John Davis Plays Blind Boone

October 3, 2009
@ 7:30 p.m.
Hendricks Hall

 

“A revelation” – Julliard Journal  “…turned a prehistory into living history…” - Gramophone Born in Missouri in 1864 to a contraband slave, John William (Blind) Boone grew up in Warrensburg, where the city fathers paid for his trip to the St. Louis School for the Blind, inspiring Boone to become an ambassador of good will, crossing color lines to perform on the piano all over the nation.  Through his imaginative presentations of the life and music of pianist and composer Blind Boone, and an inventive and wide-ranging repertoire that has as its cornerstone piano works rooted in African-American music of the Deep South, Steinway pianist John Davis has emerged as one of today’s most respected and unique performing artists, appearing on numerous programs, including ABC’s Good Morning America, NBC’s Today Show, CNN and PBS.  This concert will kick-off the Smithsonian Exhibit “New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music” on display at the Johnson County Historical Museum and coincides with UCM Discover Day.

This performance includes a Free Master Class for High School & UCM Students at 10 a.m

For more information about John Davis, visit his website at www.johndavispianist.com.

 

We are adding on to the park!!

Our many volunteers include all of the students who have attended classes in History at UCM under Dr. Delia Gillis. Well over 1000 of Dr. Gillis's students have worked on this project!! (We have lost count!)

Through this groundbreaking (literally!) service learning project and the generosity in time and energy by Dr. Gillis, we have made huge strides. Our thanks go to Dr. Gillis and we are pleased to continue this work on the new park expansion. We are making history together.

"What once kept us apart now brings us together" ~ Volunteer Charles Briscoe

We also work with volunteers through UCM Volunteer services through our friend Kristie Brinkley!

We will be dedicating the park property just East of the existing park to Melissa Fuell Cuther, who wrote about John William Boone during his lifetime. She was an amazing woman from Warrensburg and we will be offering more articles and information on her in the future. Our dream is a sculpture of her in the new area and a large shelter area for gatherings, among other things.

The property further to the East of the existing park is our additonal new area to work with.

This is slated to become the Trail-Head for the new bike/hike/ADA trail!

This is a most exciting time for us as we are working on a plan for a future expansion to include some great things and a beautiful new park area.

We are working with service learning students in the CMgt 3010 Applied Construction Practices class, under the instruction of Dr. David McCandless, Program Coordinator. They are building a kiosk for the Trail-Head! There are 14 students enrolled.  Three future Career and Technology teachers, nine Drafting majors, one Safety major, and one Construction major. They plan to get started on the project now and will have it completed by the end of the semester May 4th!

DONE!

YOU CAN SEE IT ON THE LOT JUST ONE LOT WEST OF WARREN & PINE!

In addition, Dr. McCandless applied for and got a 2009 American Democracy Project Grant
(ADP) at Central, to pay for the supplies needed for the project. This is a wonderful opportunity to work with service learning students and made that much easier with support from the

American Democracy Project at UCM! This is so exciting!

We need your input and ideas. Please do contact us and let us know what you'd like to see in the park!!