Newsbites (Page 2)

Musical chairs

You don't get to take the seat home with you, but so far about 200 people have paid between $500 and $1,500 apiece in the Pollack Hall Seat Sale. It's all part of a much-needed facelift for the Faculty of Music's 25-year-old concert hall.

With nearly 200 concerts a year gracing its stage, the hall has naturally suffered its fair share of cuts and bruises. The venue was built in 1975, thanks to a gift from the Maurice Pollack Foundation, and another gift from the foundation in 1999 allowed the Faculty of Music to plan long overdue renovations. With the help of donors participating in the seat sale -- which has raised $210,000 to date -- the repairs and rejuvenation were completed over the summer.

The main hall, foyer, east lounge and dressing rooms have all been overhauled to the tune of $500,000. And Seat Sale "buyers" will see their names on engraved plaques mounted on the backs of seats.

In October, the revamped hall was unveiled at a 25th anniversary gala concert where supporters were thanked with performances by McGill students and faculty, including excerpts from La Bohème. "The very existence of Pollack Hall," said Dean of Music Richard Lawton, BMus'66, at the occasion, "has inspired McGill performers, composers and recording engineers to do their best work here, creating music that has reached audiences across Canada via our sound recordings and collaborations with the CBC and Radio-Canada." The hall, says Lawton, "has enabled musical art to flourish at McGill and enrich the lives of over half a million music lovers who have attended our concerts."

But while the proverbial fat lady has indeed sung, the Seat Sale has been brought back for an encore through the 2000-2001 concert season, with the funds raised going towards an endowment fund for hall maintenance.

Get me to the campus on time

Michael Nelson, BCL'82, LLB'82, has a thing about McGill. He's a member of the McGill Athletics Board and the Martlet Foundation, has organized the McGill alumni hockey league since 1987, is the President of Friends of McGill Hockey (and a former Redmen defenceman), teaches a business law course at night, and sits on the Greville Smith Scholarship committee, among others. But he assures us there is no truth to the rumour that he sports a McGill tattoo. "It's in my heart, not on my heart," he says of his alma mater.

Still, all this may explain why his recent nuptials had a distinctly McGill theme. His marriage to Biljana Kovacevic, CertTransp'98, took place at the McGill chapel in the William and Henry Birks Building. The gentlemen in his wedding party -- nine ushers were McGill grads -- were decked out in McGill bow ties and cufflinks, acquired through the McGill Alumni Association (MAA). "They cleaned us out," says MAA head honcho Honora Shaughnessy. "I even had to give them my husband's tie." And the wedding photos were taken on campus, as seen in this shot in front of the Arts building, with Mike to Biljana's right. She may want to put her foot down at some point. What's next: a baby named James McGill?

Mad dog O'Neill goes to the NBA

Former Redmen basketball player and NCAA coach Kevin O'Neill, BEd'79, has made it to the NBA as assistant coach for the New York Knicks. O'Neill had been head coach at Northwestern University in Illinois for the past three years -- and had been an NCAA coach since 1982 -- when a job opening with his friend Jeff Van Gundy, head coach of the Knicks, opened up in August. O'Neill accepted, much to the shock of the Northwestern athletics department, despite some rocky times for the NU Wildcats under O'Neill's watch.

"It's what I've wanted," O'Neill told the Chicago Tribune. "Look at my resumé. I've taken every step from high school to college. This step, it just seemed logical to me."

"Kevin's experience makes him a great addition to our staff," said Van Gundy. "He will bring a lot of enthusiasm and energy, and I'm looking forward to working with him."

Reaction in Illinois has been a bit different. More than a few Northwestern fans, as well as the Chicago press it seems, aren't necessarily sorry to see O'Neill go. The intense and salty-tongued coach -- who went by the nickname Mad Dog at McGill -- caused some fans to request seats away from the team bench, and the Tribune said the NU-O'Neill marriage was as doomed "as Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett."