It's the Eleventh Hour at the Green Mill Lounge

Laura Adkins -  There is more to life than Nielsen. There is more to life than Hindemith. When you first learn to play in a woodwind quintet, these pieces are your whole world. There are just a handful of them, and they're all you know. Now, I'm not knocking their musical merit by any means. But there is a distinct failure among woodwind quintets to move beyond these works. Sure they're great, but there's so much more.

This is what we've always wanted to do with Eleventh Hour. We've all already played these standard pieces, and while we could approach them from different directions and struggle to pump new life into the proverbial dead horse, we figured we might as well find a live horse and see what it could do.

So when we were offered the opportunity to play the Green Mill, we looked purposefully for new pieces, less-popular pieces, and pieces that pushed the envelope in one way or another. Eisler's quintet is often overlooked because Eisler himself is often overlooked. Though he was a student of Arnold Schönberg, his Marxist beliefs made him taboo to the music audiences of the time. 

Jacques Hetu's quintet was written only 55 years ago, and simply hasn't yet had much exposure. Maybe it's because musicians don't typically think of the mid-60s as the Golden Age of woodwind quintets. Or maybe it's because the piece is, quite simply, a little weird. I really have no idea, but just because most musicians don't know the piece doesn't mean they shouldn't. It was wildly fun to play, and we'd do it again in a heartbeat (SPOILER ALERT: we probably will).

Tetrodotoxin (<25mg) was composed by our friend Scott Scharf specifically for this occasion. It focuses on very gradual shifts in timbre and pitch, and requires the quintet to play as one homogenous group for the entire duration of the piece. The instructions from the composer were to break the sound as little as possible, which obviously poses a problem for those of us who have to breathe (ie all of us). Though it seems mind-numbingly simple, it's actually extremely difficult to play repeated notes over and over, exactly the same, with minimal breathing for 4 minutes straight. Then add in the gradual, almost imperceptible pitch bends. Yeah. I won't lie: this was - at least for me - the most demanding piece on the program, but I think we pulled it off, and we're so grateful to Scott for taking a chance on us!

The last piece we played was an arrangement of the popular tango "Por Una Cabeza." Arranged by whom? Our very own horn player, Max. The arrangement was fun, melodic, and readily accessible - not something that could easily be said of the rest of our pieces, which is why we programed it. We always try to include at least one piece that really lets us loosen up and just have fun. There was room for some improvisation and a lot of shmaltzing, and believe you me, we took full advantage.

Once we settled on the rep, we had to get over our fear of the venue. A lot of greats have played the Green Mill. A lot. And somehow we ended up there. Magic? Maybe, maybe not. Whatever the reason, an insane amount of preparation was really the only tonic for our nerves. It wasn't perfect - no performance is - and it's doubtful that magic is what got us the gig, but the experience was certainly magical.

Were you at the performance? Rate its magical-ness on a scale from 1 to Harry Potter in the comments! (Ok, that's not an actual scale...)

Eleventh Hour Logo by Shel St Clair

This is the logo I designed for the Eleventh Hour Woodwind Quintet.  I looked for inspiration from the style of new music that they embrace.  Since they are very artsy and somewhat avant garde I was drawn to using geometric to create the illusion of passing time.  I didn't want anything to be too obvious but it needed to clearly project the message of excellence in artistic performance.

Shel St Clair

Sigh...

Sigh...

He exists, but in a dream.

And dreaming, I draw from him

What there is to draw from illusion,

Life, breath, reason, insanity.

I pull close only to find that

I have passed through.

He is afraid of reality

And I must wake.

Shel St Clair

5 Things You Should Consider Before Starting a Small Business

1. Shel St CLair

   Business Plans Are Vastly Over-Rated

I have been starting and developing small businesses as a consultant for 20+ years and I have been paid to work on countless plans that were not worth the paper they were written on.  The uncontested winner for first place in the category of most important item in starting a small business is, (drum roll) have a solid idea.  That’s right, have a good business idea.  It doesn’t have to be completely unique or original but it needs to be good.  For example, a neighborhood grocery store specializing in gourmet deli items, not unique but if well run it will be a winner if…  Well, if what?  If the location and merchandising of the store are correct.  If not all the best planning in the world will bomb.  So what is your idea?  What do YOU want to do?  Would you buy it?  Why would the people around you buy it? 

Imitate What Works Not What Doesn’t

Even if your business idea is entirely original and no-one else has ever thought of it, there are fairly standard principles that will help sell anything. (E.g. clean restrooms promote repeat business in restaurants, asking someone to buy makes more sales than waiting for them to decide to buy)  So, there is much information that can be applied to ANY business that you want to start that will get you miles ahead.  Find it and apply it.  Conversely look at what other businesses are doing that DOESN’T’WORK FOR YOU.  If you don’t like it that is a big clue that others won’t as well.  Ultimately, the point is don’t try to reinvent the wheel, even if your business is unique. Learn as much as possib  le from the success and mistakes of others.

