Bits and Pieces for May 16, 2009 May 16, 2009 It’s strange how simple things can spark fond memories.
I was on a newspaper run to Elcho late last week and noticed that the Deuce Coupe Bar at Highways N and 45 had been sold and is being renovated.
Those memories went back more than a few years, about 42 years.
Back in those youthful days if friends and I came home for a weekend escape from the university, we tended to gather at Harry Flood’s beer bar in that same building and pass Friday evenings playing crazy eights with Harry for a dime a hand.
During those evenings we played plenty of cards and Harry would explain his inventions — he was a very clever electrician and mechanic and as I recall — a pretty good crazy eights player.
What amuses me is that I can’t recall why none of us guys failed to have Friday night dates. Perhaps it is selective recall.
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On Thursday I was returning from doing a story at the Bass Lake Country Club and there was a fellow working outside of “T-Shirt” Harry’s place. I stopped and got a chance to meet Rick Rotzoll and his son, Jeremy. Rick bought the bar and he and his son are doing great rehab work on the property.
Rick is an AHS grad and after residing in the Colgate area, wanted to come home. And he apparently found a calling. I wish Rick and Jeremy well in what is a difficult business to crack.
We’ll have to stop out and teach those lads how to play crazy eights.
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Lisa Haefs, one of my co-workers, lives between Antigo and Rhinelander and the other night she was walking through the downtown area of the Hodag city.
Like Antigo, the northern downtown has some retail openings but in many of those locations the windows are clean and they are offered as community display areas for clubs, causes and promotions for programs.
What a nice idea.
We have some places in the downtown area that look like the world is about to end on the spot. And right next door, a successful and snappy business is rolling along.
It would be productive if we could get the windows cleaned up and set some displays. Perhaps we could purchase some screening from Volm Companies/Plaspack U.S.A. to shield the inside of the stores.
It is an idea that Lisa said really brightens downtown Rhinelander.
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I was surprised to read in The Shawano Leader Tuesday that the Green Bay Packers’ “Tailgate Tour” had stopped Monday at Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School for a surprise assembly.
I thought it was strange that as the media, we didn’t know. It seems that one member of the Antigo Daily Journal staff is in contact with the school on a daily basis dealing with sports and other school business. The visit was a secret.
The students didn’t know what was going on, either, as they gathered in the auditorium for an unspecified purpose and all were seated as school staff announced that there would be special guests for an assembly. And in walked representatives of the Green Bay Packers, including CEO Mark Murphy.
The students had the opportunity to question Murphy and several players on the game and, of course, Brett Favre, before the bus rolled on to a scheduled benefit meeting in Marshfield later in the day.
It will be a spell before the Wittenberg-Birnamwood students forget that little party.
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I read with interest a story from Boston this week about a trolley driver who was texting his girlfriend just before causing an accident. That’s on the heels of a deadly California train collision where the engineer was texting before the impact that claimed his, and other lives.
A year or two ago, when friends and I visited Las Vegas, the cab driver chattered with someone on his cell phone all of the time we were in his car. In fact, it is illegal for cabbies to use the phones in that city when they have a fare, and they can be fined and fired.
When we visited Chicago a few months later, the cabbies all were using the phones and two weeks ago our driver was holding a family discussion and saying “no” repeatedly on his cell phone as we whistled along on I-94 at 70 to75 miles per hour.
Since the Boston trolley mishap, the transit authority in that city is planning to ban cell phones for most of its transit divers. I suggest they extend the rule to cabbies, too, since there was plenty of worry to go around in the taxi on that crowded Milwaukee highway.
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I got a very nice note from Mark Blaskey, who was pleased to read the Antigo Daily Journal story about Jake Immel and Tim Blahnik performing with the University of Wisconsin Band.
He explained that the path from Jim Traut’s Antigo High School band room to Mike Leckrone’s University of Wisconsin program was blazed by “Toby” Thomas in 1971. Thomas encouraged Mark to try out for the band when he arrived at the school in 1973 and after that success, he spent five seasons marching and performing.
Mark said that when he arrived in the band’s ranks, the popular spring shows were played in the Mills Concert Hall and what was called a “crowd” numbered about 250.
Then Leckrone decided to move the event to the Field House, a giant structure that still lurks on the University of Wisconsin campus.
Mark recalls questioning the move to the huge venue when selling 250 tickets had been such a drama.
The director told Blaskey and his buddies they “lacked vision.” Mark meets Mike a few times a year and the conductor offers a reminder of that “vision” remark.
Mark’s father, one of the Antigo High School’s great teachers, Ray Blaskey, is deceased but his wife and Mark’s mom, Helen, lives on in Middleton. Mark said she subscribes to the Antigo Daily Journal, and loves it.
I like that.
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It seems that the spring concert has to be on the 2010 schedule of things to do. It will be held April 15-17. Tickets go on sale Feb. 1 and you can get one by calling 1-608-265-4120. Save this little piece of paper.
From those early days with Mark and Toby, the spring concert has grown to the three-day schedule and plays for at least 25,000 people.
It is a true professional production with staging, lighting, plenty of sound and even pyrotechnics. And no other college band is able to stage anything like this for one night — yet alone three.
One of the pictures my co-worker brought home from the Kohl Center show this year showed Leckrone wearing a white coat and flying through the air above the band.
That’s something you simply don’t see at very many college concerts and something I hope to see during the middle of April in 2010 — join me.
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None of you came up with a wildlife picture this week, but a friend, Audrey Mantor, e-mailed my residence with this picture of the family dog and a new friend, a fawn.
The deer followed the pooch right through the doggie door and was quite at home.
I think it came from the state of Washington, and the pictures and footage were all the rage in local newspapers and television.
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I wish a delightful weekend for all.
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