Garden Party

“I learned my lesson well.

You see, you can’t please everyone

So you got to please yourself.”

    Ricky Nelson, “Garden Party.”

In 1971 Ricky Nelson participated in an Oldies show at Madison Square Garden. He came out with shoulder length hair, and when he mixed in new country-oriented material with his 50s hits, some audience members booed.  The event was gist for his final smash hit “Garden Party.”  One line goes, “Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan’s shoes wearing his disguise.”  Nelson was good friends both with Bob Dylan and ex-Beatle George Harrison, who uses the alias Mr. Hughes when traveling incognito.  Ricky, just nine months older than me, gained fame on the “Ozzie and Harriet Show.”  I saw him in concert in Atlantic City’s Steel Pier around 1960 when he was a reigning teen idol.  He died in 1985 in a plane crash.

Pat Heckler had a garden party for friends and Rusty Pipes members at her 98 year-old mansion in Hobart.  The food was great and grounds quite spectacular.  Rusty Pipes French horn player Dick Hagelberg took a late lunch hour in order to attend.  Pat’s son Bob, once keyboardist with Voodoo Chili, provided the music and put on quite a show, donning hats, hairpieces, shirts, glasses and other props to go with the song.  Hence a sailor’s hat for Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville.”  He has a regular gig at a bar near Wrigley Field and was playing later that evening at the Hobart band shell.  Brother Mike is really into trains and had one running outside that attracted almost as much attention from James and Becca as “Turtle Cove,” featuring three large, very much alive creatures.

Dan Kozlowski thanked me for the “Retirement Journal” and summarized his life in the 32 years since leaving IUN.  He joined the army, graduated from law school, was an attorney and city planner in Indy, and voluntarily returned to active duty after 9/11. Over the next nine years he was deployed in Iraq, Bosnia, and Afghanistan. A law school instructor, he wrote: “I have always tried to emulate you as a teacher.  What I remember most about you was your enthusiasm for the topic and your respect and appreciation for the students...I try to do the same.”

I checked out the space at Lee Construction where I shall be hanging drawings of Dale Fleming for Saturday’s Pop Up Art fest along Miller’s Lake Street.  I thought they’d just be in a window, but entire room will be open to the public, so I’ll be there the entire four hours.  Maybe I’ll hawk Shavings magazines that feature Dale’s work or have info on pioneer Millerite Drusilla Carr and Diana of the Dunes.  Archives volunteer Maurice Yancy helped transport two boxes on book to my car.

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker survived the recall election thanks to outspending his opponent almost ten to one.  Fat cats from all over the country took out their wallets to support the anti-union scumbag.  Hopefully it is not a harbinger of things to come in November.

I met with Henry and Ryan Farag at T.J. Mahoney’s in Merrillvile to strategize about turning “The Signal” into an e-book.  Ryan has converted it to a kindle format that looks quite professional.  We’re hoping to interest IU Press in adapting it rather than distributing it independently.  IU professor James Madison co-edits a series on Midwestern History and Culture, so I pitched the idea to him, writing: “Eleven years ago, as part of my Steel Shavings magazine series, I published Henry Farag’s “The Signal: A Doo-Wop Rhapsody.”  It is a fascinating story of someone growing up in an ethnic working-class neighborhood in Gary who goes on to a career as a producer of Oldies shows and a member of the singing group Stormy Weather.  It contains sketches of performers Henry has dealt with, such as Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis, to mention just a few.  Farag’s Canterbury Productions team would advertise it heavily (Henry, for instance, has an upcoming show in New York City and countless contacts in the music business).  Since it is virtually ready to go, it wouldn’t require much labor beyond making certain it measures up to the press’s high standards.  Twenty-five years ago IU Press distributed a book I co-edited entitled “Forging a Community” that was originally published by Cattails Press.  Cattails supplied the books and received half the proceeds.  We could set up similar arrangements for “The Signal” with Canterbury Productions   If sales take off, as I suspect they will, perhaps IU Press might consider investing the profits in publishing it as a paperback.”

One “Jeopardy” question had to do with the War of (Robert) Jenkins’ Ear between Great Britain and Spain, named for an the body part of a merchant ship captain that a Spaniard sliced off in 1731.  An answer in the category “Antiheroes” was Travis Bickle, the Robert De Niro character in “Taxi Driver.”

I packed a ham and sweet pickle sandwich on rye, IUN’s cafeteria being closed Fridays during the summer.  Game weekend at the Wades commenced at 3 p.m.  I went one for five, edging out Tom in Stone Age in a tiebreaker.  We introduced Brady’s friends to Pit, a once popular game that we hadn’t played in years.  I was about to leave when Dave arrived and got talked into playing Amun Re.  Darcy made delicious potato salad and meatballs and gravy.