"Wellstone supporter plays piano to raise funds"
By Mike Lauterbach
Lawyer and pianist Larry McDonough played a benefit concert Saturday night at Liquid Assets in Sartell. The concert was for Wellstone Action, a group founded in the memory of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone and his wife, Sheila. Wellstone Action is dedicated to teaching people to be politically active "the way Paul and Sheila were."
Larry McDonough has been working for social justice through the law for most of his life. But Saturday night, he used a different approach.
He played the piano.
"A lot of people in the camp had a sense of unfinished business," McDonough said. That sense led the Wellstones' sons, Mark and David, and some others close to the family and campaign to form Wellstone Action shortly after Paul and Sheila died.
Jeff Blodgett, Wellstone's former campaign manager, became Executive Director.
"No one wanted to see it end the way it did," Blodgett said. "There's a huge number of people who want to keep doing the things Paul was about."
Right now, he said, Wellstone Action is still in a preliminary stage. But the group has ambitious plans to "train people to be politically active in the way that Paul and Sheila were." At the center of those plans is Camp Wellstone, a planned weekend camp where young people would get an introduction to political and organizing work -- Wellstone style.
Blodgett said that no events have been planned yet, but that in the future Wellstone Action plans to work in the St. Cloud area and beyond.
"This is not going to be a Twin Cities thing," he said. "We hope to go all over the state of Minnesota and eventually all over the U.S."
McDonough's music, not surprisingly, also took a political tone.
For one number, he transformed "God Bless America" into 5/4 time, which he said is common in Turkish folk music. The result kept enough of the original to be recognizable, but was without much of its American flavor. For another, he did his own version of "We Shall Overcome."
Originally a classically trained pianist and a former band teacher, McDonough started out his musical career playing piano for private parties and small gatherings. He later quit his job as a teacher and went back to school to become a lawyer. Eventually, practicing and teaching law part time freed him up to develop his own style.
"It's nice to have a day job that pays," he said.
"I don't ever have to play 'We are Family" again."
McDonough shifted to jazz and began playing public shows in 1999. He developed his style, which includes solos done with both hands (something unusual for jazz but common in classical music) and changing the time scales of music and reworking it, usually dramatically.
"I like to take tunes that people know," he said, "and rework them harmonically and rhythmically."
In McDonough's 10-minute cover of "Layla" by Eric Clapton, he changed so much that without his introduction it would have been unlikely that anyone in the crowd would have recognized what song he was playing. With that knowledge, however, the melody could be heard and the music took on new meaning.
The crowd of 20-25 seemed to appreciate his efforts.
Robert Graca and Abby Riordan, both students at Sartell High School, came out to see Mo Putnam, who usually performs at Liquid Assets on Saturday nights. They ended up staying to listen to McDonough for several hours.
"I'm not a big fan of jazz, but this is catchy," Graca said. "It's moving."
Riordan agreed. "It's nice," she said. "Sartell (usually) doesn't have anything."
Elizabeth Emerson brought a few friends all the way from St. Paul to see the show. A graduate student at the University of Minnesota, she had worked with McDonough at Legal Aid in the Twin Cities.
"The main reason I came is that it's a benefit," she said. "It's important to let (McDonough) know we support him."
