The admission fee for this event is $10 ($5 with a student ID), and is open to all ages. All proceeds will be donated to the Florence Anderson Center for Hope Minot YWCA Shelter. There are no advance ticket sales – all admission will be paid at the door.

At 6:30, we will start a cash bar cocktail hour (must be 21+), and music will begin at 7:30. There will be no admittance to the event after the music begins, so please don’t be late!

Sean Neukom, born and raised in Devils Lake, North Dakota, began violin studies at age 3 under direction from his father. Mr. Neukom is an alumni of Minot State University from where he received his Bachelor’s degree in music performance under the tutelage of Dr. Jon Rumney.

Mr. Neukom completed his Master’s in Music violin performance degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music under David Updegraff. As a chamber musician, Mr. Neukom has been coached by the Cavani Quartet, the Fry Street Quartet, the Luminous Trio, members of the Cleveland Quartet, the Ying quartet, and members of the Cleveland Orchestra.

As an orchestral musician, Mr. Neukom has played with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, the Mansfield Symphony, the Southern Sinfonia, the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony, and the Minot Symphony Orchestra.

An avid performer and teacher, Mr. Neukom works to bring not only new music to the concert stage, but also innovative methods in their presentation. Mr. Neukom’s recitals frequently fuse mixed media and extemporaneous discussion concerning elements of classical music.

Also a composer, Mr. Neukom seeks to reignite the composer/performer duality and his music has been commissioned by organizations such as the Minot State University string ensemble and the New York Summer Music Festival as well as featured on the Western Art Music radio show in New Zealand.

Please join us for this wonderful event – it will be a lovely evening for one & all!

So, this is my ‘rock-bottom’, as it would be.  So, the only direction left from here is up.  And up we shall go.  We shall travel to all sorts of places (mostly the FunCenter) and we will meet all sorts of new people on this adventure that we are about to embark upon.  Your minds will be blown by what is about to hit you over the head.

For those of you that may have thought we have just not been all that busy, or we haven’t had that much going on – think again.  You don’t believe me?  Well, you’re about to be proven wrong.  Because there’s – in no particular order – about a bajillion happy pictures that are going to be smacking you up one side of your head and then down another.

Before I get to the farewell part of this post, I would like to extend the most unbelievable MuchLove to each & every person that you are about to see – without you, we are nothing.  I’m just a cook in a crappy restaurant, and Queen James is still a Sandwich Artist at Subway (not that there’s anything wrong with either of those professions, it’s just that the photo-graphy is more fun, and you don’t smell like onions at the end of the day.)

So, sit back, relax, give yourself about an hour of time go go through all of this (and, by the way, this process is probably going to take a little bit of time to get done, so keep on checking back), and be sure to – Enjoy!

So, what are you waiting for – send those e.mails!

MuchLove!

Now, we know it’s just a taster – but you gotta be patient!  We’re going to have all of the goods online before you know it.  So, sit back, relax a little bit, and be sure to – Enjoy!

::  click images for larger  ::

Download audio file (passenger.mp3)

We are filled with sadness.

Now, I just liked that sound of that because it made me think of hamburgers & hotdogs, both a delicious part of life.  At the time, I didn’t realize that this meant that we had fallen behind in her lesson plan, and we needed to cover some serious ground before we graduated into the fourth grade.  Now, that really has nothing to do with much of anything, other than it was just what popped into my head at this given moment, and any true citizen of blogville will know that most of the words that go up on these digital pages are just what randomly pops into my head.  Well, now that we’ve had that detour into my brain, back to the business at hand.

So, catch-up we will do.  There have been many many people that have passed through the doors of the FunCenter over the last couple of months, and we would like to give them all a huge digital-hug, and a big ol’ mess of MuchLove for giving us some of their sweet and precious time!  Without you, we truly are nothing at all!  Really.  I would be exposed as the dripski that I truly am without each & every one of you backing me up saying, ‘we know you’re a drip, but we still like you!’  So for that, I’m eternally grateful.

So, without any further delay, I invite you to sit back, relax, and get ready to see some visual goodness that is pretty much guaranteed to knock your socks off – again, not because of anything that we’ve done, it’s because each & every one of the good peeps featured in these coming blogs are all so beautiful!  And you, the faithful of blog that have stuck with us through thick and thin – Enjoy!

