Sunday, May 4, 2014

Summit Middle School Orchestra To Premiere “The Swashbuckling Suite.”



This Friday, May 9 the Summit Middle School Orchestra under the direction of Angie Allen will debut a new string piece by Oklahoma City composer Steven Stark.  The title of the work is “The Swashbuckling Suite”.  The students will be playing several movements from the work including “The Sea of Adventure” and “Parry and Thrust.”

“The work is pirate-themed and is actually still ‘under construction’.  I am still working on the final movement, but we decided it would be a rewarding experience to go ahead and play a few of the movements this year,” said Stark.  “I could not be more excited to work with Angie and the excellent students at Summit.   Hearing them play this piece is about as fun as it gets!”

"Because it is more modern music, I think it is more interesting,” said Mei Zhang, an 8th grade violinist at Summit.  “Since the composer is alive, we can really portray what he wants us to."

"Because we are going to be the first ones to play the music, it is going to be a very rare experience.  Most people don't get to do that, “ said 8th grade cello player, Jessica Fan.

"Steven has written an exciting and beautiful piece, and the students have really enjoyed learning this music,” said Allen.   “It has been both a challenging and rewarding experience."

Steven Stark lives and works in Oklahoma City.  He has written many pieces for middle school and high school string orchestras.  He also recently composed the score to the documentary “Where Did the Horny Toad Go?”  As a cellist and guitarist he has toured with the Starlight Mints and the Lovely Sparrows.  As a session musician he has played on recordings by Graham Colton, Avril Lavigne, David Hodges, Student Film, Tyson Meade, Bronze Radio Return and many others.  He was a member of the seminal OKC rock band The Fellowship Students, and has released several solo albums.   He can be contacted at www.stevenstarkmusic.com

The concert is at the Santa Fe High School auditorium and will begin at 7:00PM.  In addition to the premiere, the 6th, 7th and 8th grade orchestras will play works by J.S. Bach, Mark Williams and Soon Hee Newbold among others.


Tuesday, April 1, 2014

A New Job this First Day of April!



I am pleased to announce that I have accepted a position as Government Liaison for the Christian Science church!   My first step is to organize a lawsuit against the federal government for requiring the health insurance offered by Christian Scientist-owned businesses to cover doctors.   Private business owners who are members of the church are happy to provide insurance which covers prayer treatments, but doctors violate their beliefs.

I am also doing a little part-time work for some Jehovah's Witness business owners.  They want to offer their employees insurance that does not cover blood transfusions.  Medical treatment is OK, but remember that we should all "abstain from blood" as prescribed by Acts 15.  

I know that all business owners could simply opt out of providing coverage and instead pay a fee which is smaller than current insurance costs, and I realize that no person is ever being required to make use of a medical service (the government is just trying to make sure the option is available in their coverage) but this is a question of religious liberty folks!

After we wrap up these cases, I  hope to start my own lobbying firm.  We hope to introduce a new Line Item Taxation Amendment which will allow all Americans to simply choose which programs their tax dollars will fund.  Who needs compromise in the legislative process?   Who even needs a democratic republic anymore?  Let's do it directly.  Don't agree with paying for a road, a military plane or environmental regulations?  Then opt out!   

Our next project is the Line Item Law Amendment which will allow citizens to only follow the laws which they want to follow.  There are people arrested for drunk driving every day who don't think there is anything wrong with it!   Why should they have to obey a law with which they disagree?

Working together as a community to create civilization should never even hint at stepping on the toes of whatever an individual feels like doing at any given moment.   Let's work together to make this happen!  

If you feel like it!