Favorite Links

 

Old College Friends Websites:


  1. • Feedback - David Unger’s Music Website - Experimental, Noise & Revolutionary Rock

  2. • Photo Gallery (dp49's photostream) - David Perry’s Website of Photo Albums on Flickr

  3. • Nathaniel Borenstein's Website - Scientist/programmer/inventor/entrepreneur who has been involved in Internet-related innovations since 1980 .. Since 2002 I have worked for IBM Lotus Division, doing standards work and other cool stuff.

  4. • More Coming Soon

Family Members Websites:


  1. • Our New Home! - Home - My Sister Rosemary & Partner Anji show their house renovations

  2. • Steve Emery - My Cousin had a website at Caringbridge.com “Steve Emery- a man who turned 60 years young in September 2008, who can talk for hours and practically carry on a lengthy conversation about anything, a man who tears up at sweet "Little House On The Prairie" moments, who tries to look on the bright side and is quick to share a laugh, a man who likes his music and is a Beatle’s fan, a man who is a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a grandfather and so much more, a man who served our country in Vietnam. He died of cancer this past Spring 2009. It is said it was caused by being exposed to Agent Orange while in the service..”

  3. • The Pickering Family History  - The Search for  the Pickering Family in America, in England & the lineage of Byron and Hannah Pickering [Includes Ricks Mom Eunice (Wilson) Strunk & her Siblings]; plus, an Historical Pickering Family Photo Index. All by Lloyd Pickering

  4. • Pickering Studio - The Marine Art, Seascapes of Byron Pickering (Beautiful Art at a good price)

  5. • More Coming Soon

Really Cool Visual/Music Artwork Info & Gallery Websites:


  1. • Experimental Music Catalogue & Jems - experimental music since 1969

  2. • Tonecolor - Resource for those interested in the close connections between music and visual arts. Included are artist/musician listings and articles on tools and ideas regarding the audio/visual connection.

  3. • philipgalanter.com : artworks : generative analog video [Very Neat Work!]

  4. • Steve's Stuff - Electronic music, aesthetics, film, and everything else

  5. • More coming soon

Websites of some Composer acquaintances/friends that I met through my KFAI Radio show and the Minnesota Composers Forum or American Composers Forum while living in Minnesota (1987 - 1999):


  1. • Carol Barnett  - Calling Minnesota home, Carol Barnett has created, since the mid-seventies, a vast body of work in many genres.

  2. • Mary Ellen Childs - Composer Mary Ellen Childs has been acclaimed for creating both rhythmic, exuberant instrumental works and bold, kinetic compositions that integrate music, dance and theater in fresh and unexpected ways.

  3. • Steve Heitzeg : Emmy Award-winning composer Steve Heitzeg — named “Composer of the Year” at the 2000 Minnesota Music Awards — is recognized for his orchestral and chamber music written in celebration of the natural world.

  4. • Eric Stokes - Composer Eric Stokes, an irreplaceable teacher, colleague, and friend to many, died in an automobile accident on March 16, 1999 in Minneapolis, MN. He was 68. This tribute is adapted from remarks prepared in part by Arnold Walker and read by Homer Lambrecht at a memorial service held on March 21, 1999, in Minneapolis.

  5. • David Means - “What he has created is an extraordinary 2 pieces of junk-noise amp blow w/ constructed lines of gradation - giving this music a certain sense of personal consideration which, at times, and this is well one of those times, is a right-on move."

  6. • Zeitgeist - Zeitgeist is a new music ensemble based in St. Paul. Our mission is to enliven today's music and expand its audience with performances that absorb, stimulate and hearten. A family of musicians animated by a spirit of adventure and collaboration, Zeitgeist has been presenting works of substance with passion and integrity for more than 30 years.

  7. • Randall Davidson - Music of humor and passion are the hallmarks of Randall Davidson's catalogue. His works have enjoyed hundreds of performances throughout the U.S. and Europe and have attracted the attention of critics, performers and audiences alike for their dramatic and accessible musical language.

