April 12th, 2019 by Gary Osberg
I use Waze, an app on my iPhone, to get directions to places
that I want to go to. This morning I entered 41 Gregor Mendel Strasse, Vienna,
Austria. My dad was in the Fifth Army, and he was stationed in Vienna in
the early fifties. I celebrated my 10th birthday on the ship
coming back stateside on August 30, 1953. According to Waze my
destination is 5,410 miles from here. Two weeks from today, I will be
going to see the apartment that we lived in.
Next Tuesday, I will be leaving on a tour of five cities
in Europe along with 22 students from Ms. Poissant’s art class in Upsala
and 8 other adults. One of the students is my granddaughter,
Chrissy. I plan on staying with the group every day except Friday the 26th.
That day I will be going back to the apartment that we lived in for three
years. My younger brother Brian was born in Vienna and he and his wife
have visited the apartment.
They met with the current owner and his family owned the
building in 1951. They were moved to the attic and our family had an
apartment with two marble faced fireplaces, a baby grand piano and crystal
chandeliers.
I will be back in my office on Monday April 29th.
Live from Here this week is a live show from
The Town Hall in New York City. Special guests include Sara Bareilles, The
Milk Carton Kids, Aparna Nancherla and Madison Cunningham. Enjoy
the show.
“Live all you can; it’s a mistake not to.” Henry James
April 5th, 2019 by Gary Osberg
24 years ago today, Kaylin Marie Osberg came into the world.
She was the first of my five grandchildren and life has not been the same
since. My daughter was working her way through school and so when Kaylin
was a small child, most weekends, I took care of Kaylin in my bachelor pad in
Upsala. We did a lot of pancakes at the Uptown Café on Saturday
morning and a lot of washing her hair in the kitchen sink on Sunday
morning before church. There was much wailing and thrashing about.
Getting her to sleep in her crib at night required my singing “It’s Summer
Time” over and over again while she struggled to stay awake.
After many years, she finally said, “Grandpa, please stop
singing that song!”. Now Kaylin is co-owner of a promotional products
company, Zygoatian LLC. She owns a small home close to Lake
Mille Lacs in Wahkon. I have attached a photo of her and the bass that
she caught last summer. If you need a T Shirt or coffee mug, give
her a call. Simply Google Zygoatian.
Live from Here this week is a live show from
Dallas, Texas. Special guests include The Head and The Heart,
Esperanza Spalding, Jamie Lee and Nora McInerny. Enjoy the show.
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes, art is
knowing which ones to keep.” Scott Adams
March 30th, 2019 by Gary Osberg
The warm up has been slow, but the snow piles are
receding. Be careful if you go for a walk in the morning, the melt is
freezing overnight. It will be sunny and cool today, but still much
improved.
The High School Art Exhibition is back at the Paramount
Center for the Arts. The closing reception is tonight, so if you have not
already seen the great artwork created by high school students, hopefully, you
will get a chance to attend tonight. The event is from 5:30 to
8. One of the sponsors of this year’s exhibit is Zygoatian
LLC, a promotional products company co-founded by my granddaughter
Kaylin Osberg. Their motto is that “they print on almost anything”.
They also create website ads, should you need one to post on the Minnesota
Public Radio website. If you are interested, I will send you a sales
sheet for MPR website ads.
For over 40 years the High School Art show was presented by
Visual Arts Minnesota. My daughter Kerry Osberg, Kaylin’s mother,
was the Executive Director for many years and so there is a lot of
history for our family with this wonderful event. Over the years I was
able to purchase a number of very special pieces at the show. It is not
often that the artist is willing to sell their work, but you may find something
tonight that you will love. Related web sites are paramountarts.org
and realzygoatian.com
Live from Here this week is a rebroadcast of a
previous show. Next Saturday there will be a live show from Dallas,
Texas.
“Caution! The left-brained world want you to “be realistic,
quit dreaming, be more like us, get your head out of the clouds and your feet
on the ground.”
To advance and prosper, steadfastly ignore that advice.”
Marilyn Grey
March 26th, 2019 by Gary Osberg
One of my underwriters in Sun Valley, Idaho told me that it
is cloudy now, but snow is on the way for this weekend. In years past
there have been years when spring was well on its way here in central Minnesota
on the fourth Friday in March. Not this year. The forecast is for
fifty eight degrees by Wednesday of next week. Our hearts go out to all
those that are experience floods.
Sun Valley was discovered by Count Felix
Schaffgotsch about 80 years ago. Averell Harriman, the chairman of the
Union Pacific Railroad, had asked the Count to go west and try to find a
suitable site for the creation of a ski resort similar to those that he had
visited in Europe. The railroad needed “destination places” to encourage
rail travel. The Count was advised to take a trip to Ketchum, Idaho, a
mining town in central Idaho. Upon arrival, the Count wired Harriman, “This
area combines more delightful features than any place I have seen in
Switzerland, Austria or the United States for a winter resort.”
Within days they purchased a 4,300 acre ranch and the Sun
Valley Resort opened in the winter of 1936. The “chair lift” was invented
in Sun Valley. You can visit www.sunvalley.com for information on the
resort. When you get there be sure to tune in to KWRV 91.9
Classical MPR.
Live from Here is
a rebroadcast this week. Last week’s show was awesome. You can
always listen to old shows at livefromhere.org
The first Downtown St. Cloud Art Crawl of the
year is tonight. Be sure to check it out and maybe you can still get
tickets to Mary Poppins, presented by Saint John’s Prep Theatre
at The Paramount Center for the Arts. Paramountarts.org The show
opens tonight.
“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human
being can alter his or her life by altering the attitude of the mind.”
William James
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
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