Radio scurries past newspaper in media ecosystem

You'll indulge me as I continue sharing thoughts about media. Change can happen slowly. Our habits slowly adjust and sometimes it happens rather subconsciously. Think of websites you may have once visited by habit, then you just stopped thinking about them. You'd maneuver to get the same information by other means.
The Internet is fluid by nature. Any website seemed like a novelty in the "old days." Yes we can reflect on "the old days" with this communication means now.
We saw the Morris newspaper with a pretty active website during its time under Fargo Forum ownership. It was interesting enough that a standard was set, and any time a standard is set, people might complain about something from time to time. An example: why did the Morris site link to sports material from the West Central Tribune? The material has value but wouldn't we as a matter of principle like to see our own newspaper staff generate exclusive content? Fair enough.
I was advised long ago that the fans want to see someone from the paper at games, like this was nearly as important as whatever content was rendered. I think it was Ron Lindquist who told me that. The Forum-owned Morris paper had a variety of decent content to peruse online. I'm susceptible to nightmares as I remember this, because I was on the paper's staff and sensed the website was going to be a priority. What would this mean for my schedule and workload?
I got quite concerned. Would I have to go crazy, as it were, taking photos for our ballyhooed "photo gallery?" And if so, would I be required to collect specific caption (cutline) information for every photo I took? There's a huge difference, let me tell you, between taking a bunch of photos randomly to represent an event, and taking photos while having to ensure you have specific caption info for each.
A couple years for Prairie Pioneer Days - remember that, in summer? - I painstakingly got caption info all over the place only to find that the editor collected a whole lot of photos for a "collage" that had no captions! Mercy! After I left the paper, this practice became more common. It meant a lot less work for the photographer. I would fear a dressing-down if I didn't get detailed caption information all the time.
I remember the first PPD after I departed, there was a collage that included the new Miss Morris being congratulated but I couldn't find the name of this person anywhere. If I were at the shop and had to tell my superiors I couldn't supply the name of the new Miss Morris for quite essential publication, I'd fear being shot (metaphorically).
Let's focus on the present: standards for the newspaper's website have vanished! Mercy, again! At the time the Morris paper went from two issues a week to one - now there's retrenchment - Sue Dieter reportedly said a major reason was to allow for more emphasis on the website. I can't remember if that was an on-the-record quote or just something I heard, but I don't doubt it.
Emphasis on the website would be fine. I commend Sue's attitude. But like I said, the Internet is fluid and was changing like a chameleon to establish something approximating an ecosystem. The Morris paper is at a place today where it must not see much value in its website. This surprises me. The paper's site has become a "tease" with a sprinkling of random and not very timely "news" items. It is nothing but a thin complement to the "paper" product which only comes out on Tuesday.
A theory that I float is that because the new owners reportedly don't offer great benefits to employees, they can't push the staff real hard. Say what you want about the Forum, they were big league with benefits.

Kudos to KMRS-KKOK
Meanwhile the radio station has developed marvelously with its site. It is truly a dynamic site worthy of a visit every day. So I'm wondering: will sports fans decide that the KMRS-KKOK site is truly the "go to" place as a media resource for both information and promotion? Well yes, it appears so.
I wonder if the coaches will tweak their habits, then, to work more closely with the radio station. Radio can totally compete with the newspaper on the latter's own turf. Radio now has a "static" product that its audience can consult at their own convenience. It's a sea change and a nice one.
 
Sports and online: natural marriage
Wherever high school sports can find its home in the world wide web, it is a good thing. Surely it will find that home once the web-based "ecosystem" matures. Perhaps the coaches could set up a nice little template for statistics and feed that to the radio station regularly. Already the coaches are doing that with the "Maxpreps" site. Maxpreps has gotten into the ecosystem in a meaningful way. My own work gets linked there, I'm pleased to say.
There's the "Hudl" site also which is getting its elbows in. All of this will be good for the long term. Fans will expect these services and it's important to note that the services do not have to be supported by advertising. "Mercy," again! After all, my own web-based coverage on "I Love Morris" and "Morris of Course" does not require advertising. Get over it: reaching an audience does not require money to change hands. Adjust your mindset.
I enjoy staying connected to prep sports and it helps make my life meaningful, especially as my age advances. I turned age 65 on Tuesday - Medicare time! I think Deb at the radio station beat me to that.
As we ponder the new media ecosystem, we must conclude the newspaper is "out of the mix" for online, after its decent presence in the Forum years. "Turn out the lights, the party's over," as the late Don Meredith would sing.
There are times when I post my decent coverage of Tiger events a whole week before the Morris paper comes out! The day may come when we no longer pay much attention to what the newspaper does, as it basically fades out of mind, a process that could well be underway. It will dawn on us, at some point down the road.
In the meantime it can be subconscious. Just like how we get out of the habit of visiting a website that no longer holds an allure. Message to the media and to sports coaches: "Adapt or die." That's Brad Pitt talking from "Moneyball." Great movie. Remember the hard rock electric guitar for the National Anthem on opening day? Totally accepted by everyone, even the VFW and Legion guys with their hats, out on the field unfurling the flag. In the late '60s when Jose Feliciano did the first real stylistic version, it caused an uproar. Mercy! I cite this as an example of change proceeding inexorably.
As they say, "I'm just the messenger."
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

"Teen Wolf" (1985) reaches back to adolescent joy

"Teen Wolf" has gotten upstaged by the "Back to the Future" movies in Hollywood annals. All of that is a tribute obviously to Michael J. Fox, who as a young person really "had it" for being endearing on the screen. He had an everyman or "everyboy" quality.
American high school age youth could really relate to his characters in the 1980s.
Enough time has passed that the '80s encourages pretty strong nostalgia now. When I wrote about the movie "T.A.G. The Assassination Game," I noted that the '80s movie presented academic buildings as so "utilitarian." And more importantly, no one seemed to care. The student characters didn't act like they expected a whole lot of amenities. They seemed to deem their surroundings sufficient for the task. They had other issues and priorities.
We see the totally fun-seeking youth in 1985's "Teen Wolf" amidst school surroundings that today would call for a referendum for building something new. The referendum would almost certainly pass. In the '80s we here in Morris MN had a varsity basketball gym that none of us were inclined to complain about. The bleacher seats seemed a little hard but that was a nit-pick. My, as recently as 1968 we had a gym that might have passed for a setting in "Hoosiers." Not that we couldn't have had a lot of fun there. But it gave way to a new gym and even that wasn't good enough, as today we have bigger/better/brighter etc.
The "T.A.G." movie and "Teen Wolf" show the young people in school hallways that seem throwback now, not a lot of signs of handicapped accessibility. Arguments for new buildings have been made based on the accessibility aspect almost entirely. One could not have foreseen such a push in an earlier time.
Indeed, the future is hard to predict. So when the "Back to the Future" movies with Fox sought to envision the future, jumping to that future time, well, it was nigh impossible. Ergo, if we really knew what the future was, we'd skip to it right now. A review of the movie said the future scenes were just a "jazzed up version" of the present. Flying skateboards? Do we see them today? Maybe a few new scenes could be sneaked in, that show for example a portable computer with "Facebook" on the screen!
Long ago, future cars were foreseen that simply looked more sleek, more streamlined. Indeed, I have read an opinion of classic cars as an over-hyped hobby because all we're really talking about is the shape of the metal. We had a classic car club here in Morris - not sure if it still exists - with a member and his Ford Mustang of about 1980. A friend of mine chortled that the Mustang of that time was really not a well-made car. But, to each his own as far as hobbies are concerned.
Talk about dated, "Teen Wolf" was made in pre-digital times. Analog times. Mercy! As the years pass, 1980s movies show their recognizable spots more and more - the pre-digital lifestyle, culture and mores. There just seems to be more "clutter" around. More busy work to do. More sweating in one's employment, more tedium, more of a need to find a "release" from it.
 
