The Corona Diaries Vol. 79: Total Madison Retain

(mid-November 2022)

(Watch the prelude.)

Having done a fair amount of traveling in October, November is shaping up to mostly be spent close to home.

My Frau and I went to see progressive rock stalwarts Yes on the 9th. It was my 5th time seeing them live, 6th if you include an Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe show. The band formed back in the late 60s and, while a couple of the guys are a bit long in the tooth, some newer, younger members are helping to keep the flame alive.

Having been around so long with many, many albums to choose songs from, every fan is bound to have a tune that they really want to hear but doesn't get played. The band performed a couple songs I didn’t expect to hear along with several that I did and are, simply put, obligatory these days. The tour was to mark the 50th anniversary of Close to the Edge, their 5th album and so they performed it in its entirety.

The church organ section of the title track never fails to send a shiver down my spine. Similarly, the vocal arrangement in that section, called "I Get Up, I Get Down", is truly a thing of beauty. One autumn evening many years ago, I was driving down Bailey Road east of Madison listening to the song very loudly and, when that section came on, I felt surrounded by grandeur and as if I had been transported somewhere else. Perhaps to the land of Roger Dean's album covers where everyone talks impressionistically - like Jon Anderson's lyrics. It was simply a beautiful moment.

Still, I wish that there had been a bit more variety in the setlist. "On the Silent Wings of Freedom" was an unexpected choice and I enjoyed it greatly. This opened the concert and it was my first time seeing Billy Sherwood on bass. He played reverently but not in slavish imitation of Chris Squire, to my ears. Plus, they did a couple new songs from their latest album, The Quest. But it was really a show dedicated to a trio of their early 70s work - The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close to the Edge.

With Geoff Downes in the band, I find it a shame that they included no Drama material or anything released since he rejoined the band in 2010. "Fly From Here" or a chunk of it would have been great to hear.

Despite my desire to have more eras of the band's history represented, it was still fun. They seemed happy to be onstage and played a spirited show.

Someone who sat 8-10’ in front of me shot some video and posted it online. Here’s most of the epic song “Close to the Edge”.

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A few days later I donned my apron and headed over to a local church where the Polish Heritage Club – Madison was holding its Christmas Bazaar. I believe it was the first once since the pandemic took hold.

Although it was a bazaar and there were plenty of things to buy, I always think of eating when it comes to this event. This is because I spend all day back in the kitchen cooking. I think I grilled up a metric ton of kielbasa.

While I enjoy cooking at home and helping out the PHC, I am glad that I no longer work in a commercial kitchen having to feed hungry hordes.

As folks ate, they were serenaded by these fellows.

There was a room with information about Poland as well as materials to help people take their first steps into genealogical research.

If you need Wianek (floral headbands), we’ve got you covered.

There was a craft room for kids, lots of food for sale to take home including a plethora of tempting sweets such as Makowiec. Sadly, I neglected to get in line early and all of the tasty sweet treats were gone by the time I had finished my duties in the kitchen.

Polish pottery was to be had as well as all manner of amber jewelry.

Working in a hot kitchen all day is hard work and we needed to stay hydrated. And so we did. With Polish beer, er, piwo.

Next up for me will be on the Polish heritage front will be Pączki Day on 21 (or 23) February. Then on Palm Sunday, I will again be cooking for the Club’s Spring Festival.

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Man cannot live on kielbasa alone so I took advantage of this year’s bumper cranberry crop and made some cranberry pork chops.

I thought they turned out rather well.

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The UW’s main repository of human knowledge, Memorial Library, has an exhibit on display called “Press Play” which gives a brief history of recorded sound and draws from the library’s holdings. A friend and I stopped down there recently.

The first thing we saw was this:

Described as a “flat disc”, it dates to 1896 and features George J. Gaskin singing “Tramp Tramp Tramp” which was apparently on the hit parade during the Civil War.

Next to this was an Edison Phonograph from 1919.

