Guest of the Taliban Dan Harris '93, ABC News, leads press corps into Kandahar.
	Alumni Trustees Nominated
	It's the Faculty, Stupid Survey of Colby alums yield informative and positive results.

ALUMNI PROFILES
William '51 and Ellen Kenerson Gelotte '50
Star Gazing

Susan Monk Pacheco '67
Doctor in the House

Allen Throop '66

Nancy Heiser '75

Don McMillan '84

Thomas Warren '82
Something Fishery

Brian Post '97
A Natural Observer

Clay Surovek '98

"I was retired, but I'm not retired anymore," said Bill Gelotte '51. He and his wife, Ellen Kenerson Gelotte '50, are now in their sixth year as impresarios presenting "stars under the stars" at Meadowbrook Farm Musical Arts and Conference Center in Gilford, N.H.

The stars--luminaries such as Bill Cosby, Ray Charles, Tom Jones, The Moody Blues, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers, 98 Degrees, Aaron Carter, Staind, Mandy Moore, Eminem--perform on a 160-foot roofed stage the Gelottes constructed at Meadowbrook, an old farm they bought several years ago on the waterfront of Lake Winnipesaukee. The audience for a show often fills the 3,100 permanent seats, and a grass area out beyond the seats accommodates another 4,000. Depending on the act the front rows of seats are removable for a mosh pit. "Here we are in our seventies dealing with mosh pits!" Ellen said.

The Gelottes visited the Lake Winnipesaukee area for 30 years before moving to Gilford from Lexington, Mass., in 1991, when Bill retired as president of the camera company Claus Gelotte. Four years later they made the decision to develop Meadowbrook with four other partners. As financial backers and producers, the Gelottes have final approval of the acts their agent chooses.

"It's a big operation for us," Bill said. "We're not fooling around." Some of the acts get $100,000 per show, and extending the roof over the seats last fall cost a bundle, but the audience for the concerts last July and August, as many as three or four shows a week, totaled 75,000. "People are coming," Bill said, "and this year we made a couple bucks." Next year they hope to snare Bruce Springsteen among the 25 to 30 acts they'll present.

"It's big business," Ellen agreed. At one point she managed the merchandise--T-shirts, key rings, hats--the acts bring to sell, and because she had to settle up she couldn't stay to the end of the shows. Both Gelottes agree that their favorite was Cosby (who got Bill into the act, warning him, "Don't you say anything funny unless you tell me first!"), but they say they're so busy they didn't care about hobnobbing with Willie Nelson or Tricia Yearwood or Johnny Cash, Travis Tritt, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Anne Murray or Bonnie Raitt.

"All these shows are pleased with our facility--the whole shootin' match," said Bill. REO Speedwagon and Styx praised the dressing rooms and the caliber of the food, Ellen says, and many of the acts say they would like to come back to Meadowbrook Farm, which she describes as "a beautiful place near the lake with mountains in the distance."

Meadowbrook is also a tree farm, and Bill supervises cutting trees and clearing brush for the walking and cross-country skiing trails that wind about the 85-acre property. The conference center employs a full-time chef and hires out for weddings, musicals and mystery-theater dinners, business lunches and graduation dances. "I had no idea it'd get this big--I might've backed out," Bill said. "Now we're in business to stay."

"It's really crazy, isn't it? It evolved. We had no idea what it would entail," Ellen said, "but it's exciting, and it's gratifying to see it grow. It's our interest now. It keeps you young."

--Robert Gillespie