Successful Instrumental Singles on the Billboard Charts

 

Brian Lipschultz has served as director of the Bremer Financial Corporation and co-CEO and trustee of the Otto Bremer Foundation since 2012. Away from his work at Otto Bremer, Brian Lipschultz enjoys performing as both a vocalist and an instrumental musician.

In 2013, the song “Harlem Shake” by Baauer reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking the first time in more than a decade that an instrumental song reached Billboard's top 10. Instrumental songs have not always been such a rarity in mainstream music, with ten different instrumental tracks achieving top-10 positions in 1963 alone.

Over the years, instrumental singles have ranged from the lackadaisical surf rock of the Chantays’ “Pipeline” to grand orchestral compositions. In some cases, determining which songs should be considered instrumentals may be difficult. “Tequila” by the Champs, for example, is a former chart topper almost devoid of vocals, though the word “tequila” is uttered several times. Billboard recognizes the track as an instrumental.

While the 1960s and '70s were rife with instrumental top-10 hits, such as “Hawaii Five-O” and “Jungle Fever,” songs without vocals became less frequent in the following decades. Only six instrumentals reached the top 10 in the 1980s, while “Theme from Mission: Impossible” in 1996 and “Auld Lang Syne” in 2000 were the two most recent top-10 instrumentals until “Harlem Shake.”

UMN Center for Safe and Healthy Children Receives $2.5 Million Grant

Brian Lipschultz serves as co-CEO and trustee of the Otto Bremer Trust, one of the nation’s largest charitable trusts. Under Brian Lipschultz's leadership, the Otto Bremer Trust has supported a broad variety of community efforts and nonprofit programs. Grants awarded during the 2016 period included a $2.5 million gift to the Center for Safe and Healthy Children at University of Minnesota (UMN) Masonic Children’s Hospital. 

Awarded monies will expand UMN’s child abuse treatment program in several ways and contribute to the center’s goal of becoming a national leader in combating child abuse and neglect. Funds will go toward hiring additional staff, increasing efforts for community education, and opening new roads to train child abuse specialists. A portion of the grant funded the creation of a fellowship program designed to train more child abuse pediatricians.

The Center for Safe and Healthy Children opened in 2014, becoming the first regional program to focus on providing comprehensive care to children who have been abused and neglected. Its specialized training equips physicians and medical staff with the necessary knowledge and skills to work with victims of abuse and neglect, who often require specialized treatment. Necessary training goes beyond an understanding of child development; physicians must also receive training in treating child injuries, child psychology, and how to recognize signs of abuse and neglect to prevent misdiagnosis.

Three Safety Tips for Wakesurfers

As a co-CEO and trustee of the Otto Bremer Trust, Brian Lipschultz is responsible for managing the $900 million fund and responding to the needs of communities through grants and program-related investments throughout the region. When he is not tending to his philanthropic duties with the Otto Bremer Trust or his other business pursuits, Brian Lipschultz enjoys getting out on the lake for wakeboarding and wakesurfing. 

Wakesurfing is a new take on wakeboarding in which surfers are propelled directly by a boat's wake rather than being continuously towed by a cable. The sport is challenging, and can be dangerous if certain precautions are not taken. Consider the following safety tips before your next wakesurfing adventure: 

1. Never surf behind anything but an inboard boat. The prop of an inboard boat is far enough in front of the rudder to prevent accidental contact after a fall. 

2. Ensure that the boat is weighted appropriately. It takes about 1,800 pounds more than the stock ballast weight to produce a sufficiently sizable wake. If the wake is too small, it will be difficult to stay on top of it, which can be dangerous.

3. Use a rope specifically designed for wakesurfing to help you get up. Other ropes, such as wakeboarding ropes, are thin and can cause rope burns and other safety problems.

OBT Grant for Telemedicine Health Initiative in North Dakota

 

Brian Lipschultz leads the Otto Bremer Trust (OBT) as co-CEO and trustee and manages the Minnesota institution’s full range of charitable grantmaking activities. These extend beyond Minnesota to western Wisconsin and North Dakota, where the Otto Bremer Bank has a commercial presence. In June 2016, Brian Lipschultz managed a nearly $100,000 grant to the Altru Health Foundation in Grand Forks, North Dakota, for a telemedicine initiative.

