In Review

President Jennifer Bennerotte started the meeting promptly at 12:33 p.m.

In our initial interaction with the current President (who, by all accounts, is not nearly as close to impeachment as those who have gone before her—Slyce, MacDonald, Hildreth, Hepp are a few who come to mind), she recognized one of the more visible aspects of Rotary’s contribution to a community: the Rotary Youth Exchange student. There is a need for three host families (Rotarian or others in community) to host each student during the 2016-2017 school year here in Edina. The two students who will be hosted represent the countries of Belgium and Chile. If you are interested or know of someone who is, please bring it to the attention of the Youth Exchange Committee, which is a combined committee of the Edina Morningside Rotary Club and our club. Mike Kallas, Terry Stevens and Sonja Tengdin represent the Noon club and they are always looking for new committee members.  

Today you were greeted by Buzz Lightyear, Charlie Brown, and Stan Musial or it could have been Buzz Bainbridge, Charlie Barer and Stan Brown. It’s easy to get them all confused.

Mike Kallas assisted Jennifer Garske with the front desk, while no doubt billing some client for the hours he spent doing administrative work. The Invocation/Pledge/Four-Way Test were beautifully read by Sutton McGraw. Josh Sprague, who was in rare humor, introduced the guests ... so quickly that I couldn’t write them down fast enough. Oh yes, Matt Boockmeier wrote The Barker. Here is a list of the Rotarians and their guests at the meeting:

 

Wayne Harmon provided us an update regarding the Vocational Ethics Day meeting Thursday, April 21. Students from five high schools in Rotary District 5950 will be in attendance. The meeting will start at 11:30 a.m., so plan accordingly. Oh, and all the details were in the speaker/menu email that you received last week.

 
Sue Spalding made a number of presentations for contributions to The Rotary Foundation and thanked those members who have donated and were first-time Paul Harris Fellows, or achieving another PHF level. She was assisted by David Clynes. Those acknowledged include (left to right in photo): 

 

As we are all now aware our good friend and fellow Rotarian Wally Houts recently passed away at the age of 88. A memorial service for Wally will be April 21. Please watch your email for updates on location and time. 

 

Rotary Youth Exchange student Jein Im (shown in photo with District Governor Tim Murphy and her host mother Catherine Gump) gave us insight on her background and why she is so glad to have come to Minnesota. She is from Seoul, South Korea. Her dad is an electrical engineer and owns a small company, which her mom helps with. Since coming to Edina, she has worked hard to improve her English and see other cultures. She has done everything you are supposed to do in Minnesota—Grandview Resort (shameless plug for Cote family; Sam, please note The Barker writer this week); she attended the sweetheart dance at the high school; and participated in band where she played the flute. However, maybe the last memory she will take from being in Minnesota is fishing for walleye.

Libby Schmit gave her classification talk. She grew up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where she was member of the basketball team, as well as participating in the youth business group, DECA. The group undertook the task of raising money for the Salvation Army, which earned them a trip to the national competition. She enjoyed volunteering by reading to kids, and sees Rotary as a way of giving back to her community. She attended University of Wisconsin—Stout, while working full time and playing women’s rugby. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing. It was also at Stout that she met her future husband. They are the parents of two kids, who after asking the club to answer a trivia question, were found to be tadpoles! Turns out Libby had natural water births and apparently if the kids are born this way they get a tadpole certificate! 

Paul Mooty (and his “Leave it to Beaver” haircut) introduced program speaker Paul Peterson. Paul sponsored Paul, which sounds very biblical until you realize the only one who has the hair for it is Peterson. Paul M. lives in a van down by the river where he charges a small fee to watch him perform Ole and Lena jokes while knitting a sweater made of Irish sheep’s wool. 

Paul Peterson, well, he is a real rock star in every sense of the word (just ask him, since this was his very humble line to open his presentation). He comes from the famous Peterson family of musicians. The people he has performed with, written songs for, and been sued by are simply too many too name (but ask Paul P.—he will gladly sit and tell you all of them). Clearly his most impressionable and where he got his start—that was with Prince when he was 17. He also appeared with the Prince and the Band in the movie "Purple Rain." Paul wore very tight pants during this time. 

Paul went on to state that in his eyes, music is transformational. It will take us back and help lead us on a journey through our lives. Music is an equalizer or a way to even the playing field with no biases. Music can be polarizing. Chances are each and every member of this Rotary club likes a different kind of music! There might even be a few us are beginning to like the same type of music as our parents!

Paul holds many job titles, but those job titles each represent a revenue stream for what turns out is the very essence of self-employment! Why do so many things with respect to music? Well quite simply, you’re an entrepreneur. Most in the industry can’t make enough or sustain their career on performance alone, they must be creative in finding other means of creating revenue. Surprisingly, those who play in symphonies or orchestras are union and therefore create a higher base of income which gives them a big lead. Everyone else are working for every dollar they earn!

Becoming a musician requires an undying commitment to it, Paul said. You can’t question yourself because you will fail at times. You must embody the very definition of entrepreneur. There is no straight road when you are a musician. How do they make their living? There are so many ways to use your creative talent, but at the end of the day the pay is minimal and most range from working for free (to gain the experience or show what they have) to the writing the music and finding other means of recurring revenue—or in Paul’s words “mailbox money."

 

With the evolution of the digital age, the musician has created more and more revenue streams. Paul described the music industry as sticking their heads in the sand early on in this digital age, when it came to file and song sharing. Thankfully the industry has rebounded but there is a long way to go. He shared that the music recording industry used to be $40 billion a year and almost overnight it dropped to $20 billion. But it is slowly working back up. Paul asked for our support of musicians by buying songs and not sharing them because if no one is making money, they won’t make music and ultimately degrade the entire industry. 

 

Paul has decided that it’s time to hit the road again and will be performing across the country with Peter Frampton. You can catch the show at the State Theater here in Minneapolis. Rotarian Jack Kennefick has purchased a block of tickets, so contact Jack or Ken Andersen if you are interested in buy tickets to the show. Either that or you could just email Paul and have him get you free tickets! (No, don’t do that!!)

Ann Platt thanked the speaker promptly at 1:28 p.m., which provided one more opportunity for our President to speak and she did so with eloquence and grace (which helped to stave off any calls for impeachment) with the following Peter Frampton quote:

"The longer you love, the longer you live, and the stronger you feel, the more you give."

 

The Rotary Bell was rung at 1:32:16 p.m. (She ran late, but let’s not dwell, OK?)