Part 3 (One Year Later) of the “The Jeff Calissi Experience” begins with recent events at Eastern Connecticut State University (02:20), Jeff getting to hear about my own Senior (Piano) Recital (09:10), administrative issues an ECSU’s new music building (10:35), maintaining his current job while also keeping an eye on the college job market (25:00), his thoughts on social media and percussion (37:40), a brief interlude on food, diet and exercise (41:55), and Jeff dealing with the Random-Ass Questions (along with a possible intro song) and talking about his strong thoughts on the New York Rangers franchise (47:10).

Finishes with a Rave on Meal-Kit Services (01:13:15).

Links:

Jeff Calissi from 2016: Part 1 and Part 2

Jeff Calissi's homepage

Percussion Studies at ECSU

Percussion Ensembles at ECSU

ECSU Percussion Ensemble Highlights from April 2017 concert

Matthew Bronson

"Confluence" - Jeff Calissi and Matthew Bronson

Charles Bronson

UNCG Summer Music Camp

"Night Rhapsody" - John Serry

"Variations on Lost Love" - David Maslanka

Nathan Daughtrey

Dana Carvey on O.J.

Mike Richter saves Pavel Bure's penalty shot, 1994 Finals

"Better Find a Church" - JD and The Straight Shot

Don't Stop Til You Get Enough, Human Nature, Blame it On The Boogie, Shake Your Body Down (To the Ground), Say Say Say - Michael Jackson

The Porcaro Brothers

Rufus Wainwright does "Piano Man" at Kennedy Center Honors

Rufus Wainwright does "Wrapped Around Your Finger" by The Police

Libera does "Love & Mercy" at Kennedy Center Honors

"Wouldn't It Be Nice" - The Beach Boys

Raves:

Meal Kit Services

South Dakota State Percussion Professor Aaron Ragsdale hears about last week’s podcast (01:40), getting the job at SDSU (02:20), growing up in Fayetteville, AR (22:50), the UNLV-Arkansas 1991 basketball game and Scotty Thurman’s shot against Duke (34:20), School Theater and writing a One-Act Play in high school (40:00), going to the University of Oklahoma for undergrad (44:15), being a “gunslinger percussionist” (56:10), going to Arkansas to study under his father for his master’s (01:07:50), doing his doctorate at Rutgers (01:18:00), and going for some Random-Ass Questions (01:36:35).

Finishing with a rave on a work by Alfred Schnittke (01:52:10).

Links:

Aaron Ragsdale's South Dakota State page

Aaron Ragsdale's Innovative Percussion Page

Chal Ragsdale

Jim McKinney

Kevin Kessler

Jacob Wallace

SDSU-Maryland 2015 NCAAs highlights

South Dakota Landmarks

NCPP

PASIC Focus Day

NASA

Harvey Dunn

"Concertino" - Toshiro Mayuzumi

"Meditation and Dance" - David Steinquest

"Sonata for Timpani" - John Beck

"American Suite" - Guy Gauthreaux

"Furioso and Valse in D Minor" - Earl Hatch

Three Dances - Warren Benson

UNLV-Arkansas 1991 (the punch)

Arkansas-Duke 1994 NCAA final

1964 Arkansas Razorbacks football

The Mousetrap - Agatha Christie

Our Town - Thornton Wilder

Gene Thrailkill

Howard Schnellenberger

Bob Stoops

John Blake

Iowa State-Oklahoma 2017

Richard Gipson

Lance Drege

Scott Harris

Ricardo Souza

Brett Favre

Andy Reid

"Fantasy on Japanese Wood Prints" - Alan Hovhaness

"Adventures of Ivan" - Aram Khachaturian/L.H. Stevens

"Stubernic" - Mark Ford

"French Suite" - William Kraft

Darnell Zook

Harold Jones

"Northern Lights" - Eric Ewazen

"Gate to Heaven" - David Gillingham

"Merlin" - Andrew Thomas

Eight Pieces for Four Timpani - Elliot Carter

"Beneath the Canopy" - Philip Parker

"Nagoya Marimbas" - Steve Reich

She-e Wu

Kronos Quartet

Sarah Burke

Annie Stevens

Stefan Ice

George Tantchev

Barrett Hipes

Andrea Venet

Brian Jordan

Alan Abel

Bob Becker

Dennis DeLucia

"Velocities" - Joseph Schwantner

"Mirage" - Yasuo Sueyoshi

"EDGE (Corrugated Box)" - Bruce Hamilton

"Witchhowl" - Andrew Thomas

"Wanna Be Startin Something" - Michael Jackson

Tombstone trailer

Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel

Jay Batzner

March Trilogy - John Lewis and Andrew Aydin

Raves:

