The week (always on Saturday) started out in the breathless heat. I wondered how I would enjoy the wonderful program planned for the Hoover, but around 7 p.m. the wind picked up and the temperature dropped at least into the 80s. I managed a trip to the laundromat on Saturday afternoon (our washer started smoking on the 28th and is no longer usable).
The Osmond Brothers, Merrill, Jay and Jimmy, performed Saturday night. Wow. What amazing, accomplished musicians, but then they’ve been performing together over 50 years, having had their 50th anniversary as a family group in 2008. Seven of the nine Osmonds are musicians and/or actors--one brother who used to perform with these three in recent years in Bransom, MO and on tour has had a stroke and another has M.S. Donny and Marie still perform together occasionally. All the Osmonds use their many talents in other areas of show business. They did a lot of interacting with the audience, and one more row and I would have been able to shake Merrill’s hand. The audience at the end (about 2-3 encores) rushed up to take photos, and they obliged. Some performers are very stingy with their time, but not this group. They also called Shirley Starey (who is program director) to the stage because it was her birthday.
The Archives and Heritage Hall has a new director of operations, Gretchen Curtis, who did our educational programming for years. Keith Addy gave some “behind the scenes” stories about the days he was in charge of the Hoover entertainment, 1988-2004. My neighbor provided a few additional ones. He said his wife was the driver from the airport when the Osmonds (5 of them) appeared here in 1985. Also he said when the Lennon sisters appeared here (1960s?), they took a break after about 30 minutes. The audience waited and waited, but they never came back on state. They’d left during intermission!
On Monday and Tuesday Frank Deaner, retired Ohio Newspaper Association, talked about future of newspapers and the sunshine law. He was hopeful about the future of newspapers, although the dailies are down (1902, 2600; 2009, 1392), many people report using a newspaper daily (59%) or on Sunday (53%). News websites get 113 million adult visitors. E-content (tablet, etc.) readers are increasing readership. Many websites are going “hyper-local.” I learned that the Cincinnati Inquirer is getting out of the printing business, and will be printed by the Columbus Dispatch. Also new is a less than 7 day schedule, like publishing 4 days, and the current stories appear only on blogs or the website. Lots of multi-media cross digitization--Scripps Howard now owns Food Network (cable), for instance.
On Wednesday and Thursday Meghan Harper, Assoc. Prof., Kent State talked on the future of libraries. She was very upbeat and positive. Two of my library friends, Andrea and Marian, and I compared notes at the Wednesday picnic. Our view from the trenches was not quite so positive. Of course, none of us were as enamored of technology as Ms. Harper.
A great genealogy workshop this week, 5 days at 3:30, by Derek Davey, who is an instructor in genealogy, and a private, for-hire, genealogist. Many of the points I knew (although I don’t always follow). Met a woman who also has a Church of the Brethren background and I told her about the Brethren genealogy listserv that has been so helpful for me in finding Wengers, Danners, Geigers, and Fetters. Because maiden names were often not included in older records, it is nice to have such a helpful group.
Thursday night was The Glenn Miller Orchestra. Powerful performance. The leader said they tour 48 weeks a year, 4-5 performances a week! This also included a seminar in the afternoon, although I didn’t attend. After all, one has to preserve some nap time!
Friday night Judy Collins is scheduled. She is my age and still does about 100 performances a year. So I guess I can walk 3 blocks to hear her. She is multi-talented, and is also an author.
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