What has 100,000 ears and is completely deaf? Answer: The Corn Palace.

Truly, A Palace of Corn

Hey, look--the whole entire middle of this country is corn.  Nothing but corn--anyone who has EVER been there knows this.  If I lived here, I imagine I would be so tired of the sight, sounds, and smell of corn (and just so ya know, those corn refineries put out some SERIOUS sticky sweet odors).  I have to hand it to them, though, for making the best of it.   I see the Corn Palace as a celebration of community and agricultural achievement.  Perhaps they do too--it's weird, though--I couldn't tell whether they thought any of it was as silly as we did.  I would like to say there's some tongue in cheek happening here, that they 'get' the joke--I mean, its their joke--they BUILT the thing, but I didn't really get that vibe.  From anyone.  Ever.  Hm.  Ok, well, when in Rome.....I guess I, too, would have just grabbed my glue gun and several thousand ears of corn and started gluing with gusto.

The original Mitchell Corn Palace (known as "The Corn Belt Exposition") was built in 1892 to showcase the rich soil of South Dakota and encourage people to settle in the area. It was a wooden castle structure on Mitchell's Main Street. In 1904–1905, the city of Mitchell mounted a challenge to the city of Pierre in an unsuccessful attempt to replace it as the state capital of South Dakota. As part of this effort, the Corn Palace was rebuilt in 1905. In 1921 the Corn Palace was rebuilt once again, with a design by the architectural firm Rapp and Rapp of Chicago. Moorish domes and minarets were added in 1937, giving the Palace the distinctive appearance that it has today. It costs $130,000 annually to decorate the Palace.

                                                      

The exterior corn murals are replaced and redesigned each year with a new theme. The designs are created by local artists. From 1948 to 1971 the artist Oscar Howe designed the panels. Calvin Schultz designed the murals from 1977 to 2002. Since 2003, the murals have been designed by Cherie Ramsdell. No new mural was created in 2006 due to an extreme drought.

Besides being a tourist attraction, the Corn Palace also serves the local community as a venue for concerts, sports events, exhibits and other community events. Each year, the Corn Palace is celebrated with a citywide festival, the Corn Palace Festival. Historically it was held at harvest time in September, but recently it has been held at the end of August. Other popular annual events include the Corn Palace Stampede Rodeo (in July) and the Corn Palace Polka Festival (in September). It is also home to the Dakota Wesleyan University Tigers and the Mitchell High School Kernels basketball teams.

  

The Corn Palace in Mitchell was preceded by several other grain palaces including: a Corn Palace in Sioux City, Iowathat was active from 1887–1891; a Corn Palace in Gregory, South Dakota; a Grain Palace in Plankinton, South Dakota; and a Bluegrass Palace in Creston, Iowa.

Hmmmmm.....look closely.   Most curious.....

In 2004, national media attention was drawn to the Corn Palace, when it received Homeland Security funding. This drew criticism of the Department of Homeland Security and its grant program. In 2007, the Corn Palace subsequently received $25,000 in DHS funding for a camera system useful for purposes including Barack Obama's visit in 2008, and as reported by the Mitchell Republic, to protect a "new Fiberglas statue of the Corn Palace mascot Cornelius" in 2009. This statue sits across Main Street, west of the Corn Palace (see above photo with yours truly).

Here's a closeup of the facade to show just how the corn is used to create the murals and texture.

I guess I can't fault them for their corny humor.
Bwahahahahahahaha!  Get it?  CORNY HUMOR?!?!?  I kill me.

Guess what the hot snack item is here.  Yup.  Heaven on a stick: the corndog.

CAN'T wait to play this gem on a gig someday.

The corn palace is also a place of learning and scientific exploration.

...And conveniently located across the street from the Enchanted World Doll Museum.  The whole experience was really pretty funnily creepy.

Vermillion, South Dakota: Town of Wonders

I love it when I am wrong.

Sometimes.  NOT that it happens much, mind you.....but I digress.  One of life's most wonderful things is when you have a fixed preconception or expectation for something only to discover how you have underestimated it.  This can happen in any situation--people, places things, you name it.   For me, today, it was the township of Vermillion, SD.

So, we got to Vermillion, and had MEGA time to kill.  The New Yorker in me was like: Yawn.  I mean, what could there POSSIBLY do for two full hours in this place?  Like, they don't even have a Starbucks.  And I was jonesing for some Starbucks.  Big time.  

Jacob, our fearless leader had a suggestion. 

