Amazing performance. Fantastic news.
Continue readingMusic to Our Ears! The Coltrane Home
Notes From Joe
One great thing about getting involved in something you care about is finding friends who share that passion. I really appreciate how another ardent Coltrane volunteer, Joe Natter, often shares articles that help us better understand the legacy we seek to steward. Here are some of his “clippings:”
Continue readingSpring Cleaning at the Coltrane Home
We continue to maintain that there is no deeper, more fulfilling fun than working on something bigger than ourselves with others who care, too.
One of our favorite bands of volunteers is the folks involved in transforming the John & Alice Coltrane Home in Dix Hills into a multi-faceted museum and education center that advances these incredible musical and spiritual legacies, and fulfills John & Alice’s vision of good-will and connection.
It was sooooo much fun to come together with a few of the volunteers to help spring clean the home, catch up with each other, and learn a little bit about the deeply thoughtful, community-sensitive, and legacy mindful plans they’ve been working on.
We hope to get to see more of these folks soon!!!
Follow them on Facebook and check our our own page where we’ll be sharing more images from that day soon!
Spencer’s Picks: Overcoming Pandemic Fatigue; Art, Science & Suggested Solutions; The Happiness of a Dog
Photo of Dr. Spencer Thomas atop the Uffizi in Florence, Italy. Photo by Katheryn Laible
As usual, when he’s not scrying into the mysteries of metals at the atomic level, or pondering puzzles of more efficient means of tapping energy, Dr. Thomas is bringing some light into our life. Here are a few of the things he’s brought to our attention:
Now that we’re about a month into the college semester with social distancing and remote learning, a lot of people I know are feeling a bit of a drag. You are not alone: Lonliness at Pandemic U: 14 tips for college students and their parents
Along similar themes, but more for everyone:: Your Surge Capacity is Depleted. This is Why You Feel Awful (and a couple good things you can do about it)
One thing that’s helpful is — to help! Here is a heartwarming and inspiring story from one of my very favorite professors from back in my undergrad time at Stony Brook. Bente Videbaek is an amazing person who has been working hard to make sure people have masks Facebook Page: “Humans of Mather Hospital”
When you feel a bit grounded and ready to stare some of the bigger challenges facing humanity in the face: Countdown is a global initiative to champion and accelerate solutions to the climate crisis. One of the speakers, Dr. Rose Mutiso, is a friend of mine – we were graduate students together. She’s the incredible CEO of the Mawazo Institute, which supports women scientists and leaders throughout East Africa. She has also spoken at TED and written in Scientific American about the challenges that people in Africa face building digital and clean-energy infrastructure.
One for the Coltrane fans out there: The most feared song in jazz, explained. It’s not too hard for a layman to follow this breakdown of “Giant Steps,” even as it’s still among the most challenging things a musician may face
Finally, no big point here, but a bit of joy for you since we could all use it: The happiness of this dog after they put prostheses on
Spencer Thomas received his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. After some time at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, we are DELIGHTED to welcome him back to Long Island as a researcher at Stony Brook University. He also happens to be Katie’s brother. For a time, Spencer studied metals at the atomic level; the way atoms are arranged in a material can change its properties; one can take ordinary metals make them stronger, more flexible, corrosion resistant, even radiation resistant. We’re still endeavoring to understand what he’s doing now well enough to explain it so simply.
Spencer believes that no matter who you are, good communication can put scientific concepts within reach. The modern world demands scientific literacy and it is the responsibility of scientists to make that possible.
The Coltrane Home – A Story in Pictures
Photo of Elvis Costello and Yushiro “Fuji” Fujioka by Katheryn Laible
We were really interested in Steve Fulgoni’s story about discovering the John & Alice Coltrane Home in Dix Hills, and his journey since. We’ll tell you more about that soon. First, though, we’ve started tracing our own journey volunteering with the wonderful Friends of the Coltrane Home.
For Katie, it all started when Trudy and Tawaun Weber, normally in church on a Sunday morn, showed up at her door and said, “Get in the car. Bring your camera. Now.”
She went, soon finding herself in the Greenwich Village restaurant of one of the world’s greatest collectors of all things Coltrane, Yushiro “Fuji” Fujioka. There, musical greats, local community members and others joined in a very special event to celebrate the purchase of the home and to passionately advance an endeavor to transform it into a museum and education center worthy of its former owners’ extraordinary, multifaceted legacies.
Here is the story of that day in pictures.
Proceeds from any purchases beyond production costs benefit the Friends of the Coltrane Home. Please contact Katie to inquire about pieces.
Update on the Coltrane Home from Ron Stein, August 2018
We asked Ron Stein, Board President of the Friends of the Coltrane Home in Dix Hills New York, what is needed next to help transform the home into a museum and cultural site to advance the musical, cultural and spiritual legacies of John and Alice Coltrane. Here is what he told us:
Continue readingRon Stein: Long Island Renaissance Man
As the founder of LI’s premier Smart Growth organization Vision Long Island, a champion of the endeavor to advance John and Alice Coltrane’s legacies, Ron Stein has a tremendous knack for getting great things started.
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