Not for "Count Floyd"
"Teen Wolf" is a totally beautiful move, ages well. Critics were ridiculously hard on it at the time. Like I said, it was pre-Internet times when movie reviewers were an "elite" and entitled-feeling crowd. Roger Ebert became famous as an outlier, someone who argued that a movie should be judged on whether it accomplished what it set out to do.
"Teen Wolf" deserves an A-plus. Watching it today, I couldn't care less what any critic has to say about it. I wouldn't even call it a guilty pleasure, it's just a pleasure. It takes the old horror meme and has tons of fun with it, in a manner that doesn't present any "scariness" at all. "Count Floyd" (SCTV) can step aside - this movie about transforming into a wolf isn't "scary." It is amusing and charming. It's about image-conscious youth on the home stretch of their unbridled adolescent years. It's about how the Fox character becomes "big man on campus" as he escapes his pedestrian reality, by this bizarre trait of transforming into a wolf, apparently at will.
Remember "Gerela's Gorillas" of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers football team? Remember how the TV camera always gave us a glimpse of the guy in gorilla suit, in honor of kicker Roy Gerela? A friend of mine always laughed about how the character was just accepted among the surrounding fans - no big deal a gorilla's here. "Nobody cares!" my friend exclaimed.

Dancing on Wolfmobile, to Surfin' song

It's like that in "Teen Wolf," as even the first transformation in public creates only momentary surprise. Then the guy's powers take over as he helps lift his struggling high school basketball team.
My, the surroundings are so humble, a ho-hum gym and surprisingly small fan turnout, not to mention a coach who is mellow in a way that was accepted then. Today all high school coaches are expected to show intensity, to be very serious. Fox's coach is laid-back to say the least but totally likeable, as a guy who just wanted everyone to chill out, fulfill your obligations and then pursue whatever frivolities might interest you.
My community of Morris MN had a big push toward the end of the '80s to get a lot more serious and intense about extracurricular. "Teen Wolf" shows us the era just prior to that, an era that coincided with the end of the notorious baby boom era. That's me in the latter! Public education had such an embarrassment of riches, seemingly endless waves of kids coming through the system. Professional educators could get complacent.
Fox's coach, played by the delightful Jay Tarses, is complacent but also empathetic. Winning isn't the guy's be-all and end-all. Makes me want to pine a little for those days, really.
So "Teen Wolf" is kind of a time capsule.
 
Everyone had to love "Boof"
The secret to a good movie is a good story and appealing characters. "Teen Wolf" gives us everything, especially in the character named "Boof" (Susan Ursitti), who shall we say is the "girl next door." She is presented as less than glamorous - that's the whole idea - but really she's better looking than that. Oops, describing women on the "good looking" scale is politically incorrect by our 2020 standards. Wipe it out. In 1985 there were no inhibitions.
The movie showed us how the Fox character had it made with "Boof" at his side - he should have known it all along. They kiss at the end after the basketball team wins over an arch rival. Fox is finally able to forget the ingenue character (Lorie Griffin) who has distracted him. Also at the end, the team realizes it had the right stuff to win even with Fox not in his wolf mode. They had the talent all along, they just needed a catalyst to realize it. Fox inspires them as the guy he was before. Such a natural actor.
It's a movie I would want to watch again. The moviemakers got the last laugh on the stuffy critics by watching the movie do great at the box office. Fox rendered a gold mine with this movie plus "Back to the Future" with its Delorean. "Teen Wolf" debuted at No. 2 in its opening weekend, behind "Back to the Future."
Fox's character in "Teen Wolf" is Scott Howard. James Hampton is perfectly cast as father Harold Howard, right in the template of hardware store owner. Oh, then there's "Stiles," the kind of fun-loving character we all remember from school. Supposedly he exploits Scott Howard once the "wolf" becomes notorious, and that would suggest something negative, but I didn't react that way. A pothead who sometimes dons sunglasses, I found "Stiles" to be endearing.
 
It doesn't get any better
The best scene in the movie? Allow me to plug the one where the wolf dances and does backflips on top of the moving "Wolfmobile" driven by Stiles. The scene is accompanied by "Surfin' in the USA." It's the epitome of the sheer joy that can consume adolescent youth at times. It doesn't get any better than that.
Jerry Levine plays Rupert "Stiles" Stilinski.
"Teen Wolf" was one of the first scripts written by Jeph Loeb. The studio observed the success of "Valley Girl" and decided the time was right for a low-cost comedy that just might work. Oh my, it did! And we have Meredith Baxter-Birney to thank too. Without her, no movie. She got pregnant. Thus there was a delay in the filming of "Family Ties," a TV series in which Fox co-starred. The delay opened the door.
The movie uses a beaver mascot that happens to be the Oregon State University symbol.
Too bad, Count Floyd, the movie is not "scary" despite the description. So is it camp or cheese? Well, not those qualities either. It touches memories in all of us, relating to the highs and lows of late adolescence, a time when many of us wanted to turn into a monster! But love rules in the end. It conquers all. "The girl next door" flowers and it could make us misty.
Here's a salute to the 1980s movie that touches us in so many ways. Let's just shrug about the critics.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Journalist's enterprise turns up church issues

(image from KARE-11)

