Interesting People
Thank You for the Music
Michael Neumann has been thinking about the serenity prayer a lot lately: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Neumann has retired after 40 years as artistic director and conductor of the Premier Orchestra of the Sacramento Youth Symphony, an orchestral youth organization that started in 1956. What began as an ensemble of 55 youth musicians has grown into an award-winning powerhouse of 400 members from all over the region.
Play It Again, Al
Longtime Carmichael resident Al Striplen has led many lives as an educator, artist and musician, but the common thread among all his interests is his love of learning.
A native of Bakersfield, Striplen studied botany at Humboldt State before moving to Lake County to teach middle and high school sciences and, eventually, mechanical drawing (he says he’s been artistic for as long as he can remember).
A Better Way
Dr. Carl Shin has made a career of bucking the traditional medical establishment when it comes to pain management.
“After managing chronic pain for 20 years, I've discovered that I'm in a field where we do the same things over and over without really getting results. Since outcome and results don't seem to drive the pain-management business, I sought a better way,” Shin says.
Labor Of Love
When I ask Adrienne Sher what finally motivated her to start her own theater company—after 40-plus years working as an actor and director in New York, Florida, Colorado and California—her answer is simple.
“At some point you just need to do it,” Sher says. “Jump in the water, produce a play and see what happens.”
David Link Is The Music Man
David Link recently had an epiphany. At 64 years old, he’s served as the Canon for Music at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Midtown for almost half his life—which, by Link’s calculation, makes him the second longest-standing organist of an episcopal church in the country.
During his nearly 36-year tenure, Link has overseen not only an expansion of the cathedral’s choir offerings, but also the complete restoration of the church’s Reuter pipe organ—which Link plays at least three hours a day now that the pandemic has temporarily slowed church proceedings.
A Place To Be
Within days of the tragic murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, Underground Books in Oak Park launched a long-planned website for the sale of literary works online.
Not only did the Sacramento community respond, people across the nation took note. In the first two months, Underground Books received nearly 2,500 orders.
