Arrivederci Roma

So do you think that one day in 476 AD (CE for my progressive but misguided friends) the Goths rolled into Rome, sacked the place, had everyone hang up their togas and started speaking German within a week or so? Not so much.

Let's go back to 69 AD aka the Year of the Four Emperors. This is the first - but not the last -- civil war in the newish (27 BC) Roman Empire. We have the Year of the Five Emperors in 169 AD and it just goes on with disagreements, power grabs, and wars pitting legion against legion, literally bleeding the strength of the nation.

As legions diminished their ranks were supplemented by non-Romans and then replaced by entire foreign armies as mercenary forces.

Alaric , the kind of the Goths, who sacked Rome in 410 had long served in the Roman military under Theodoius, mainly fighting the forces of usurpers.

Fast forward

In 1204 the Fourth Crusade was on the way to the Holy Land from western Europe but made a detour to Constantinople, seat of the still standing Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire . The pillage and destruction of the seat of Orthodox Christianity by Catholic Christians forever weakened the city so that in 1453 it finally fell to the Ottoman Turks.

Next stop North America

You will recall -- as apparently a paltry few current 8th graders now know -- that the French & Indian War was not a conflict pitting French soldiers against Native Americans. It was the French vs the English in 1754 with some tribes siding with the English and others siding with the French (incidentally the larger world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years Wars was fought globally from India to North America to Europe).

Back to Italy

About the time the Mexicans were defeating a French army fighting for a Hapsburg emperor (Cinqo de Mayo) and Jefferson Davis was having terse talk with Abraham Lincoln, the Italians were just getting together. Yes, Italy as a country was only founded in 1861 under Garibaldi. For several hundred years prior the competing city-states - Milan, Florence, Venice, etc - fought each other and were at various times under the control of France, Spain, and others.

So what

What is the common thread? Division within invites conquest from outside.

Do you really want to have to learn to speak Chinese?

It is troubling that left- right, progressive- conservative, urban- rural, etc can't seem to agree on anything at all, but part of that (not all but part) is from an unwillingness to even try. How do you think this will play out in the long run?

P.S. In Rome under Odoacer who deposed the last child emperor in 476 and declared himself king of Italy, some things went on as usual -- the Roman senate continued, coinage, even the Latin language. Many changes were gradual but the movement toward instability and lack of security accelerated over time.

A Museum Without A Gift Shop

Of all of the kings who reigned in Mesopotamia the  name which probably comes to mind most readily is Nebuchadnezzer II  (reign 605 – 562 BC) of Chaldean Babylon.  

Oh sure there is a lot of be said for Sargon of Akkad (reign 2334-2279 BC ) and legal minds will lean toward Hammurabi (reign 1792-1750 BC) of Amorite Babylon, but the widest recognition comes in no small part due to the good work of  generations of Sunday School teachers and Nebuchadnezzer's conquest of Judah, Daniel in the lion’s den,  the fiery furnace temporarily occupied by  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and then of course eating grass for a few years.

What you might not know is that Nebuchadnezzer built probably the first history museum.  Babylon was just re-emerging after years of Assyrian domination and needed an extreme makeover. The new king got right to work – new temple to Marduk the hometown deity, really nice hanging gardens, and a museum among other things.

The museum was dedicated to the history of previous cultures in Mesopotamia of which many had come and gone since the Sumerians basically invented writing around 3,500 BC.  It had statuary, cuneiform tablets, pottery, but oddly no gift shop as far as we know.

This is probably a good time to take a quick look at your sundial or calendar.  Where are we on the timeline of familiar world history?  Fall of Troy about 1,200ish BC, Romulus founds Rome around 715 BC but the city does not rid itself of Etruscan kings until around 509,  the Peloponnesian War runs 431-404 BC, the Zhou Dynasty is running things in China during the reign of Nebuchadnezzer, the Olmecs are winding down in Mesoamerica, and the Buddha aka  Siddartha Gautama in born in 563 in Nepal. Got it? Okay.

What happened before 3,500 BC? A lot but we don’t know as much because pre-history is generally defined as the time before written language. There were surely permanent settlements, agricultural and trade economic systems, spoken languages, etc but the documentation of this come more from archeologists than anthropologists.

NOTA BENE: Just because people lived in cultures without written language doesn’t mean they weren’t intelligent. Are you smarter than a 5^th grader? I hope so.   Are you smarter than someone who lived in 1927, 1834, 1061, 235, or 321 BC?   You undoubtedly have a great deal more knowledge of all sorts of things, but are you wiser, more complex emotionally, better at using available resources, a better problem solver, or more content?  Not necessarily.