I wonder if Bob Shaw had any idea he was writing an article that could turn out to be career-defining for him. Mind you, there's no intent on the part of the journalist to harm anyone. A journalist definitely has the sense when he's writing an article of that type. In his head he ought to be thinking "let the chips fall where they may." Or, "the truth will set you free."
When injury is done, where mendacity exists or when policies are insensitive or poorly articulated, it serves the public's interest to know about it. So Mr. Shaw wrote an article about a church in Cottage Grove - suburban Twin Cities? - that is having to deal with the stress we all know exists in mainstream denominations.
A few years ago you'd have to be a regular consumer of C-Span lectures to know what the terms "nones" and "dones" meant. Today the odds are much higher that your personal acquaintances will be familiar with the terms. They have to do with alienation from church. People are increasingly choosing to sever their direct involvement, not necessarily becoming atheists, mind you. They may decide to focus on spiritual values on a private basis. Is it an extension of the "bowling alone" phenomenon? Whatever the case, mainstream Christian churches still exist and they are obviously having to wrestle with the realities.
People in church organizations find their livelihood at stake. That's quite the motivator. So, this church in Cottage Grove is undertaking a strategy to jump-start its numbers and vitality. It had a nucleus of older members who were devoted and I'm sure enjoyed the weekly sense of fellowship. Pulling the rug out from under them was a mistake, a scenario described in Shaw's article for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He quoted people in appropriate positions to know what was going on. It all came to be interpreted as "kicking out the older people." Well.
There you have a newspaper article that is certainly going to grab attention or to use the contemporary term, "go viral." It went amazingly viral. The "micro" story of this particular church isn't that important, what's important is how the dust-up is a reflection of what is going on macro-speaking. Professional clergy are highly distressed by how the 20-somethings just aren't interested. They see so many gray-haired people in the pews.
Well, obviously the pastors ought to appreciate any and all people who continue to "show the love" with church. And if you want to get real practical, isn't it true that older people have more money to contribute to church? The money factor ought to weigh in quite a bit, given our current nature in America, but what happens if there's no young generation coming up to sustain these organizations? So the Cottage Grove church planned a re-launch and decided to close for several months before getting going with hopefully a new image that gets the young adults excited, I guess. Church leaders claim this has worked elsewhere.
 
Wrestling on more than one front
We're talking the Methodist denomination. I'm not sure what are these "Methodists." I do know they have had one other big fish to fry recently: the gay rights thing. Many young people will shake heads over a church even having conflict over this. Silly rabbit, basic rights for gay people is pretty understood through society now. The ELCA of the Lutheran denomination is past this.
But it seems the ELCA is feeling even more duress than the Methodists. What are the fundamental differences between the two? Well, I remember a popular song refrain from when I was young and my generation was having to respond to apologists for the Vietnam war. When asked to listen a little to reasons for the war, the song offered a rejoinder: "Don't tell me I don't give a damn."
 
You say potatoes. . .
The whole idea of comparing Methodists to Lutherans, on its face, causes many young people to just shake their heads. And I think they feel revulsed by the whole judgmental nature of the organized Christian faith. They just aren't interested. My, I'm not either. I'm 65 years old and strive to keep connection to the ELCA because of the wishes of my deceased mother.
My church definitely appears to be stressed. Lots of older people. Obviously we shouldn't even categorize people according to age. It's age-ism which has the same disturbing effect as racism. We will all get old.
Grove United Methodist Church is the name of the humble little place which now seems to be noticed internationally! Congratulations to the scribe Mr. Shaw, you have shed valuable light on the pressing questions faced by the mainstream Christian denominations. The Catholics? I don't wish to address them much, as I feel the clergy sexual abuse thing has damaged the whole faith and is unsavory to talk about.
So we have this little Methodist church in a Twin Cities suburb that has now come to be a focus for discussions about where the "nones" and "dones" are coming from. Photos of the church building reveal it to be pretty humble and maybe not real inviting. Is there an ELCA church nearby? The 30 or so regular congregants at Grove would definitely be welcomed at the nearest ELCA church. Why not posit that as a nice resolution? The ELCA is a haven for all fair-minded people, people who stay calm and reasonable about social issues.
The ELCA has a progressive standing politically. It is a haven for people with skepticism about President Trump. The "evangelicals" who follow Trump are having a chafing effect on the faith just like the Catholic sex abuse scandal. The media probably overrates or hypes the political "evangelicals." It's a cultural flashpoint and the national media salivates over cultural flashpoints. Wait until the Iowa caucuses. "What are the evangelicals going to do?" Why don't they ask "what are the Lutherans going to do?"
I wince about the Lutheran faith because Martin Luther was such a virulent anti-Semite.
 
Whither the faith in Morris MN?
Here in Morris MN we have three churches that I would characterize as reasonable middle-of-the-road types: my First Lutheran plus Faith Lutheran (also ELCA) and Federated. Federated is partly covered by the Methodist denomination. It gets complicated. Getting to the heart of it, the same type of people are attracted to all three of these churches.
Good Shepherd was formed to the north of town as a rebellion against the ELCA and its political tone, especially with gay rights matters. Which I personally find to be highly troubling. But those people have a right to their views.
First Lutheran and Faith Lutheran ought to behave like one and the same church. Years ago that would have been a hard sell because of the usual small town parochial garbage. I sense that's gone now as it should be. First Lutheran Church appears to be treading water and it's impossible to know the future. But the immediate future does not look good.
Good Shepherd along with the Apostolic churches are a siphon away from the more reasonable-seeming churches. So the latter churches are flailing a little, evidenced in $. I hate it when I contribute $ to my church and realize some of it will probably go to foreign missionaries or Habitat for Humanity. I make the contributions only because it seems like "dues" to an organization that I find fills a social need for me. And because my late mother would insist on it.
The church in Cottage Grove capitulated to an urge to be desperate, to grab some 20-somethings to firm up their future - good luck - when it should have just been thankful for the assets it had. I fail to see how shutting the doors for several months is a commendable thing to do, for any purpose.
Great work, Bob Shaw.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Paul Revere/Raiders should be in Rock 'n' Roll HOF

When the Raiders "was fab."

Music professionals today make their money touring, it is said. Museums should preserve what the old record album shops or departments were like. Music was a precious and limited commodity then, certainly compared to today. You could listen to "Top 40" radio and get certain tunes in your head like "ear worms." "Silly Love Songs" by Paul McCartney.
Well, we certainly congratulate all those souls who found ways to reach us through the old systems. They reached us with songs of about three minutes in length and with a catchy melody. There's a problem with trying to write a catchy melody today. If you think you've written one, there's a good chance it has similarity to a pre-existing one. The problem deters people from even entering the field, which is sad.
 
Spinning the vinyl records
Paul Revere and the Raiders had an incredible run in the pre-digital era when we sifted through vinyl records, finding something for our taste to put on the turntable. A neighborhood boy got the "greatest hits" collection of the Raiders. We listened together until I had great familiarity with all of the tunes. The Raiders should be in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. There is quite a wave of old admirers issuing this plea.
Artistically there is no basis to deny the group any and all accolades. I'm speaking of course of the Raiders when they had Mark Lindsay. They went with the shortened name "Raiders" toward the end of their heyday. Some questioning has been voiced about this. "Raiders" seemed to confuse some fans. The group built its wave of much-deserved fame as "Paul Revere and the Raiders" with the obvious gimmick of Revere's name being the same as the Revolutionary War guy.
The group was derided by some serious critics for employing the gimmick, never mind that this was commercial music entertainment just like all rock 'n' roll music. It was like climbing a mountain to try to get "big" in the music industry then. The gimmick greased the skis. It was puffery that didn't really mean anything anyway. It was cute. So what? Our society of today would care not at all about this. You have to step into a time machine to realize the pressures the group navigated.
In my view, the Raiders were at their wonderful apex in about 1967 when the gimmick was unabashedly used. Jack Benny played on it in a TV segment. He "joined the group" in authentic costume. The Raiders were an offshoot of the Beatles and the overall British invasion. But they were not copycats. Their music, manner of presentation and Lindsay's vocal interpretations were distinct. The Raiders definitely seemed "hip" in their incarnation of about 1967. They exuded simple joy and fun. The songs were terrific to just listen to.

