March 15th, 2019 by Gary Osberg
Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day Eve and The Irish Band,
Ring of Kerry,
will be performing at the Paramount Center for the Arts in downtown St.
Cloud. Tickets are available at paramountarts.org. I have tickets
to Delfeayo Marsalis & The Uptown Jazz Orchestra which is at
Escher Auditorium on the campus of the College of Saint Benedict. Tickets
are available at csbsju.edu/wow.
The origin of the song “Danny Boy” is an
interesting story. The tune is known as the “Londonderry Air” and it
originated in the northern most county of Ireland. The story goes that
sometime in the 1600 hundreds, a blind harpist, Rory Dall O’Cahan, was
traveling home after having finished a gig at a castle in the Valley of
Roe. He had a little too much to drink, and he fell asleep in a ditch
along the road. He was awakened by the sound of a fairy playing the most
beautiful tune he had ever heard on his harp. He returned to the castle
and proceeded to play the first rendition of what became known as the
“Londonderry Air.”
In 1851, Jane Ross heard a blind fiddler, Jimmy McCurry
playing the tune at a fair and she wrote the notes down. The tune spread
all over the western world. Many tried to come up with words to the tune,
including some of the best known poets of the time, but none seemed to
work. Finally an Englishman, Fred Weatherly, a teacher and a lawyer who
had written nearly 1,500 songs in his lifetime, was sent the tune by a
sister-in-law who lived in America. Over a three month period, Fred had
lost his father and his only son. The song was published in 1913. His
sorrow is reflected in the words that he wrote, especially the second
verse.
“But if you come and the flowers are all dying. If I
be dead, as dead I might well be. You will come and find the place
where I am lying and kneel and say an “Ave” there for me. And I shall
hear , though soft you tread above me and all my grave the warmer, sweeter be,
and if you bend and tell me that you love me, then I shall sleep in peace,
until you come to me.”
Live from Here tomorrow will be a live show
from The Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul. Jon Batiste will be the guest
host. Special guests include Emily King, Nick Waterhouse and Rachael
Price.
“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets
in.” Leonard Cohen
March 8th, 2019 by Gary Osberg
The reason that this is going
out late is that this morning I attended Chamber Connection at the CMBA Show
which opens today at noon at River’s Edge Convention Center. Be sure to
check out The Future Home Display. Stearns Electric is the Platinum
Sponsor of the show. This afternoon might be a good time to get downtown
St. Cloud.
My grandson “Walleye Willie” turned 10
years old on Sunday. Willie is passionate about fishing. He even sleeps with a
“fish pillow”. Every year he makes a list of 10 fish that he wants to catch. In
2015 it was well into October when he and his dad landed a 46” Muskie, the last
one on that year’s Bucket List. In September of last year he has caught an even
bigger Muskie.
We have registered walleyewillie.net for
him since he plans on being a fishing guide when he is older. Two years
ago Willie was recognized as a Master Angler by the Minnesota Fishing Museum
and Hall of Fame in Little Falls, Minnesota. He had caught and released a
25 ½ inch Walleye. (proof attached)
Live from Here this week is a rebroadcast of a
previously recorded show.
“And another truth, that there are no
secret passages to strength, no magic words. It is just something you
know about yourself. Judith Guest American Writer.
March 1st, 2019 by Gary Osberg
I did hear a Cardinal
yesterday as I left the office to head home. Maybe there is hope after
all.
In the spring of 2000 I
visited our classical music station in Sun Valley, Idaho, KWRV 91.9, for
the first time. When I made my second trip in the fall, I decided to
drive the rental car to Bozeman, Montana and visit my Uncle Bill and Aunt
Maggie. I wanted to get to know these folks better. This became an
annual event. Each year I heard more stories and I learned to love these
wonderful people.
Uncle Bill passed about ten years ago. It has
been two years since Aunt Maggie passed. She and her
husband Bill Heisick both grew up in Bozeman, Montana. Bill served in the
Pacific during World War II. When he came home he and his mother traveled to LA
to visit some friends. One day a fellow named Ivan popped in to see his friend
Tommy who happened to be playing bridge with Bill and his mother Mary. Ivan
asked who owned the car outside with the Montana license plates. Uncle Bill
spoke up. Ivan told Bill that his girlfriend, Maggie Caven, lived in Bozeman
and Bill should greet her for him when he got back home.
When Bill got back to Bozeman he phoned
Maggie and asked her to go to a movie. Maggie mistook Bill for his older
brother Bob who she had once met in high school. She accepted the date and she
was very disappointed when she found out that Bob had been killed in the war.
She was quite sure that Bill, who was a
couple of years younger than she, was not her kind of fellow. Bill was very
handsome and Maggie was sure that like most handsome men, he would prove to be
full of himself. She tried to call it off, but Bill was persistent and they
were married in Tucson, Arizona on April 12, 1949. They were a very happy
couple. They lived in Van Nuys, CA and retired to a small ranch outside of
Bozeman in 1984. I am not sure what happened to Ivan, but he shared too
much with the wrong fellow at the wrong time.
Live from Here this week is a live show from the State
Theatre in Minneapolis. Special guests include Broken Social Scene,
the Vijay Iyer Trio and Dave Hill. Enjoy the show on your radio or
your smart phone or at Livefromhear.org.
“I believe we have two lives. The life we
learn with and the life we live after that.” Glenn Close to Robert
Redford in “The Natural”
February 22nd, 2019 by Gary Osberg
A couple of years ago I attended a Waite Park Chamber event hosted by MinnWest Bank. The speaker was Jill with Express Employment Professionals. Her opening statement concluded that, on average, we will each have three careers and 27 jobs in our lifetime. At first, it sounded like a bit much, but then I started counting. My three careers were drafting, office furniture/equipment sales and now nearly 16 years selling sponsorships for Minnesota Public Radio. I did have more than 20 jobs.
My first job was working at Ramlo Grocery in Upsala, (my grandparents owned the store) for fifty cents an hour. The summer between my junior and senior year in high school I worked for my step-grandfather, Francis Johnson, as a house painter in Little Falls. As I mentioned last week, in 1962 I got into the drafting field thanks to my sisters friend, Barry Larson. I worked my way up from being a draftsman on the Polaris project at Honeywell to being a manager with the very first computerized drafting service bureau in the U.S., Norwood Engineering.
We were way ahead of our time and after a rough first few months, I was laid off on the day of my daughters first birthday. The founders had been the sales force and they had been let go by the Board of Directors. Two guys that worked for me were the entire production crew. They went on strike until the new President, Ron Crew, agreed to hire me back as the sales rep. Every day we would go to the office and negotiate for my return and then buy a 12 pack and go to the lake for lunch. After a few weeks Ron agreed to take me back.
One of the two guys who went on strike was Eckart “Butch” Herter, who took me aside to tell me that my hand shake sucked and that, if I was planning on being a salesman, I had better read “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. He was right on. He died way to young of cancer. The other guy runs a movie theater in Hutchinson with his wife.
I owe them big time.
February 15th, 2019 by Gary Osberg
“You just need to find your authentic
swing!” Declared by Bagger Vance, a character in the movie “The Legend of
Bagger Vance”, released in 2000 and directed by Robert Redford. Doing well at
the game of golf is akin to doing well at the game of life. I am here doing
what I do, loving what I do, to a large degree because of luck. Being in the
right place at the right time. I had no idea what I was “going to be when I
grew up”. I once signed up for the “Phillips Gas Station Management Program”.
Those of us in the program wore company uniforms but I don’t remember having to
wear “the cap”. They taught us how to properly check the oil and wash the
windshield while keeping an eye on the gas pump.
One day in 1962, my sister’s boyfriend
Barry Larson asked me if I had any skill with “drafting”. He had a side job
that he needed help with. I was living with my mother recovering from a back
operation and I told a fib, but I got the job. When he came to pick up the
finished work, he was not happy. “Don’t you know the difference between an
object line and a dimension line?” Clearly I did not. I bought an instruction
book and did the work over again. I ended up as an Engineer Aid on the Polaris
project at Honeywell and designed a part for the gyro used in the missile . I
own a tie clasp with a submarine on the face of it. I probably still have that
instruction book in a box somewhere. When I left that job to go back to college
they gave me a very nice compass set and a briefcase to carry my books.
Over the last 57 years I have had twenty
three jobs, in three different industries, drafting, office equipment and
radio. I started my radio career here on the third floor of Wimmer Hall
in October of 1999. It is hard to believe that soon, it will be 20 years
with Minnesota Public Radio.