But back to the museum.  If we talk about history from 3,500 BC (or BCE, we can discuss that another time) to the midpoint of Nebuchadnezzer’s reign, say 584, that is 2,916 years.  The range from 584 to 2023 is only 1,439 years. True, with steam powering the industrial revolution, the transatlantic cable connecting Europe and American via telegraph and then telephone, the electric light bulb, radio & television, air flight then space slight, and the internet, the rate of change of the past 250 years alone is staggering.  Even so we are all products of our time.

Our time, perhaps a bit more than three score and ten now with modern medicine, is still a blip in a 5,523 timeline (add several more thousand for pre-history living if you really want to feel itty bitty tiny in the grand scheme).

So bravo Nebuchadnezzer and all the subsequent history and natural history museum curators and supporters down through the ages. It is important to be present and live in the moment, but there is so very much to be learned from the past.

How I Learned to Appreciate Elvis Week...in Iowa

I grew up in Olive Branch (family farm and church) and Whitehaven (Harding Academy at Hwy 51 & Holmes then SBEC on Tulane). Every so often on the AM radio a new Elvis song would come out and that was kind of cool. I was doing Algebra I homework (7th grade , a momentary prodigy for math but that soon passed) at home one afternoon when the news came that Elvis had passed away. It was sad of course but not a surprise. Trips to Methodist South and health peril had been broadcast before.

The mourning of fans worldwide was no surprise either.  Some people reading this will still have a copy of the Commercial Appeal or Press Scimitar with giant headlines or perhaps tickets to the concert that wasn't to be. The renaming of Highway 51 as Elvis Presley Blvd was kind of an eye opener - this sort of thing wasn't done much in those days. The plot to steal the body from the cemetery was and is just bizarre. By moving the gravesite to Graceland the seed of an idea for a tourist attraction was born and oh how it has grown. The amazing growth and decades long staying power of Elvis Week with all the panels, activities, and candlelight vigil is something of a headscratcher for locals. At one time Bab Bob's/Vapors hosted an Elvis impersonator contest (naturally a fine young Baptist never actually visited such a place but you heard about that); this has been replaced by tribute artists from around the world who compete in preliminaries and prestigious finals...and has spawned feeder contests on multiple continents (much like the International Blues Challenge). Later, in my 40s, I had the opportunity to emcee a preliminary a preliminary night  at the Hard Rock on Beale and really enjoyed it. Generally, locals appreciate the tourists, the tourist dollars, and the mainly positive press for the city. Graceland , now with the Graceland Guest House and more, is superbly managed. Fans of all ages -- from 80somethings to teens -- continue to come. 

I have never been to the Candlelight Vigil. I wouldn't mind seeing it,  but do I want to somehow intrude on  what is a meaningful and emotional experience for many thousands of visitors. And I have no intention of going to poke fun as some locals have in past; that is simply not respectful.

My compact vacation this summer took me on a drive of over nine hours through the heartland of America which boasts both arch-conservative billboards and clean energy-producing wind turbines by the score. My aim was Davenport, Iowa for a traditional jazz festival which is an exceedingly rare commodity.  Most jazz festivals these days - not there are many - throw together a mix of straight ahead jazz with a dose of smooth jazz and some older pop stars and possibly a hat tip to hot jazz somewhere down the bill. NOTA BENE: there is a bit of a distinction, in my opinion anyway, between Dixieland and Hot Jazz, mainly in terms of performance style and repertoire rather than instrumentation. I chalk this up to regional influences from jazz centers of New Orleans, Kansas City, Chicago, and New York. Okay, I am already putting some of you to sleep, but remember that the name of this blog is But I Digress!

Anyway back to the road trip and the destination: Davenport, Iowa, the Quad Cities on the Mississippi River. From Memphis just drive to Moline , IL and hang a left.  Why Davenport? Simply put the Bix Fest is named for Bix Beiderbecke, cornet phenom and local son who lived from 1903-1931. The flame of talent burnt itself out with an able assist from too much alcohol.  This summer was the 51st annual festival for hot jazz and it was held in the ballroom of a casino resort hotel.  The year-end, hand-addressed solicitation letter for the non-profit festival cited 800 attendees. Not to quibble but I think they meant 800 attendees at various events over four days NOT 800 unique attendees; my event producer eye says something more akin to 200ish unique individual attendees...and that might include festival volunteers. Nonetheless the music was superb beyond measure. The dozen or so bands, all of whom played multiple sets and whose members occasionally co-mingled to form new, smaller groups, did not come for a big paycheck.  Bands were in fact sponsored by donors, mainly individuals, and they stayed in a modest Quality Inn* about five miles from the casino. 