Classic Raiders of TV with Dick Clark: precious

Some critics might resent how television was a big catalyst in getting the group to the top. It was Dick Clark-flavored television in the age of the Big 3 networks. Regular exposure on TV was such a ticket to stardom, it was almost scary. And I'll assert that many recipients of the fame were shocked at the extent to which this was true. Maybe to the extent of needing psychological counseling. "The masses" were mesmerized by celebrity.
Today we have endless media and niche programming, so the nature of celebrity is different. These creatures still exist but I'm sure they can circulate in public with much greater ease. So the Raiders were a beneficiary of the old system. Congratulations, this does not besmirch their art. They were genuine as artists and they took to the TV medium as well. Did you know that Carl Perkins would have been a much bigger name if he had not had car trouble on the way to an Ed Sullivan appearance?
 
A more sober mood takes over
As time wore on, the Raiders sensed that in order to stay in the mainstream with their generation, they had to stop exuding so much simple joy. You might feel incredulous about this. But I was there as a youth in my teens. In 1970 we were at the threshold of a decade that would be highly cynical. The Vietnam war weighed on us like you wouldn't believe. It was like we felt guilty simply being happy about the entertainment of Paul Revere and the Raiders.
While their hair was already on the long side, they had to push this a little further. Lindsay grew facial hair. The group was not as likely to smile in their photos. It was essential that Revere himself smile. The smile didn't mean anything, it just looked nice. It was part of what we expected when we bought an album. When a successful artist jettisons a proven part of a successful formula, it's risky. The Raiders felt they had to mature, get more serious and somehow get more "relevant."
Problem is, they were entertainers who filled that need in our life, a need that always exists even when there are pressing issues like the war, civil rights etc. We pushed our entertainers of that troubled era to make statements even with sacrifice to their appeal. Remember the biopic about Bobby Darin? An exasperated fan pleaded with him to do "Splish Splash." I won't mention the actor because he has fallen into ignominy.
 
The two guys with guitars
The young people who were attracted to the 1967 Raiders hated to see them go, I'm sure. But we shrugged and realized "this is just how it has to be." I suppose "Indian Reservation" was a commendable effort because it was socially relevant. There's a buzzword. I'm not sure the cause or objective of sensitivity really called upon the Raiders. How wonderful if those five guys could just continue their shtick, two guys with guitars dancing off to the side, joyfully smiling with their modest choreography.
Lindsay was one of those "naturals" handling the vocals and with his stage presence. I hate to even mention here the post-Mark Lindsay Raiders when Paul kept it all going but with not nearly the visibility of before. I liked Paul when he was with the original Raiders, his blond hair being a symbol with his smile. Don't underestimate the hair. Or smile.
From what I've seen of the Revere-led Raiders sans Lindsay, it's not captivating. If you were in the audience at a showroom - Branson? - it was probably quite fun. I felt Paul had become rather a caricature of himself. The singers hit the right notes but none were like Lindsay, not even close.
It's spooky but it's like the late '60s incarnation of the Raiders became frozen in time and in our memories, and did it have to be this way? To end as it did? Is it true Lindsay had a financial dispute with Revere? That Revere was allegedly skimming some extra money that might have been part of Mark's share?
A major irony of the group is that their only No. 1 hit, "Indian Reservation," was at the end of their run. So far at the end, the time really represented the start of Lindsay's solo career.
The Raiders had an excellent "run" by the standards of their era. It is painful to notice how "archival" so much of their video material is now. They came out of the Pacific Northwest and were a most powerful answer to the British invasion.
Young people of today would have a hard time believing me, when I say the Raiders felt such a strong pull away from simply being fun. But that's how it was. I remember the group's TV shows of the late '60s, and I think they came across as totally hip. Lindsay exchanged banter with Jack Benny where he used the expression "taking a trip" (reference to acid or LSD of course). How "edgy" did they have to be, to win the admiration of the more serious rock aficionados? Hindsight suggests they should not have catered to that crowd.
Thing is, hindsight is so incredibly easy to apply today. Like the hindsight of how the U.S. should not have been in Vietnam. The young generation picked up such terrible scars from that. Too bad we couldn't have kept a space open in our mind for the "bubblegum" music that merely makes us feel good. It took pretty good musicians, BTW, to conceive and perform "bubblegum."
 
The ubiquitous "Wrecking Crew"
Yes, I know the "Wrecking Crew" had a hand in some of the recording. I think the assertion or accusation gets too much credence today. No one questions that the Raiders held their own 100 percent as musicians. Many "name" groups like the Beach Boys were known to bring in some outside professionals who specialized in laying down commercially viable stuff. The Monkees may have taken this too far, at least borderline. They were "outed" and then there was some pushback from the recording industry, people insisting that the product be judged on its own merits.
Another consideration: a group could keep its tour schedule going better if the "Wrecking Crew" could cover some in the studio.
Paul Revere and the Raiders were American as apple pie in the mid and late '60s. The time seems preserved in amber now. It could never be replicated. The Raiders epitomized the joyful aspect of the time. Problem is, we all got dragged down by the dark elements, war at the top of the list. I try to emphasize the joy in my own thoughts. But it's not easy.
It would help if Paul Revere and the Raiders were in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. It would give my generation a little more sense of closure. It would reinforce that our happy and innocent thoughts were justified. BTW I believe Mark Lindsay is not the son of Soupy Sales!
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Girls limit ACGC to seven points in second half

Tigers 71, ACGC 22
The Tigers climbed to .500 at 7-7 with a most impressive home victory Tuesday. It was a blow-out night for our orange and black who disposed of ACGC 71-22. We were up 44-15 at halftime. Our defense slammed the door in second half play: just seven ACGC points. The Falcons are sputtering at 1-10.
Our attack included four scoring in double figures. Malory Anderson set the pace with 16 points. Then we see Emma Bowman with 14, Kendra Wevley with 13 and Meredith Carrington with 12. MacKenna Kehoe added to the mix with eight points and she made two 3-pointers. Bowman had the other 3-point make. Sydney Dietz scored four points and Kaylie Raths and LaRae Kram two each.
Wevley led in rebounds with nine followed by Anderson with eight. Anderson was tops in assists with six. Leading in steals were Anderson with seven and Kylie Swanson with six. Swanson blocked a shot.
Scoring totals were anemic for the Falcons and here we see Rachel Wilner with eight points and Daniela Parker with seven. Shayna Hobson scored three while Elli Roemeling and Brooke Schroeder each scored two. Wilner made the only 3-pointer.
 