"Collected Songs Where Every Verse is Filled with Grief" - Alfred Schnittke

Long-time University of Arkansas Percussion Instructor Chal Ragsdale talks about “Sabbatical Beard” (01:50), starting at Arkansas in 1975 (03:00), his years as department chair and being the institutional memory (13:20), living in Fayetteville and the Walmart Influence (31:00), growing up as the son of a TV News Producer (41:45), Rock Music Influences (including Kansas) (49:25), high school students today (01:00:00), going to Auburn for undergrad (01:07:25), teaching high school band in Reeltown (AL) (01:15:20), going to East Carolina University (NC) for grad school (01:22:20), his first name (01:27:40), Random-Ass Questions (01:32:00), and a tag on researching Percy Grainger (01:48:30).

Finishing with a rave on the movie Whitney: Can I Be Me (01:50:40).

Links:

Chal Ragsdale's Arkansas page

Fernando Valencia

Percy Grainger

Brown v. Board of Education

Robby Steinhardt

"Dust in the Wind", "Carry On Wayward Son", "Point of Know Return" - Kansas

Paul Simon

CSN&Y

Canned Heat

"Jingo" - Santana

Blood, Sweat and Tears

Johnnie Vinson

"Music for a Summer Evening" - George Crumb

George Frock

Tony McCutcheon

James Campbell

Larry McCormick

Larry Mathis

Oboe Sonata - Paul Hindemith

"March and Polonaise for Timpani" - Julius Tausch

"Theme and Variations" - George Frock

Ditto Master

Harold Jones

"Suite for Marimba" - Paul Fissinger

David Maslanka

"25 or 6 to 4" - Chicago

Raves:

Whitney: Can I Be Me trailer

St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Principal Percussionist Will James talks about his current job (01:45), performing with the New World Symphony (05:50), the STL Symphony audition process and winning the job (19:35), day-to-day symphony work and being on the other side of the audition process (31:45), money, audience size, and cancellations (37:35), working at Mizzou (45:15), growing up in Raleigh, NC (47:10), his sports background and Duke affiliation (51:40), his undergrad career at Northwestern (58:50), his graduate work at New England Conservatory of Music (01:06:00), and his tolerance for my Random-Ass Questions (01:12:15).

Finishing with a rave on the local Roots, Blues and BBQ Festival (01:19:50).

Links:

Will James' homepage

Will James' St. Louis Symphony page

Will James' Signature Snare Drum

STL Symphony cancels concert

Megan Arns

Tim Duncan

Christian Laettner

Bobby Hurley

Michael Burritt

Eric Garcia

Annie Stevens

David Skidmore

Jake Nissly

Cory Hills

Chaconne - Bach

"Azure" - Michael Burritt

Will Hudgins

The Red Sox in 2004

John W. Parks IV

Herbie Hancock and Vinnie Colaiuta

Raves:

Roots, Blues and BBQ

The Mavericks

Leon Bridges

Part 2 of “Brian Zator Gator Fest” arrives with a recollection of that PASIC dinner discussed in Part 1 (01:20), growing up near Houston (03:05), his golf game (now and then) (13:35), memories of the DCI Cavaliers (20:40), when Baylor allowed dancing on campus in the 1990s (24:10), his lack of bitterness in placing 2nd at the 1996 solo competition at DCI Championships (26:45), going to Baylor for undergrad and Larry Vanlandingham’s influence (29:25), studying in Japan with Keiko Abe after undergrad (35:10), food and travel in Japan (52:45), going to Michigan for his Master’s (01:00:00), getting yelled at by parents on his kids’ school board (01:16:00), and time for Random-Ass Questions (01:24:45).

Finishing with a rave on “The Turner House” (01:42:15).