The bands, tribute artists if you will, were as much enjoying themselves as were the audience members. The locals with whom I interacted fell into one of two categories: ardent volunteers handling all sorts of tasks or curious but friendly people who had never attended but knew of the event. 

There was a morning small group performance at the graveside of Bix. As one of the younger festival attendees at age 60, I can assure you that none of us needed to be driving at night along the winding paths into the cemetery for a candlelight anything!

I cannot say for certain that the Bix Fest is the largest annual event in Davenport, but I will say that  it is treated with respect and affection by the locals...just as I try to treat Elvis Week.

Anyway I ponied up the $25 annual membership for the Bix Beiderbecke Jazz Society without hesitation knowing  that I may or may not be up to making that long drive ever again. I loved the grassroots appeal of the letter which also asked recipients to consider donating frequent flyer points to defray travel expenses for the bands. 

How many more years can the Bix Fest go on? How many more years for Elvis Week? No one knows, but whatever your passion or interest, embrace it. I talked about going to Bix Fest for four years before ever going. Two lessons for me: (1) you have support things that you want to see survive and (2) things that are not your cup of tea are probably someone else's great passion and deserve respect. 

I am toying with the idea of a cruise on the Danube next year originating in Budapest, but I am not sure it will be as memorable as Iowa. 

* A word about the "modest" Quality Inn. The owner/manager , an Indian gentleman named Mike, has the biggest heart of any five people you have ever met. He is outside on the motel patio from 11pm-1 am on the Friday night of the festival grilling hamburgers and hot dogs for the festival musicians (festival performers, fans, locals, all welcome) who are rollicking in a jam session with an ebb and flow of musicians that is a sheer delight almost impossible to describe. You pretty much need to drive to Iowa to experience it. See you there. 

There was no Renaissance in Russia

 There was no Renaissance or Reformation per se in Russia. At the ascension of Peter the Great (1682-1725), the main garments were medieval robes, women of the royal family were kept locked in towers, literacy was barely existent and contact with other countries shunned. Russian forces of that era were mauled by Ottomans and Swedes. There was no northern seaport. Serfdom, flogging, death by impalement or any number of similarly gruesome methods was common. Russia lost the Crimean War in 1856 to England, France, and the Ottomans. Fast forward to 1904 and Russia is trounced by Japan. The revolution in 1917 takes place partly because of the incompetent leadership during WWI. The Soviet Union won WWII by a combination of attrition and scorched earth, brawn over brain. Post war Europe, the Iron Curtain, and Cold War are within memory for many.

Economics and innovation has never been a strong suit. Military expansion to take ever more territory and resources has (as Rome did to maintain bread & circuses, this is a pyramid scheme of an economy).

“We must invade to protect our ethnic kindred there” – Hitler to the Sudetenland in 1938, Putin in Ukraine 2022. The premise is to quietly colonize by building up population. It is a very old tactic really.

Ronald Reagan defeated the Evil Empire by managing an arms race that Russia could not afford.

Unlike China which went to brutal Marxism under Mao to a pseudo capitalism, Russia still did not manage to get an economy going after the breakup of the Soviet Union. If you suddenly got rid of all the Chinese made goods in your home, closet, and garage, it might be quite bare. What Russian made items do you own?

Putin needs Ukraine for the resources to be sure, but moreso for his egomaniacal pride. He is unbalanced and evil. He is also unchecked -- Georgia in 2008, Crimea in 2014, Belarus election interference last year. The real question is where does he stop? Kiev? Bucharest? Vilnius? Warsaw? And also can/will anyone do anything of substance?

Birthdays with Zeros

 These are all a big deal it seems. The first one is a very big deal of course and the subsequent ones simply mark the realization that we have survived another decade.  I remember celebrating 40 in a big way but 50 not so much. And this week 60 is about waxing nostalgic. 

Who knows how much is left? No one.  I have a long list of things that I have not done - marriage, kids, international travel, focusing anything enough to be really good at it! But I have plenty of things I enjoy doing and have had some notable accomplishments -- some have stood the test of time, some have not. 

I am no cognizant of putting off things which I will find enjoyable and enriching because I have just one more task, project, job to handle. Seems like I have missed a few years of fun events which occur in April or October just because I am too busy to take the time to enjoy. I will work on that. 

It is always nice to just catch up with people too, that requires intentionality and I will make the effort. 

Not yet time to call it a wrap and just reflect though - there is more to enjoy. 

Gore & Gore Art Show 4/9-17/21

Sister and brother, painter and photographer, a familial familiarity but two distinctive styles – this is Gore + Gore, a pop up art show opening Friday, April 9, at the Medicine Factory at 85 Virginia Avenue W.