  8. • Mike Olson - Composer Mike Olson’s Business Website “Totally Intuitive” A full service, professional audio production company, with over 20 years experience. [Very nice Site Design]

  9. • Janika Vandervelde  - [Always loved her Genesis series of compositions] “Almost any artist, but especially one in the middle of the journey, can benefit from tracing and reflecting on the path she has travelled. While it may be naive to think that such an exercise can hold much interest for anyone other than the traveller, I’ve discovered that my own trajectory since the early ’eighties has much in common with those of many contemporaries, and so perhaps my attempt at self-mapping will prove suggestive or resonant for some readers of this page. This, at any rate, is the hopeful premise of the paragraphs that follow.”

  10. • Libby Larsen - Libby Larsen (b. 24 December 1950, Wilmington, Delaware) is one of America’s most performed living composers.  She has created a catalogue of over 400 works spanning virtually every genre from intimate vocal and chamber music to massive orchestral works and over twelve operas. Grammy Award winning and widely recorded, including over fifty CD’s of her work, she is constantly sought after for commissions and premieres by major artists, ensembles, and orchestras around the world, and has established a permanent place for her works in the concert repertory. As a vigorous, articulate advocate for the music and musicians of our time, in 1973 Larsen co-founded the Minnesota Composers Forum, now the American Composer’s Forum, which has become an invaluable aid for composers in a transitional time for American arts.  A former holder of the Papamarkou Chair at John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress, Larsen has also held residencies with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony and the Colorado Symphony.

  11. • Kathryn Nobbe - Nice Artist’s website. She is also the wife of composer Fritz (Carl) Bergmann another friendship I made while I was living in Minnesota. Kathryn Nobbe is a painter and mixed media installation artist based in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

  12. • Ellen Lease/Pat Moriarty - Formerly known as "the best un-recorded band out there" Award-winning composers Ellen Lease and Pat Moriarty contribute strong, highly colored works to the bands repertoire. From the soaring, dream-like lines of “Chance, Love, Logic” to the wide-angle post-bop energy of “Orange” to the pretzel logic of “Phrenology” to the spiritual stasis of “The Cloisters”, the quintet deftly mines both the literal and intuitive implications of these compositions. This is a band that believes in continuity. Lease and Moriarty have collaborated on many projects since the early 80’s; the newest member of the group joined in 2003. Through the consistency of personnel and a stable but expanding repertoire the quintet has developed a high level of group interplay and risk-taking within the structures of the tunes. Although comparisons to the musics of Steve Lacy, Charles Mingus, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago are well taken, this band definitely has its own sound and conception.

  13. • Anthony Gatto - "a spectacular fantasy... humorous and virtuosic,"  ~ On Black Dog / Lucky Dog, The New York Times "haunting, brilliant musical score," ~ On Elijah's Wake, Minneapolis Star Tribune; Anthony Gatto has developed collaborative works and concert music with a wide range of artists and ensembles in the United States and Europe, including scores and sound design for film, theater, dance and performance art. He studied improvisation and composition with Ornette Coleman in New York City who was formative in his universalist concerns for sound, time and human feeling. He later studied composition with Jacob Druckman and Martin Bresnick at the Yale School of Music, where he completed his Doctorate of Musical Arts in 2001.