Links:

Part 1

Lamar Burkhalter

Gregg Rinehart

Ralph Hicks

The Cavaliers' 1995 Planets show

Yakov Smirnov

Larry Vanlandingham

"La Llorona" - Brian Johnson

"Five Short Works for Solo Marimba" - Deane Gronemeier

Keiko Abe

Michael Udow

"Nyack" - David Friedman

"Wind in the Bamboo Grove" - Keiko Abe

Don Sinta

"Mirage" - Yasuo Sueyoshi

"Conversation" - Akira Miyoshi

"Torse III" - Akira Miyoshi

"The Song of Trees" - Keiko Abe

Michael Gould

Joe Gramley

Jonathan Ovalle

"Rosewood Dreaming" - Bill Cahn

"Marimba Spiritual" - Minoru Miki

Brian West

Dave Matthews Band

Symphony No. 3 - Aaron Copland

"Gonna Make You Sweat" - C+C Music Factory

"U Can't Touch This" - M.C. Hammer

"Last Dance" - Donna Summer

"The Twist" - Chubby Checker

All Pro Dad

America Ninja Warrior

Birdman trailer

"Thriller" - Michael Jackson

Rave:

The Turner House - Angela Flournoy

The Prez is here!! Current Percussive Arts Society (PAS) President and Texas A&M-Commerce Percussion Professor Brian Zator joins me for Part 1 of our interview.  We get to how he got the Commerce job while also eventually doing his DMA at North Texas (03:15), becoming PAS President (21:00), being “Best in Class” (34:15), changes in membership levels for PAS (36:00), the role of Past Presidents (43:15), “Why didn’t I get picked for PASIC?!” (46:15), the influence of companies on the organization and Exhibit Hall Layout changes (49:15), taking a look at other college jobs (53:45), and the “rigorous” auditions to get into Commerce (01:02:30).

Finishing with a Rave on “Tickling Giants” (01:09:00)

Links:

Brian Zator's Homepage

Brian Zator's Texas A&M - Commerce page

Brian Zator's Innovative Percussion page

Michael Udow

Michael Gould

Brian West

Eric Willie

Minoru Miki

Mark Ford

Chris Deane

"The Glory and the Grandeur" - Russell Peck

Ed Smith

UNT's Keyboard Percussion Symposium

Sandi Rennick

Paul Rennick

Joshua Simonds

Lauren Vogel Weiss

Paul Buyer

Julie Hill

Tim Lautzenheiser

John R. Beck

National Treasure trailer

Chris Hanning

Nancy Zeltsman

Marimolin

Drumeo

Raves:

Tickling Giants trailer

Longtime Texas Tech University Percussion Professor Alan Shinn talks about getting the Texas Tech job (03:25), being at one school for so long (15:50), growing up in Kansas City and Columbia, MO (21:05), playing football in 9th grade (27:30), playing in rock bands growing up (28:30), going to Mizzou for undergrad and the facility issues he dealt with (32:00), sports at Mizzou during his time there (49:55), getting his master’s at Texas Tech (56:25), some thoughts on some former students (01:11:45), and the Random-Ass Questions (01:20:00)

Finishing with a Rave on the Hit Parade and Revisionist History podcasts (01:36:55).

Links:

Alan Shinn's Texas Tech page

Allen Teel

Elijah - Mendelssohn

F. Michael Combs

Larry Rachleff

Keith Bearden

Lisa Rogers

Kent Drums

John Brophy

Claude Smith

Tim Lautzenheiser

Allan Beeson

"Kaz"

Julia Gaines

Kevin Lepper

Norm Ruebling

"Ceremonial" - Paul Creston

Buddy Rich

David Garibaldi

Harvey Mason

"Chameleon" - Herbie Hancock

"Saturday NIght" - Bay City Rollers

Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell

Dan Devine

Gary Pinkel

"Ballad For the Dance" - Saul Goodman

Marimba Concerto - Robert Kurka

Josh Armstrong

Stephen Dunn

"Man in the Mirror" - Michael Jackson

"Hey Jude" - The Beatles

End of Abbey Road - The Beatles

Abe Laboriel Jr

"Slippin' Into Darkness" - War

This American Life

S-Town

You Don't Have to Say You Love Me - Sherman Alexie

George Saunders Commencement Speech

"Let it Be Told" - Julian Arguelles

"Feast" - Bill Douglas

"Rite of Spring" - The Bad Plus (Stravinsky)

Raves: 

Hit Parade Podcast: Charity Megasingle Edition

Revisionist History: The King of Tears

Abilene Christian University (TX) Percussion Professor Allen Teel talks about getting the job (2:40), getting students to come to ACU (25:35), teaching Kenyon Williams (33:40), growing up in Tulia, TX (37:30), playing basketball and working in a grocery store in high school (47:35), going to West Texas State for undergrad (57:30), adjusting the height on instruments before height-adjustment mechanisms (01:03:20), going to Texas Tech for his masters (01:10:10), doing the doctorate at the University of Georgia after teaching for a few years (01:17:55), interacting with the SNL band last November (01:25:40), and subjecting himself to Random-Ass Questions (01:29:35).