The platter on that magnificent looking turntable features the earliest known vocal rendition of “On, Wisconsin”, which is not only the UW’s fight song, but also the State Song of Wisconsin.

Next to Edison’s phonograph were some of his wax cylinders.

At about this point, a young woman came into the exhibit who looked to be of undergrad age. She was smart and donned her headphones, scanned QR codes, and listened to the audio portion of the exhibit which allowed one to hear the recordings behind the glass.

I am not sure how to scan a QR code. Instead, my friend and I chatted away about what we were seeing. We had heard of these recording doodads but probably hadn’t actually seen many of them in person. One playback technology I hadn’t encountered before were these records that were 20” in diameter. Reading the card next to one, I was quite surprised to find that they played at 100(+) RPM. 100 RPM?!

“If that thing flew off the spindle, it could surely decapitate someone like Odd Job’s hat in Goldfinger,” I reasoned.

This display featured local (south central Wisconsin) history. WIBA is a Madison radio station while that marionette is Jim Kirchstein, the founder of Cuca Records. Cuca was formed in Sauk City, a town about 25-30 miles northwest of Madison, in 1959 and it released a lot of polka and other “ethnic music” of the area from European immigrants and their descendants, including the polkabilly stylings of the Goose Island Ramblers, a favorite group of mine.

But Cuca also recorded rock bands and is most famous for The Fendermen’s cover of “Mule Skinner Blues” by Jimmie Rodgers. The Fendermen, a.k.a. - Jim Sundquist and Phil Humphrey, were Wisconsin natives and met while they were both attending UW-Madison. The song was recorded in the basement of a music store in Middleton, a Madison suburb.

Before the records yielded to cases of 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs, and iPods, there was this handy guide for aspiring DJs and rappers on how to scratch.

Lastly, I’ll note that the exhibit also featured a record from the legendary blues singer Ma Rainey on the Paramount label. While I knew of Paramount, I don’t think I’d ever actually seen of one their discs in real life.

Paramount Records was a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Chair Company which made, in addition to chairs, cabinets for phonographs. They got into the record business in 1918 and Paramount lasted until the early 1930s. Although they released music by a variety of artists in a variety of genres, the label is best known these days for the blues recordings it did from the late 1920s through the early 30s.

Contacts in Chicago arranged for blues (and jazz) musicians from all around, including the deep South, to head to a small town – Grafton – in Wisconsin, a bit north of Milwaukee. And so the vaunted label gave us recordings by such hallowed figures as Charley Patton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Ma Rainey, Louis Armstrong, Meade Lux Lewis, and many others.

Rock star Jack White became so enamored of Paramount's blues recordings that he had his record company, Third Man Records, put out deluxe sets of the material called The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records: Volumes One and Two. This surely involved lots of time and effort simply spent tracking down recordings alone, not to mention that spent getting them cleaned up for the best possible sonic experience. These sets include vinyl records, tons more digital recordings, books worth of liner notes, and replicas of ads for the records that appeared in the Chicago Defender in the 1920s such as this one.

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In a previous entry I related how I had finally read Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I figured in for a penny, in for a pound so I went ahead and read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

I appreciated the vernacular language as well as the descriptions of the Mississippi River and environs, but I missed the more playful aspect of Tom Sawyer. That book had funny bits but this one is much darker. The humor is replaced by life or death gambits.

I’m glad I read it but Huck Finn is a historical relic to me and not a piece of literature to which I shall return.

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Bonus photo! Here is Grabby being very naughty and scouting for food on the kitchen counter.

 

 

 (Head to the postlude.)

The Corona Diaries Vol. 74: Down Highway 53 There's a Place Called Osseo

(late October 2022)

(Listen to the prelude.)

As happened last year, October rolled around and I found myself with a fair amount of vacation time to use before the end of the year. So I once again planned a trip up to the northwestern part of the state. And just like last year, my first destination was Osseo to meet a couple of friends from high school for dinner and drinks.

On the way up, I stopped at the Black River Falls rest area. It has a lovely scenic overlook a short walk from the parking lot. You go up Bell Mound and then take a boardwalk around it to the overlook.