Boys hockey: Storm 7, Mayport 4
The Lee Center ice was a place for our MBA Storm boys to shine on Tuesday. Our success was vs. a team with a neat nickname: the "Ice Dogs." Almost a shame to see a team with that nickname lose. Just kidding. Those Ice Dogs are from Mayville-Portland in North Dakota. Officially it's called "Mayport." Seems like a long distance for those guys to travel Tuesday night. Would be more practical for a Saturday afternoon game IMHO.

Our success vs. Mayport was by a score of 7-4. It was our 13th win against three losses. We got up 2-1 in the first period. Ice Dog Noah Mehus scored the evening's first goal at 8:57 with assists from Carter Garrett and Sammy Satrom. Our Zach Bruns answered with a goal at 11:12 that had a Sam Thompson assist. Brady Goff put us up 2-1 with his goal at 16:07, a goal that had a Reece Kuseske assist.
Mayport kept the game even in period #2. First they scored with a Mitchell Coleman goal that had assists from Sammy Satrom and Jake Verwest (1:36). Will Breuer scored for the Storm at 8:35, assisted by Bruns and Jack Riley. Ice Dog Sammy Satrom struck with a goal at 13:42, assisted by Sawyer Satrom.
The third period really made the difference. Ryan Tolifson scored the first of our four goals in the period. Brady Loge and Matthew Tolifson came through with assists. Bruns got the puck in the goal at 11:18 with a Hunter Blume assist. Sammy Satrom of the Ice Dogs answered with a goal at 13:05 that had Mehus assisting. Riley scored at 14:22 with assists from Sam Thompson and Blume, then it was Kuseske getting our final goal at 15:26, assisted by Breuer and Brady DeHaan.
Chase Engebretson wore the goalkeeper's mask and he stopped 15 of 19 shots. Kade Susie Worked in goal for the Ice Dogs (35/42).
 
Girls hockey: Willmar 9, Storm 0
The girls hockey story was downbeat for the Storm Tuesday. The Storm failed to get a goal while Willmar got the puck in the net nine times. Action was at the Benson ice in this home game. Halle Mortensen got the shutout in goal for the victor. She achieved seven saves. Willmar got its 13th win against six losses and a tie.
Unfortunately our scoring summary is going to acknowledge Willmar players only. Congrats to them. Bailey Olson got Willmar's first goal in power play style, unassisted. Olson scored again at 7:54 assisted by Mya Monson. Kessa Mara scored at 8:38 with an assist from Nina Dawson. Monson used assists from Olson and Makenna Larson to score at 15:06.
The second period was a repeat of the first: a 4-0 Willmar advantage. Ashley Larson scored with Olson and Monson assists at 2:00. It was Madison Garberding scoring with Dawson's assist at 11:35. It was Olson scoring with assists from Monson and Audrey Stewart at 14:05. Dawson scored with a Mara assist at 14:40.
Willmar put frosting on the cake with a third period goal which was by Emily Morris (Olson assisting).
Willmar coach Eric Setrum was happy to see senior Emily Morris score in this, her first varsity game. The coach was quoted: "She's been a grinder for four years."
Our goalie was Leah Thompson who stopped 45 of 54 shots. Mortensen put up a barrier for Willmar.
 
Any break in the case?
I'd be surprised if law enforcement doesn't know by this time who the offending party is, with regard to the threat at the school. We have learned of another school in Minnesota where this has happened since. It's scary not only on the face of it, it's scary because if certain determined individuals in a given place decide to do this type of thing, it could be very hard to stop.
We must scratch our heads and wonder about this: we can never eliminate all risk from our lives. Problem is, we seem to have a policy of taking extraordinary measures based on the worst that could possibly happen. I don't even want to give the school or town names where the worst has happened. But it's troubling when extraordinary measures, presumably high-cost, must be taken based on a zero-risk attitude.
We never wish to allow risk of course. But life is risky by its nature. There's an old saying about how we start taking risks when we get up in the morning. That's fine for adults, but the thing with kids is that they are required to attend school. They are subjected to at least some risk by the mere act of attending school each day. Look at the risk element just in transporting kids by motor vehicle: look how that poor family was impacted in the Hancock school van accident. I think we all wonder how that accident was resolved in terms of what parties ended up paying the bills for medical treatment.
Upon hearing of the horrific accident, one of my first impulses was to wonder if staying home should be an option for more kids. Technology makes it easier for everyone to stay at home a good share of the time. The Internet is a resource for everything.
The recent school threat incidents make me wonder too if our law enforcement bureaucracy might fall into a sort of "racket" where people can make their living investigating these things. They end up with generous budgets. And you know how it is with government-supported things: once created and funded, they need to keep getting fed. We saw this for the enormous effort spanning many years with Jacob Wetterling: tips in the tens of thousands. Wouldn't it be fascinating to know how many hours and law enforcement dollars went into all that? The guilty party was a suspect early-on. It is now generally believed the early efforts had flaws. Once the guilty party created a reprieve for himself, springing from the net, we saw a bloated effort flailing about in countless ways, costing many fortunes, but law enforcement professionals could feel satisfied putting in their hours and making a living, through the dead ends and superfluous rabbit trails.
It is subconscious for sure: a desire to maintain a high need for government services, even if those services depend on troubling things happening. Of course no one wants bad things to happen. But people want to feel important and to make a living too, on a sustained basis.
Let's not forget those dogs that were brought here for the threat incident in Morris. The dogs might be the prime heroes. Give them some biscuits.
As I have stated, I do not think a stupid threat in my day would have caused mountains to be moved. Far from it. We'd hear a muttering of some adjective and then the application of an eraser. Seemed we all had a better sense of proportion during my young days. Not only about this but with lots of things, like jokes that might be un-P.C. It was a different world. Risk? To what extent are we being unreasonable if we just try to wipe it out, to apply an eraser to it? A truism: it is a dangerous world. Republican politicians like to respond to nasty things with "prayers" all the time, so let's just join in a prayer.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Ralph E. Williams could have handled jazz too!

Dad is in couple second from left. My, who is his date for the formal affair?

"Definitely tops," we see at the top of a billing for the Leroy Ellickson dance orchestra. The orchestra had instrumentation much like a modern day jazz band. We see Ralph E. Williams with his trumpet. The photo makes me wonder if he could have incorporated some jazz into UMM's early chapters of music. It was taken in the 1930s at the University of Minnesota.
Williams organized several dimensions of exciting music in UMM's early years. The college scene probably wasn't ready for serious jazz. The term seemed to suggest, well, not the most dignified artistic environment. We remember the scene in "The Glenn Miller Story" before the man got famous, when he and his squeeze visit a rather raucous nightclub where Louis Armstrong is performing. Artistic? Well yes, to the max. But the serious adherents of college-level music would be averse.
Even when the situation started changing, the word "jazz" was largely avoided. Morris High School with director John Woell had its "stage band." Eventually such groups unabashedly embraced "jazz," and today we have jazz band concerts at our high schools. UMM got its toe in the water with jazz in the late '70s. Finally with the triumphant return of James Carlson, who had taken the Seattle trip with my father's choir in 1962, we had quite the ambitious jazz program. The stature grew.
Carlson's UMM Jazz Festival took on fabled proportions, perhaps even to the extent of causing jealousy on campus. Ahem, my perception only. Today the Jazz Festival lives on although it's scaled back. We haven't seen much of Carlson over the recent past. I always called him Jim rather than the more popular "Doc."

