Day 8: Allen, TX/Danville, AR

This time with Judi Lynn and her family has been very easy, and so enjoyable. She and Paul go back about 25 years, so I really enjoyed the chance to spend a little time with her and to meet her kids and her new husband, Curtis. We got to hear the final concert for the week-long clarinet camp she organizes teaches in the summers - must have been about 30 students, middle school and high school. Ranged from "Polly Wolly Doodle" to Scott Joplin to some pretty advanced playing by some of the older kids. We even heard some pieces arranged for clarinet by students. I think she's been doing this camp for about 5 years now, and she's built it into quite an institution. Band is a VERY big deal in Texas - her high school has more classroom space, equipment and money devoted to their band, than Paul had for his entire music/drama/dance program. And that's just band. I counted 500 instrument lockers. In addition to regular band classes, students get a 25-minute private lesson each week for their instrument, and that's where Judi comes in. She teaches clarinet to about 70 students.  

Friday night she and Curtis left Issac and Samuel with a sitter for taco races and we had a grown-ups' night out. Went to hear a couple of indie artists at Uncle Calvin's Coffeehouse, a weekly venue in Dallas. They hold it in a church fellowship hall (Presbyterian, of course), and get musicians in from all over the country. We heard a young lady called Kristy Kruger, who is traveling the fifty states performing in honor of her brother, who was killed in Iraq. Her tour started as a way for her to deal with her own grief - something to force her out of bed in the morning. As she put it, she wanted to get to know the country he died for. So she and a friend are touring the country on a shoestring budget, gratefully accepting donations of hotel stays and fruit baskets. (Some one who heard her at an Oregon show is footing her airfare to Hawaii.)

What I found interesting is that she's not saying a word about the war itself - nothing for or against. It's not really about that. It's about her being able to see the country in memory of her brother and perform some of the music she's written since his death. She's also started meeting other gold star families (those who have lost a child, parent or sibling in combat) and arranging memorial performances for them. As heavy as the context is, the music and her performance is uplifting and actually very funny. Simple folk melodies on guitar or piano, often sung using a mic that lends an old-fashioned 40's sound. She shares stories from her tour of the peoples she's met and the places she's been. She doesn't have a tour schedule defined well in advance, but take a look at her web site for more details and keep your eyes and ears open for her in your area.

The drive to Paul's folks in Arkansas was pretty uneventful, although we did stop for lunch at Braum's. Yes! One of those little things that made life in Oklahoma worth living. Great burgers, better fries, and fantastic milkshakes and limeades all together at once place. They're in TX and OK, maybe Missouri as well. I did make it in and out of Oklahoma again without drama or tragedy -- it is not one of my favorite places. Among other things, the state refuses to permit same-sex parent adoptions or to recognize them from other states, so same-sex parents traveling through the state can find themselves with no legal rights to their children. That's not my idea of Family Values.