The next live broadcast of Live from
Here is next Saturday from Detroit. This weekend there will be a
rebroadcast of a show.
February 8th, 2019 by Gary Osberg
Minus 18 degrees. Yuk! It reminds me of my
childhood. Strange how we have those very early memories. One of my
earliest is from when I was four years old. We lived in a rented
farm house between Clear Lake and St. Cloud near Highway 10. I have this
memory of being carried into the kitchen from the car on a very cold
evening. I remember opening the refrigerator and seeing a carrot stick in
a glass of frozen water. It seems to me that the refrigerator was very
nearly empty. For some reason a visit to a chinchilla farm was somehow
connected to this memory.
Another memory of that farm is when I stepped on rotten
boards over an open well and I started to fall but my sister Kathie grabbed my
arm and held on until help could come. It was either my mother or the
farm hand that pulled me up. I do believe that the house is still
standing. Hopefully the well is gone.
Tomorrow night I will be on Otter Tail Lake at the second
annual OTC-On Ice. It opens tonight. The entertainment is inside a tent
with heaters. I will give you a full report next week. Details at
OTConice.com
Live from Here this week is another
rebroadcast. Enjoy the show and stay warm.
“If I shoot at the sun I may hit a star.” P.T.
Barnum American Showman
February 1st, 2019 by Gary Osberg
My son Erik works for Otter
Tail County in Economic Development. He sent this to me this
morning: Meet the music of OTC-ON
ICE! These five homegrown bands will be
performing under the big tent, on the ice, next weekend on Otter Tail Lake: Pert Near Sandstone, Tigirlily,
the4onthefloor, Cindy Jo & Dirt Road Dixie plus Aaron Simmons & the
Roadkill.
Kendra and Krista
of Tigirlily grew up in the small North Dakota town of
Hazen. Recently, they moved to Nashville but remain “Midwest girls at heart!”
When asked about their upcoming performance on a frozen lake they responded,
“It is going to be an absolute blast. The band is phenomenal, and we will be
playing everything from originals to 80’s hits. This is a brand new “show”
experience for us as well, being out on the ice, so we can’t wait for February
to come.” Tigirlily will be performing on Saturday, Feb. 9th
at 6:00 pm. You don’t want to miss this!
Pert Near Sandstone, will be playing Saturday the 9th
at 8:00 p.m. Guitarist Nate Sipe describes the
band’s music “as modern string band music, informed equally by old-time American
folk music and the popular music that we grew up on, which includes everything
from Bob Dylan to Young MC. We have been deeply influenced by the West Bank
Minneapolis folk scene dating from the 60’s through today, as well as other
contemporary Minnesota musicians.” Nate has a local connection: he grew up
spending walleye opener on nearby East Battle Lake. Be sure to catch Pert Near’s show.
For more information and to purchase tickets, go to
otconice.com I have booked a room at Thumper Pond for next Saturday
night. I hope to see you there.
Live from Here this week is a live show from Los Angeles with special guests
Andrew Bird, Jenny Lewis and the very funny Sarah Silverman. You can
listen on your radio or smart phone or you can watch it on YouTube.
Stay warm. I know, I told you the same thing last week, I goofed up.
“The time to be happy is now; the place to be happy is here;
the way to be happy is to make others so.” Robert Ingersoll
January 25th, 2019 by Gary Osberg
Tuesday was the fifty second birthday of
Minnesota Public Radio. On January 20, 1967 at 3:37 PM, St. John’s University
received a telegram from Ben F Waple, the Secretary of the Federal
Communications Commission. The telegram authorized KSJR-FM to transmit
“effective radiated power of 37 kilowatts” on the 90.1 frequency. It took the
engineers a couple of days to get programming on the air. The first words
uttered on MPR’s airwaves by engineer Dan Rieder, was “Heed my words, Earth
People. You have 10 minutes to live.” We began as Minnesota Educational Radio
and in 1974 the name was changed to Minnesota Public Radio. The telegram was
chosen as one of the “10 objects that define the St. Cloud area” by a panel of
judges in February of 2012.
