Smiley: Music puts cows in a good MOOd – The Advocate

Under the headline “Do animals enjoy music?” Robin Miller wrote an interesting story in Monday’s Advocate about the LSU Vet School’s artist-in-residence, musician Charlie Rauh.

It reminded me of the “Concert for Cows” Lady Katherine and I attended.

We were visiting her family in Winona, Minnesota, when local performance artist Billy X. Curmano staged the event.

On the bus, we were handed a program explaining the concert, plus refreshments (adult beverages may have been involved).

At a pasture, a dozen or more cows gathered by the fence, facing the area where the musicians were to play. While they might have been there for the music, full disclosure demands I mention cattle feed ensured they stayed there.

They stood around chewing thoughtfully, watching as the musicians played. I’m not sure about the songs, and I don’t recall the instruments, except that there were horns (sorry about that).

The food ran out about the same time the music ended. The cows stood around for a while waiting to see if there were more snacks, then ambled off, culturally enriched.

Then it was back on the bus for us, proud of our effort to improve the lives of the cattle of the Midwest.

Name dropping

Lee Blotner, of Metairie, who started our “Southern accents in movies” discussion on Thursday, says it’s interesting that I mentioned Dennis Quaid’s accent in “The Big Easy” and other films:

“Let me tell you about my connection with Dennis. My sister Adrian’s ex-brother-in-law was Jack Baran, who wrote the screenplay with director Jim McBride for ‘Great Balls of Fire!’ starring Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis.

“About that time my mom went to visit Adrian and her husband in Los Angeles for Thanksgiving.

“They were invited to Jack’s house for Thanksgiving dinner, along with Dennis Quaid and his family. My mom was on cloud nine for weeks afterward!”

Teachable moment

Kevin Reed, of Baton Rouge, says, “Working late on a report, my mind wandered off to when I was teaching computer science.

“A student would inevitably ask, ‘Can I ask a stupid question?’

“I would then go into my lecture, saying the only question I would consider stupid is, ‘Mr. Reed, can I give you a million dollars?’

“I’d tell the student, ‘That should never be a question. It should always be a statement.’

“I wished one of them would develop a profitable app and offer to make that statement true.”

Special People Dept.

• Reed Perilloux, of Colfax, celebrated his 100th birthday Tuesday, Sept. 12. He is a native of Montz, St. Charles Parish, and a World War II Navy veteran. Assigned to the 1st Marine Division as a medical corpsman, his time in battles at New Guinea, Peleliu, Okinawa, etc., earned him two Purple Hearts. He was a teacher, coach (winning state titles in basketball), and high school principal, and later served with the Grant Parish Sheriff’s Office. He is one of the founders of the Pecan Festival in Colfax.
• Pat Grass celebrates her 94th birthday Wednesday. She was born and raised in New Orleans and is a 1950 LSU graduate. She is the widow of longtime Advocate reporter Bill Grass.

You want cold?

Our seminar on cold weather reminded Barry Dufour, of Carencro, of his time in the really Frozen Nawth during his military career: 

“I was stationed in North Dakota. I’ve never been that cold before and since.”

According to Barry, there’s cold, and then there’s North Dakota cold.

The Big Doze

Faye Guidry recalls this incident from 45 years ago:

“While babysitting our then-5-year-old godson Garret Graves, I put him down for a nap.

“Five minutes later, he was behind me in the kitchen.

“’Garret, your mom said you have to take a nap,’ I told him.

“He replied, ‘I sleep fast.’”