Start With As little Money As Possible

What!!!  You heard me.  Unless this is some kind of no-brainer that has absolutely no risk and requires that it be fully funded for a full two years, invest as little money as possible.  I have been hired dozens of times by start-up owners who were pouring their retirement savings into an idea of their wife’s cousin.  They plan, they research, they build, and then no one buys.  Find out if people will buy before you fully invest your heart, soul, or money.  I had a woman come to me with what I thought was a very clever idea once; it involved retail sales of a relatively unique product line in a cleverly discounted way.  I counseled her to HAVE A GARAGE SALE.  What?  Yep, buy a limited amount of product, put a bunch of junk in your front yard, add the discounted merchandise with the full price tag still on it and see what happens.  She sold out.  She even sold the junk.  She found a cheap way to test her business idea and discovered that she had a winner worth investing in.

Don’t Start a Business With Your Ex or Your Best Friend

Gosh, doesn’t this seem obvious.  What I mean is that unless your friends or enemies are Warren Buffet or Tony Robbins they probably aren’t who you want to be taking business advice from.  There are a ton of websites and books written on every subject imaginable that offer fairly solid (if hackneyed) advice on starting and growing a business.  In most instances it is best to keep your own counsel and seek only the counsel of those who hold wisdom.  Again, I had a woman hire me once to write her Sales and Marketing Plan for a start-up business that I felt was solid as a rock.  I studied her business and spent several weeks researching and discussing strategy with her.  I like to follow up so I called her some months later to find out how she was doing.  She had taken everything she had worked on to her mother, (who was a successful business owner) who had talked her out of starting the business and keeping her corporate job.  She never even tried.

 Understand What a Business Plan Is

The two best business planning movies ever made are Ocean’s Eleven and Monsters Inc.  They fully illustrate where business plans fail: execution.  Study these movies!!!! In Ocean’s Eleven you see a vastly over-exaggerated business plan that is brilliantly executed.  In Monsters Inc. you see a relatively simple alteration to a business plan that is already successful, fail miserably.  In both cases the answer to why is execution.  If you do not understand what this word means and how it relates to planning stop what you’re doing and go find out.  Whatever your business is, or is going to be it will never be what it could if you execute poorly.  5 Guys Burgers is a supreme example of this; they have a very limited menu, but boy do they do it right.  Uh, about 5 Guys, I meant business execution, not burgers, Portillo’s, which is also a well-executed business, smokes 5 Guys burger.

Ultimately the strongest advice I give entrepreneurs is, “Do it wrong until you get it right.”  Don’t let the fact that you aren’t perfect stop you.  Get out there; Fear of failure is the number one cause of lack of success.

Supreme Court set to rule on health care reform

Supreme Court set to rule on health care reform

This is the title of an article on CBS News this morning.  who would have thought that when Obama took office that right before his second political campaign for the Presidency the U.S. Supreme court would be ruling on a maverick act that his administration will be judged by.  Obama, the feel good President.  I always find a comparison between him and previous Presidents interesting.  Ronald Regan for instance was a true celebrity, talented, driven, a personality, heart, and intellect that were larger than life and instantly drew people to him.  Regan could be right or wrong but either way you knew he was truly great.  Not so with Obama, he seeks the part of celebrity alright, in the same tacky way that Paris Hilton did, using the office of President to promote a type of individual popularity that is strikingly Junior High.  Reagan said a few golden things that will last in history as the earth changing cries of a society that demanded that the world become a better place.  Obama has filled the earth with meaningless rhetoric that promises change and delivers chaos and confusion.  Never has a president said so little with so many words.  I am from Texas where tall story telling is a highly developed folk art form, so when I listen to Obama I naturally distill his words into their crystalized form.  There is no salt.  No, Mr. Obama forms speech from different matter than the minerals that make up the earth; his words are like the siren song that floats purely in the air but leads to disaster for all who follow.

So we will see what happens in this ruling, for what my opinion is worth Obama is a socialist.  I did not have a great appreciation for Clinton but I never doubted his love of America.  Whatever Clintons failings were I never felt that he treated the office of The United States President with a cheapness that promises “Dinner with Obama for a few Lucky Winners” on internet banners.  No, Clinton may be a flawed man but he was an American and he carried himself with pride despite those flaws.  Obama seems to crawl, clawing for votes from those who are not old enough or experienced enough to grasp the meaning, or lack thereof, behind what he says.  Whether this ruling genuinely affects what happens in November it will determine in history the opinion of this term in office.  Four years of American history spent trying to subversively shift the opinion of the American people from the individual freedom that joins us together in the greatness of democracy to socialism.  What a waste of breath.

I have included the article and a link.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57462510/supreme-court-set-to-rule-on-health-care-reform/

In this March 25, 2012, file photo, people visit the Supreme Court in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

(CBS News) The stakes could hardly be higher as the Supreme Court is set to rule on President Obama's health care law Thursday.

The legal challenge highlights two fundamentally different views of the role of government. The decision will affect the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans and could also help decide the November presidential election.

Jan Crawford reports from outside the Supreme Court that what's at stake in the decision is the fate of the requirement that nearly all Americans, from birth until death, must have health insurance or pay a penalty - the so-called "individual mandate."