Today, Minnesota Public Radio® (MPR)
operates a 46-station radio network serving virtually all of Minnesota and
parts of surrounding states. Reaching over one million listeners each week,
Minnesota Public Radio produces programming for radio, Internet and
face-to-face audiences, and is home to the largest and most experienced radio
newsroom in the Upper Midwest. Programs produced by Minnesota Public Radio’s
parent company, American Public Media™, reach nearly 20 million listeners on
more than 1,000 public radio stations nationwide each week. A complete list of
stations, programs and additional services can be found at www.mpr.org
Live from Here this week is a live show from Los Angeles with
special guests Andrew Bird, Jenny Lewis and the very funny Sarah
Silverman. You can listen on your radio or smart phone or you can watch
it on YouTube. Stay warm.
“Tell
me, what else should I have done? Doesn’t everything die at last, and too
soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious
life?” from The Summer Day by Mary Oliver
January 18th, 2019 by Gary Osberg
My dad died fourteen years ago. We held a
memorial service for him at Gethsemane Church in Upsala. Dad had prepared many
funeral plans over the years, due in part to his decision to donate his body to
the University of Minnesota Medical School. Also, in 1969 his doctors had told
him that he had cancer and would probably only live another five years. He
lived 36 years after the removal of his voice box. The soloist at the service
asked if dad was a Elvis Presley fan, since all of the songs that he choose
were on an Elvis album, Evening Prayer, He Touched Me, Amazing
Grace and The Lord’s Prayer.
I was at home the Monday evening after the
service when the phone rang. I answered it with a somewhat weary voice and the
woman on the other end said: “We are looking for the family of Gary Osberg”.
Expecting a sales pitch, I responded: “This is Gary!”. There was a long pause
and I heard laughter in the background. I thought to myself, ‘I am not in the
mood for this’. The lady came back on with: “This is the strangest phone call I
have ever made. We have a floral arrangement for the funeral of Gary Osberg”.
In a loud voice I proclaimed: “I AM ALIVE, IT WAS MY DAD THAT DIED! Where are
you calling from?” The floral shop was in a city not even close to Upsala. She
told me that she had checked with all of the funeral homes and churches in her
area and had no luck. The flowers arrived on Wednesday and they were beautiful.
Live from Here this week is a rebroadcast of a show. You can
subscribe to a weekly newsletter and watch videos of last weeks performances
online at livefromhere.org
“I
walked for miles at night along the beach, searching endlessly for someone
wonderful who would step out of the darkness and change my life. It never
crossed my mind that the person would be me.” Anna Quindlen
January 11th, 2019 by Gary Osberg
Many years ago my Dad went to work as a dishwasher at Little
Sisters of the Poor in St. Paul. His boss was a woman named Maxine.
They became real good friends and her family referred to him as Grandpa Bill.
Maxine and Dad never lived together, but they ended up living in the same high
rise apartment building next to St. Paul Ramsey Hospital on University Avenue.
When Maxine died, I attended the funeral and Dad surprised me by asking me to
sing “The Lord’s Prayer” and “Amazing Grace” during the service. There was no
piano, so I had to sing “a Capella”. It was ok.
One of the pieces of furniture that Dad brought with him
when he moved in with me was a corner unit with glass shelves and a glass door
that had belonged to Maxine. Her family had given it to him. After Dad passed,
I had to clean out his room. One of the items in the cabinet was a small green
egg with silver decorations and a seam abound the middle. I was curious to see
what treasure was inside, but when I pried it open, expecting to find a doll,
what came out were ashes! “OH MY GOD! IT WAS MAXINE”. I spilled a little in my
haste to put it back together and quickly put it back in the curio.
A few years later, it happened again to someone that was
helping me to clean house. After that I decided to dig a hole next to my
Dad’s grave and bury the “egg”.
The Live from Here show tomorrow is in fact a
live show from Kansas City. Special guests include Mandolin Orange, My
Brightest Diamond, Judy Gold and Gaby Moreno. Enjoy the show on
your radio, smart phone or you can watch it on YouTube.
“My Fellow Minnesotans, Thank you. I am
deeply grateful for the chance to serve as our great state’s Governor for the
past eight years. In 2010, I promised “A Better Minnesota”. Working
together, we have kept that pledge.” Former Governor Mark Dayton
Note: This was the entire Letter to The Editor in
yesterday’s St. Cloud Times. It can be read in 15 seconds, just like all
of the underwriting messages on MPR.
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