  14. • Homer Lambrecht - “WHERE ARE YOU? Please google yourself, read this & make a web page for me to Link; LOL”

  15. • More coming soon

Links to Photos of Family, Friends, Old Flames, Places & Stuff

[Since many in my generation and previous generations do not have websites]


  1. • Liza  - My next door neighbor in the 1970’s - Fixed her bike is how we met (Leawood, Kansas) Later, Girl Friend around 1981 (Manhattan, Kansas)

  2. • Jeanne - College Girl Friend around 1980 (Grinnell, Iowa)

  3. • Florry - College Girl Friend around 1979 - living together (Grinnell, Iowa)

  4. • Deirdre Kelly D. Crowley - Great Great etc. Grand Daughter of Aleister Crowley - Very attractive & sweet Girl Friend around 1990 -91 (Minneapolis)

  5. •Karen Grunke - Very Attractive & Free Spirit Friend in the early 1990’s (Dinkytown)

  6. • Vicki Newman -  Very nice & attractive Friend in the mid 1990’s; an excellent vocalist of popular songs (NE Minneapolis)

  7. • Debra Koll -  Very smart & attractive Girl Friend around 1989 - 1990 (Co-worker at UMHC Minneapolis)

  8. • Ruth Kramer - Mature & attractive Friend in the early 1990’s (She lived in Brooklyn Park, MN)

  9. • Cindy Langston (Ellis) - My Prom Date in 1975 and a very good Friend through out Junior High and High School in Leawood, KS. Excellent sight reading skills as an accompanist on piano.

  10. • Bruce Dillinger - Very good friend since the early 1990’s (Dinkytown)

  11. • David Perry -  Some old Photos of my old College chum at Grinnell, Iowa (late 1970’s)

  12. • David Unger -  Some old Photos of my old College chum at Grinnell, Iowa (late 1970’s)

  13. • Mike Berry - Mature & very enlightened with a gentle disposition and always ready with a helping hand. Has a “ZZ Top” Beard too. Very good friend since the early 1990’s (Dinkytown); Lives in Arizona Now.

  14. • More coming soon

Check Rick Out on these

Social & Arts Websites


- Rick on MySpace

- Rick on Facebook (On Everyday)

- Rick on YouTube

- Rick on Flicker

- On MnArtist.org

  1. -On Vimeo

  2. -At The Visual Music Village

  3. -Rick on Classmates.com

 & More Soon.

If you get the urge to buy something while looking over my favorite movies, music and other stuff; Please use this Amazon Search box so I may be justly credited.

  1. Against Muzak!



  4. Bullet “Today, and for many decades now Fame has been determining Significance; rather than Significance determining Fame.”

  5.         Composer Richard Byron Strunk


  7. Bullet “There is nothing wrong with having treats such as a Snickers Bar or Cotton Candy; but a diet made up solely on this for Breakfast, Lunch and Supper is self-evidently unhealthy and lacks in substantive nutrition for the health of the body; likewise a diet made up solely/ or mostly of various popular Song & Dance Band genre is also self-evidently unhealthy and lacks in substantive nutrition for the health of the mind , heart and spirit.”

  8.          Composer Richard Byron Strunk


  10. [As a supplement to better understand my assertions above here are 2 links to 2 useful and accurate writings regarding the state of Music in todays world. Please read caution below first.]


As a quick primer to the work below you might read my own essay on these matters that predates that website and its lengthly dissertation by many years but in essence both are covering the same ground although mine does not nearly cover this subject to the depth and breath as this mans website.


Words of Concern on Western Musical Culture

in America at The End of The 20th Century

by Composer Richard Byron Strunk


Below is a website devoted to a deep, lengthly and comprehensive dissertation on the subject of the “dumbing down” current and pervasive through out the mass media and societies within the West.  I highly recommend this, but with the caution stated below. Remember sometimes ignorance is bliss.


None of this has anything to do with ‘elitist’; and such a catch word is not relevant to the discussion. Personally, I do have a great sympathy for the audiences of mass merchandized song & dance band genre music; Americans, in particular, work hard and long through the week and sometimes weekend; with a lot fewer paid holidays then most of their counterparts of the middle and working classes in other advanced countries in the West. Substantive Music of any real culture that is unfamiliar and unknown to a person; that  is outside of their accustomed listening habits and background, does take a significant amount of time and real effort to learn about, to listen to, to slowly begin to understand and eventually to appreciate. The truly sad thing here is that the vast majority of Americans have so little knowledge, access or exposure to any of their own countries composers and substantive works.