Complete Coverage: Health Care
Romney: Health care law "a moral failure"
What to expect from Obama, Romney after health ruling

CBS News and CBSNews.com will have special live coverage when the Supreme Court hands down its ruling, which is expected shortly after 10 a.m. Eastern.

If the court strikes down the mandate, then it has to figure out what to do with the rest of the massive, 2,700-page law.

Norah O'Donnell reports from the White House that the president's advisers expressed confidence Thursday morning. Mr. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are expected to be together in the Oval Office when the court hands down its ruling. The president is expected to address the nation after the court rules.

Regardless of what the justices decide, the decision is expected to have significant political ramifications. This is the president's signature piece of legislation from his first term.

The president has argued that the law provides millions of Americans with consumer protections, such as providing access to preventative care and preventing insurance companies from discriminating against those with pre-existing conditions.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Mr. Obama's Republican opponent in the presidential race, has said he will repeal whatever remains of the health care reform law on the first day of his administration should he be elected president.

On Capitol Hill, Nancy Cordes reports Democrats and Republicans have been honing their messages for weeks on how to respond to the court upholding the law or striking it down. All of the more than 200 House Republicans will go into a closed-door meeting once the decision comes down to pore over it and discuss exactly how they want to react to it.

One thing neither side is doing is crafting legislation to replace the law if some or all of it gets struck down. That's because Democrats continue to insist that it will be upheld and because Republicans say they want to move slowly and won't introduce any new legislation until after the November elections. 

A portrait of RTR by Shel St Clair

I drew this with oil pastels from a photo that I took early in the morning on a vacation that we took to WY.  - Shel St Clair

The Story of Kozell Boren: How One Man Changed the American Economy

The Whole Market and the Hole in the Market

Shel St Clair

Some 50 years ago a man by the name of Kozy Boren had a vision; he saw a hole in a market, and he found it in an industry that exists solely to make its own customers money.  I point this out because both of these are unique and Kozy touched each in a manner that affected thousands of people individually and the entire U.S. Economy.  Rarely does a man find himself in the exact position on the earth to understand the alignment of the stars and see into the future.  However that club is not as exclusive as the one whose members are made up of those who did something about it and had a positively impact.  This is a truly special man.   

In the U.S., the development and growth of small business is encouraged because of the way our economy is tied to the greater philosophy of individual freedom.  Small business is the American way.  This covers the entire spectrum of representative citizens regardless of background, education, advantage, or standing in society.  The daughter of a millionaire who just graduated from Harvard Law School and decides to set up her own practice in International Business Law in NYC, faces the same challenges as the illegal immigrant who feels forced to start his own auto repair shop because he doesn’t make enough to support his family working for someone else.  Both feel the urge to stand on their own, the entrepreneurial spirit driving them to own a business is personally identified with their unique way of doing business.  They want to serve their clients and customers in a manner that reflects positively on them individually, they want to impact the local economy in their city, and they want to control the quality of the product or service that is being delivered; they want to succeed.  Most importantly, they want to make money!

Anyone who starts a business feels these desires and responds to them, but herein lays the double-edged sword.  No matter how educated, or uneducated, a business owner is, they all face the same challenges, and with their first few businesses, make the same mistakes.  I say first few businesses because, once someone has experienced the exhilaration of entrepreneurship, only the faint of heart willingly shrink back into employeedom. 

So what are the hurdles that owners of new businesses face and how do they relate to Kozy Boren?  When someone decides to start a business, they have a product, or service that is needed or wanted by the public.  Often they are an expert in their field; they know so much about what they do that they feel customers will just flock to them.  They think customers will tell their friends and family about how great they are and business will be booming.  Another myth is, “great location,” They think because they rented a spot on a main corner they will generate enough traffic to get rich.  Why do they think this?  Well, 100 years ago the disciplines of marketing and advertising were in their nascent stages and if you needed a haircut you actually did ask someone where a barber was located.  Today neither of these are true; “word of mouth” became words coming out of the mouth of a famous spokesperson and “location” became best location with a BIG sign.  Today a woman would no more ask her neighbor where to have her hair cut than she would ask where to have her OB checkup.  Today, if you have a shop on the corner of Main and 1^st in the middle of downtown and you are not properly advertised, customers will not do business with you because of perceptions created by the advertising of large chains.  Today, unless you are the ONLY grocery store in 100 mile radius, in the middle of a greatly populated desert, and you sell ice, your business will not grow properly from a good location, word of mouth, or the combination or the two.  Advertising forms people’s opinions.  So what did Kozy Boren see in his moment of genius revelation?  What larger businesses know, what experienced business owners know, what small business owners DON’T know; how to drive customers to a business?

New business owners don’t know how to get customers.  What is worse, they don’t know that they don’t know this.  They frequently think that if they provide value and service that the customers will come.  The greatest prank ever played on unsuspecting man was the myth that, “Word of mouth is the best advertising.”  So new, small businesses spend all of their time and investment trying to provide an excellent customer experience and almost none of it on marketing and advertising.

