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NEWS / MONDAY. MARCH 8. 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
ARTS
Colin Johnson/KANSAN
Brian J. Nelson thanks the audience for attending his concert and CD release at Corpus Christi Catholic Church Sunday afternoon. The CD, titled "Vocalise," is his second release in the last 12 months and features a range of his work which varies from chamber to choral to sacred music.
Musical passion spurs career, CD
BY ALISON CUMBOW
BY ALISON CUMBOW
alisonc@kansan.com
For Brian J. Nelson, his pieces as a composer are like his children. He spends a great deal of time nurturing his work to make it reach its full potential — just like he would with a child.
Nelson, a composer and KU doctoral student, held a concert Sunday at Corpus Christi Catholic Church to release his newest CD — two years in the making — called "Vocalise."
Nelson, 42, has been composing music for 30 years. He grew up playing the piano and the tuba, for which he received a full scholarship to the University of Michigan. He said composing after playing instruments for so many years was a natural outflow of his musical interests.
"Being a composer is a fundamental need to communicate," he said.
He added that one of his teachers liked to say that composing wasn't a career, but an obsession.
Nelson's "obsession" with composing and his musical style stems
from his upbringing in the church, where his father was a pastor.
Nelson's musical style includes chamber, choral and sacred music.
Cesario Fernandez, a visiting scholar at the University, was in attendance at the concert on Sunday. He said he heard Nelson's music on campus, liked it, and decided to go to the concert release.
Jeremy Khon, a good friend of Nelson's, said he had learned a lot about sacred music by listening to Nelson's CDs.
"This is the type of music I have in my car," he said. "I am enjoying it very much."
"Brian's an artist," Kohn said. 'Everything he does comes from his ove of music.'
Nelson's pieces will face some competition from come July when his wife Marita — whom he met on www.CatholicMatch.com — gives birth to their first child.
Nelson said he sings and plays instruments to his wife's belly.
"Music is a language that we know and understand," he said.
Hear clips of Nelson's music at kansan.com/audioclips
— лаитая dy весky nowiett
CHARITY
Missouri beatdown to raise money
BY ZACH GETZ
zgetz@kansan.com
Ryan Waggoner/KANSAN
Matt Franzblau, graduate student from Bridgewater, N.J., smashes the back end of a car outside Wayne and Larry's Saturday morning. Wayne and Larry's organized the Beat the Tiger fundraiser where participants could pay S1 to take a swing at the car, which was painted with Missouri colors.
Joel Holland stared down the car with a sledge hammer in his hands looking for a target to hit.
Hefound one, and as he hoisted the eight-pound hammer in the air, he kept telling himself "don't miss, don't miss, don't miss." He didn't miss as he made solid contact with the hood of the car. He looked over the damage he created, gave a nod of approval and moved on to calculate his next spot.
"I never swung a sledge hammer that angrily before," said Holland, a junior from Platte City, Mo. "But it was fun and for a good cause."
For a dollar, people could take a swing at a 1992 Ford Taurus with a sledge hammer. All proceeds were donated to the Lawrence Humane Society. The car, which was painted in black and gold and adorned with "Muck Fizzou", was up for smashing all day Saturday at Wayne and Larry's, 933 Iowa St.
Throughout the course of the day, about 75 people took 392 swings, generating as much money, said Shawn Hogan, general manager for Wayne and Larry's.
"The car was completely destroyed" he said.
Wayne Martin, co-owner of Wayne & Larry's, said he enjoys
helping the Humane Society whenever possible.
"They take care of the animals that really need help around here," Martin said. "We often forget about them."
Martin said he thought Wayne and Larry's will do this kind of fundraiser again in the future.
Matt Gorney, a graduate student from Wichita, said he wanted
to join in the destruction because of his love for breaking things and his hatred for all things Missouri.
"If you can't destroy something with Missouri on it, what fun is it to go to KU?" Gorney said.
good work." Gorney said. "You can't glaze over where the money goes for something like this."
Hogan said the car would soon be returned to its original salvage yard.
Though it was fun to bash on a car, he said it was important to him where the money was going.
"The Humane Society is a great organization and they do a lot of
"I wish I could drop it off at Columbia," he said.
- Edited by Drew Anderson
POLITICS
Black caucus urges aide to cancel visit
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama's Legislative Black Caucus called on U.S.Education Secretary Arne Duncan to cancel a planned appearance at Robert E. Lee High School in Montgomery Saturday.
State Rep. Alvin Holmes said the school and its principal publicly opposed the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the SelmaMontgomery march in 1965.
Holmes said it was "insulting" to King and civil rights protesters that President Barack Obama's top education aide was scheduled to appear at the school Monday.
"If he doesn't cancel, we're going to picket," Holmes told The Associated Press.
Sandra Abrevaya, a spokeswoman for Duncan, said the agency was not aware of the caucus' request and had no immediate comment.
Duncan is scheduled to meet
with teachers and students at the school and march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the 45th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday,"the violent clash between civil rights protesters and state troopers in Selma.
About 200 people marched to the Alabama Capitol on Saturday, in part to commemorate the anniversary. The marchers, joined by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, were also taking to the streets in support of electronic bingo jobs
in Alabama, saying the debate was a voting rights issue and a matter of economic justice.
Republican Gov. Bob Riley contends electronic bingo machines are illegal and has forced the closure of nearly all the state's more than 30 casinos. The fight has stirred old civil rights tensions in poor, black areas where officials argue the gambling halls provide needed jobs and tax dollars.
- Associated Press
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