Legatissimo.info - Humorous

Hitler banned from iSketch

kyle — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:05:15 -0500

Commencement, heraldic trumpets, and my hour long chat with George H W Bush

kyle — Mon, 22 May 2006 11:29:00 -0500

As of yesterday afternoon, I am no longer a student at the George Washington University, instead I join the ranks of alumni they'll hit up for money a few times a year. The Commencement ceremony was held on the national mall, just in front of the Capitol building. It's a pretty big thing, usually with around 20,000 people in attendance. It's full of pomp, circumstance, academic regalia, and two herald trumpet players.

Now what is a herald trumpet, you're wondering. This is a herald trumpet:

It often has a banner hung from the extraordinarily long bell, and folks play them when they want to look cool. Here's where I enter the equation. As a graduating senior in the music department, I was selected to be one of the two people who play the fanfares to open the commencement ceremonies -- this year, keynoted by former president George H. W. Bush and his lovely wife Barbara.

Okay, I thought, this should be pretty cool. I'll get to stand on stage with a former president, play a few notes, and go sit down with my friends. Except that's not exactly how it happened.

I was waiting backstage with the other trumpet player and the university marshall, when she told us it was time to go on. We walked towards the platform where we saw the Bushs standing there waiting. George shook our hands, talked to us a bit about jazz, and I thought that was pretty cool. I'm not a huge fan of his policies, but you've got to respect the fact that this man was, at one point in time, the leader of the free world -- that's pretty impressive.

Along with one other person I didn't know, the six of us walked up on stage. The university marshall pointed at us and we played. Then the graduating student started to process in. But, lo and behold, who was standing next to me? Why, Bush senior, of course. And for the hour while people processed in -- 45 minutes to an hour, I'm not exactly sure -- I stood next to him and chatted.

We talked about his grandkids. We talked about his advice if I go into politics: "Never get between a man with a camera and an Oriental woman." -- What? We waved at people. We talked about the research I did for my thesis on volunteer integration in political campaigns via emergent technology. The other trumpet player's phone rang -- it was on vibrate -- but when he told Bush that, the former president insisted that he give him his phone, and he called the person back and left a message saying something to the effect of "This is George H. W. Bush, number 41, sorry I missed you, congratulations." We talked about how it's a weird feeling to be elected president, how impressive the oval office is, and what it's like to go to school in the District.

The photo editor of the school newspaper was there taking pictures, and being the outgoing senior design editor, I was able to get a CD of all the pictures he took. I asked Bush if I could get the picture signed, and he told me to mail it to him, and then he gave me his business card. If I can find a scanner, I'll get a picture of it uploaded.

It was an unexpectedly awesome/surreal day. And now after that little adventure yesterday, I'm here at my full time job working away. I can't wait until I get the picture back signed. It's gonna look great in my collection.

A huge thanks to Sam Sherraden, outgoing Hatchet photo editor extraordinaire, who gave me a CD of a bunch of wonderful photos of Bush and me. Have fun in China, Sam.

Google news search of "RIAA" returns this:

kyle — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 10:56:01 -0600

In my last post, I cited a news search for "RIAA," and I was very amused by the headlines. You might be, too.

RIAA sues woman that has no computer
Afterdawn.com - 12 hours ago
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has found yet another strange case amongst the thousands of copyright infringement suits it has launched ...

Between rock and a hard place
Globe and Mail, Canada - 8 hours ago
... According to Nettwerk and the family's lawyers, the RIAA is demanding that the family pay a legal settlement of $9,000 (US), or half that if paid within a ...

Addonics announces new iPod to PC conversion kit
Geek.com - 1 hour ago
... It also means itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢sa good solution for the RIAA to subpoena iPods to search them for illegal copyright material, thus extending its reach outside of just the ..

DRM News From All Over
Stereophile Magazine, NY - 15 hours ago
... Nettwerk vs the RIAA: How's this for a heart-warming scenario? A recording artist, MC Lars, gets an

RIAA Watch Speaking in Tongues
CounterPunch, CA - Feb 4, 2006
... Even if those words perpetuate the RIAA propaganda that bootleggers are sub-human creatures, void of morals, who have direct links to terrorism. ...

RIAA defendant 'has never used a computer'
IT Week, UK - Feb 3, 2006
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has issued another 750 writs against people it believes are pirates, including a carer in New York who ...

RIAA claims computerless woman was a pirate
Inquirer, UK - Feb 3, 2006
THE RIAA seems to have adopted a "sue everyone policy " in its cunning plan to stop file sharers. Not ... cent. So the RIAA sued her. ...

Ex-RIAA chief opens antipiracy consultancy
ZDNet - Feb 2, 2006
... The firm will work with economist Barry Massarsky, who has previously worked with the RIAA and music composers, to help companies and venture capitalists ...

Admittedly, these are all online sources, so they're probably at least a little biased. But still, the RIAA is really doing a bang-up job staying on top of its public image.