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I gotta get out of here
They say the wind chill could reach 40 below tomorrow. Maybe the next day, too. It’s a flashback to 1972. We’d just moved. New house, new school, for the fifth time in nine years. Kids are resilient,...
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Taking stock of The Corporation
50 years ago, as January turned to February in the winter of 1969, a Milwaukee band was playing at Club Sahara, a popular place on the east side of Green Bay. Lots of Milwaukee and Chicago bands made...
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Over 12 years, a musical education
When this blog debuted 12 years ago this week, I knew plenty about Peter Tork and I knew nothing about Harvey Scales. Fellow music bloggers hepped me to Harvey Scales, who was an underappreciated...
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Scenes from the record convention
On the first gloriously sunny 50-degree day of spring in our corner of Wisconsin, a bunch of us stayed inside and went record digging. More than 300 people turned out for the spring Green Bay Record...
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Farewell to the Arena
If you go to Wikipedia and search for the Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena in Green Bay, Wisconsin, this is the picture you’ll see. It’s from a dozen years ago, 2007, but that doesn’t matter. What...
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Coming full circle
We had long ago committed to seeing Cher at the new basketball arena in Milwaukee. But then I saw Joe Jackson also was coming to town. Oooh, we really needed to see that one, too, even if the shows...
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Take me to the water
Yesterday was one of those beautiful days on which good memories wash over you. Good memories of our Aunt Carol, whose life we celebrated. She was 89 when she died a week ago. She was the last of my...
View ArticleNational anthem performances, ranked
On this Independence Day, a ranking of the top national anthem performances of all time. This is a highly subjective list. Yours likely will be different. That’s what makes America great. 1. Jimi...
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The most amazing Rhythm Ace
Russell Smith, first-rate singer, first-rate songwriter, died last week. He was 70. The Amazing Rhythm Aces got lumped in with the country crowd in the latter half of the ’70s, but their sound — shaped...
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By the time we got to Woodstock
So many great adventures begin with someone asking, “Hey, want to come along?” That’s how my friend Tony Baldwin found himself at Woodstock 50 years ago tonight, on Friday, Aug. 15, 1969. Tony was 17...
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The black-and-white snapshot
As noted yesterday on Facebook … Boston’s debut album was released on yesterday’s date in 1976 — Aug. 25, 1976. I bought my copy at Inner Sleeve Records in Wausau not long after yesterday’s date in...
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It was anything but nirvana
Seen today on Twitter. Nirvana released their monster hit single "Smells like teen spirit" today in 1991. If it's possible for one rock song to define a generation this may be it....
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The timelessness of protest
You don’t need me to tell you what’s going down in this country these days. You know what the score is. Did you say you’re a public servant? Well, then let me ask you why You’re keeping the public...
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It’s all too much
50 years ago, as September turned to October in 1969, Green Bay was waiting for the Beatles. It had been almost a year since the Beatles’ previous LP, the one they called “The Beatles” and the one...
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50 years ago: Underground Sunshine
50 years ago, in 1969, the members of a garage band from Montello, a small town in south-central Wisconsin, went on the ride of their lives. Early that year, Underground Sunshine was playing teen...
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Christmas Eve with Satchmo and Irma
Please enjoy our traditional Christmas Eve post. On a winter day almost 50 years ago, Louis Armstrong went to work in the den at his home at 34-56 107th Street in Corona, Queens, New York. That day —...
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Three Christmas wishes
The first wish Christmas bells, those Christmas bells Ringing through the land Bringing peace to all the world And good will to man “Snoopy’s Christmas,” the Royal Guardsmen, from “Snoopy and His...
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The gift that keeps on keepin’ on
Christmas has come and gone for another year, but some gifts you never forget. 50 years ago, for Christmas 1969, Santa brought a radio. Yep, that Panasonic RF-930 AM-FM radio. It changed and shaped my...
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Here’s hoping Santa is cool with this
Now that Christmas has come and gone, I can come clean. Six days before Christmas, my son and I took a quick overnight trip to Minneapolis. For Evan, it was an opportunity to do some research at one of...
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Gone in threes: 2019
They go in threes. They always go in threes. Badasses: Richard Cole (the last of the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders of World War II), Al Haynes (United pilot crash-landed a crippled DC-10 –“a cartwheeling...
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