This is what Kozy Boren saw; over the first part of the 20^th century customers had changed, advertising had become the trusted emotional authority that formed their buying decision, and without effective advertising the small business would not survive.   This was the stroke of genius, to bring an effective method of attracting attention to a small business that gave the potential customer the same warm confident feeling that they got when responding to the advertising of large corporations.  Advertising makes people feel good; they like the feeling that they can take their kids to McDonalds because they have watched the commercial 1000 times and the happy people in the commercial seem to be having fun.  They feel good.  So how does a small business compete with that?  Make a better hamburger?  That may not be hard to do, but who would ever know about it?  That is the first part of the hole Kozy found; the second is pretty simple, marketing and advertising companies do not target small businesses as customers.  They may say they do, but they don’t.  Small businesses usually don’t have an advertising budget because of issues I have already discussed; so advertising companies focus their efforts on corporations that can afford them.  The small business owner did not see the need, and the advertising company did not seek them out as a customer.  This created a hole which Kozy Boren set out to fill.

The Alignment of the Stars

Kozell Boren was raised in the panhandle of Texas as the son of a blacksmith.  This is a free and fiercely independent life that engenders a man with strength of character born from the hard work of sheer survival.  He learned metal working in his father’s small business.  Had he himself not been the son of a business owner his genius may have applied itself another way.  The adventure of his life began at a young age when he joined the navy as a machinist, which ultimately led him to Long Beach CA.  In Long Beach, Kozy worked in a machine shop and got his first taste of entrepreneurship; after two years as an employee he bought out the owner.  But stars were shifting and the universe had something else in mind.  Kozy needed a job so he went to work for a small sign company named Gulf Development in Los Angeles.  I have often looked in wonder at events like this, how they change and shape the history of man yet go largely unnoticed.  If someone ever writes a definitive history book about the success or failure of small business in America, Kozy Boren getting a sales job at Gulf Development and meeting the sales manager Conrad Escalante would have to be compared to Washington crossing the Delaware to winter at Fort Ticonderoga.  Kozy was raw and green in that way that promises tremendous strength and true growth, Conrad was seasoned and talented with true direction and the soul of a winning coach.  Both men had vision and hearts large enough to include the other in their plans.  Conrad taught Kozy to sell and they bonded over their successes.

In the 1950’s lighted signage was too expensive for a small business and yet the need was desperate.  Both men believed that small businesses needed something affordable to give them an edge of professionalism and attract the right kind of attention.  They formed Superior Outdoor Display and the Superior Arrow was born.  In case you are unaware the Superior Arrow is one of the greatest inventions of the 20^th century.  This was a small electric sign shaped like an arrow that was intended to be attached to an existing, frequently hand-painted, wood, sign.  Brilliant!  In that age this was high tech and high class.  The arrow’s purpose was to point to the business thus drawing the customer’s eye and interest.  Boy did it work!  It was a huge success with business owners and customers alike.

This may seem like a small feat but reflect on the deeper impact.  This one innovation kept thousands of small businesses open and because of that, fed families, created jobs, supported communities, and put kids through college.  Somewhere out there, in the fabric of America, is a Doctor who is saving lives and his education was paid for by the revenue produced by the Superior Arrow above the sign at his mother’s restaurant.  Throughout the film history of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s they appear everywhere in scenes shot in large cities, small towns, deserted crossroads.  That arrow defines a certain attitude exemplified by small business itself, look at me, I can win!  Kozy Boren and Conrad Escalante made this possible.

It was only a few years later then the heavens shook their dust down on Kozy again, Gulf Development, the sign company where the partners had met became available.  The acquisition of Gulf made a new type of growth available and Kozy’s genius began to shine.  Now they could begin to develop new products aimed at the same section of the market.  The customer that was targeted by Gulf Development was completely ignored by all other exterior advertising companies.  Larger sign companies that saw themselves as important were developing Las Vegas, Broadway, Madison Avenue and seeking large accounts like Continental Airlines and McDonalds.  If you were Tom’s Barbecue, you were going to buy a sign from a small local company and you were at the mercy of their talent for design and fabrication.  The local sign company knew that they had you and the costs were astronomical.  So the small, or new, business owner would hang his painted board out front and rely on how good he cooked.  That’s great, but that guy driving by at 35 miles per hour can’t smell the sauce and ahead he sees the golden arches.  This type of business owner constituted 90% of the business population when Kozy took over the ownership of Gulf and he lost no time in developing a line of products specifically for them and fortifying  America with and army of salesmen carrying a lighted sample and a briefcase to design right on the spot.  Business boomed.  Yes, Gulf’s business, but advertising drives sales.  Customers began to think in a different way, first radio and then television had begun to impact the essential ways in which Americans felt about themselves and the world around them.  Buying felt good, but buying something that was advertised felt better.  Retailers and suppliers scrambled to be identified with developing name brands and trending products.  Small business owners held on for dear life as they saw the emergence of “The Chain.”  Grocery stores, restaurants, clothing stores, and automotive repair: all of these had pioneers in their industry driving development into nationally recognized branded chains that commanded customer loyalty.  This was promoted by evermore sophisticated advertising that was always out of the reach of the small business.  And then along came the Gulf salesman, sample in hand, ready to right the wrong and even the playing field.  Kozell Boren made this possible; this was his vision, his passion, exterior advertising to promote the growth and sustainability of a small business.  Through Gulf, Kozy promoted the dream of every entrepreneur, to have a business as unique and as individual as its owner, and make a good living doing it. 

