The US Air Force Academy

The tablecloths are vinyl

One of my sidetrips during our recent visit to Colorado Springs was to the Air Force Academy. The outing was part of the conference I attended and focused on the operational side of the base, although we did visit the chapel, which is spectacular. We started the tour with a VIP briefing in the Visitors Center and then proceeded to Mitchell Hall, the location where the cadets eat their meals. The dining area is a massive room that allows all 4,500 cadets to eat at the same time. Breakfast and lunch are mandatory meals and dinner is optional.

All 50 state flags are displayed

Our tour guide pointed out that the meal periods last 20 minutes from the time the cadets are seated until they're dismissed. I'm not sure how the staff accommodates cadets with special dietary needs or even if they do. Seems like that would be an additional challenge that would be difficult to meet. The building was undergoing a serious renovation during our visit in an effort to revamp the kitchen and make the entire complex ADA accessible. We were told that they were in year three of a six year project. Oy.

The weather that afternoon deteriorated rapidly into something not desireable. What they said was, "This is the worst day this year to visit the Air Force Academy." Oh well. I kinda felt like Eeyore and hoped it wasn't evident on my face. I had been looking forward to this time for weeks and wasn't going to be discouraged. We just had to duck in and out of cover during the first snow storm of the season.

The Air Force Academy Chapel is striking in its design and place against the foothills. It was designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill of Chicago during the 1960s. The main floor houses the Protestant Chapel, but the lower level houses a Roman Catholic Chapel, a Jewish Synagogue and a Buddhist Meditation Chapel. All of them are unique and striking.

I seem to be having trouble with the slideshow above. If it fails to start for you, go to my Picasa album to view it.

As we were leaving the Chapel and being urged to "get on the bus", I came upon a memorial to the Academy graduates who have been killed in action. This is a surprisingly short list given the tens of thousands of cadets who have matriculated since 1956. However, one of the names is intimately familiar to me. Lt. Stephen H. Gravrock was like an uncle to my sister and I when we were in high school and hearing of his death in 1972 was a surreal experience. Still is.

On the flip side, my cousin, Tom, entered the Academy several years later and has had a stellar career as a pilot and base commander. I tip my hat to both of these fine men.

Bookstores That We Love!

Twin Citians: remember the Hungry Mind Bookstore? How about Baxter's Books? Gringolet? Odegaard's? Perine's? Savran's? Ruminator? Even the name Shinder's brings a tear to some eyes, I guarantee (mine included)! The book departments at Powers and Dayton's were meccas at one time. None of these stores exist anymore.

The Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver still has two locations from which to serve customers. What a luxury!! The original store moved several years ago to an address on Colfax Avenue. But our destination last week was in the Loop: the LoDo store across the street from Union Station. There aren't many bookselling venues left anymore that are quite as exotic.



There's a full Children's Department on the first floor as well as a cafe. There's a large event space on the second floor which is booked for most every night of the next month. Joyce Meskis and her staff received an Award of Merit in 1998 for Design from the Western Region of the American Institute of Architects for renovating this great facility. The LoDo store originally was the C. S. Corey Mercantile Building.

The Twin Cities still have a number of excellent independent booksellers, but the critical mass that existed in the last decade of the 20th Century is non-existent and won't ever come back. We're grateful for Wild Rumpus and Majers and Quinn in Minneapolis, and Common Good Books, Micawbers, and the Red Balloon in St. Paul. But the loss of those stores mentioned at the top is worse than sad, it's a tragic cultural loss for our state.

October Concert Weekend

Every fall for the past few years, the weekend closest to Halloween has been filled with music for me. I play my horn in the Carleton Symphony Band, the Cannon Valley Regional Orchestra (CVRO) and occasionally for Sunday services at a local church. This often leads to tight scheduling and this year was the craziest yet.

The Carleton Band concert was Friday night. The concert theme was "Music of the Uncanny." We played Robert W. Smith's "The Divine Comedy" in four movements: Inferno, Purgatorio, Acension, and Paradiso. What a fantastic piece of writing and a joy to play. So dramatic! We also performed Wagner's "The Ride of the Valkyries", but the most bizarre piece we did was the Prelude to Franz Waxman's score for the 1935 film "The Bride of Frankenstein." It was really fun and made more so by projecting the film above the heads of the orchestra synched with the music. I know it's not a novel concept, but it still was a hoot.

Randy Ferguson playing Vivaldi

On Saturday morning, I had rehearsal for the Sunday church gig (Reformation Sunday) and Saturday night was the first of two CVRO concerts, this one at the Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour in Faribault. The CVRO concert was titled "A Concert of Healing" and was designed to celebrate the centennial of the Northfield Hospital. We performed two orchestral pieces, Beethoven's "Egmont Overture" and "Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn" by Johannes Brahms. There were three works that featured soloists, a Vivaldi "Concerto for Guitar in D Major", "Four Serious Songs", by Brahms, and "The Lark Ascending" by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

I can't remember the last time we had two basses

We reprised the CVRO concert on Sunday afternoon in Northfield and had a nice crowd for that as well. However, by the time we broke the stage down and returned the various pieces of equipment to their homes in town, I was beat. When your organization doesn't have a permanent location and doesn't own everything it needs to put on a show, life is replete with extra work. The risers go back to St. Olaf, the timpani go back to the UCC church and the truck goes back to Northfield Rent'n'Save. Whew!

That said, the performance by Gail Nelson in the Vaughan Williams piece was worth all the effort of the weekend. It was sublime. A flawless rendition both days. Kudos to Gail!