Kat Gore is a well known painter. A graduate of Memphis College of Art, her work has been a favorite of interior designers, has shown in commercial galleries, and graced a Memphis in May poster. Her style is markedly her own whether a particular piece is whimsical or pensive. Her use of muted color and imagery that may be bold or subtle coupled with the occasional bit of mixed media always leads her fans to wonder what is coming with the next body of work in the same way that children run down a staircase on Christmas morning.

Sanford Gore is a bit more enigmatic, lower profile, exploring and creating quietly, now with a near ancient wet glass technique, now with a modern camera. The images are haunting or exuberant or both.

In their first duo show (in adulthood), the pair will showcase new works in the 1912 patent medicine factory downtown that has quickly become an artist’s colony, housing both studio space and exhibit areas.

The show opens on Friday, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm with an additional open house on Saturday, April 10 , from 10 am until 12:00 pm. The show will remain up through Saturday , April 17, with subsequent viewing by appointment.

 

Fundraising = Relationships: Soft Metrics or How do we know we have done a good job?

 

We can find dozens of articles from the Association of Fundraising Professionals and other credible sources, but equally we can go with what we know instinctively.

 

Relationship building is a lifecycle

·         Donor prospecting/cultivation – find them

·         Donor engagement – get them interested and on board

·         Donor increase in giving – encourage greater participation

·         Donor as advocate – when the donor becomes an ambassador to peer exponential growth become possible.

·         Donor bequest – the commitment to a legacy gift is the greatest testament of donor confidence.

 

First rule: Don’t take an engagement ring on the first date. It is off putting.  Relationships develop over time.

Second rule: Relationships are two-fold – the relation between organizational rep and donor and the relation between organization and donor. The organization will outlast the rep (or it is a really shaky org) so make sure that the org and donor have a real relationship.

Third rule: Relationships are transactional. One way is not sustainable over time – donors get bored, feel used, feel unloved, and move on unless they are engaged.

 

Metric: Stay in touch. The longer the interval in actual person-to-person communication (newsletters don’t count), the colder the call when you make it. Calling for no real reason often sparks suspicion and just feels awkward for all involved, therefore use any logical reason to touch base (call, email, message) such as upcoming talks or webinars, events such as  5k run or wine pull (according to possible interests of the donor!), birthdays, and art exhibits or sports team standings.

 

NOTA BENE: Our wide range of donors have different preferences for communication – text, FB Messenger, phone call, email, letter (not form).

 

 

Donors are a moving target

·         Donors come and go – if they get bored with us or more excited by another organization, they move on

·         Donors are multi-faceted – they likely support more than one organization, not just ours AND there is likely a hierarchy in the donors mind of which organization should receive the bigger check.

·         Donors have lives – Things happen – small children in school evolving to empty nesters, career changes, household moves, death of a spouse, divorces, etc  – and if we keep them through good times and bad, there may be ups and downs in giving that may or may not reflect how much they like our org.

 

First rule:  Stay on top of the info -  new addresses, new phone numbers, new emails, new employers, new spouses, new last names – we have to watch for every clue and update as best we can. Jot down the number on the caller ID , observe the email address sending an RSVP.

Second rule:  Connect the dots – obits are the best tool for confirming who is married to whom, parents’ names, children’s names, and more. Glean information everywhere you can and stow it in RE.

Third rule: Track as best you can the community involvement of donors – other orgs they support, their memberships, their passions and interest…these latter make for good talking points.

 

Metric: Continually update records. Time spent on updating information is well spent.

 

 

Know the product

·         Donors have heard our standard speech – ever go to a comedy club for the second set by the same comedian? Or a concert tour where the band does some “spontaneous” banter by rote in the next city?

·         Donors want to know what is new now – fair question, don’t we all?

·         Donors want to know --- lots of things

 

First rule:  Keep up as best you can with changes within your own organization– be they virus related or not – because someone may ask you and it would be nice to have an answer ready.

Second rule: Find ways to engage your co-workers in departments/areas where programmatic work is taking place, i.e. the trenches floor. It’s an eye opener. You’ll learn much more than the talking points in your brochures.

Third rule: Give tours of programmatic areas (in non pandemic times) and GO ON tours with co-workers who may have different perspectives and talking points. Be a secret shopper with a notepad. You would learn something new, but it is also about watching the donor’s interest peak or wane, listening to what they ask.

Fourth rule: Share what you learn with your co-workers in development.

 

Metric: Learn more about your organization at every opportunity and build relationships within the organization as well as outside the organization.