Israel Attacked This Morning

http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=274915


Israel Bombed This Morning

IAF strikes Gaza terrorist launching rocket into Israel

By JPOST.COM STAFF

06/23/2012 14:30

IDF thwarts rocket attack; Kassam injures 50-year-old Sderot resident; Hamas military wing threatens Israel over air strikes; projectile hits Sderot school causing damage; over 20 rockets fired into southern Israel.

Photo: REUTERS

The Israeli Air Force on Saturday struck a Palestinian terrorist who was preparing to launch a rocket into Israeli territory from northern Gaza, the IDF stated.

The IDF recorded a direct hit and thwarted the rocket attack.

Related:

• Hamas: We'll stop rockets if Israel ends aggression
• Since Schalit deal, IDF rearrests 15 terrorists

"The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israeli citizens and IDF soldiers will continue to act against anyone who uses terror against Israel," the IDF said in a statement. "The terrorist organization Hamas holds full responsibility."

The air strike followed a barrage of rockets fired into southern Israel Saturday morning, injuring one man and causing damage to a school and factory in Sderot.

"Israel cannot remain silent in the face of continued rocket fire from the Gaza Strip," Home Front Defense Minister Matan Vilna’i said earlier Saturday during a visit to the afflicted areas of Sderot and Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council.

The wounded man, approximately 50 years old, suffered moderate-to-severe injuries after being struck by shrapnel in the neck and stomach. He was rushed to Barzilai Medical Center and was fully conscious. Two other residents suffered shock in the Palestinian attack.

Vilna'i also paid a visit to the IDF's Gaza Division for an operational review of recent events. "We hold Hamas fully responsible for everything that happens in the Gaza Belt," Vilani said during the visit. "Israel is working, and will continue to work with a heavy hand against those terrorists that want to escalate the situation in the region."

The minister stressed that, "the state attaches great importance to protecting the cities that lay within a radius of 4.5 to 7 km. of the Gaza Strip."

Hamas's armed wing, the Izzadin Kassam Brigades, released a statement Saturday warning Israel over the recent escalation of violence in Gaza, saying if Israeli airstrikes continue "we are ready to smash [Israel's] arrogance."

Israeli attacks, a statement published online by the group said, are a crime which Hamas cannot remain silent about and vowed a "proper" response.

Palestinians have fired over twenty rockets from Gaza into southern Israel since midnight on Friday, police said. Fifteen of those landed in the Lachish region, and five in the Negev. One rocket hit and damaged a school in Sderot. No injuries were reported. The Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted five of the rockets. 11 rockets were fired toward the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council, Channel 10 reported. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the recent round of rockets.

Earlier, the IDF denied Palestinian reports that an IAF strike on Gaza had killed a four-year-old-boy and wounded seven others on Saturday. Quoting Gazan Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra, Palestinians news agency Ma'an reported that Israeli fire killed the boy in the Abasan neighborhood east of Khan Younis. The IDF denied anyconnection to the incident and stated that the IAF had not carried out any further strikes between the early morning and Saturday afternoon.

In light of the recent wave of rockets, the IDF instructed residents in the area to stay within 15 seconds of protected spaces. In a conversation with Army Radio, Sderot Mayor David Buskila called on the government to return quiet to the region.

The violence all but erases diplomatic progress made in the form of an informal ceasefire brokered by Egypt on June 20, which brought two days of relative quiet to southern Israel.

Earlier Saturday morning, the IAFstruck three Palestinian terror bases in the Gaza Strip in response to continued Palestinians rocket firing into Israel. Palestinian media reported that between 17 and 21 people were wounded in the strike - the third of its kind since Friday, which according to the reports have also resulted in the death of at least one terrorist.

Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report

Nature Film Directors. A cartoon by Shel St Clair

Poem...

The sky is cold, white

Irreproachable, pure, white, cold

It is like her heart.

Don't say I didnt warn you...

Don't say I didnt warn you...

You should not expect to find much of use here.  This is a project, a study of sorts in human interest.  While there is still breath in me I wish to chronolog the events and thoughts of my life.  I hope you find them amusing, I know I do.  

I refuse to be held responsible for the intellectual or spiritual content of this Site.  I intend to ramble about various and sundry thoughts and observations that I have.  I shall also tell you stories about my life and the lives of those that I love and have loved.  I will not be held accountable for their precise factual content but I promise that they will be full of truth.  In turn, I would love to hear what you think.  

I will not promise to be politically polite in my responses but I am a caring soul so I will be kind.  I plan on inventing words so if you come across one please feel free to ask what it means.  I am interested in your thoughts, more than that; I am interested in how you formed them.  I constantly examine why I think what I do and hold it against a standard of truth.  Sigh… I have spent years of my life operating under ill-conceived perceptions.

I pray that my mind, as well as the rest of my soul, remain open to Truth.  How we form thought is a primary study of mine.  Thought is the source of action and as such should be based on truth.  The problem arises when we have thoughts that are based in a lack of understanding, we simply don’t know the truth.  Most humans, when they find themselves in that position, will cling to their old beliefs rather than change.