 

The historic marker noted that the area was home to a mine owned by the Jackson County Iron Company and that the mine’s buildings and pit would be visible from the overlook. I looked and squinted and looked again but couldn’t see them. Later I realized that the marker dated to 1976 and that the pit mine was handed over to the county and had become Wazee Lake at some point in the intervening years. My Frau and I took a swim there back in 2009 and it is magnificent. Water clear as day. Most of the lake is rather shallow but the open mine bit is a genuine abyss and I am told that people dive there to get their certification.

A 30-mile drive north and I was once again in Osseo which lies in the far northeast corner of Trempealeau County. Founded in 1857, the origin of the name is lost in the mists of time but the best theory is that it comes from the name of a character in Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha" which was published the previous year.

My time in Osseo last fall saw no shortage of rain and I abandoned my plans to walk a stretch of the Buffalo River Trail as the storms had left many large puddles. This year was dry and warmer, even if the sun wasn’t always shining. I parked, pulled my bicycle out from the back of my car and was off.

It wasn’t long before I realized that I hadn’t put on my shoes which didn’t have mesh sides and kept the wind out. While it was certainly warmer than last year, it still wasn’t balmy out. I cursed as it dawned on me that I had forgotten to pack my other pair of gym shoes and my boots. It seemed that I was destined to have cold feet on this ride.

Although it had rained the previous night, the storm wasn’t of biblical proportions so standing water was merely sporadic. But the crushed gravel wasn’t always firm and my tires sank in for much of the ride. Not deeply, mind you, but my legs did get a workout.

The trail is about 36 miles long and stretches from Mondovi to the west of Osseo to Fairchild to the east. It follows Highway 10, more or less, and is a former rail corridor. The railroad was built between 1887-1890 by regional lumber baron Nathaniel Foster. (I have once source giving his middle initial as G while another C.) Foster owned lumber yards in Mondovi and Osseo as well as Eleva and Strum, two towns which are in between those two. Originally called the Sault Ste. Marie & Southwestern Railway, it would become part of the Omaha Railway and finally the Chicago & Northwestern. The tracks were abandoned in 1975 and dismantled the following year. Eventually the Wisconsin DNR bought it and turned it into the Buffalo River Trail you see before you.

The DNR website explains that the Buffalo River was so named because early French explorers had christened it Riviere de Beeufs since the area was home to many bison back in the day.

The Buffalo River, which I remember being called the Beef River when I lived in the area, looks more like a creek as it wends its way from Osseo westward where it eventually meets the Mississippi River.

Although the river runs right behind my old high school, I don’t recall ever going to its shores while a student there.

I saw no other people on the trail but I did see a young buck who was probably sniffing around for a doe.

No doubt he’ll be running for dear life in a month or so when gun season opens.

Farther down the trail near Strum was this fine dome home. I did not expect to see the legacy of R. Buckminster Fuller in rural Trempealeau County.

When I got to Strum, my feet were rather cold so I turned around and headed back to Osseo instead of continuing on to Eleva, as had been my original plan.

I checked in at my hotel and took a shower before my next destination which was Burly N Bucks, a tavern which held the promise of beer, food, and good company.

It was a rather nice small town watering hole. I was impressed with the tap beer selection which included Leinenkugel’s from 30 or so miles up the road in Chippewa Falls as well as a couple brews from Sand Creek, again 30 or so miles away but to the south in Black River Falls. Not only was I grateful that there were some fine brews to be had, I also appreciated that the taps had a regional bent. Of course there was Spotted Cow but also Capital’s Wisconsin Amber. 16oz pours of Oscar’s Stout from Sand Creek were a mere $3.25, half the price you’d pay in Madison, I’d bet.

I was to once again meet my friend Jason and a newcomer, Brad, who was unable to attend last year because of his goofy work schedule. This time around, it was Nick who would be a no show.

