrist on his non-throwing hand.

Can this season still be salvaged? Next week's homecoming game should tell us a lot.

All Hail!

On this day in 1898, a group of men at the New England Conservatory decided to form a club for the male musicians at the school, who were massively outnumbered by the women at the time. Since then, the "Sinfonia Club" has grown into Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America, which boasts over 200 collegiate chapters and alumni associations nationwide. It's also an organization in which I've had the privilege of spending virtually my entire adult life in some sort of active involvement.

Happy Founders Day, my brothers. And may the Sinfonia's banner "float for aye."

Today Was a Walk in the Park

Literally:

I visit Southlake Town Square about once a month, during my break between church and my monthly alumni meeting in the Mid-Cities, and I'm really glad that the weather is nice enough to take long walks through the place again.

Some days are just too nice to spend inside, so the incomplete blog posts will have to wait a little bit.

Words to Live By

I'm enjoying a partial four-day weekend right now (the "partial" part means that I'll be teaching college as usual on Monday and Tuesday, but the public schools are off, and any day that doesn't require waking up at 6 a.m. counts as a "holiday" in my book), so I'll be catching up on many, many incomplete blog posts in the next few days. But in the meantime, I had to post this great quote from James Lileks in his Thursday Bleat. Earlier in the day, he had words with his daughter, who was updating something and nearly missed her school bus. Eventually, the subject came around to work:

You work, you fill up the day, you tote it up when the day is done, and figure you earned your stint on the right side of the dirt. I have the usual panoply of failings as a person and a parent, but I think I’ve instilled in my daughter one lesson: make something every day. Make something that wasn’t there before. Produce. It’s what we’re here to do, after all.

Amen and amen. And those last three sentences should be printed out and plastered on the bathroom mirrors of everyone who works in government, not to mention those who believe that said government should take care of them, rather than relying on their own personal productivity.

End of sermon. Have a great day! Updates linked as they get completed.

This Band Will Need a Hand

This was all over Facebook and various forums today, and my heart goes out to these kids and their director: The Powahatan High School Marching Band from Virginia pretty much lost all their stuff--instruments and brand-new uniforms which had only been worn twice--when their storage trailer caught fire soon after a return from an out-of-town competition this past weekend.

As noted in the video, there was a lot of time spent doing fundraising to get the new uniforms and equipment, and I'm sure there will be some sort of fund set up to help these folks; I'll post an update here as soon as I find out.

We're Still Having Fun, and They're Still the "One"*

Everyone has their own early-autumn rituals, and one of mine is making the very short trek to UT-Dallas on the last Friday in September to see the One O'Clock Lab Band perform about as close to my backyard as they get. Director Steve Wiest, a former college classmate of mine, calls this performance their "first real breakout gig" of the new year after a few early appearances on campus in the Syndicate (which I had to miss this year due to an obligation with my Region Jazz students) and the One O'Clock Lounge (which seems appropriate enough, doesn't it?).

It's always impressive how this band can put together a concert at such a high level in such a short time, especially considering the fact that there's often quite a bit of turnaround from the previous semester (this year, it's two new saxophones, two new trumpets, three new trombones and an entirely new rhythm section). Whether playing things from the new CD, Lab 2010 (which they had to learn in its entirety in about three days' worth of rehearsals for the Syndicate gig) or timeless One O'Clock classics from decades past, the band progresses seamlessly from year to year without missing a beat (*insert rim shot if desired*).

This year's concert opened with the Grammy-nominated "Got a Match?" from Lab 89, and the band made its way flawlessly through the intricate lines (which Chick Corea originally wrote to be played just by himself and John Patitucci). Since Lab 2010 was for sale in the lobby at intermission, a generous selection of tunes from the new CD were sprinkled throughout the evening, including "Prime Directive" (a Dave Holland tune arranged by student Josh Dresser), "The Oracle" by student Kevin Swaim, Director Emeritus Neil Slater's "Not Yet," and current director Wiest's "New Cydonia."