I find myself in an interesting position in life, free, and I intend to take advantage of it.  So, I invite you to stay and talk a while. 

Shel St Clair

The Rambling Thoughts of Shel St Clair

When I was a small child my mother would compare me to Lucy Van Pelt.  Maybe you remember her, she was Linus’ sister; Linus was Charlie Brown's best friend.  Lucy always had an opinion and she expressed it frequently.  While I understood that the comparison was another way of saying that children should be seen and not heard, I became fascinated with Lucy and why my mother would compare me to her instead of simply saying, be quiet.  I was 5 or 6 when I began to listen to the undercurrent of language that was spoken in my household and the world beyond.  Language was like a river, it could be shallow, deep, smooth, turbid, clear, murky, or a myriad of other things but one thing was for certain, there was always a surface meaning and there was always something going on underneath.

Why Lucy?  Well, what mother was pointing out is that I constantly analyzed people, their motives and actions and then openly commented on them.  Not a very lady like quality in a primped and curled little girl, it was particularly odious at dinner.  My father would query each one of us as to how our day was and how life in general was passing, and as we responded the conversation would become this intricate weave of jab and dodge.  My older brothers would answer with a verbal two pronged fork carefully poking my dad with the version of the truth that was least likely to expose them, keeping the other prong at a safe distance. I, being a little girl, had no explicit knowledge of what the truth was, I just knew that it was being veiled, hidden under a bright rippling surface of conversation, and that it swam quickly with the current trying to escape my father’s watchful eye.  Fascinated by this I would raise my hand to be recognized and then pipe some endearing observation like, “Daddy, did you notice “how” brother one said that he and brother two went to the pasture right after school?  Why did he sound like he was upset and look so at brother two when he said it that way?”  Conversation would pause.  My mother would affect a brighter tone and ask if Lucy charged a nickel or a dime. My father would give my brothers that “We will discuss this later,” look. Then life would go on.

There is a casual surface of language that floats across all conversation.  Generally, humanity now dances verbally with each other in a modern manner where the only touching is aimed at a base goal.  No longer are there developed steps, just twist and turns implying or denying a true connection with the conversational partner.  Maybe it was always this way and I simply think it is a recent development because I compare the age I experience to literature of the ages proceeding.  Alas, either way relationships in which conversation plunges deep into the human soul are few and far between.  This does not bode entirely evil, as an adult I have learned something profound concerning surface conversation; it can contain as much or even more truth about people than deeper more discerning intercourse, very much like water at the surface usually contains more oxygen that it does on the bottom of the pool.  Yes, there is much to be said for the shallow speech with which we move ourselves around the office, school, and home.  While, in my observation, it is almost completely void of substantial truth there is a veracity that allows for human life to remain plausibly happy.

To get to the bottom of what is shallow; humanity has a general, if not deep, good will toward each other.  Now take the proceeding sentence and replace the words, “good will” with any other phrase that fits the human condition: apathy, love, hatred, hopefulness, desire for success, despair, etc… and the sentence works just as well.  This general attitude toward each other is the origin of the shallowness of our speech.  Is it ok if I quote the Bible here?  “…out of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45   Go read the rest of the verse; it’s quite instructive.  Whether or not ages past were different this generation has whatever the opposite of “abundance” is in their heart toward man.  There is no depth of feeling therefore there is no depth of meaning in speech.  The very essence of the nature of man is to speak in a manner that covers, not reveals him.  We show ourselves slowly to those we get to know, peeling back our layers, (either because they stink like an onions layers or because underneath we know that in the moonlight we are an ogre) carefully, poised to verbally run or attack at any sign of danger.  Shallowness is the protective coating worn by modern man, his armor so to speak.  Notice I did not use the word politeness, no that would only be correct for the generations preceding ours; we are not polite, we are shallow.

Not to say that there is no depth of speech left in us.  No, humanity is not lost yet; there is an inner-longing in all men to be fully revealed, to know and be deeply connected with another being.  We inarticulately refer to this desire as love.  Human connection is as related to speech as bone is to marrow.   So, why all of the shallowness?  I have a thousand theories on this but in an effort to be brief (not shallow) I will only espouse a few.  The shift of language itself, the refocusing of education, the misdirection of man’s responsibility toward man… Well, this is an essay not a book so I better just touch on those.  For humanity to be expressed there must be language, throughout all ages and all cultures man strives to perfect language, constantly reaching within to form sounds into patterns that reveal the thoughts, feelings, and desires of his heart; as the world shrinks, so does the delicate mystery of dialect.  Within each culture, indeed within the minutest subsections of cultures there are nuisances of thought and feeling that are expressed uniquely.  As these idioms become manifest to us, they form new realizations within us in which we identify with the individual or group where we encountered the exposure.  There is in this age an ugly destruction of these fragile colloquialisms.  Entire swaths of humanity adopt phrases with little or no meaning and employ them broadly thus rendering them insignificant.  There is nothing to be gleaned from another human soul when exchanging a whispered, “You’re hot.”