Ralph Williams flashed his trumpet with "Swifty" Ellickson one night when Glenn Miller was in the neighborhood. The Ellickson orchestra was playing at a U of M "Sunlite" dance. Cedric Adams wrote that "a tall, dark and handsome chap" made his way into the room: the iconic Glenn Miller, eventually to be played by Jimmy Stewart in the movie. Glenn's "squeeze" was played by June Allyson, remember? (Harry Morgan was the piano player.)

U of M musicians, 1937 - Dad at second from right in standing row.

My father Ralph recalled getting a chance to talk with Miller. Miller's orchestra was playing at the Nicollet Hotel. Miller would unfortunately not survive World War II. Some mystery accompanied his death. The most accepted theory, weighed against some rather exotic ones - heart attack in a Paris brothel? - is that the small plane he was in was destroyed by planes discarding bombs. It was over the English Channel under foggy conditions. The movie just shows Stewart waving with a smile through the plane window just before takeoff.
 
All dolled up at the U!
Note the photo at the top of this post, a rarity where Dad's romantic interest is someone other than future wife Martha! Oh my. The occasion is the 1938 University of Minnesota Junior Ball. The quite formal event - note the corsages - was at the Lowry Hotel in St. Paul. It is hard for me or any long-time friends or family, to be sure, to internalize Dad with someone other than Martha. But, maybe people older than me wouldn't be so surprised.
I would know nothing of what happened before the 1950s! Looks like a very nice young lady who is with Dad. Would love to know her name and background. The scrapbook also includes a press photo of this event where Dad is visible.
We have a postcard that Dad sent to his mother Carrie in 1937 from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Carrie was a widow, having lost her husband Martin in 1933 to cancer. Dad graduated from Glenwood High School in 1934. He earned money for his U of M experience by working summers at Glacier National Park. He picked up the nickname "Tex" there. He spent considerable time on horseback during the day. At night he donned formal attire to ply his musicianship.
Dad's scrapbook includes a mass photo of "University of Minnesota bands" for Homecoming, October 26 of 1935. All this vitality belied how the U.S. had fallen into the grips of the Great Depression. John Dillinger had his heyday in this time period. My father gained attitudes typical of those who endured the Depression - valuing every nickel, never discarding anything.
The U of M band director was Gerald R. Prescott. I see a concert program from January 26, 1939, where Dad's name is in the trumpet section. Here's a letter to the editor from an Evanston IL resident: "I would like to congratulate the Minnesota band on the splendid sportsmanship it displayed at the Minnesota-Northwestern game by playing the Northwestern song at the end of the game. As a Northwestern alumnus I appreciated this 'good sportsman' gesture and I am sure my feelings are shared by all other Northwestern men who were at the game." (I should have "persons" in parenthesis.)
 

This must be Winston Jewson, drum major

Newspaper likens musicians to the gridders
Oh my, I have come to a page in this treasured scrapbook where I can fold out a full-page newspaper spread. It's on the University of Minnesota marching band and its hard work. "Football practice you seldom hear about," the headline for the spread reads. Underneath: "When the U of M band leads fans through school songs and cheers, and shags itself into designs on the football field at Memorial Stadium, one doesn't think about the long hours of preparation those fellows go through."
A large photo at the top was taken on game day: musicians in a big formation (looks like a star). The drum major in his resplendent white is in the middle. The photo you see at right here shows the drum major during the Ann Arbor trip in 1937. According to U of M band history online, we discover that this individual is almost certainly Winston Jewson. It's probably 99 percent.
The photos appear to be taken on Dad's camera. Like Dad, Winston lived to a very advanced age. This I discovered through an online obituary. Dad made it to 96 and Mr. Jewson to over 100! Both relished life throughout, I'm sure. Their musical zest no doubt contributed to longevity!
A photo at the bottom of the newspaper page shows the band in "the old pine tree formation." There's an "action" photo of director Prescott shouting out some instructions.
"Each afternoon the band goes down by the river where a field has been chalked off like a football field. That's where they work out their drills."
 
The macro picture was grim
The world events of the time had developments just as significant as the U.S. Depression. I turn over this feature spread and see on the other side, coverage of the Nazi ascendance. America was uncertain how or if the world conflict was going to draw us in. There is a large photo headlined "Goose stepping into Sudeten Land." More description: "Hitler's army of occupation marches into Rumberg, a Czechoslovakian city in the Sudeten area acquired by Germany under the terms of the Munich four-power agreement."

Dad at center assists in "initiation" for the band trip!

We see many of the town's citizens give the Nazi salute - eerie to see now. It foretold so much conflict, conflict that would draw my father as a U.S. Navy lieutenant into the Pacific theater. There the foe was the "Japs" as they were called with a term infused with prejudice. We heard them called "nips" in the "McHale's Navy" TV series. It's why re-runs are rare. The Germans? Well I suppose it was "Krauts."
I remember when Dad died and his obit appeared, our neighbor Lyle Rambow called and said "man, he did a lot of things." Well, his generation was certainly called upon. My generation? Well, we listened to Paul Revere and the Raiders. Seriously, I think my parents envisioned me as some sort of musical wellspring but no, I scratched the surface only, despite one or two things on my resume that might look good.
I started out on the French horn where I was surprised to discover it was a girls instrument? Why? Still seems strange. Del Sarlette must have smiled when he emailed a photo from long ago: me with all girls beside me with French horns. I played trumpet in marching band and was able to "morph" into trumpet, Dad's "ax." But I was nothing like him. I could pretend I was good under the right circumstances, that's all. I would have been better off never having been given that opportunity. I should have signed up for choir and just tried for 'C' grades. It would have been a blessing not to have to lug an instrument around. Del scanned all the photos you see with this post. Del's father Walt played bass fiddle in the original UMM orchestra. All the photos are priceless.
 