We had dinner and chatted the night away. Brad and I hadn’t seen one another since 1990 and it was a pleasure to attempt to catch up on over 32 years of life. He seemed to be much like he was in high school, a bit aloof and happy to let others do their thing as long as they let him enjoy a modicum of solitude and the quiet of the country. In between reacquainting ourselves with one another and reminiscing about our high school years, we solved a few of the world’s problems and were flummoxed by kids these days.

Just like last year, no photos were taken. I don't know if this is because we're men, because we're Gen Xers who didn't grow up with smartphones or what. The thought of taking pictures never even occurred to me, although I'd like to show my Frau more examples of the type of people I grew up with.

I felt badly because I had intended to bring up some Nutkrack candied pecans again but completely forgot. On the other hand, Jason bestowed the gift of soap upon me with a couple bars from Chippewa Falls’ newest purveyor of soaps, Ope! It’s Soap. They were beer soaps with the Leinenkugel’s brand. I hope that this gift was not an indication of a hygiene deficiency on my part.

Unlike me, my friends had to work in the morning so we didn’t stay out too late. The plan now is to see one another more often than once a year. Something to work on.

I returned to my hotel, kicked back, and set out to finish the book that I was reading.

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By all rights, I should have read it back in 7th or 8th grade but didn’t. I also neglected to do so in high school, although I did read Twain’s short story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” then. Several years ago I dipped my toes into the Twain waters once more when I read Letters From Earth. But never Tom Sawyer nor Huck Finn. Having finally read the former, I would say that I should have done so back in 7th grade.

While I enjoy Twain’s writing immensely, I couldn’t help think that it was truly meant for 12 year-old me. Still, there were some funny bits such the scenes in the church which poke fun at religion. I also laughed when Tom and Huck are planning to become rogues and Huck suggests they have orgies because that’s what bad guys do, never mind that he has no idea what they are.

I had a couple chuckles while reading it and am happy to have gotten this classic of American literature under my belt but it's not something I plan to return to.

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The next morning I arose planning on investigating the remains of a town no longer on the maps. But first I made a trek over to Osseo’s general store, Stockman's Farm Supply & More, where I bought a pair of boots and some decorative Indian corn which now hangs in our dining room.

Impulse buy.

The previous night Jason had told me that someone had opened a gaming store in town recently. And so my next stop would be Boards & Bricks.

The store boasts a large selection of Legos, puzzles, board games, and a smattering of role-playing game materials.

I ended up buying a little puzzle of Madison.

At 500 pieces, we stand a chance of assembling it in one night and not having to let it sit out at the mercy of the cats.

Wondering how it was that such a fine store opened up in a very small town, I struck up a conversation with the woman behind the counter. She told that it was opened back in June by a gentleman who had moved to the area from Utah(!) and his dream was to own a gaming store. (I guess Mormons just aren't into Settlers of Catan, Dungeons & Dragons, etc.) Well, he made his dream come true…in Osseo. I wish him the best of luck.

As we were talking, the woman glanced out the front windows. I followed her gaze and saw an older gentleman putting a couple of pies into the back of his car.

"I've seen people carrying pies all day," she noted.

You see, just 2 storefronts down was the Norske Nook, famous for its pies. It's a small chain (4?) of Norwegian restaurants scattered around the state. However, the original (OG, as the kids say these days) Norske Nook is directly across the street from the gaming store.

Puzzle in hand, I made my way back to my car and headed west. On the way out of town, I saw this sign:

All your needs taken care of in one spot.

On Highway 10, I ran into a sight I saw a lot of up north - tractors on the highway.

One thing I was not able to do in Osseo was stop in at the Northwoods Brewpub. They have a rye ale to die for but it’s not brewed year round so its availability is a total crap shoot. Oh well. The brewery is in a former condensery - a place where water is removed from milk to make evaporated or condensed milk - and the lovely old building makes for a nice spot to have a brew and a meal.

My next stop was to look at the remains of the long lost town of Hadleyville.

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Bonus photo. I found another (inoperable) pay phone! This one is inside a little neighborhood grocery store in Madison.