So we train our minds in an educational system that views vocabulary, not as the base with which we will know ourselves and our universe, but rather as a determination of how well we will do on a college entrance examination.  I believe that the very way our modern educational system studies language produces an attitude that promotes shallowness.  Words are an emotional experience!  However, we live in a society that teaches written and verbal minimalism.  We teach the next generation to speak and write in sound bites thus discouraging the serendipity of speech that comes from musing.  So, we produce an age that is inarticulate, there is no less longing within the human soul, just less ability to define and express it.  Imagine using social conditioning to train several generations of Birds of Paradise not to perform their bizarre and highly individualistic mating rituals.  The desire to mate remains but the beauty and expression is gone.  They have become shallow.  My favorite example of man rising to his genius to overcome this broad social condition is the rapper Eminem.  What a humble origin did this icon of language ascend from and yet he is a master of idiomatic rhetoric.  Pure volcanos of human condition erupt lyrically from his soul.

Sigh, why does this website exist?  Well the real reason must remain a mystery but since I am here and I must remain here for a while I write to express what is within.  I desire to understand man, not in a broad way, I have a certain comprehension of God which brings with it a broad understanding of man.  I have started this project as an attempt to have meaningful conversation with humanity.  I do not expect to establish some sort of following. It would embarrass me but I would wish to ferret out some with whom to carry on the conversation of life.  -  Shel St Clair

Composer Max Pankau

, Chicago based composer Max Pankau, born in 1984, is the son of best-selling author Ed Pankau and artist Shel St Clair.  His professional music career began at 18 when he joined the US Army Band. Assigned to the 76th Army Band, in Mannheim, Germany, Pankau toured Europe playing private military functions and civilian concerts.  While there he gained performance experience in large ensemble and chamber music and was featured as a solo artist.  In the winter of 2005, he played at Belgium's national festival for the celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.

In Europe he formed relationships with professional musicians and through them broadened and developed his musical taste.  Pankau studied horn under Andrew Joy, principle horn of WDR Sinfonieorchester, and Peter Arnold, an international soloist.   While he did compose in this period, his compositions did not yet have the clear direction of New Music and focused mostly on the blues and jazz.  Musical responsibilities were coupled with military-related duties and he was deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in January of 2006.  Pankau traveled throughout the Middle East with chamber ensembles performing for service members, ambassadors and politicians.  He also served as an armed guard in the Al-Faw palace in Baghdad.

He returned to Germany in December of 2006 and his Army contract expired six months later. In the fall of 2007 he began studying Horn Performance and Composition at DePaul University.  His Horn teachers included Oto Carillo and Jon Boen both whom he credits as a tremendous influence on him, both personally and professionally.  At DePaul, Pankau played principal horn in ensembles under Conductors Cliff Colnot and Michael Lewanski. 

Pankau added Music Composition as a second major and studied under Christopher Wendell Jones, Seung-ah Oh and Kurt Westerberg.  It was the influence of these teachers that solidified his vision of composition.  As a composer, Max has a wide spectrum of influences; he holds the music of Helmut Lachenmann, Salvatore Sciarrino and Ken Gaburo in the highest regard.  His own experiment with “musique concrete instrumentale” can be heard in his recent composition, “Zueinander.”  Other composers and artists that he credits as being influential in forming his musical personality are the late film composer Henry Mancini, and 20th Century musical satirist Spike Jones.        

Pankau has written for numerous ensembles including the V3nto Brass Trio, IGO Independent Gamers Orchestra, in Chicago and is currently collaborating with mezzo-soprano Kate McDuffie on a new work for voice and bass trombone.  He also arranged music for the DePaul tuba studio under the direction of Floyd Cooley and his woodwind quintet, Aires Tropicales.  Max is currently a Master of Composition student at DePaul and he continues to gig as a professional horn player throughout the Chicago area.

Kallitopia

Shel St Clair
Caelestis Incognita; An empire awaiting explorers and conquerors

• ·         Discover and master a new kingdom – your human soul
• ·         Rise to power with the influence you attain over others
• ·         Master; love, friendship, companionship
• ·         Solve the mystery of human existence
• ·         Dominate and control your universe

Kallitopia, a nation that dwells in the reaches of hyperspace.  This is the opportunity to explore an undiscovered realm, to populate and dominate a frontier that is both pure and virgin, and inhabited by pagan savages.  The kingdom must first be populated by brave pioneers, those who will first face the challenge of dominating their own will in order to properly influence others.  Press into the inner reaches of the darkest savage jungles, the mind and emotion of first yourself and then others, to subdue bestial urge through the exercise of ethical and philosophical instruction.  Rise to the summit of the Kallitopia life as you begin to exercise your influence over other citizens.  Ultimately, unite in oneness with Kallitopia as the online nation manifests to those still dwelling in chaos.

As we, the Conquers of this mysterious realm, fulfill our commission and advance through the regimen, we attain higher rank, which confers increasing degrees of honor, recognition, and political influence.  The Kallitopian Empire will be built on natural human order and we, its citizens develop the framework and populate the governing bodies.