Video from the 1930s
I found a YouTube posting that appears to show the 1937 University of Minnesota marching band at a game, lasts only 12 seconds. Dad would be in there somewhere. Here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=159eTHzXOgQ

How we remember Ralph E. Williams in Morris MN

The best was yet to come, yes
Dad would come to our "jewel in the crown" University of Minnesota-Morris, for the institution's first year in 1960-61. We were "the little engine that could" here in Motown, on the prairie. "Fresh air!" Eddie Albert would say (in the opening to TV's "Green Acres").
Dad was the only music faculty in the institution's first year. What could be more exciting than to launch this endeavor? I was six years old. Miss Feigum's kindergarten class. On day 1, I paused and hesitated outside the school building, scared to go in. My parents had to prod me. I have shown similar fear considering asking a woman on a date. My father must have done it for the gala Junior Ball at the U of M. And, with a woman other than Martha if that can be conceived. Again, how wonderful it would be to know that young lady's name and hometown.
We mustn't let all these memories disappear into the sands of time. I wish I could to back in time and try to persuade Dad that it would be "hip" to start some sort of jazz ensemble in the '60s! Remember one of the "Back to the Future" movies where the Michael J. Fox character renders rock 'n' roll before the genre's time had come? The crowd of young people was restrained, apparently puzzled, and the Fox character said something like "you'll really go for this someday."
Maybe the audience at Edson Auditorium here would have reacted the same way to Ellickson's stage band music. But I love to close my eyes and imagine. Jim Carlson struck when the iron was hot in 1978. My father got involved in seemingly everything but jazz. 1960-61 was a dream come true for a lifetime music practitioner and educator. Me? Well, as Alex Karras said in "Blazing Saddles": "Mongo just pawn in game of life."
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

What if we lose our only grocery store?

Jack Benny at the grocery store (YouTube image)

Pitchers in baseball have always gotten a pass for carrying a little more weight than non-pitchers. Player/author Jim Bouton, writing back in 1970, found a way of describing his Houston Astros teammate Fred Gladding with a little levity: "He doesn't even look like a pitcher, he looks like a grocer who's been eating a good share of his profits."
In 1970 we were all a little more weight-conscious than today.
In Morris we have the grand Willie's Super Valu which, when it was first built, looked to me like a casino. It was so much more fancy than the previous place. Previously the store was in the space occupied by the Stock medical clinic, whatever its exact name is now. Does Morris really need two medical clinics? Rhetorical question.
As a child I observed the competition between Willie's Red Owl and Juergensen's Super Valu. Juergensen's was in the building that was Aaron Carlson Woodwork for a long time. Now it's Town and Country storage. In the '60s it was the Juergensen's store that had "partial carry," a term taught to me by the late beloved Glen Helberg. "Partial carry" meant the customers drove up to the front of the store where the sacks were placed in the vehicle.
Juergensen's had a quite nice snack counter where the ice cream cones seemed just as good as at the Dairy Queen. And the Dairy Queen was along East 7th Street which was an active artery for a long time. It was once the main entrance to Morris from the east. Plus it ran right past the school. The school was up through grade 12 as late as 1968. The building is gone. It's important to preserve the memories.
 
The cheese stands alone?
One can view the Willie's (casino) store as a monopoly today, or pretty close to it. I'd say it's a monopoly for all practical purposes, so congratulations Paul. However, this raises a concerning specter. What if we lost Willie's?
Can't happen? Well, we have sure lost other things. We read in the Star Tribune recently about Farmington losing its only grocery store. That article was presented in the context of this type of thing happening not infrequently. Before reading about Farmington, I came across an article on MSN about the surprise closures and how communities were having to react. The article gave as a case study Baldwin, Florida. The town's only grocery store closed in 2018. Residents were going to be inconvenienced with travel. Or worse yet like with so many senior citizens, isolated and with hardly any options. That would be unacceptable.

My own photo of Willie's Super Valu

So, what happens when the vaunted "private sector" just cannot come through? Conservatives and Republicans always tell us that the private sector and markets solve everything. So often those people just dispense sheep dip. And when the government does come to the rescue, those people are in denial. They will not say "socialism" even if that's what it is. There is plenty of socialism going on and it's practical in order to supplement private initiative. But the right wingers talk as if government help is anathema to America!
The mayor of Baldwin proposed that the town open its own grocery store. Supermarket businesses demand a profit margin that has to be fed. People need food. How to reconcile? The MSN article tells us that both urban and rural communities across the U.S. have adopted resident-owned co-ops or non-profits. In Baldwin there is a different choice, and this is for the "Baldwin Market" where employees are on the municipal payroll! The butcher, the cashiers, everyone.
Part of the fascination here is that there is no profit aim! The aim is to simply cover expenses, to keep the store going. The article cited St. Paul, Kansas, as another place that has implemented a city-run grocery store, since 2013. Communities feel a need for a bona fide and convenient grocery store, in order to be deemed an attractive place to live. But established grocery store chains are pressed in many places to get a profit up to their standard.
We can look at the newspaper here in Morris as a model for understanding the dynamics: It has changed hands, going from a regional corporate interest to a more local-flavored one, amidst talk that the bigger outfit was going to close the doors. I suppose we're all grateful the paper can be rescued. A price that gets paid though, according to my sources, is that the new outfit is not generous with employee benefits like health insurance. Many small businesses, even legal offices where I have a source, lose valued employees because those employees seek government employment where benefits are of course super.
One solution is for the government to get more involved like with a truly national health care system that takes pressure off the business people. Oh but that's "socialism" as the GOPers preach about.
 
Don't slam door on government
I have argued that government needs to get more involved helping the City of Morris with its new water treatment plant, in the sense of providing subsidies to help people make the transition from old water softeners. I floated this idea previously with the observation that we're in bright red Trump-supporting country where of course subsidies are odious. Are they really? Do the farmers gnash their teeth accepting subsidies?
No, I think most local people would love to see vouchers or something like that to help our new water treatment plant work. Senior citizens who love Donald Trump are happy to accept their Medicare.
The Baldwin FL mayor talks about the essential nature of food access. You'd think of course the private sector can handle this. Well I guess not. The private sector couldn't keep our local Shopko store open. So, it closed because people are gravitating to the discount or dollar stores? This is the factor cited in the closing of Elbow Lake's main street hardware store.
The discount stores have been a great resource for income-deprived people to keep reasonably happy with a decent lifestyle. But a shock may be coming: the "trade war" is going to result in a lot of the super cheap items becoming not so cheap anymore. The Baldwin mayor says "food access becomes almost like a utility that you have to have for a town to exist."
Communal ownership? Heavens, the word is a close relative of communism! And such operations seem to be sprouting in the more rural, Trump-oriented parts of the USA! I'm amused.
Baldwin is viable enough to support eleven churches. The IGA store there shut down in 2018. Would Baldwin become a "food desert?" Could Morris MN become a food desert? It's a scary but not unrealistic question.
 

Paul Martin

Ditch the ad circulars
I have given Paul Martin the suggestion that his store could quit sending out the weekly print ad circular. I just cannot see where that is essential. People either trust the store to have reasonable everyday prices or they don't. I have always felt that ads just tempt you to buy certain things you otherwise wouldn't, to buy greater quantity, or to buy a less-desired brand. So forget it and just buy what you need. You'll have plenty of opportunities to waste money anyway.
I used to load boxes of the Willie's ad circulars onto the Sun Tribune van. Do you know how much all those weighed?
Aren't you all intrigued by the idea of shopping at a store that seeks no profit and probably offers more of just the basic things. I have always wondered why you have to walk down an aisle with seemingly a hundred kinds of breakfast cereal. How about just four or five basic kinds? You'll find something there you'll like. You can extend this thinking throughout the store.
I'm writing these thoughts because we cannot rule out the kind of challenge that Baldwin, Farmington and other small communities have faced. We simply must be prepared. If Shopko could close, anything could happen. How did we get down to just one grocery store anyway? How far can this consolidation go? Can our local "casino" stay viable? Or even desirable?
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

A belated appreciation of the B-52s band

Album celebrates USA shopping malls!

