McDonough CD keeps Wellstone tradition alive
By Jon Kerr
You could call Larry McDonough a dreamer and he likely wouldn't be offended. Instead he'd suggest that he follows in a line of those dreaming of and working to create a better world, including his recently-deceased friends Paul and Sheila Wellstone.
Indeed the Legal Aid attorney cum musician is dedicating proceeds from sale of his second solo and recently-released CD "Tuscarora: Short Stories for Jazz Piano" to the Wellstone Action organization. He performed April 24 at the Old Man River Café as part of a community meeting sponsored in part by the DFL Education Foundation, and is highlighting at a special May 9 benefit at the Dakota Bar & Grill. He then returns to the Old Man River Café on June 13.
McDonough has been performing in the area for 25 years. He played extensively in the Twin Cities in the 1970s and early 1980s, performing solo and in his own duos and trios. He also taught, and composed and arranged for high school band.
McDonough moved away in the earlier 1980s, and after returning a few years later, he performed primarily at private functions, including a performance for First Lady Hillary Clinton. He began playing publicly again in the last few years, performing solo and in his own duos and trios, and with BOZO allegro. He now performs solo, as well with his group, "Off Beat", which performs jazz in odd meters, and in the duo "Fazz is no Jolk", which performs a mixture of folk and jazz for piano and mandolin and guitar.
A former high school band director, he also works at Minneapolis Legal Aid as a tenants' attorney, where he has been recognized by the Minnesota Law and Politics as a "Super Lawyer," and by William Mitchell College of Law as one of "100 Who Made a Difference" over the 100-year history of the school.
"It occurred to me that it was very much connected to what they were all about and I wanted to continue to be connected to their work," he said, noting his 20-year relationship with the Wellstones on a number of social and political issues. "I especially want to keep alive and expand the concept of the Wellstone Camp, which organizes people on how to get directly involved in elections and the grassroot democratic process."
For McDonough, his CD is part of keeping a light burning in a time of darkness that includes the war in Iraq, budget cuts affecting poor people, and, of course, the Wellstones' deaths. He sounds very much the part of a former public school teacher as he tries to give perspective on the tragedy.
"Part of what I've taken solace in is how Paul and Sheila's deaths have saddened people but also energized them," said McDonough. "I see a lot of people out there that I haven't seen before. It's almost like Paul and Sheila's energy has been dispersed to many people."
Also a long-distance runner who recently competed in the Boston Marathon, McDonough believes that hope and stamina are especially important to make it past difficult times. The ebb and flow of history means that progress can often follow after times of despair and pain, he notes.
"Who would have guessed in the Roaring '20s that we'd have four terms of FDR's New Deal. Or in the 1950s who would have guessed that in the 1960s we'd see the War on Poverty," McDonough asked rhetorically. "The energy of people to lay a groundwork helps determine what happens when the general public is ready to come out of a dark period," he said. "It's really important for people to hang onto that optimism. ...It's the test of commitment whether it's in sports, music or anything whether you stay the count."
