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Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Thursday, March 06, 2008

Tribute concert to celebrate life of Earl Madary

By JOE ORSO | La Crosse Tribune

When Earl Madary died of cancer this winter at age 42, music nobody will hear again was inside of him.

He had enough music for another album, friends said Monday while sitting around a table at Grounded Specialty Coffee.

But he never wrote his music down. He just played it.

The group of seven were finishing the plan for next week’s tribute to Madary, which will feature music and poetry performed by some of those Madary — musician, Viterbo University religion professor and father of two — inspired.

The event, open to the public, will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Viterbo University’s Main Theater.

Marci Madary, Earl’s wife, said Earl was a musician and poet for as long as she knew him.

“He was a musician in his center,” Marci said. “When he gave a talk, he always sang. When he taught, he sang. If he was canoeing, he sang. In church he would sing. And his prayer was often a song.”

Earl’s song “Clay,” she said, started as a prayer, became a poem and then transformed into a song with the lyrics: “Oh, great pungent smell of humanity, how I love you. You stink of heaven. The Maker sniffs and laughs.”

Among others, Tuesday’s tribute will include performances by Daniel Johnson-Wilmot, Earl’s musical mentor in college; Prairie Smoke, a local Celtic and American folk band; and a group singing of “The Servant Song,” which Earl and others would sing at Place of Grace, a Catholic Worker House.

The tribute also will include an offering for the Madary Children Fund.

At Grounded, Marci and the others talked about how an opening performance by a flutist would serve as a call to prayer at the event.

“This is what Earl was all about,” said Barb Kruse. “The heart and soul of Earl was poetry and music and pulling people together.”

Joe Orso can be reached at (608) 791-8429 or jorso@lacrossetribune.com.