I can say this from having spent a number of years on the Plaintiffs’ side of the Minnesota Bar — if you had Phil on the other side of the case from you, you know it was going to be a long, hard ride — you hated it, but you respected him because he was so good and he won so often.  He was the kind of guy who saw holes in your case you never, in your wildest dreams, thought of — and he exploited them to the fullest.

I can say this also from having sat in insurance company claims committee meetings with him.  He’s just as hard on his clients.  He sees the case for what it is, he’s not afraid to expose every weakness in his client’s case, and his advice about how to approach the case and whether to settle or fight is ignored only at your own peril.

My hat is off to one of the state’s great lawyers.

Frank Harris is the Executive Director of Minnesota CLE.  If you travel in Continuing Legal Education circles, what you will find is that Frank is regarded as one of the greatest innovators and leaders in the field.

Frank practically invented Continuing Legal Education.  Not long out of law school, he toured Minnesota on behalf of the Minnesota State Bar Association interviewing lawyers about educational issues.  The results of his findings became the MSBA’s petition to the Minnesota Supreme Court that resulted in Minnesota becoming the first state in the Union to require mandatory continuing education for its lawyers.

He has built Minnesota CLE into one of the leading, quality providers of Continuing Legal Education in the country.  One may think I’m bias because I work for Frank (I’m the Web Education Director there), but listen to what leaders of the Minnesota bar, who voted him one of 2010 recipients of the Attorney of the Year award, have to say:

Brandon is a Financial Consultant at RBC Wealth Management in Minneapolis.  An affable guy.  I enjoyed having a drink with him at the same happy hour where I met Allie Pryd and Deborah Cordner.

Cadillac has been shakin’ his own grove in the Minneapolis music scene hauling an old upright on a trailer behind his gold 50’s era Cadillac from gig to gig.  The man ain’t just show — he’s the real deal.  He lays down a boogie-woogie piano that gets people up and dancing.  Keep the music coming Cadillac!

Bob Frey teaches at the Perpich Center for Arts Education in Golden Valley, MN.  It is is a comprehensive, tuition-free public high school offering a rigorous academic program, with intensive coursework focused in the arts.  Kids from around the state come to pursue their high school education and their passion for the arts.

Bob has a gift for song writing and performs regularly around town.  Take a listen to some of his songs on his mySpace page.  He honed his craft in the bars and coffeehouses of his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, as well as in Oxford, Ohio and Chicago formerly fronted The Buskers.

Bob is older brother to James Frey the author of A Million Little Pieces.  You probably know all about that controversy.

On a sadder note, Bob’s wife Laura Ferster has been battling, so far successfully, cancer.  She is still going through treatment with a strength and determination no doubt buoyed by Bob’s constant love and support.  I wish the both much strength and Laura a full recovery.

Barb is also to mother of Zander, who is a superhero in one her beloved paintings.

So, when the hard drive on my iMac died and I seemed to have lost control of the iWeb websites (though I was able get pretty much all the data back — thank you Backblaze!), it seemed time to move to a new platform.  So, here I am recreating the site on WordPress.

I’ve reposted all the old posts with their original dates and will start doing new posts soon.  Enjoy!

Billy McLaughlin is a locally famous guitarist in the Midwest.  He has a unique style using hamer-ons and –offs using both hands.  He creates a harp-like sound with his playing.  He calls it “two-handed tapping.”

Several years ago he developed a debilitating, especially for a musician, illness called focal dystonia.  It is a movement disorder affected Billy’s left forearm and hand causing two fingers to curl up and not respond.  Brought his solo career to a crashing halt.  He had to relearn to play the guitar backwards to how he had played previously.  He describes it as learning to sign your name with your non-dominant hand as perfectly as you can with your dominant hand.  Happily, he was successful.

Below is a video interview with Billy from a local news station describing his struggle and victory:

Story link: MyFoxTWINCITIES.com