 He had done some homework and saw that the National Music Museum was located in Vermillion.  It was all I could do not to laugh.  I mean....PLEASE! 

But, luckily I kept my trap shut, and--what else were we going to do?  SURE.  Let's try the National Music Museum.  

It was AMAZING.  The most comprehensive collection of musical instruments you could imagine--from every age, and from all over the world.

There was an audio guide:

And I was able to both see and hear all of these instruments and THEN some.

It looks like a cannon, but it's a humongous Thai drum!

A bona fide Nickelodeon!  Inside this thing is a snare drum, cymbal, and bells. For realsies.


The nickel goes in here:

  

 

Let the Brass Geekery begin! 

This could easily have made its way onto the wall at a Chili's restaurant, but luckily it found its way here.  And very conveniently, this statement applies to any of the instruments in ALL of these photos!

 

Something tells me that it's for the best that the big thing in the middle no longer has a place in modern ensembles.  But maybe that's just me underestimating things again.  Who knows....

Clearly, the thing on the right is a piano.  Not as evident, however, is the fact that the thing on the left is ALSO a keyboard!  It looks like a writing desk, but it's not.  The soundboard is vertical, and the keyboard is hidden by the desktop thing!  Very cool.

I would please be liking this as a wedding gift.  Thank you.  The end.

 Lots of stringed instruments, too.  Many of them Stradavari.  The instrument above is an amazing one--used primarily as a vocal accompanist, the additional strings on the left are drones, and the ones on the right are used more conventionally.  The detail work and the wood were both remarkable.  Unfortunately, the picture does not even come close to doing it any justice.  Oh well, it will have to do.  

  I love the Lute, so there are lots of pictures of them.  Above is a piccolo lute--made by Stradivarius.  The bottom is a beautifully elaborate one--lots of these pictures are a bummer because of the pesky glass cases.  You can't get close enough.  Bitch, moan, bitch, moan.

Cue the orchestra:

   Anyone can guess why I liked this section.  Well, it was pretty fascinating on its own even without the Broadway Show reference.  Bloody Mary would have been psyched.  Bali Hai!  More drums and flutes from the South Pacific are below:

Welcome to Tibet

The third horn down (#11) is made from a human leg bone.  COOL!  And #13 is an instrument made by putting two human skullcaps together!  I wonder what they did in a past life to deserve that! Who knows, though--maybe it's an honor to be reincarnated as a ceremonial instrument.


A Hurdy Gurdy!  

Way cool.  Just crank it up and enjoy!

Good times.  And I learned a thing or two.  Okey doke:  back in the car!

Scott!  On his phone.

John! On his phone.  

Brian! Holding his phone.

All we did was talk on our phones!  At one point, Scott actually said "Maybe we could just talk to each other in the van instead of communicating through our hand held devices!"  A novel idea.  We had lots of fun in the car, though--making fun of each other and playing hangman and eating beef jerky at 8am.  You know, road trip stuff.

☺

Bell's are Ringing: The sweet sound of a frosty beverage.

 What a day--great rehearsal with Spectrum at Western Michigan University and then dinner and beers at BELL'S BREWERY in Kalamazoo, MI!  Good stuff.  

First Things First: Lunchables.  A necessity for EVERY road trip.

John Rutherford fuels up with some Oscar Meyer.

After rehearsing our challenging program of American Masters:  Gershwin, Copeland, and Bernstein, we had a bite and a sip (ok, a few sips) at Bell's Brewery:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell's_Brewery
They have a Wikipedia article here, in the event that you are curious.  

Despite the impressive list of home brewed beers, I only had eyes for the $2 Winter White.  $2!!  For 20 oz.!!!  Ah, the sweet taste of a bargain.

Live music!  Exactly what we wanted after 3 hours with Dr. Beat blaring at us.  We dubbed them the 'Soggy Bottom Boys' a'la "Oh Brother, Where art Thou?"  because that's exactly how they sounded.  After a 700 minute soundcheck, they launched into their gig, and we took off.

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous: leaving again so soon?!?

It seems I am off the grid more than I thought.  Huh.  What a journey of self-discovery this blog has been!!

Leaving town again today, but for very different reasons.  And God knows, to different places.  Wishing all my trips were as posh as Portugal, but sadly the menu for the week is far less glamorous:

Grand Rapids, MI

Sioux City, IA

Huron, SD

Fairmount, SD

Yeehaw?  Gulp, I'd say.  Not ready for celebration yet--my suitcase is not really unpacked from the other trip, but no matter...