Closing the first half was a tribute to Director Emeritus Leon Breeden, who passed away in August. The triumvirate of tunes opened with "Willow Weep for Me" (performed by Breeden himself on clarinet on his final album with the band, Lab '81, and masterfully done tonight by Brian Clancy, who holds the lead tenor chair in the band) and was followed by a mash-up of two Lou Marini compositions from the '60s, "Looking with New Eyes" (which started out with a flowing melody to which one might picture Mary Tyler Moore walking through downtown Minneapolis, before descending into wonderful chaos) and "Hip Pickles" (a screaming blues-rock romp).

Certain things are expected at a One O'Clock Concert: Will they play some Stan Kenton? Of course they will; this time, it was the wonderful Marty Paich arrangement of "Body and Soul," featuring new pianist Colin Campbell. Will they choose the two-minute barn-burner "Machito" as an encore? Well, for a second it appeared that they wouldn't this year, choosing instead the fine Bret Zvacek arrangement of "Harlem Nocture" that opens Lab 85 (which would be my personal choice as the next "old" recording to be re-released on CD). But that generated enough applause at the end to warrant playing an "encore to the encore," so the tune I've dubbed a "two-minute, eighteen-second ball of energy" did indeed end the concert on a good (and very high) note.

Somebody asked me at intermission if I preferred the Wiest version of the One O'Clock to that of Slater; my initial answer was that it would be very hard to choose between my former professor (Slater), whose offering of a spot directing lab bands for two years in grad school set the stage for most of what I do now, and my longtime friend and former schoolmate (Wiest). But I also added this: I think that Wiest has brought some new youthful energy to the band (he may be in his early fifties, but I've considered him a "young soul" for the entire time we've known each other). He's also taken the band in some daring new directions (sure, some things get a little more "out" at times, but as I've noted before, the older I get, the "outer" I like). Besides, no matter how much some tunes seem to leave the planet at times, they're always anchored by that underpinning of swing that's so vital to good jazz.

I'm also quite impressed with some of the little touches that Wiest has added to the band--most notably, the increased attention to dynamics; the One O'Clock has long been known as the "higher, faster, louder" band, but Wiest has expanded the dynamic spectrum to include a lot of softer passages in certain places. It's extremely effective, and it's more than a casual nod to those pioneers of big band, the Count Basie Orchestra, whose dynamic range varied from a whisper to a scream. I also enjoy the things that Wiest does with the rhythm section during certain solos--adding stop-time or allowing the time to get very loose and combo-ish on occasion.

As noted many times before, I received both of my degrees from UNT, and you already know of my ties to the director, so I realize that all of this could just come off as excessively rooting for the home team. But I've never been hesitant to offer constructive criticism when necessary; it's just that, more often than not, all I can do is rave about what the One O'Clock is doing. This is one of those times.

*Did I really just riff on the lyrics of a rock song from a '70s two-hit wonder for the title of my jazz concert review? Why yes, I did.

Well wishes: I should also include a shout-out to my longtime friend Micah Bell, the new second trumpet player in the band, who's been sidelined by illness this week and had to miss tonight's gig. Get well soon, Micah, and I look forward to seeing you play in the band before long.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "That last piece you played? I can't hum it...any of it."--Old-timer at the concert, to Steve Wiest during intermission. (And the guy had just the right Southern accent so that it really came out as "Ah cain't hum it." Priceless...)

Extreme Makeover: Concert Hall Edition

I don't get up to visit my alma mater, UNT, nearly as much as I used to a few years ago, but I've been there enough to be aware that the Concert Hall--the major performance venue of the College of Music until the opening of the Murchison Performing Arts Center in 1999, and a hall that was, until now, virtually unchanged since the opening of the older portion of the Music Building in 1960--was undergoing a massive renovation, and I also knew that it was about to have a "soft" opening in the next few weeks. But until today, I had no idea that it would be this beautiful:


Nor did I know that it was being named after a major Denton figure whose name is known to virtually everyone in town. Here's the skinny:

A redesigned concert hall in the University of North Texas Music Building will be unveiled this fall, after a $6.4 million renovation project to create a more intimate performance space, enhance the acoustics and install state-of-the-art equipment.

