If you love the French horn as much of some of the Lindsay clan, you'll be excited to know about a special French horn concert on May 17 featuring guest artist Bernhard Scully of Canadian Brass Fame and the Fox Valley Horns. Here are details:

May 17, 2009, The Big Picture IMAX (215 East Washington, Appleton)

Noon Master Class and group rehearsal (the email notice wasn't perfectly clear to me - I think the rehearsal is from 1:15 pm to 2 pm).

2:15 – 3:30 concert. Titanic-Edelweiss-Silverado-Danny Boy-Strauss-Mozart-Larson.

No admission!

(Information taken from a press release sent to Jeff Lindsay on April 27, 2009.)

I have no idea how the drama departments of three large high schools were able to work together so successfully, but the results were stellar. Appleton North, West, and East High Schools all collaborated to produce The Music Man, a difficult and demanding musical. Directors from each of the schools managed different scenes but maintained excellent unity.

My wife and I attended the performance on Friday night at Appleton West High School. Nearly sold out. There were only a couple of very minor and brief glitches, including a little difficulty with some aspects of the sound system, but virtually everything went well and the student performers were simply amazing, the orchestral pit and band players included. I'm continually impressed at the depth of musical and dancing talent we have in the Appleton area.

Many thanks to the Appleton Area School District for a wonderful success, and to each of the three schools for making it happen. Thanks also to area elementary and middle schools for providing additional talent, and to the many parents and teachers who sacrificed a lot for this big performance. One more reason to be proud of Appleton and our schools!

Appleton, Wisconsin recieves 2008 City of the Year Designation & Award From America The Beautiful.com

America The Beautiful.com (www.AmericaTheBeautiful.com) has selected Appleton, Wisconsin as its 2008 City of the Year. Appleton was selected among 120 other candidates for exemplifying "the Patriotism, Pride, Passion and Promise for America that we were looking for," according to Peter Smith. One factor that helped tip the scales for is Appleton's patriotic tradition of celebrating Flag Day with nation's largest and longest running Flag Day Celebration and Parade in America.

This afternoon, America the Beautiful will present the award to Appleton in a ceremony at Houdini Plaza. The band of the Appleton East Patriots will be there providing the music.

Here's an excerpt from a press release about the award:

Waynesville, North Carolina (PRWEB) April 1, 2009 -- In March of 2008, AmericaTheBeautiful.com announced it was taking a film crew across the roads of America in search of powerful stories of patriotism and love of this great land. The focus was on the heartwarming communities, filled with great people, amazing photographic sites, and messages about the love of America and all it stands for. Upon receipt of over 120 applications, AmericaTheBeautiful.com read the compelling stories from cities in nearly all 50 states - in search of a story of overwhelming Pride, Passion, Patriotism and Promise for our country.

AmericaTheBeautiful.com found that amazing American Spirit in Appleton Wisconsin along with their annual celebration of Flag Day. AmericaTheBeautiful.com's President - Peter Smith brought a film crew to Appleton to capture and share this community's Patriotism with the world. Over the course of their three day stay in Appleton, Peter and his crew were delighted with the warm reception and community spirit they experienced.

This is the first award presentation for AmericaTheBeautiful.com as part of what will be a continuing effort to inspire citizens of this great nation. In this stressful world of the diminishing dollar value, rising & falling gas prices, falling housing values, and escalating international threats, many are easily distracted by the day-to-day worries of this world. Americans often overlook the beauties of this great country and the freedoms that they enjoy.

America The Beautiful will present the distinguished 2008 City of the Year award to Appleton's City Officials in April of 2009.

I apologize for an off-topic post tonight, but I really need some opinions by Wednesday night (8 pm CDT, April 15). I need them enough that I'm offering cash prizes in the form of real money, not the fake paper stuff. If I get at least 10 comments from unique, registered parties here, one of you will win a silver dollar. I expect most of the comments will be made over at Mormanity, where I've asked a third party to randomly select at least at least one of the non-anonymous, unique commenters there to receive a silver dollar for participating in this survey (two or more if I get at least 100 unique commenters). Between this and other blogs with this one-day event, a one-ounce silver eagle will also be awarded based on quality of input.

Here's the scoop. We've got a book being published by John Wiley & Sons in couple of months. Several cover designs have been presented, but the ones I like best are from local talent. We're trying to decide which of two differing approaches should be taken: the graphic (a maze) at the top (#1) or in the center (#2) of the cover. Two sample designs are shown below. Changes will be made in color and fonts, so don't let that influence you (but comments are welcome). I'm mostly looking for input on the placement of elements. Given that, please let me know which of the two designs you like best and why (single sentence may be OK). To de-emphasize color, I've also included a black and white version of both.

I'm posting this on another blog or two as well. The comment that I find most helpful between these sources will receive a bonus of a beautiful American Silver Eagle one ounce coin. I know, I know, you think I'm just posting this to draw attention to silver as one of the smartest investments for people concerned about our hyperinflated future - but I really do need input from multiple eyes.

Please let me know what you think - and be sure to login. If you don't want to register, make the comment with an assumed moniker and send it to me by email as well to identify yourself. Send it to jeff at jefflindsay.com.

Click to enlarge either set of images:





So which approach do you like best and why? Or let me know if they both fail and especially let me know if you have a better idea.

The book, by the way, is a book aimed at inventors, scientists, managers, business leaders, and even policy makers. It deals with the personal side of innovation, exploring the many fatigue factors that can shut down innovation, along with guidance on how to overcome or eliminate them. The maze image is intended to show that there are ways to bypass some of the barriers and frustrations on the journey to innovation success.