Luckily, the trip SHOULD be fun.  Helping out with the Spectrum Brass Quintet and doing a few concerts playing some pretty fun-looking stuff with GREAT players.  

So by way of explanation (and warning!), people seemed to enjoy reading the blog about the Portugal trip, which made me feel very good.   Thank you!  :D  There has been a murmur of interest in hearing about my other shenanigans and other trips that DO happen.  Despite my awesome and cushy job in the Pit at Mary Poppins, my horn takes me around a bit from time to time playing other interesting things with interesting people.  And sometimes not so interesting things with less than interesting people as the case may be...but I won't blog about them.

So there you have it.  There will be more postings, so if you are concerned about inbox clutter...unsubscribe NOW!  No hard feelings.  But you won't come to the wedding (hope that's ok!).   Just kidding.  This is just  a way for me to chronicle things as they actually happen, and hopefully with visual proof--sometimes the stories afterwards are just unbelievable.  Or they lose something in the translation. Ah, the wonders of the Internet.  Nothing will ever again be lost in translation.  As if.

We'll see what we see.  But don't expect pictures of palm trees, because there won't be any.  Probably a Waffle House or John Deere distributor. Or a NASCAR arena.  Oh my God, I better not see one of those, I might vomit.  'Merica!!

Onward....

All good things must come to an end, it seems: Exit interviews and reflections on vacations

"As the traveler who has once been from home is wiser than he who has never left his own doorstep, so a knowledge of one other culture should sharpen our ability to scrutinize more steadily, to appreciate more lovingly, our own."

—Margaret Mead

I sort of feel like this is the beginning of a Criminal Minds episode because I am opening with a deep quotation by someone famous.  Someone wise.  If it comes across as a bit condescending (which is my general feeling about the opening quotes of Criminal Minds’ episodes), I apologize.  It is not intentional.  The intention is to encapsulate a feeling that really has taken the full12 days of the vacation to arrive at.  Even so, I am not sure I have achieved that much perspective, but I am definitely in better mental shape than I was before I left. 

It is my belief that one of the keys to success is the ability to focus.  To concentrate on one thing, an activity—whatever field of endeavor you’re involved in—fully, is an important step to becoming really exceptional at that thing.

There is a downside, however.  The downside is perspective.  Laura Klock, one of my great teachers once said to me: “ Shelagh, you can’t drive all the time.”  She’s right—you do need to stop every now and again and reflect.  Take stock.  Eat a good meal, and have alcohol and caffeine, and not worry about whether the consumption of those liquids will affect you on your gig that night.  Or tomorrow.  Laugh at nothing in particular.  Look around, and actually see who you’re looking at instead of being preoccupied with where you’re headed and obsessing about the 6 dozen things you forgot to do before you left the apartment. Put yourself in the position to get bored.  When was the last time I was bored?  Who knows—maybe on a rainy Sunday when I was in High School?  Anyway, this trip has been great.  It has enabled me to remember who I am, which incredibly, is not the same thing as what I do.  Many of us, especially musicians, equate what we play, how we play, where and why we play with who we are.  It is almost impossible for those of us who have been doing one thing for so long—to be so invested—to not have the lines blur a bit from time to time.  But the lines are there if we look for them.

It’s a good thing I am feeling so fresh and lovely and pleased with myself, because picking up the horn after two full weeks off is going to be a pretty awful thing.  I haven’t taken that much time off since I graduated from BC.  That’s almost 15 years.  Feel the burn.   My most humble apologies to the good people in the Orchestra at Mary Poppins, the Broadway Musical for what is in store for them tonight at 8pm.  :D

What a great experience this blog has been!  I had fun sharing everything with you and learned a lot along the way.  In closing, here are a few videos from the WONDERFUL people that I had the privilege to travel with and get to know.  Until the next trip.....

✌

This is Mary, who throughout the trip, bedecked in Vera Bradley, was always in good spirits.  She shares some of her favorite aspects of our trip here in this video.  Thanks, Mary!!

Irene Zebrowski, former teacher at Unqua Elementary!

This is Bruce and Carol.  Bruce took over as our fearless leader in Wes' absence.  He did a great job.

Pat shares some of her favorite moments here too.