But rest assured, my dear dear citizens of blogville, this has been far from the case.  And, as proof of this statement, I’m going to start whacking you over the head with about a gajillion new blog posts over the coming hours/days/etc.  I have no idea how long it’s going to take for us to get truly caught up on this thing called blog, but I promise you that we are going to do just that.

What’s that you’re saying?!  Is that a collective ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ that I hear?!  I don’t blame you.  Nope, not one bit.  But I want to prove you wrong.  Normally that would be a bad thing, but in this instance, it’s gonna be a good thing.  So, for all of you that have been waiting patiently [ed. I don't even think that patiently is a term to use for it.  There really is no term.  They've just been sitting their waiting.  Heck, I think that some of these seniors are just about to graduate from College.  But whatevs - go back to your rambling.] the time has come.

Now, I invite all of you to sit back, relax, grab some food & drink, put on some comfy clothes, clear about an hour from your schedule and be witness to a whole, whole, whole, whole lotta pictographic love – in absolutely no particular order.  We’re back, my babies, and we’re rocking.  Straight up.  Oh, and by the way – Enjoy!

What’s that?  You don’t believe me?  Well, how ’bout I hit you up over the head with a bajillion new bloggers for you to feast your eyes upon.  Will you believe me then?  Because it’s been mad crazy around this here FunCenter, and we gots the pics to back up these claims.

So, I invite you to waste some time and take a look at all of these wonderful pics that are about to go up!  This isn’t all of them, but I didn’t want your eyeballs to explode with the goodness that is about to be transmitted through them.  Safety first, right?  OK.  With that in mind, we gotta give a huge huge HUGE MuchLove & ManyThanks to each & every person that has come through the doors of the FunCenter over the past…oh…however long it’s been since we’ve put any of these bloggers up.  And to you – my good peeps of Blog that have been waiting oh so patiently for new pics to go online – Enjoy!

And that’s how we’re rollin’ in o&j world tonight.

That was one of them rhetorical questions, as I’m not really looking for an answer to it.  All I know is that if I don’t get all of these images up tonight, I’m going to have some serious explaining to do tomorrow, and I’m going to get the stink eye from a certain person whose name rhymes with the letter  K and the letter C.  I’m also gonna get a serious ‘what the french, toast?’ from somebody whose name rhymes with Jay and me.

So, as to avoid those things, I ask you now to make sure that you are in the seated position.  That your pants are on tight.  That you don’t have any sharp objects near you (safety first.)  But…before we do that…we need to give an absolutely huuuuuge MuchLove & ManyThanks to each and every person that we’re about to put up here on lovely Land of Blog!  All of you make us look so, so good – and there are no amount of digital hugs & love that would completely…I don’t even know where I’m going with that sentence, so I’m just going to tell you thank you!  Oh, and to you – my faithful Friends of Blog, be sure to – Enjoy!

And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget
Falls drop by drop upon the heart,
And in our own despite, against our will,
Comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God

And that concludes a moment in the life of a local photographer.

MuchLove!

And, I think the title & this self-portrait pretty much sums it all up.  I would love to go on all witty, and eloquent and what not, but instead I think it best to just put this simple title and statement out there in Land of Blog instead.  To each and every person that we have been lucky enough to meet – and whose pictographs we are now putting up – we give a huuuuuuuuuge MuchLove & ManyThanks for being so incredibly wonderful!

And to you – my good Peeps of Blog – we shall send you a giant digital hug in the form of these blog entries.  So, sit back, relax, and be sure to – Enjoy!

So much so that we’ve had to hang the gone fishin’ sign up in the blog.  But I’m here today, on this fine morning to tell you that the blog is open for business once again.  In fact, we’re about to beat you over the head with a bajillion number of blog posts.  So, enough of all these words.  Time now to sit back, relax, and take in the wondrous beauty that’s about to hit all y’all over the head.  To those that have stopped by the FunCenter over the past few weeks – we just need to offer up a huge amount of MuchLove & ManyThanks to one & all for giving us some of their sweet & precious time!  We love you all – especially you out there reading these words!  Oh, and don’t forget to – Enjoy!

