As you read this, the Eau Claire Area School District is grappling with its over-the-top budget woes, and must consider some drastic cuts. From the Leader-Telegram …

• Facing a projected $5.09 million budget deficit for 2009-10, the Eau Claire school board is looking at any and all proposals for cutting expenses and generating revenues.
• To date, 43 options - ranging from consolidating schools to freezing salaries to increasing extracurricular activity participation fees - are on the list, which is expected to grow.

Did someone say “options?” Yep …

• Combining high school extracurricular programs - including sports - into one team per activity for both schools is another option. The consideration of naming rights and advertising throughout the district, along with outsourcing garbage collection and selling the district-owned garbage truck, moving the Montessori charter school from the former Lincoln School and selling the Lincoln site, and eliminating participation in a state program aimed at reducing class sizes, also made the list.

For better of for worse, I think the whole “combing sports programs” concept will be the white-hot button issue that’ll get the citizenry all fired up and involved. The district is supposed to published the list of new budget options on their website, but I’ve yet to find it …

The back corners of this town hold all sorts of cool finds. I was on a bike ride the other day and came across this interesting sight, a massive sculpture of a tundra swan made from junk removed from the Mississippi River in 2003. Set alongside some of the still vacant buildings on the southeast corner of Banbury Place, the sculpture, by local artist Stephen Bateman, is accompanied by a sign explaining the origins and purpose of the piece – to create awareness of river cleanups across the Midwest. I’ve also seen it around town in temporary locations, like at the Open Air Festival of the Arts in Phoenix Park, but it looks like at least for now it’s found a more permanent home, overlooking downtown’s Eau Claire River. Finding stuff like this makes for a great bike ride.

“Happy Election Day.”

Thats the text message I’ve got from more than a few friends this morning. 

I just want to share my own joy and pride to be alive and to be a part of this country on this day. 

This is our time. We are entering our Golden Age. 

When we look back at this when we are old, we will know it as the time when America got its transfusion; with the red blood of the fore fathers of this young country and true patriots running through us again.

Cheers to hope.  … and to not think of us as prospering until those hopes are realized. Untill people are treated as people, and the dream of this America can actually put its shoes on and walk out of door its been behind for too long and smell the morning. 

Happy Election Day.

Eau Bama.

love from Bon Iver headquarters,

Recently I was leafing through my current issue of Downbeat Magazine and I found out that one of my all-time favorite albums, Kind of Blue, is turning 50. To celebrate its release Columbia Records has rereleased the album in a special case loaded with alternate takes, false starts, a DVD and many supplemental liner notes. It’s sure to be a jazz enthusiasts dream – I am going to purchase it as soon as I finish writing this – chock full of historical detail and new material that may have never been seen before.

What makes this so historical? What is it about this album that draws people in and why does it have such broad appeal? I think the answer lies in the simplicity of the five tracks that make up the original release and the personalities of the musicians who came to the table for this historic recording. Jazz of the late 1950s was still a world very much influenced by bebop. Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie blazed on to the scene in the 1940s and turned jazz on its head as the swing era gave way to the harmonic complexities and technical abilities of bebop music. This sound continued to be refined and developed in different ways by artists like Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, J.J. Johnson and others. What Miles Davis did in his 1959 release was give listeners a chance to breathe. The music was less about technical virtuosity and more about space, simplicity and melody. For instance two of the tracks are straight up blues and one track, So What, has only two chords.

Kind of Blue was the first record that I could play along with as a teenager. I transcribed the bass melody on So What and listened intently to Miles, Coltrane and Cannonball and played along with as much of their solos as I could. I formed my first jazz combo in high school and we played several songs from the Kind of Blue album as part of our repertoire. We were able to mimic the style of the legendary Miles Davis Sextet and feel a part of the lineage of jazz. We premiered our versions of Freddie Freeloader and So What at Hava Java in Apple Valley, Minnesota on a warm summer evening in 1995. Similarly I have introduced many of my own students to jazz and transcribing by playing having them work on solos from Kind of Blue. What high school trumpet player that really digs jazz hasn’t sat down and figured out Miles’s solo on So What, especially the legendary opening line “Ba-Ba-Doo-Bop?” I’ve taught many students the beginnings of improvisation by simply having them play over the changes to So What or Freddie Freeloader. Basic knowledge of mixolydian and dorian scales is all it takes to sound like a superstar.

Kind of Blue is an all-time classic and after 50 years it still speaks as clearly as it did when it came out.

Look here for clips of Miles Davis playing with Coltrane.

Check this site out for more information about Miles.

Lady Is an Undertaker
Second license of the kind given to woman in Wisconsin
– Eau Claire Weekly Telegram | November 17, 1905

Mrs. Alex Dean recently passed an examination before the state board of health, of which Dr. Harper of Madison is the secretary through which she secured a diploma and a license to practice the profession of undertaking. Mrs. Dean is associated in business with her husband, Alex Dean, the undertaker, at Fourth Ave and Water street this city. This is only the second license of the kind given to a woman in this state. In the state of Illinois, there have been over 200 undertakers’ licenses issued to women, where the custom for all establishments of the kind is to have a lady undertaker.

Chad's Take: Congratulations to you Mrs. Dean....I mean Ellia.  

I love this article for several reasons. First it really shines light on the behavior of the early 1900s. Today women make up the majority of students studying to become a Mortician, yet back then, as you can see, a woman Mortician was big news in Eau Claire.  You may have also noticed that this great honor went to a woman named ............well just call her Mrs. Dean because it was common practice for newspapers of this time to not call women by their first names. I even have obituaries that did not list the first name of the woman. However I did some research and found at the Mrs. Dean’s first name was actually Ellia. Local historians believe that Ellia played a large role in the success of her husband’s business. 

I also like that this article shows how Water Street has changed over the years. Although there were several saloons operating on Water Street during the early 1900s, it was much more of a community business area then it is today. Most of us think of Water Street only as a watering hole for college students, but imagine how cool it would have been to see an undertaker operating on Water Street along with a Blacksmith, Butcher and numerous other forgotten trades. Well, at least we still have a barber on the street. 

Keep an eye out ...

A photo recently snapped in Madison, WI. Click for a biggie. --->

Loosely translated, I believe the name of this Japanese flash game is “Guide A Magical Floating Marshmallow-Headed Man Trough Tranquil Skies But Don’t Bump Into Unique Floating Objects Who Bite You And Make You Fallen. Also The Sound Track Is Soothing.”

Play now! (click on the yellow Japanese words)