Finishing with a rave on “Dr. Strangelove”. (01:41:10).

Links:

Allen Teel's ACU Homepage

Alan Shinn

Ronald Brough

Stuart Marrs

Tony McCutchen

John Whitwell

Brian Zator

Ray Dillard

Gregg Koyle

Kenyon Williams

James Beckham

Max Roach

"and the mountains rising nowhere" - Joseph Schwantner

"Gazebo Dances" - John Corigliano

"Diversions for Flute and Marimba" - Peter Tanner

Concerto for Timpani and Brass Ensemble - William Kraft

Paul Smadbeck

Gordon Stout

Leigh Howard Stevens

Lisa Rogers

John Serry

Drum Gahu - David Locke

Valerie Naranjo

Lenny Pickett

Shawn Pelton

John W. Parks IV

A.I. Artificial Intelligence trailer

"September" and "Fantasy" - Earth, Wind and Fire

"Make Me Smile" - Chicago

The Bauhaus Movement

Raves:

Dr. Strangelove trailer

In a special rebroadcast (from the summer of 2016), River City Drum Corps (KY) director Edward White talks about the beginnings of his group (00:01:45), growing up in Louisville (00:11:45), house building and house rehabilitation (00:20:30), post high school career (00:34:15), working as a commercial photographer (00:44:20), getting lost in the wrong town at the wrong time (00:54:30), and the present and future of RCDC (01:09:50).

Concludes with a tribute to Dick Gregory (01:27:05).

Links:

River City Drum Corps

Da' Ville Classic

Baile's African Drum Works

Service Merchandise

Boom Squad Drumline

Iroquois (KY) Amphitheater

Louisville Convention Center

Kentucky Center for the Arts

Kentucky Derby Festival

The SIAC (Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference)

Kentucky State Band

Clark Atlanta Band

Alabama A&M Band

Don Parker's Fayetteville State University page

Dick Sisto biography

Raves:

Dick Gregory remembered

Northwestern State University (LA) Percussion Professor Oliver Molina talks about getting the NSU job (01:40), growing up in California, Guam and Florida (19:45), trash-talking on the Bible Bowl circuit (32:30), going to UCF (University of Central Florida or "Under Construction Forever") for undergrad (36:40), running in the Disney World Marathon (40:40), getting his Masters at the University of Arkansas (59:20), working on his doctorate at the University of Iowa (01:08:55), the Iowa-Iowa State Rivalry (01:19:20), and finishing with Random-Ass Questions (01:24:45).

Finishing with a rave on the Hip Hop Classic “Jam On It” (01:46:00).

Links:

Oliver Molina's homepage

Oliver Molina's Remo page

John Pratt's Modern Contest Solos

Walking Down Coolidge - Joe Tompkins

Nancy - Emmanuel Sejourne

Katamiya - Emmanuel Sejourne

Brad Meyer

Northwestern State shocks Iowa in 2006 NCAAs

Bible Bowl

Jeff Moore

Thad Anderson

Anthony King

Joe W. Moore III

UCF Beats Baylor in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl

Variations for King George - William Kraft

Merlin - Andrew Thomas

Canned Heat - Eckhard Kopetzki

The States Medley - Bob Becker

Autumn Leaves - Leslie Odom, Jr.

Blue Bossa - Dexter Gordon

Soul Sauce - Cal Tjader

Chal Ragsdale

Dan Moore

Iowa-Iowa State rivalry

RAGBRAI

BIllie Jean and Man in the Mirror - Michael Jackson

Daredevil on Netflix

Rattle and Hum - Casey Cangelosi

That Thing You Do Trailer

The New World trailer

Dumb & Dumber trailer

Music for 18 Musicians - Steve Reich

Raves:

Jam On It - Newcleus