Bass Notes
Edwin Livingston ’96 is a Wichita State music performance graduate whose bass-playing life started at the age of 13 with a Gibson EB-3-style bass.
Livingston, who studied with bass professor Mark Foley at WSU and is today a noted bassist and composer working out of LA, inherited that first bass from an uncle who had played gospel.
Always in pursuit of new musical terrain, Livingston has played and recorded with many artists and masters; the short list includes Jason Marsalis, Queen Latifah, Peter Erskine, Natalie Cole, Justin Timberlake and on the Garmmy-nominated Latin jazz album of Los Hombres Calientes.
Back in 2002, Livingston described the qualities he most admires in other bass players in an article in the Bass Player.
“The sound has to be good, clean and percussive,” he reported, “and it has to have a ‘hump’ in it. It needs enough bounce that you know the cat is doing what he’s supposed to be doing: He’s laying it down, and you have no question as to where the beat is or what notes he’s going to play.”
— Connie Kachel White
Pro Hall of Famer
Bill Parcells fs ’64 won two Super Bowls as head coach of the New York Giants. He took the Patriots to another Super Bowl and built winners with the NY Jets and the Dallas Cowboys. This February, he, along with six former professional football players, earned election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Parcells, a New Jersey native, was an All-Conference offensive tackle for the 1963 Missouri Valley Conference co-champion Shockers. He began as a defensive end and during his sophomore season helped WSU to an 8-3 record and a berth in the Sun Bowl.
Drafted by the Detroit Lions, he opted instead for a career in coaching. After a season at Hastings College, he returned to WSU in 1965 to coach the defensive line.
After successful coaching stints at a number of universities, including Texas Tech and Air Force, he entered the professional coaching ranks as defensive coordinator for the Giants and took over as head coach in 1983, guiding the team to the playoffs in his second season and a Super Bowl win in his fourth.
He won his second after the 1990 season, an epic 20-19 victory over the Buffalo Bills.
Parcells will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Aug. 3.
— Connie Kachel White
Advocate for Justice
Cameron Michaud ’99, who has practiced law in Kansas for a decade now, has been honored with the 2012 Thomas E. Sullivan Award by the Kansas Association for Justice.
Nominated by her colleagues, Michaud was chosen as one who has made “significant contributions to justice,” say KsAJ officials, who add, “As the Sullivan Award recipient, she is being recognized for her commitment to the trial bar, the Kansas Association for Justice and her clients.”
Michaud practices with Morris, Laing, Evans, Brock & Kennedy, Chartered in Wichita, and her specialties include malpractice, product liability, civil litigation, commercial litigation, motor vehicle and truck accidents, and wrongful death cases.
She graduated summa cum laude from Wichita State, and in 2002 completed her juris doctor at Washburn University School of Law. In 2008, she was recognized by the Wichita Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 program, which honors Wichitans under the age of 40 who make significant contributions to the community in the areas of civics and the economy.
Her community service includes involvement with the Junior League of Wichita, for which she served as chair of the Holiday Galleria Print and Publications committee.
She also has been a board member of the Wichita Collegiate Alumni Association and the Executive Women’s Golf Association, a Light the Night team captain for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and a team member for Big Brothers Big Sisters Bowl for Kids’ Sake.