The B-52s were not my cup of tea back in the day. I was in early adulthood in the 1980s. My idea of "hip" music was still the Beatles. How could music possibly evolve after that? Well, music does evolve, I guess by necessity.
People in the business of music are probably schooled on this: talent is important, yes, but it's a mere building block for what sells. No performer can ignore the public's limited attention span for a particular form of music or a favorite group. The thing is, people demand change even if they are not conscious of it. It's like TV shows back in the "Big 3" network days: they'd get canceled like it was a serial type of thing. Gee, all those shows could not have been lacking a high level of talent and commitment. They most surely were well-crafted, even the shows that never made it past their "pilot."
The raw insiders of TV would tell you that people are easily bored when consuming media, that in fact TV is a "boredom killing machine." We'd feel ashamed admitting that, for sure. We ought to feel ashamed watching any level of football now, based on what most of us accept as surely true: the unreasonable physical punishment experienced by the players. We shrug. In the privacy of our homes, we readily switch on whatever entertainment product satisfies us in the moment.
I tie all this in with music. It's quite parallel as we review the history of its pop form and how quickly talented acts rise and fall. Psychologists will tell us that we enjoy tearing down our celebrities. Yes, our darker side, and I remember the most wonderful Paul Revere and the Raiders at their peak. The Raiders succumbed to pressure to become more serious and even "dark." Why? Well, anyone who was my age in 1970 would easily understand.
Remember how Elvin Presley practically went into contortions saying "I'm just an entertainer" when pressed with questions about the Vietnam war? Crazy: such was our desperation to elevate anti-war sentiment, we wanted our celebrity/heroes to join in. And if they didn't, we might start withdrawing from them. Such a blunt proposition, and yet anyone involved in the business side of entertainment understands fully.

What to make of the B-52s
The B-52s were somewhat of a turn-off for me at first. They seemed rather loose and undisciplined. Indeed, "overdubbing" was eschewed on some of their recordings in order to accent what was seen as their organic, genuine quality. To which I'd respond: whatever works, fine. New stuff comes along in music all the time.
The gay pride angle: The '80s were a time when many of us felt uncomfortable with the overt expression of the gay lifestyle. LGBTQ? Did I get the initials right? Our society countenanced certain attitudes then - still some tolerance of misogyny - that are no-go today. I'm fine with gay rights today, certainly as a purely legal matter. I'm not sure the glorification of any sexual orientation is to be encouraged, frankly. My two blogs have boosted the ELCA of the Lutheran Christian Church for its acceptance of the gay orientation.
Today I review the B-52s and have a much more enthused attitude re. them. They get an A-plus for longevity and avoiding conflicts. They went on a 40th anniversary tour in 2019, an anniversary of their first album. And wouldn't you know, they followed the guaranteed instinct among these music folks of saying "we can still put out fresh material." The thought of which, makes me want to gnash my teeth over ABBA. That group has promised new music for a long time and keeps delaying.
An article late in 2019 quoted Fred Schneider of the B-52s saying they have "two new songs" slated as part of a new "deluxe" package. Expect the package to be out in 2020, Schneider says, although you know how these music people can lie! Just kidding. But, just show some healthy skepticism.

Keith Strickland

Have you had the same thought?
We hear that the new songs will be written by Keith Strickland. Typing his name here makes me smile. That's because whenever I see a B-52s music video, I see Strickland and I think "he's the normal one." The others seem at least mildly quirky in various ways.
I see Strickland and I'm reminded of actress Pat Priest who played "Marilyn Munster" on the Munsters TV sitcom of the mid-1960s. She was funny because she was normal and yet an oddity within the ghoulish family. It was a sitcom of course. Strickland was sort of the "placebo."
I guess it's natural for retro acts that are long of tooth to always insist "we can still do it." Or is it just an unavoidable part of the human condition?
Reflecting on Paul Revere and the Raiders, they went through a catharsis that I guess was inevitable for a group appealing to the youth. The group felt it had to harden its image and become more serious, in contrast to what might have been called "bubblegum." Oh, that seems like a mean-spirited term. People in the music business will never shy away from blunt language - they know the realities. "Bubblegum" was entertaining just like Elvis Presley was an entertainer. Pretty good musicians were needed to put out "bubblegum"

Fandom: not static
Paul Revere and the Raiders delivered the goods in the most pleasing way possible in about 1967 - their peak for doing this. It wasn't going to be good enough. Their fans got older and more focused on the serious cultural and political issues of the day.

(image from "discogs")

When the group posed for the cover photo of "Collage," Paul Revere himself wasn't even smiling, he looked sober. Maybe that was the kiss of death right there. The blond Paul Revere was always supposed to flash his most agreeable, toothy smile. At the same time, he was an enterprising and bona fide musician. Fans of the group late in their run got confused. They didn't quite understand the new, less happy image. Meanwhile, the long-time purveyors of serious or progressive rock were never going to accept "Paul Revere and the Raiders."
It didn't even help that the group became known as just the "Raiders." In fact that added to the confusion. "Indian Reservation," the group's only No. 1 hit, was put out under the "Raiders" name. Who were these guys?
Mark Lindsay did what so many young men then felt they had to do: grow out hair all over one's head and face - strange. Cultural vicissitudes are strange.
Old-time pop stars always act like they can stay fresh. There is one fundamental problem: Pop music is generally the domain of the young. When a performer ages, there is a serious problem of trying to connect with a young and exuberant fan base. Can the youth of today really understand Bob Dylan?
I understand the B-52s better than I used to. "Party band?" That's window dressing. I'm amused by the girls' beehive wigs and the thrift-store chic. Dig the fake eyelashes! They carved out a unique niche with Schneider's talking/singing approach called "sprechgesang." It all might seem rather trailer-parkish but this is a group that is welcomed in Las Vegas as much as anyone. "Hey, we're just entertainers."
It would have been great to see Paul Revere and the Raiders put out one more album from their "bubblegum" phase. Please shave, Mr. Lindsay. Smile, Paul.
 
Addendum: The B-52s are made up of Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson and Keith Strickland. Original member Ricky Wilson died of AIDs. Pierson has kept her singing voice very well, Cindy Wilson not so much. I see Pierson as the force that really propels the group today. She has aged overall very well. The group sprang from Athens, Georgia. They have been called "new wave" which reminds me of some George Harrison lyrics: ". . .and not new wave, they don't play that crap."
When you get right down to it, the B-52s' best songs are simply great music, not to be pigeon-holed. I consider the "Roam" song and video to be at the very top of the heap, priceless! Congrats to this foursome of "survivors." They're quite the "deadbeat club."
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com