Formerly known as the Concert Hall, the performance space has been renamed The Paul Voertman Concert Hall in honor of Denton philanthropist Paul Voertman (pronounced "VERT-mun").

"We are thrilled with this transformation of a tired, worn-out and dated hall into a beautiful and acoustically splendid space that will serve our students and faculty for their many performances of solo and small ensemble music," said UNT College of Music Dean James C. Scott. "There is no doubt that Voertman Hall will house more of our performances than any other College of Music space."

Read the full story here.

The Concert Hall was always something of a white elephant when I was in school; the design was plain, the seats were bulky metal with worn cushions (and they creaked when the seat bottoms went up and down), and it was starting to show its age (I'll never forget when a large fluorescent light bulb just fell out of its socket and crashed onto the back of a [thankfully unoccupied] seat a few rows away from me during a recital). It was too big for most recitals (it seemed cavernous whenever it was less than half full), and it was almost too small for the large ensemble concerts. It was definitely due for a makeover, and it looks like those involved have outdone themselves with this effort.

As Dean Scott noted above, this venue should be the perfect complement to the 250-seat Recital Hall (also in the Music Building) and the 1,025-seat Winspear Performance Hall in the Murchison Center. I'm looking forward to seeing this venue in person very soon, and when I do, I'll pass along my thoughts (and an actual picture or two).

Todd and Co. Can't Dodge a Bullet Right Now

I didn't get to hear all of today's UNT/Army game on the radio, as I had a lunchtime engagement (one at which it would have been rude to constantly check the scores on my phone). But it wasn't looking good when I got out of the car at noon, and when I came back, the game had just ended, and it was bad news once again: The Mean Green lost to Army, 24-0, falling to 0-3 on the year.

And once again, the game wasn't a blowout in the beginning, and that's been the story all season so far. They played Clemson tough for the first half; they very well could have beaten Rice last week. And in the first half of today's game, they held the ball for far longer than Army and kept things close, only trailing 7-0 when I got out of the car. It's been close--oh, so close--but since this isn't horseshoes, hand grenades or atom bombs, close doesn't count. And I'm afraid that if this ship doesn't right itself pretty soon, Todd Dodge won't get to reap the benefits of the new stadium that I'm sure has been a key part of recruiting for the past several years.

The worst thing is this: If the team does have a losing season, it can be blamed on something largely out of Coach Dodge's control: Injuries. This paragraph pretty much tells the whole story:

Injury woes have taken their toll on the Mean Green this year, and hit home again at West Point. After losing center Nick Leppo in the game's second series, quarterback Derek Thompson left the game with a leg injury. Starting receiver Christopher Bynes also left the game with injury, making nine starters lost to injury this year.

Thompson was filling in for Nathan Tune, who left last week's game against Rice with a hip injury, and Riley Dodge was once again called into action.

And remember, Riley Dodge used to be the starting QB himself, until he was switched to receiver because of...wait for it...injuries. And Leppo was filling in at center for J.J. Johnson, who was lost for the season to a foot injury in the opener against Clemson. So that means that, by the second quarter yesterday, the third-string center was snapping to the third-string emergency quarterback...in the third game of the season. It makes one wonder if the team will eventually run out of players at this rate.

Granted, there are still a lot of games left to go, including the entire conference schedule. One could find hope in the fact that the Green have hung in there well against their non-conference foes. But considering what happened earlier tonight, when Texas A&M barely beat Florida International, a Sun Belt team, earlier tonight, it reminds us that the conference won't exactly be a cakewalk either.

I haven't given up hope yet, but these injuries are killing North Texas. I still believe in Coach Dodge, and I'd love to see him still in charge when the new stadium opens next season, but things have to get back on track very soon.

Where Were You...

...nine years ago, when you heard the news? I've posted this in some form every year since I started blogging, and I pause to remember again:

I was on a break from teaching, like every Tuesday, and actually spent the time of the attacks in blissful ignorance at a nearby Starbucks. I had CD's on in my car instead of the radio, so I totally missed the news on both the way over and the way back. I did hear someone listening to a radio on the Starbucks patio and they were talking about "the second plane," but it didn't register with me at all. (It amazed me later that nobody walked inside and told us about it.)