Ann McPartland, beloved former drama teacher at MHS.  She got me through both "Ten Little Indians" ( I played Emily Brent) and "Harvey" (where I was Betty Chumley) in the 90's.  Despite her awesome influence, I found that UNDER the stage with a horn in my hand was the right place to be.  :D  Thanks Ann, it was great to see you.

....and Margaret Williams, my third grade teacher from Unqua.  What a blast to see her and spend time again trotting around Portugal as an adult!  It feels like such a blessing to reconnect to wonderful people in this way.

...and Doc shares his thoughts as well.


Much love to you all.  Hope to go somewhere wonderful with you again!!!


Love, Shelagh :D

So much for shedding for the wedding while in Portugal: um paraíso gastronomic

OINK


I don't know what I was thinking when I truly felt like I could continue this slimming down process for my wedding while I was away.  In my mind, every day was full of all this time that I would spend at the gym, taking long walks, swimming.  Delusions, I tell you.

Oh well.  There's always tomorrow, when I get home.  NYSC here I come.  All these pastries are going to require some SERIOUS cardio.

Mostly for myself to remember this trip in the future, but also for my foodie friends, I decided to compile the food porn onto one posting.  Enjoy!

First things first:  D'Oliveiras Madeira Winery and Tasting Room!

I don't know who this guy is, but he looks busy. And important. So I took a picture of him.

The gang having fun tasting different concentrations of Madeira, as well as different vintages.

Notable Stop #2: Pasteis de Belem.  Arguably, the best bakery in Portugal.  Period.  This was a quasi-religious experience, and if we needed any more proof of its awesomeness, our tour guide for the day, Ida sat down and ate them with us.  Fresh from the oven, these natas tasted completely different from those that are found elsewherere---and they are found virtually everywhere that sells any kind of dessert. Apparently, only 3 human beings are aware of the recipe.  

Notice that there is not much conversation happening right now.  That is because we are all communing with our own higher power through the magic of Sugar, Eggs, Butter, Flour, and whatever other secret ingredients go into these natas.

Ok, just one more picture.

This is a repeat appearance from lunch in Porto Moniz, Madeira--Escaba with Salsa Maracuja.

The lesson I learned here is that not all good wine needs to be expensive.  0.85 euros is a pretty good deal, if you ask me.

The Institute de Vinho in Madeira.

This is the blue ribbon winner for me as far as food went for the trip.  Cooked to perfection (thank GOD), and something I would NEVER order anywhere else.

Aside from the lovely presentation here, I have included this picture because mom thought she was ordering Rosemary flavored gelato, when in fact, we learned that night that Rosmarin means Raspberry.  Ah.  Thankfully, it was still tasty.

Another delicious dessert.  Just because.

A delicious seafood crepe from Rustica Tipica in Funchal

He may have no body left, but he's still blinking at me.

Intermission:  a really heated game of Dominoes happening downtown in Funchal.  These guys are NOT kidding around.

This picture marked an important event for me.   I will share it with you, but you have to know the whole story:

I remember having a major epiphany in 7^th grade, sitting in Mr. Wiseblatt’s band playing ‘American Patrol.’  The moment is crystallized in my mind, and I can recall it with perfect clarity.  I remember thinking:  “ Holy crap, this is awesome.  How do I make it so that I can do this forever?”  Little band geek that I was.

Well, much time has passed, and the enthusiasm has waxed and waned—some highlights here and there, but it has been a while since I have felt the same thing.

 Today, I had another such epiphany, but it was about another pursuit entirely.  I captured the moment in the above photo.   I thought to myself:  “Holy crap, this is awesome.  How do I make a gig out of this?”  Of course, this is just an adult version of the exact same 7^th grade thought.  How DO I make a gig out of this?!? If you have any ideas, I am all ears.  Can one blog for a living?  Travel?  Eat pastries?  I’ll have to work on my video narration, I suppose.  My writing skills could also use some lovin’.  Maybe Miss Williams can teach me all over again, lol :D

Moving along..........

The Last Supper (for Me, Mom, and Fatima)
@ Doca Peixe

This was right at the entry.  You walk in the door and pick your fish.  The very fish that you pick is the fish you eat for dinner.  Remarkable.  And they tasted heavenly.  We all took Paolo's (pictured below) recommendation and had grilled red snapper and mullet with potatoes and vegetables.  Completely awesome.

Portuguese oysters to begin.

voila!  

Couldn't resist the photo of this too....

Another suggestion from Paolo, a lovely port to finish us off.

You'll notice that I ate, like, half of this before I remembered to take a photo of it.  My apologies.