Hope and Crosby? Sam and Dave? Hall and Oates? Sonny and Cher? Thelma and Louise? They got nothing on Lansing Rotary. Amateur duos all of them. For more than a
quarter century, the highlight of our weekly Rotary meeting has been special music. Our club was incredibly fortunate to have the late great Ken Beachler and pianist extraordinaire John Dale Smith providing weekly concerts featuring local, national and international talent. I periodically sent them cards saying “but for the special music I would have quit the club years ago .” Out of a sense of obligation but not admiration, Ken would send me an occasional “nice report” Keven. Ken was tough!
quarter century, the highlight of our weekly Rotary meeting has been special music. Our club was incredibly fortunate to have the late great Ken Beachler and pianist extraordinaire John Dale Smith providing weekly concerts featuring local, national and international talent. I periodically sent them cards saying “but for the special music I would have quit the club years ago .” Out of a sense of obligation but not admiration, Ken would send me an occasional “nice report” Keven. Ken was tough!
And it wasn’t just the talent they brought in from their current production, or a visiting musician. Ken and John Dale were (is for JDS) creative spirits in their own right permeating our meetings with a welcoming ambiance whether it was at the Lansing Center, the Lansing Country Club or more recently LCC. When you walk into a meeting and there’s a piano playing in the corner, it simply warms up the room and sets one at ease. The weekly live performances included soul, gospel, country, opera, jazz, classical, scenes from a play or dramatic readings. The variety and quality of talent (including their own) that Ken and John shared with the club was simply sublime. Last December, feeling a bit homesick, I asked John Dale for a little Dave Brubeck and without hesitating, he performed a hauntingly slow and chalk full of emo energy “There’s No Place Like Home”. We’ll certainly miss the weekly special music concerts but we acknowledge and convey our most sincere and deeply felt gratitude for the gift we have received from Ken and John Dale. Terry Terry, Ben Rathbun, Hari Kern and no doubt others will do their best to fill the ginormous special music shoes of Ken Beachler and John Dale Smith.