Sound The Call

Union College, May 19, 2012. Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved.

The day started off with an impromptu radio interview... I literally just got into my office when I received a call from a radio station in Kentucky: "Can you do an interview?" "Sure." "Ok, stand by..."-! Fortunately, I have gotten good at this type of thing, so it worked out just fine. I was also interviewed by a newspaper in the afternoon. My spokesperson duties certainly are getting a workout lately...

This evening we received a call from the photographer that we approached to shoot our wedding, saying that he was free to photograph our big day. Great news, and a bit of a relief as the day is fast approaching! I think he's going to work out well... all of his shots that I have seen really tell a story, including the various persons filling in the background. He has a background in photojournalism, which I think helps... so now I think we're all set with our photographer and videographer... check, check!

Speaking of video, here is a Iittle film I captured on my smartphone this past Saturday. Sarah lives up the street from Union College in Schenectady, and they were presenting a concert and fireworks to honor the 150th anniversary of the military tune, "Taps." The solemn, 24-note bugle call is credited to Daniel Adams Butterfield, who was a Union General in the American Civil War, and Assistant U.S. Treasurer in New York City, who also graduated from Union College in 1849. According to the school's website, "while serving as a general during the Civil War, Butterfield didn’t like the traditional bugle call that marked the day’s end. So with the help of his brigade’s bugler, Butterfield tweaked another call no longer in use. The eloquent and haunting sound quickly spread to other units and became the new standard."

I love living in a pretty area, where you have access to such cultural events. It was a real treat to be able to walk less than a mile down the street on a pleasant spring evening and take this all in. The bugle call, presented by professional trumpeter Steve Weisse, was preceded by a full concert by a brass band in the school's Memorial Chapel to honor Armed Services Day--it was a lovely tribute. 

Just a couple days earlier, I heard a story on NPR that talked about the genesis of "Taps," which has become a national song of remembrance-- I thought it was interesting to learn that it was used by both the Confederate and Union troops during the Civil War! On the eve of Memorial Day, the deceptively simple song seems as relevant as ever...

Related Links:

"Sounding a solemn note: Taps turns 150," Union College website, May 7, 2012

"Union College hosts a milestone for 'Taps'," Albany Times Union, May 18, 2012

150 Years of Taps," NPR, May 18, 2012

"Tapping into Taps," Wall Street Journal, May 17, 2012