En route to Coon Valley this morning I passed the neighbor's flock of sheep roadside as one sheep decided to take advantage of another. Now that was memorable. I thought to myself if they are still at it when I return, I 'm pulling over and taking a picture. The company that makes Viagra needs to have that picture and the story. But upon my return alas the sheep were all inside as it had started to rain. I guess they decided to get a room. Lucky you, no pic.
Then, farther down the road at the end of someone's gravel driveway right before it met the state highway was a lovely old dog laying as if he was waiting for his master/ the kids to return. It was the sweetest scene and I thought if he's still there when I return, I will snap a picture. No such luck, you guessed it, he wasn't there.
Upon reaching the End of the Rainbow Valley, a Great Blue Heron flew in front of me. Once again I failed to capture his magnificent glide. No pic.
And then tonight we were told that no photos could be taken during the 'Cool Struttin' Jazz concert. Well, thank goodness I took a couple of the instruments before the announcement... I did capture mentally the lovely tributes to one of the musician's parents, Bob and Jean Marck, who were kind enough to bestow 2.4 million dollars to the La Crosse Community Foundation some of which would be used annually to give the public a free concert.
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| Photo courtesy of La Crosse Tribune |
Song selections commemorated the Marcks's love of music, the composition 'Cool Struttin', love for each other 'Where and When' and 'Would You Like to Swing on a Star?', for travel; specifically a trip to Taliesin where the music room's curtains had a song title embroidered 'The Night Has a 1000 Eyes,' an overseas trip to Jean's family's homeland of Ringebu, Norway ('Ringebu Sangen,' a Norwegian folk song) and Jean's love of the bustling city of New York( Coltran's 'Grand Central '), a husband's appreciation of his wife's beauty ( 2 selections), and 'I Wish I Knew How It Felt to Be Free, ' a song by Billy Taylor which I am not sure was picked due to its Civil Rights connection/ church/both.
The super fascinating part of the evening is that I know this family indirectly. You see Natureman had shared the pianist's grandfather's background his namesake, Dave Marck (who happened to belong to our synagogue) as he used to travel around to small towns with a projector and show movies. He was a people person. Eventually he opened a camera shop in La Crosse and 2 other downtown storefronts. These thrived and when his son Bob and daughter-in-law Jean inherited the 3 businesses they made investments with their profits and much to the surprise of their children, also were community minded and left quite a nest egg to be donated to the city's Foundation. The children would decide how the monies would be divvied. So for as long as the monies last there will be annual free concerts in addition to helping the summer jazz program Greg Balfany runs. The La Crosse Tribune also stated that "monies will fund a variety of other causes and organizations like women’s reproductive rights, animal care, literacy groups and anti-hunger campaigns" according to Marck.
Perhaps the Maya Angelou quote shared by pianist Dave Marck best exemplifies his family's legacy :“ People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” We left the concert feeling full of music and appreciation to have shared the night with these musicians and our community.
You get the picture but if you'd like to hear some of the selections played at the free concert click on the links below... Remember there's always improvising in Jazz.
Here are some You tube links by other artists:
Cool Struttin
The Night Has a 1000 Eyes
Would You Like to Swing on a Star?
Grand Central
I Wish I Knew How it Felt to be Free
What a memorable experience. I'm always in awe of a person's foresight to leave such a legacy. I think of this a lot lately when going through national parks.
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