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| (image from UMM's website) |
Flashback to January and the discussions following Jim's sudden and tragic death. Below I share a portion of an email I received from a retired UMM individual whose name I ought not share here. But then again, maybe I should. I mean, why not? If it's the truth or a well-educated judgment. Oh, but I won't. I quote from the January 23 email. It was a response to my own email. There is a reference to my late parents Ralph and Martha.
It all comes down to $$$'s, and the college struggles with enrollment...I think there are around 1300 current students, but all of those are not on-campus. There has been an increase of unfilled positions, early retirements, program restructuring, and early buyouts in recent years. The place isn't much like Ralph & Martha as well as you remember it! Also very sad to watch!
You won't read this kind of assessment in the Morris newspaper. Nothing but puffy white clouds in the Morris paper. "All our kids are above average."
The purpose here isn't to just lionize Carlson. That isn't necessary. His performance spoke for itself. His background at UMM went back to when he sang in the men's chorus under my father. See photo at top of this blog site. I know, having a gender-specific group seems dated today. But it was 1962. I suppose equity would have been accomplished with a female-only group. Groups with men and women then were called "mixed chorus," as if the gender thing always had to be acknowledged.
Gender has become a very complicated matter in our present times. Informed as I strive to be, I really get bewildered.
Re. Jim's state of mind when he left UMM, I had already explored this angle within days after his passing. He left us at Christmas. I emailed with another individual in position to know the landscape. I pushed the subject because I thought Jim had tread left on the tire when he left here, would have savored a more extended tenure.
BTW Jim's passing was not reported very well in the legacy commercial media. I raised this topic and got the now-standard response that the news was on this thing called "social media." So we're talking "Facebook," just like how the city manager talked about Facebook as where to find updates on snow removal policies. We're supposed to understand these days that there's a Facebook page for such things. I think it was Kim Gullickson, now a mayoral candidate, who pushed back and said that the city's official website should at least inform people where to find the needed information.
Well I certainly agree with Kim on that. And I felt sorry for the people who had their cars towed, abundantly. Below is the email response from my well-placed source on December 28. It begins by quoting the question I posed.
“So, is it possible there's some bitterness in Carlson family, having to do with when Jim left?” I didn’t ever talk to Jim or Kay about that, but it wouldn’t surprise me that they may have been a little bitter by the way things went the last couple of years when “Herman the German” (Martin Seggelke) kind of took over the music dept., wanted to get rid of the jazz program and turn the department into a conservatory. But that wouldn’t reflect on what they thought of the school – after all, Jim did accept that “distinguished alumni” award, and the 2 of them journeyed back to UMM for that banquet a few years ago.
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| At the peak of his powers: Jim Carlson |
I had been "tipped" that Kay had a quite negative view of me. So I thought it best we not attend. Mom wanted to go. But I don't want to be present where my presence would be detested. I'm sad about that now. We could have just gone and I could have sulked in the corner.
My reputation was never good among the people soaked in "academics" at UMM. Also, when I was with the Morris paper, I could only do a hit-and-miss job covering UMM athletics. UMM went many years without having a real sports information department. Actually it wasn't even close for a long time. Mark Fohl would not dispute me on this. So I wrote about Cougar sports on a sort of sporadic basis.
I had enthusiasm on those occasions when I did, for example when I went out of my way to write about the inaugural
season for soccer. And the seasons immediately following, as I recall. I
can remember the name of the first-ever Cougar soccer goalie, Katie
Riba.
I
guess I have a thing about inaugural things at UMM, as it was my father
who started the music department and was the only music faculty in the
first year. His office was where the multi-ethnic building is now.
Sometimes I would stop by and play a John Philip Sousa record real loud.
(Jim Carlson would laugh if he were to read that.)
I
should add about Fohl that he was always cooperative and level-headed
when I contacted him for interviews about Cougar baseball. He didn't
make an issue of anything.
Venue with history
"All good things must come to an end." Is this how we rationalize about when Jim left here? Was it fate or destiny? Well I think it was unfortunate. The upcoming tribute concert will revive memories for Edson Auditorium, the long-time home of the Jazz Festival. It was the home for all UMM music when my father started out. I thought the place worked out fine.
The problem today? Maybe it's that the parking lots are too far away. Today handicapped accessibility is so important.
Frankly, I think UMM should have held the normal Jazz Fest last spring. It has been scaled back since Jim's departure. But it wasn't held at all last year, and it's my understanding that if we had gotten Dusty Retzlaff signed on the dotted line, it would have been. Dusty was more or less all set to jump on board here, legend has it, then the UMM administration low-balled him re. $.
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| At the peak of his powers here too! |
Del took two of the photos you see with this post. Thanks a bunch.