People think that Monday is bad, but you’re usually still so close to the weekend that you may have a little bit of euphoria left over, and you can regale those around you with stories of your adventures over the previous days.  And Wednesday – well…that’s hump day!  Thursday – thirsty, and so close you can smell the weekend.  And our good friend Friday – you don’t even count.  By that point our minds have already escaped our bodies and we’ve moved on to the weekend again.

So, that’s why I’m ready to rock.  It’s not because I want to – it’s because I need to.  I need to in order to survive!  I need to in order to feel alive!  And do you – my good, clean, healthy & faithful peep of blog – do you know how I’m going to get the rocking started?  By some totally kick-butt totally head-banging rocking to the nth degree sample snaps right here on this good ol’ thing that we like to call Blog.  Blogville.  The BliggityBlog.  Whatever.

I feel your pain this Tuesday.  As you’re reading this, you may have just got your start on the day, but I’m gonna tell you something.  Strap yourselves in, because we’re about to make this place all crazy with about a billion new blog posts just waiting to get the rock rolling.  You ready?  Don’t got time to find out bro.  I’m just gonna hit you over the head with them.

To each & every person that will be featured in the next 12 or so blog posts, we want to give a huge MuchLove & ManyThanks to for being so totally & completely awesome.  It is because of you that we are.  Not gonna lie.  True story.  So, from the bottom of our digital hearts we want to give you all digital hugs, and to all our peeps out there in Land of Blog who have just been waiting for new blog pics to go up – Enjoy!

But forget about that sentence.  What I’m here to tell you is that you are about to be hit over the head with the lovely samplesnaps of three wonderfully lovely ladies – Alexis, Stephanie, Katie & Nora!  I’m not going to waste any more of your time (and also, there’s an infomercial on about the rotisserie grille that I really want to see), so instead I’m going to just give MuchLove & ManyThanks to these awesome peeps for coming down to FunCenter and allowing us to be a part of their senior year!

I don’t really know where I was going with that last sentence, because I just heard something about the grille being available for only three easy payments of $13.33…that can’t be right.  Either way, thanks to each one of these ladies, and to my good peeps out there in land of blog in the middle of the night just waiting for new blog posts to go up – Enjoy!

Well, hello there!  I just wanted to give everyone out there in Land of Blog the heads up that the third annual Wine Walk is tomorrow!  If you haven’t been a part of this event before…well…I suggest you get your keisters down to Cookies for You or Off The Vine to pickup your passports as soon as possible!

It’s gonna be a great night, and we hope to see you there!

Get all information about the event here:  winewalk.downtownminot.com

MuchLove!
o&j

Well, seeing as how we’ve already had the ‘Monday Morning Blog Blaster’ (which, in case you never listened to that original bit of audio goodness, I suggest that you go back in time and dig that up.  It’s pure gold), so we’ve got to come up with something that is a little bit different.  Which is how we’ve gotten ourselves to, ‘Monday Morning:  If The Robots Took Over’ edition of the bliggity blog.

I know.  You’re sitting there right now thinking to yourself that this doesn’t make any sense, but does anything in life really make all that much sense?  And why would I go and try to put sense to anything?  We don’t need to make sense, we just need to put up some totally awesome super sweetly picto-snaps, and the rest can be up to you.  But…the question remains…what if you were to wake up this morning, and the robots had taken over.

Well, I’m here to help you understand what it might be like.  So travel with me now, as we imagine a place where my sweet voice was instead replaced by…ROBOTS!!!

MuchLove!  Oh…and – Enjoy!

::  click the play button, yo!  ::

Download audio file (robotintro.mp3)

Download audio file (offer.mp3)

Download audio file (dogs.mp3)

See?  Thank you Sam, for helping us answer that question.

MuchLove!

Share the Love!

]]> http://www.otisandjames.com/blog/2637/musings/mmbb-v-16-2-the-what-do-i-see-when-i-look-in-your-eyes-edition/feed/ 0 http://www.otisandjames.com/blog/2621/musings/the-monday-morning-blog-blaster-mmbb/ http://www.otisandjames.com/blog/2621/musings/the-monday-morning-blog-blaster-mmbb/#comments Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:20:58 +0000 otis http://www.otisandjames.com/blog/?p=2621 ::  click the play button, yo!  ::

Download audio file (blaster.mp3)

Download audio file (earlyam.mp3)

Download audio file (shine.mp3)

May the Good Lord shine a light on you
Warm, like the evening sun