The OBT grant went toward telemedicine expansion plans focused on the Roseau and Devils Lake regional hubs. The services provided take advantage of Internet technologies to offer remotely located patients the opportunity to consult with specialists via audio and live, interactive video. The consultations take place at health centers in the patient’s hometown, where a physician with in-depth knowledge of the specific health issue at hand may be unavailable.

The OBT grant funds will help the Altru Health Foundation expand the range of services provided and improve connection times across 80 existing telemedicine providers and 40 regional sites. The grant will enable a significant increase in telemedicine visits in complex medical areas such as cardiology, dermatology, and diabetes treatment.

See Saint Paul Campaign Supported by OBT

Brian Lipschultz serves as co-CEO and trustee of Otto Bremer Trust (OBT), headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota. In his role, Brian Lipschultz is jointly responsible for the general operation of the $900 million charitable trust founded in 1944 by banker and philanthropist Otto Bremer.

Among its many charitable initiatives is the support the OBT has provided for the See Saint Paul Campaign through a $250,000 matching grant launched in late 2015. For every dollar the campaign would raise towards reaching its $600,000 goal, the trust would match one dollar of its own funds.

In partnership with the St. Paul Public Schools Foundation, the Phillips Eye Institute Foundation, and the school district, the campaign provides eye screening and glasses or follow-up care to 14,000 young students, regardless of capacity to pay. A similar campaign has been launched in Minneapolis and is also supported by a grant from OBT.

These contributions represent part of long-term campaign to raise $4 million to continue the eye care initiative in St. Paul and Minneapolis for the next decade.

It has been observed that students who have difficulty in seeing usually struggle in school. Students who have good eyesight are much better learners, as learning in early childhood primarily depends on being able to see well.

Remembering Jazz Legend Pete Fountain

Co-CEO and trustee of the Otto Bremer Trust, Brian Lipschultz shares joint responsibility for the $900 million charitable trust. Outside of the office, Brian Lipschultz is longtime jazz musician and fan. The jazz world recently lost a legend in New Orleans Jazz clarinetist Pete Fountain, who died in early August at the age of 86.

Born Pierre Dewey LaFontaine Jr. in New Orleans on July 3, 1930, Fountain started playing the clarinet when he was a child at the advice of a doctor. Suffering from respiratory issues, the doctor suggested a wind instrument to strengthen his lungs. Aside from that, it gave the world a jazz legend.

Fountain is perhaps most famous for his regular TV appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and The Lawrence Welk Show. Known for his free-spirited approach to playing, Fountain was famously fired from The Lawrence Welk Show after a particularly loose version of “Silver Bells,” something he’d later joke about with the press.

With nearly 100 albums under his belt, he performed for everyone from the president to the pope.

OBT Donates to Child Abuse Treatment Program

 


Financial and investment management senior executive Brian Lipschultz currently serves as co-CEO and trustee of St. Paul, Minnesota-based Otto Bremer Trust (OBT). Brian Lipschultz also serves as a board member of Bremer Financial Corporation.

Founded in 1944, OBT owns 92 percent of a commercial bank and manages a diversified investment portfolio. The grants provided by OBT are funded by these holdings. In 2015, the charitable trust bestowed over $46 million in grants and program-associated investments to more than 500 organizations in Minnesota, western Wisconsin, and North Dakota.

In March 2016, the trust donated $2.5 million to assist in funding the Center for Safe and Healthy Children at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital. The donation will fund a fellowship program, increased community education, and additional staff.

Treating over 350 children that have been abused and neglected, the center was the only one of its kind in the region when it began operations in 2014. It has been renamed the Otto Bremer Trust Center for Safe and Healthy Children in recognition of the generous donation.

A public health crisis, child abuse deaths total 1,580 annually; this figure now surpasses the 1,250 annual child deaths caused by childhood cancers.

The trust's donation is among the largest of its kind in the country.