There is no reporting from any commercial mass news media of any kind covering Music or Composers within the USA beyond the popular song & dance bands genre and occasional film composer.  No interviews of currently living composers on TV are ever done within the USA or have been done for my entire life. The very slight exception, once in a very great while might be PBS or NPR.  Americans are generally almost completely unfamiliar and unaware of their own countries composers and the many substantive works of music written by these serious American Composers.  Almost everyone seems to know a zillion 3 minute commercial song & dance band tunes; and thats it. Still, with the news media governed by mostly mass profit criteria and only reporting on mass entertainments and music business no one has much of a chance in America to ever hear anything of what actually is going on within the more substantive and serious strata within America’s actual (or Non-business manufactured psydo-culture) musical culture.


I happen to like quite a number of Rock bands; and I have no problem with this; but the complete disregard by America’s news and mass media is bad, really bad, ultimately bad and detrimental for all in this country and for this country. America’s news and mass media report only on the more frivolous merchandize music manufactured for the masses consumption and although these 3 minute tunes may be highly popular, they are mostly music with little weight or musical significance. This utterly out-of-balanced state of affairs has been going on for over a century and is coupled with no reporting on any musical works or composers of substance or musical importance. That there is no interest by any news or entertainment shows to report or present any news or interviews on music or composers is really tragic. They report solely on criteria of significance based on mass profit, mass merchandizing or mass popularity; with no regard for importance based on any criteria within music.


It’s as if the only literature ever read by 90% of Americans is on a musically equivalent level of craft books such as Dick and Jane reading primer books; or sometimes if lucky Dr. Seuss books. Green Eggs and Ham is a great book by the way; but imagine that in ones reading through out ones entire life never goes beyond this. This is the musical state of affairs in America today for most Americans. It’s almost funny, if it wasn’t so sad, to sometimes to hear the latest TV entertainment or news reporter speak about and praise popular music and commercial musicians who are producing work equivalent to Dick and Jane books and elevating them to a musically unearned, fraudulent, lofty and grandiose status.


I began this note by saying: Personally, I do have a great sympathy for the audiences of mass merchandized song & dance band genre music; Americans, in particular, work hard and long through the week and sometimes weekend; with a lot fewer paid holidays then most of their counterparts of the middle and working classes in other advanced countries in the West. Substantive Music of any real culture that is unfamiliar and unknown to a person; that  is outside of their accustomed listening habits and background, does take a significant amount of time and real effort to learn about, to listen to, to slowly begin to understand and eventually to appreciate. The truly sad thing here is that the vast majority of Americans have so little knowledge, access or exposure to any of their own countries composers and substantive works.


That being said, I urge everyone who ever enjoyed a Star Trek episode or other fun exploration show into the unknown reaches of Outer Space or the Outer Limits or even if simply intrigued by Hubble’s pictures or akin explorations to launch yourself into all these unfamiliar, unknown, vast musical reservoirs of substantive music written by the substantive musicians within our time and times past within America and then propel your musical explorations even further, deeper and outward into many of the serious and worthwhile substantive cultures existing now and historically throughout our world. It only takes time and repeated listening. Good Voyaging to you All in your journeys and explorations into music!



Against Muzak*


*Caution: This is a harsh and accurate analysis and assessment on all of todays Entertainment and mass media and in particular on music; not for the faint of heart. Although, I personally see this work as a bit overstated in its harshness to “Shallow Musical Waters” (Shallow waters can be rather pleasant and appropriate for music swimming from time to time; just as treats can be pleasant and appropriate when not overly used or abused within the context of a healthy diet).


If you do not want your delusions, dreams or world view punctured do not read this. A MUST READ for all Composers and REAL Artists who are actually trained and educated within their craft beyond garage song and dance bands..