Another Exciting Weekend for Jack

This past weekend was pretty nice, with a great ragtime-esque concert, swing dance and a day off what could be better? I drove the 45 minutes home Friday night and attended a concert for hurricane relief. It was a group from New Orleans with a clarinet, trumpet, guitar, sousaphone /valve trombone, and trap set. They are called "Doreen's Jazz New Orleans" and were probably the "funnest" jazz group I've seen. Doreen is the leader on clarinet with an amazing sound that rivals the old-school big band guys like Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, and maybe even Artie Shaw. All in all, a great time. Anyway, Doreen and her husband (the sousaphone player) lost their home to Katrina and are traveling around the country putting on concerts to raise funds to rebuild their house. Pretty cool.

Then, Saturday night was the Black Student Alliance Swing Dance. It was a fun time even if there were maybe 10 people there who weren't either associated with the Jazz bands or the BSA. Oh well, I got to dance with Amy. After I was done playing, the gang and I stuck around for a few Jazz I tunes, then hung out at Perkin's for awhile. The night was capped off with a showing of "A Mighty Wind," with me falling asleep during parts of it.

Finally, you have probably noticed a slight change to my bloerg. The charts show an inside look at my musical tastes. Mr. Brandon Van Westen introduced me to this useful in a useless kind of way website: last.fm. If you are interested, let me know and I'll try to tell you about it or direct you to more knowledgeable sources.

Mint Tingle (R)...

LOL ROFLMAO BTWBBQ...

Shameless plugs

I received word today, that the Roosevelt High School Marching Band will be in a 4th of July parade celebrating Sioux Falls' 150th anniversary. Any interested alumnus should contact the Roosevelt Music office by emailing Mr. Macklin - macklsha@sf.k12.sd.us (the phone number will be posted here asap) by April 3rd. Two short rehearsals are tenatively scheduled for July 1st and 3rd at this point. Uniform will consist of matching shirts and shorts. You must be able to provide your own instruments (large instuments and perc. excluded) and make any and all rehearsals. Pass this word along - they are looking for a large group to perform.


Also: This Saturday in Brookings, the SDSU Black Student Alliance is holding a Spring Swing Dance at the downtown Park & Rec building. Admission will be $6, dress is semi - formal (no jeans / t-shirts) and the dance will go from 8:00 - 11:00 p.m. Email me for directions, or questions: jackthoreson@gmail.com

Cool story

I found another cool story that I thought I would share with everyone:

Amish Amish Neighbors help rebuild tornado stricken house in one day

Even more ironic is where I found this story: Fark

Kinda makes me wish I was raised as an Amish, then converted to modern Christianity. (Just so's I could at least drive a car)

Post Spring Break... Post

I'm going to start this post with a striking article:

The Invention of Artificial Light May Slowly be Killing Us...

Once humans possessed the technology of artificial light, we extended our usable waking hours by an average of 13%. Some researchers believe that this modern convenience, credited with bringing the human race in from the dark, may also be responsible for numerous ills...

read more | digg story

This was taken from one of my favorite places to internet at: www.damninteresting.com

My Spring Break was not the most exciting week off from school I've ever had, but it was a good time. Activites ranged from spending time with Amy, Brandon, and Jamie to working... that was pretty much it. We ended up going to Augie's jazz festival to listen to and watch Roosevelt's jazz bands. In between jazz II and I, we cruised on over to Sioux Valley hospital to donate some blood with Brandon winning the race. Jamie gets an honorable mention for trying... Jazz II by the way, sounded very good with a balanced selection of tunes and matching ties. After the blood letting, we headed back to Augie, arriving just in time to hear Jazz I. Unfortunately, a bout of sickness had made its way through the band and in the middle of a great Clarinet solo, the lead Tenor player got sick and had to leave. The kids finished up the naked song with composure and quickly went on to finish their set. All will be better when the two bands make their way up to Brookings on April 4th for the first ever Optimist Jazz Festival.
Other spring break activites included a "night on the town" with a decadent supper at Burger Time on w. 12th, laid back coffee drinks at the Downtown/Minnesota ave. Starbucks, fine shopping and employment oppourtunities at Target, and some exsquisite cinema at the residence of Ms. Jamie Englund. All in all, a nice vacation. Now, however it is back to the grind with a paper due and a recital this week. Then after that, maybe some paintballing next week or weekend...

UPDATE:
Due to recent questions / comments, I was made aware that there was no mention of The 'Vee in this post. Here goes...

I did work at The 'Vee during spring break too, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It was an ok week with hours in both GM (general merchandise) and CSV (Customer Service / Video). That's about it... Nothing really exciting happened (sorry Ashley).

2 days

Wellity wellity wellity... it seems as though there are only two measly days left before I start what is apparently the greatest experience of upper level education: Spring Break. I really don't understand how working at The 'Vee and hanging out with Amy, Brandon, and Jamie (also in alphabetical order;) is going to change my life in any way. (No offense guys) Granted, I will not be traveling to Cancun or Tijuana, but practicing my lower lip off for this blasted Ferling recital. BTW - everyone who will be in the Brookings area on Thursday, March 16th is welcome to come to an absolutely FREE concert at fabulous Peterson Recital Hall in the prestigious Lincoln Music Center housed on the beautiful South Dakota State University campus. A night of fun will be in store for everybody with all forty-eight of FERLING'S FAMOVS STVDIES for oboe and saxophone being performed in their entirety - in order! Yeah... Anyway, I'm really more excited for Jazz band, I officially have a better mouthpiece now - a Berg Larsen 110 hard rubber. So my jazz setup is as follows: Selmer Paris (R) Series III Tenor Saxophone with... Berg Larsen 110 hard rubber mouthpiece and either LaVoz med. soft or Vandoren Java 2 reeds. Delecious. Wailing out anything from Chuck Mangione's "Feels so Good," to Gordon Goodwin's "Whodunnit?" (from their new unreleased album, "Phat Pack") never felt so good (oops... heh). That's what's shakin' in the music world of Mr. Jack Thoreson and things are only looking up.
So if I don't see anyone during spring break: be safe, have fun, and don't be afraid to gimme a call if you are stricken with boredom.