When I got back to the school, the flute teacher stopped me in the hallway and asked me if all my students were being pulled out of school (evidently hers were). I said, "No, why?" and she told me what had happened. I spent the rest of the day like everyone else, in shocked, depressed amazement, catching the news when I could. There I was, not even two weeks into being a homeowner, and the world suddenly felt so different. It added to the pall cast over everything when I found out that the sister of a girl I graduated from high school with was on Flight 93, the one that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. (I know that there have been quite a few lists of names read aloud today, so let me share hers: Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas. May she rest in peace...)

The whole thing felt so surreal; how could anyone hate us that much? The concept of the suicide hijacking was unprecedented as well (before that, hijackers just usually wanted to go to Cuba, and that's why airline personnel were taught to cooperate with them rather than try to subdue them).

I know there are still terrorist plots being hatched, and people capable of carrying them out...but I hope nothing like this ever happens on U.S. soil again. Or anywhere, for that matter.

For those who may be new to reading this blog since then, I'll invite you to share your recollections in the comments to this post.

As I've said for several years now, I hope nobody tires of talking about this every once in a while, because if we stop talking, we might forget, and this is a day that need not be forgotten anytime soon.

I'm sure that the blogosphere will be full of great tributes today, and I'll add links to those later, after I get back from judging a competition this morning.

LATER: A few more items...

• Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas had a memorial garden in Houston dedicated to her this morning.


• Gerard Vanderleun has some first-person recollections from Brooklyn; here's another one with extensive quotes from a Cantor Fitzgerald broker whose life was spared by what can only be called divine providence.


• A couple of other "reruns' are work your time: this 2003 piece from James Lileks, and a collection of same-day postings from the early days of Instapundit.

If I run across anything else noteworthy today, I'll come back and post it here.

No Ark Needed Today, But It Was Interesting

Living as far inland as Dallas/Ft. Worth, it's not too often that we're directly affected by hurricanes. And while Tropical Storm Hermine never quite made it to hurricane status, she certainly wreaked havoc with our weather all day today.

It's not as if we don't need the rain up here; we certainly do. But getting it all at once as we did (some areas of the Metroplex have gotten ten inches since yesterday) causes all kinds of problems--flooding, treacherous commutes into work, and so on. And the event that seemed to get the most news coverage was the early evening tornado that sheared part of a wall off a paint warehouse on Mockingbird Lane near Irving Boulevard just west of I-35. (I myself was teaching right through a tornado warning, blissfully ignorant of same until someone texted me about the status of an evening event.)

I can count myself among the thankful, because the only effect that today's weather had on me personally was a couple of really rainy trips between schools. I use a few back roads on my Wednesday commute, and they were almost flooded, but not quite; the afternoon activities at my last school of the day (which would have included five of my lessons) were almost canceled (actually, they were for a second, but they were subsequently un-canceled by the time school let out), and the bridge that would have taken me home was almost closed due to high water, but the levels dropped by the time I used it.

I hope that everyone else was as lucky as I was, and may tomorrow be a much less eventful (and drier) day.

It's Sonny on a Rainy Day

As I noted on Facebook a bit earlier, I can't let another minute of today go by without wishing a happy 80th birthday to Sonny Rollins. Not only is he one of the few remaining national treasures of his generation of jazz, but he's still tearing it up on the tenor and has a rather active touring schedule for a guy his age.

I've had the privilege of seeing Sonny three times: At the late, lamented Caravan of Dreams while in college; in New Orleans at the House of Blues in '99; and at the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival in '03. That most recent time was highlighted by the 30-chorus blues solo that he took on one tune--yep, he played for 15 solid minutes and it never got old. That was at the age of 72, and from everything I hear, he hasn't lost a step. I hope I get a chance to see him at least one more time.

Happy birthday, Sonny, and thanks for all you've done for our music.