Let me add that I shouldn't just type "Edson Auditorium." The place is part of the larger venue named for Ed and Helen Jane Morrison. The Morrisons set the example for yours truly in terms of being benefactors. Why was I at the Morris paper for 27 years? (I wrote for the Hancock paper too.) Well I suspect it was because of Helen Jane, who is quite the example of resilience in life now, over age 100! Not only that, she gets around, is conversational and clearly enjoys life.
Thanks a bunch to Helen Jane and son Jim for coming over to sit with me at the Homestead snack area for Crazy Days. My social life is limited. I was not impressed with the "Crazy Days Special" there, thought it was a ripoff. But that doesn't matter as I savored the company of Helen Jane and Jim. We should all seek such resilience as what Helen Jane has demonstrated.
What's up with UMM music website?
Why am I having to inquire about this? Sharper people than me should be in charge of this. Here I share an email I sent to Warrenn Anderson on September 16. The music website looks, well, vestigial. Warrenn and I have each carved out our niche for supporting UMM. Or is it UMN?:
Hello Warrenn - I am disturbed by how the UMM music website has been neglected. During the last academic year there were already signs of this, and when I gave a heads-up to Erin Christensen, she got back to me and said the problem was that "they were designing a new website." I guess that's always a fall-back line: "we're designing a new website."
Here's the problem: it hasn't happened. Yes I'm being a pain by writing this email, sorry, but why can't UMM get its act together? Am I asking too much? A couple days ago I went to the music website just to see if any concert dates were posted yet. I clicked on the handy link for that. There were no concerts announced. I'm sure they at least have some events on the schedule by now. But it was the same old website as last year, with photos of faculty members who have departed like Miller and Campbell. I started pointing out the out-dated photos to UMM a long time ago. Don't they have anyone keeping the websites current? Look what our high school does with YouTube: so dynamic.
Let me say this: the UMM sports website is 100 percent top-notch. This appears to be a "new website" and it had some confusing aspects at first, but then I got on top of it. I blogged about the Cougar football game at Hamline. At the bottom of the post I shared some memories of when I attended a Cougar game at Hamline back in 1981. (Our quarterback was Craig Larson, a tall guy who unfortunately had kind of a sidearm throwing motion).
The UMM sports site has to be top-notch for recruiting purposes! But isn't it important to recruit for music too? Remember, last spring the big concert featuring symphonic winds/choir was in ALEXANDRIA and there was no repeat concert here. What would my father say about that? My theory: the recital hall would have such congested seating and that's a problem with covid? The recital hall has always been too small. I remember when I worked with Jim Carlson to promote the "Godzilla concert" of the symph. winds, and they ended up having to turn people away.
I couldn't attend last year's Homecoming concert because I forgot my mask. I rode bike out to campus. I have masks in my car. (Name withheld) left his in the car and he literally had to run back to the lot to get back in time.
Back in '81 we joked about "Norton Field" at Hamline. Someone thought it might be named for the Art Carney character in "The Honeymooners."
It will be a long winter for me because I cannot really blog about Tiger athletics this year. My main (but not only) source for info has been the West Central Tribune website, and they have a real rigid paywall up now. Leave it to Forum Communications to do something so pissy-ant like this. The coaches should quit calling in.
I checked the UMM music website again this morning, no change.
- Brian Williams
Caribou Coffee closed all day!
My, what a jolt to start the day, this Monday as September plods onward toward you-know-what: colder temperatures. Thought I'd grab some coffee and a bagel bright and early. Not so fast. I entered Willie's and could see that Caribou Coffee was dark, plus the sign making clear they're closed. I usually look for Betsy there. She has such an uplifting laugh! But no-go today, so I trod over to DeToy's.
DeToy's has been such a reliable place through the pandemic and onward. Looks like the exterior of the building could use some work. But the business inside goes very well. The place opened as "Country Kitchen" many moons ago. I believe the first manager was Rich Meiss. Meiss was an oboe player in the UMM band. I played with him for a few months. My "axe": French horn.
What's the story with Caribou today? Well, "they can't find anyone to work." Familiar malady all over, it seems. Maybe getting worse with school having started, n'est-ce pas?
Addendum: If back-biting or politics contributed to Jim's exit from UMM, maybe the matter should have been tossed up to the chancellor. Keep a clear path for Jim and his program, IMHO. However I am only like Mongo: "Just pawn in game of life."
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Addendum #2: Hell's bells, I have complained to several pretty well-placed people over the past several days, yet nothing has been done with UMM's music website. I show a greater commitment with my blogs. I just called up the UMM music website and it's dead as it was last week. When I was with the paper, I was expected to be on the ball all the time.
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| UMM was not Jim Carlson's only "gig" |
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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