NPR’s Scott Simon talks with Minnesota Supreme Courtroom Justices Anne McKeig and Sarah Hennesy, about their new beginner all-judge band, The Cheap Doubts.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
In Minnesota, one beginner rock band guidelines Supreme. It is an all-judge band known as The Cheap Doubts.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
THE REASONABLE DOUBTS: (Singing) Properly, they mentioned you was excessive class. Properly, that was only a lie. Yeah, they mentioned you was excessive class. Properly, that was a lie.
SIMON: Minnesota Supreme Courtroom Justice Anne McKeig started the band, and he or she joins us now with a bandmate, Justice Sarah Hennesy. Justices, thanks a lot for being with us.
SARAH HENNESY: Thanks for having us.
ANNE MCKEIG: Thanks for having us.
SIMON: How did this concept come about, Justice McKeig?
MCKEIG: Properly, it is one thing that I’ve wished to do for some time. I’ve all the time had a love for music, and I additionally acknowledge the stress of our jobs and imagine that there is a number of gifted folks on the bench. So I simply despatched an electronic mail out to the judges in our state, received a implausible response, and the thought simply was born. And did not actually suppose rather a lot about it. We simply jumped in and began practising, and it has been a tremendous expertise.
SIMON: Justice Sarah Hennesy, what’s the lifetime of a choose like?
HENNESY: Properly, you recognize, I used to be a district courtroom choose for 12 years, and I have been on the Supreme Courtroom now for just a little over a yr. And one factor that each of these positions have in frequent is we’ve got folks in our courtrooms who’re coping with very tough moments of their lives and who’re in ache in your courtroom, and you may’t assist however tackle a few of that ache. And whenever you make tough selections that make their lives tough, that impacts you as properly. And so this undertaking has been a approach for us to make use of music, to make use of artwork, actually to heal.
SIMON: What are a number of the songs that you just play, Choose McKeig?
MCKEIG: We now have, as you may think about, a variety of music tastes. However we do a number of cowl songs. We’re doing a little Mellencamp, some AC/DC, throw in some Beyonce.
SIMON: I received to inform you, I wasn’t anticipating that. However go forward, sure.
(LAUGHTER)
MCKEIG: I imply, once I say a variety, it is a variety.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
THE REASONABLE DOUBTS: (Singing) It is simply the identical previous, usual day after day. Someone get me a sunshine getaway.
SIMON: Any authentic works, or is it type of laborious to rhyme oh, yay (ph), oh, yay, oh, yay?
MCKEIG: It is just a little laborious to rhyme that.
HENNESY: Sure, it’s. It is humorous that you just ask, although, as a result of it’s one thing that a number of of us who’re within the band have been in bands in our former lives and have written music previously. And a few of us are very gifted musicians. And they’re , I believe, in writing some originals. In order that is likely to be the subsequent factor we transfer into.
SIMON: I am afraid the music – nearly the one one about judges I might consider is – you recognize “Trial By Jury,” Gilbert and Sullivan?
HENNESY: I do not know that.
SIMON: Oh, you guys are such rockers, aren’t you? You actually are.
(LAUGHTER)
SIMON: It is…
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “TRIAL BY JURY: WHEN I, GOOD FRIENDS, WAS CALLED TO THE BAR”)
GILBERT AND SULLIVAN: (Singing) Once I, good associates, was known as to the bar, I might an urge for food contemporary and hearty.
SIMON: (Singing) However I used to be, as younger many barristers are, an impecunious occasion.
What do you suppose?
HENNESY: Are you free on September 26?
(LAUGHTER)
SIMON: Oh, my phrase. Do you put on black robes on stage?
HENNESY: Completely not.
MCKEIG: However we do put on black.
SIMON: You will have black T-shirts – proper? – I believe I’ve seen, proper?
MCKEIG: Certain, why not?
SIMON: Yeah, positive, why not? However why?
MCKEIG: Properly, for one factor, it makes me look thinner, which is strictly why I might put on black.
HENNESY: Properly, we do not put on the robes as a result of actually the being within the band and doing this on the facet is one thing to get us out of the judicial mindset to do one thing actually completely different, you recognize, transfer from one facet of your mind to the opposite.
MCKEIG: Yeah, I imply, it actually has been lifting the spirits, I believe, of, as you may think about, a particularly tense job, and in addition simply recognizing the entire nice work that our colleagues do after which attempting to make a connection, actually, with the general public. It is not like folks typically are in courtroom as a result of it is, you recognize, a beautiful expertise. It is often a disaster time of their life, and it isn’t one thing that folks wish to be part of. And so I believe this enables us to attach with the general public in a approach that simply normalizes us as people. That is in all probability the most effective issues about it.
SIMON: So let me ask you each, what do you want these of us outdoors the chambers actually understood concerning the lifetime of a choose?
MCKEIG: I might ask that folks perceive that we’re simply that, which is human. We make errors. We do our best possible. It is a very critical job. It’s one which all of us are honored to partake in, however that this can be very tense as a result of we actually wish to get it proper, and once we do not get it proper, the implications may be enormous, and we acknowledge that, and that weighs on us on a regular basis. It is not a job that you would be able to go away on the finish of a day and go dwelling and never take into consideration. And that is a heavy burden, one which we settle for knowingly. However it will be good if the general public might additionally simply see us as common folks.
HENNESY: I wish to ensure that everybody acknowledges that, in being a part of this band, this isn’t one thing we’re doing throughout our hours once we needs to be working. It is all the time on the weekend, and it is an incredible outlet for anybody on the market who has a tough job that they are coping with. I am unable to inform you how a lot bringing music into my life on the weekends has actually helped me to course of that.
SIMON: Are you able to inform us how bailiffs or clerks really feel about it?
MCKEIG: Those that we all know are clerks – they’ve liked the enjoyment that it is bringing and the constructive response that it has been bringing as a result of once more, being within the courts, we do not all the time hear that facet.
HENNESY: Yeah, I believe they recognize – I do know our clerks at the very least actually recognize coming to search out out that, you recognize, we’ve got lives outdoors of the courtroom, that we’re not all the time critical, that we’re not all the time speaking about instances, that we’ve got one other aspect of our persona as properly that’s fascinating.
SIMON: Minnesota Supreme Courtroom Justices Anne McKeig and Sarah Hennesy. They’re members of The Cheap Doubts. Justices, thanks very a lot, and rock and roll on.
HENNESY: Thanks a lot. It has been enjoyable speaking.
MCKEIG: Thanks on your curiosity.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
THE REASONABLE DOUBTS: (Singing) All people needs to take just a little probability.
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