This is a feature I wrote about John Hall after the 2006 election (obviously for a snow sports publication!) - - he's a really great guy - I hope you'll help him out for 2008 -
http://www.johnhallforcongress.com
The results of the November 2006 national election brought many changes to the established order of parties, players and politics in Washington, D.C.
The results also brought an active member of the PSIA, the Professional Ski Instructors of America, to Congress.
"I believe I’ll be the only certified ski instructor in Congress. I’m definitely the first Hunter Mountain ‘Ski Instructor of the Year’", jokes John Hall, 58, newly elected Democratic member of the House of Representatives from New York's 19th congressional district.
Until recently, Hall, an original member of the seventies rock band Orleans, was best known for co-writing and recording the hits "Still the One" and "Dance with Me". "Still the One" is still so popular that it has accumulated more than 4.5 million broadcast performances since its release (roughly the equivalent of 28.5 years of continuous radio airplay).
During Hall's 35 year musical career, he also wrote for and worked with many of the top artists of the day, including Janis Joplin, Seals & Crofts, Bonnie Raitt, Chet Atkins, Steve Wariner, Bobby McFerrin, Linda Ronstadt and the Doobie Brothers.
While achieving musical fame and fortune, the bona fide seventies rock star stayed true to his roots as a session and backup artist. In his heart, Hall remained a union musician, allied offstage with the labor, environmental and progressive political movements.
In 1979, Hall helped found Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE), which brought together some of the biggest names in rock (Springsteen, Crosby Stills & Nash, James Taylor, Carly Simon, and Jackson Brown, to name a few) to raise funds and public awareness with the "No Nukes" concert series and movie.
Off stage and on the local level, Hall was a citizen activist, working to protect his native Hudson River Valley, an area of historic colonial-era farms, forests and pastures. Hall actively worked with grass roots efforts to adopt protective zoning and land use regulations and to oppose the construction of nuclear power plants and solid waste dumps.
Hall’s activism led to elected terms of office in the Ulster County, New York Legislature and on Saugerties Board of Education.
However, living in a northern mountain region also led Hall to the slopes. "My first time skiing was a traumatic experience. I was in my twenties, I put on skis, and someone shoved me on a rope tow somewhere in New England. I fell fifty times going up and one hundred times going down."
Then, "when my daughter Sofi was around age 7, her class needed a chaperone for a school ski trip to Cortina Valley, a tiny little ski area next to Hunter Mountain. I don’t even think it’s opened anymore."
"I went on the field trip to make sure they had enough parents. The whole class took a group lesson, and I stayed uphill from them the entire time, following the instructions, doing wedge turns behind a group of little kids."
"With sports as with music, learning is quicker and less traumatic with lessons. And I’m a lessons junkie, whether it’s piano, tennis or skiing. Eventually, I was hooked, and I was at Hunter Mountain’s ski school so often that they said I might as well sign up."
"I became a skiing teacher for the friendship and to improve my skills. Plus, I’ve always been fascinated by the process of information transfer from teacher to student. I wound up a PSIA certified Level 2 ski instructor. But I always did better at technical knowledge and teaching than actual skiing."
"I ended up teaching at Hunter Mountain from 1991 to 1999. In 1997, I was voted Ski Instructor of the Year, although I think it was because I was there so much and gave so many lessons, not because I was so good."
"Being a musician, I mostly worked weekend nights, so I was on the mountain most week days, 3 to 5 days every week. I spent so much time at the ski school that they jokingly gave me the ‘full time part timer award’."
"Then we moved to Duchess County, and I spent the next four years teaching at Catamount Ski Area. Of course, I started campaigning for Congress in November of 2005, so I haven’t had the time to ski much since then."
Hall appreciates the skier’s lifestyle as much as he appreciates the sport.
"A musician's life is insular. Because of our hours and travel schedules, musicians mostly deal with other musicians. Skiers meet people from all over the world and all walks of life. I remember being on a quad with a firefighter, a cop and the dean of women's studies at Vassar. That diversity is what I enjoy about working as a ski instructor."
Hall also enjoyed the "welcome anonymity" of the slopes. "In our Hunter Mountain uniforms, we all look alike. Although, when "Still the One" comes over the base area speakers, I turn to my students and say ‘That’s me’".
In fact, "Still the One" brought national political attention to Hall in 2004, when he forced George W. Bush to stop using it as a campaign song.
Hall’s support for renewable, safe energy was a major part of his congressional campaign platform.
"My skiing, my politics and my environmental activism all come together in my support for alternative renewable fuels and increased conservation."
"Those of us in the snow sports industry have our own reasons to prevent global warming," says Hall. "We share and enjoy a sport dependent on snow, at the very least on our ability to make and retain snow."
"The twin threats of global warming and climate change require us to change our energy policy. The adverse consequences are preventable, but only if we can get carbon dioxide emissions under control, and we have a relatively small window of time in which to make an impact."
John Hall has gone from rock star to ski instructor to Congress. "I’ve been very lucky in my life. I’ve always been able to do what I’ve wanted to do. Now, I have the opportunity to give back and make positive changes for our country."