Dallas Petersen

My wife and I saw John Mayer and Sheryl Crow at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado on Monday. John Mayer was the first of the headliners to perform–a fact that meant we’d hear fewer of his songs because he wouldn’t be doing any encore numbers. His set was dominated by popular songs from his first two albums. Personally, I think Mayer’s newest album, Continuum, is his best yet–he’s brought the blues influence of his musical background to the foreground, much to the improvement of his songwriting and musicianship. My wife and I first saw him at Deer Valley in Park City, Utah–pre-Grammy-winning and on the rise as a major musical talent. It’s nice to see that he continues to grow and entertain–he has a long career ahead of him.

Sheryl Crow was terrific. She had a string quintet backing her up along with her regular band. Sheryl did an impersonation of Bob Dylan before she sang Mississippi and made a humorous comment when someone through an Hawaiian lei up on the stage. Sheryl is an amazing talent. It was a tough choice, but we didn’t want to be stuck in the traffic after the event, so we left a few songs before she was done with her set.

As for Red Rocks… it is amazing–the best music venue I’ve ever been to. With the lights of the Denver cityscape in front of us and the 400-foot tall red rocks around us, it was a sight to behold. I look forward to going there again.

If you haven’t subscribed to TED’s podcast, do it. It’s a great cross-section of talented leaders talking about everything from visualizing data to inner-city rejuvenation efforts. I can’t say I agree with everything TED’s presenters say, but it is always worth the listen.

A friend of my recently shared an article with me called, “Things You Really Need to Learn” by Stephen Downes. He makes some terrific points (ten in fact) about what a student should learn this year, “no matter what grade you’re in, no matter how old you are.”

As I go through this list of essential things to learn, I wonder how well my kids’ schools are at teaching these skills. Honestly, looking at their homework, it appears the public schools are more concerned with rote memorization/regurgitation of facts than with teaching life-long skills. Everyone’s talking about leaving no children behind, but where are we taking them? From my experience so far, not in the direction that Stephen Downes encourages.