• ·       The Popular Assembly – the initial level of influence – open to all through election
• ·       The Chamber of the Elect – for those who master themselves and advance
• ·       The Founders Council – an elite gathering of called out ones that have demonstrated the ability to govern and influence others for true good.

Each of these bodies exercises control, within the parameters of Kallitopia’s founding documents, over selection of leaders, imposition of honors and sanctions, and deployment of the annual budget.

The Kallitopian Empire is an ethereal realm that unites its inhabitants in the stream of hyperspace.  Not a chain binding you with incessant torpor, but a lifeline to the greatest minds alive on the earth today.  All Kallitopians are integrally bonded and have access to those of similar rank, tribe, interest, and geographic location on earth.  Even neophytes have access to the governing bodies and receive messages from Founding Fathers.  The citizen’s record of personal and social attainment is prominently displayed and frequently reviewed by trainers and superior to ensure progress along the path toward perfection.

The Kallitopian maintains a dual citizenship, you will continue with your pursuits of work, family, friends, and faith in your earthly nation.  However the Kallitopian Empire will begin to grow within you, as you prevail in your domination of the mystery of the human soul and experience a life based on truth and genuine achievement, your ordinary existence will become more effective and take on a deeper meaning.  As a Kallitopian, you will have an expanding universe in your pocket, an ingenious mobile devise connecting you to the ‘regimen’ and the hidden world of Kallitopia.  You will also experience the hidden Empire in the earthly realm in personal and societal gatherings with Mentors and the Council.

Now is the time!  The savage and forbidding dominion of your untamed soul calls for you to explore and dominate it.  Other citizens of Kallitopia await your developed psyche and long for your influence and mentorship.  The common people of earth with whom you are connected desperately need your leadership into this better realm, a kingdom of truth and enlightenment, the untamed, unexplored inner reaches of the individual and corporate soul of man.

Midwest Sourcing Brings Full Internet Marketing Blitz to Small Businesses

Shel St Clair

There is buzz everywhere in the technological world about the advancement of demand for mobile viability in websites.  Why?  Because it is the new way of doing business!  Consumers are learning a new way to make buying decisions; they are being trained by internet savvy directories to search online via mobile for everything from “Breakfast food – Lincoln Park” to “Plumber – Downtown Chicago”.  Spontaneous buying decisions account for the better part of sales for most small merchants, and the trick has always been finding ways to attract those customers.  Twenty years ago a large and attractive sign in front would suffice for most businesses, but a unique development has recently arisen.  A brave new world of consumers now carries with them a devise with which they constantly communicate.  All of their online society knows everything: where they are, what they just ate, did they like it, and when they are getting their next haircut.  News flash: drop the phrase, “word of mouth,” replace with “tweet.”

However, now look at this from the merchant;s perspective, how does one put an effective “sign” on this internet superhighway?  How does one control their spontaneous publicity (word of mouth)?  This is not an issue that is being addressed by established technology firms.  Don’t get me wrong; applications exist, but they are not being marketed to their actual consumer.  The technophiles see too narrowly, focusing on what they are able to develop. They expect those in need to flock to them. 

The truth is most business owners are not technologically proficient; they have always relied on small companies that specialized in a type of hyper-local marketing to drive public awareness traffic to their locations.  These small marketing companies are not aware, are not even interested in being aware, of developing technology.  Even if the merchant has a website and the SEO is superb, this is not the type of information that will ever make it to the screen of an Android.  These online perusers’ shop by item and location, i.e. “Tennis Shoes – Rogers Park.”  So, the business owner who relies on the local marketing company is in danger of missing a tremendous source of traffic, the online Googlers.

There is however a marketing and advertising company that focuses entirely on small businesses and has identified this hole in the market.  Midwest Sourcing has developed an all-inclusive package that puts any small business directly in the middle of the internet.  They focus on the local solution that the merchant needs in an aggressive manner that few web-based national retailers can claim.  The goal of Midwest Sourcing is; to dominate spontaneous mobile buying decisions in the category and market in which their client exists.  They take an unheard-of approach that looks much like the blitzkrieg.  Retailers and service providers have responded to Midwest Sourcing with gratitude and relief.  Technology is a frightening world that shifts like an earthquake before most end-users ever have a chance to get a firm foothold.  However, in this constantly shifting world, Midwest Sourcing has found a way to utilize the developing technology to generate an entirely new source of customers for their clients.

About_Shel_St_Clair

About_Shel_St_Clair

Shel St Clair artist

Shel St Clair artist

NATO Protests

Okay… So I live in Chicago, therefore everyone I know was in some way been immediately affected by the recent NATO conference.  I watched the news, I watched video uploads.  Sigh… Thank God for the police. 

1. Here are a couple of thoughts for you, what would you do if there were no police or military?  Really?  No. I’m not kidding, what would you do?
2. Alright, you hate NATO.  Remember it was formed in hope of it being a peace keeping organization?  If it were disbanded because it is a “war monger” what would the ensuing political ramifications be?  Ever read Lord of the Flies?  Individual reaction and societal reaction to disorder and lack of authority are very similar.  Well they are different in this way.  Countries are larger and individuals usually don’t have nuclear arms.  So, no NATO,… okay, who do the countries of this world answer to?

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