GaryOsberg.com

Good morning from Collegeville,

Yesterday it was 14 degrees, this morning it was back up to 32. A good thing too, because Bob Nichol (age 96) and I, will be ringing the bell for the Salvation Army at the Coborn’s store on Cooper Avenue between 10:30 and noon. Stop on by and bring lots of cash.

In 1998 Dad moved from his high rise apartment in downtown St. Paul to my house in Upsala. He had been a city fellow for most of his life, but he too was raised in Upsala. I was working in Minneapolis as a sales manager with a Xerox agency and I was gone most of the week. It wasn’t much of an inconvenience. His passion was cooking, however I told him in no uncertain terms that I hated the smell of fried foods and I did not eat leftovers.

In July of 1999 the Xerox agency and Xerox parted their ways and they no longer needed a sales manager. I spent the summer painting old buildings and garages in the Upsala area and started working here at MPR in October of that year. If I did not leave a post-it note on the counter in the morning that said “NO SUPPER”, there would be a home cooked meal on the table when I arrived home. The food was awesome. The baked potatoes were done in a special way. He boiled them 10 minutes first and then baked them for one hour at 400 degrees.

As Dad struggled with old age and cancer, sometimes the quality was not up to the usual standards. Also, many times the smell of burnt food or worse, burnt plastic, would greet me at the back door. He burned three tea pots, with plastic handles, in the last six months. It got so that the only time I did not leave out the post-it note, “NO SUPPER”, was on Fridays. Seven years ago today, I came home and he greeted me with “I have to go to the hospital, but you can eat first” I responded “No way” and I put on the oven mitts and grabbed the baked potatoes and baking dish of meatballs from the oven and shoved them in the frig and we drove to the VA in Minneapolis.

That was Dad’s “Last supper”, he never did come home. That weekend I ate the leftover meatball supper. It was a very tasty meal.

The show this week is a live broadcast from the Skoglund Center Auditorium at St. Olaf College in Northfield. Special guests include the entire St. Olaf Orchestra and St. Olaf Choir in the same space at the same time. Also, Philip Brunelle, vocalist Heather Masse, The Royal Academy of Radio Actors and the usual band members. Enjoy the show. We are still rebroadcasting the show twice on Sundays, 11 AM and 6 PM.

“You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry. Don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.” Walter Hagen

PS. If you are interested in advertising or branding on our air waves or on the mpr website, let me know. 320-293-6771

Category : General

Comments Off on November 18, 2011

Good morning from Collegeville,

Today is Veterans Day, which started as Armistice Day commemorating the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front in Europe, at eleven o’clock am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. In many parts of the world, people observe a two minute moment of silence at 11 am as a sign of respect for the roughly 20 million people who died in the “war to end all wars”.

I plan to visit the grave site of my father and my uncle at the Gethsemane Church Cemetery in Upsala and then I plan to stop to see Bob Holmen Sr. and Aymer Nelson who live in an assisted living facility in Albany. Last year I caught up with them in the dining hall at lunch time. The staff offered me a plate and I joined a woman and two men at another table. The food was great. Pork chop, squash and potatoes. The dinner rolls were very tasty. I visited with Mr. Wolf who used to own the John Deere dealership in Albany. He had once attended A Prairie Home Companion at the Fitzgerald and he was bold enough to go up on the stage and visit with Garrison afterwards. His daughter and Garrison had a lengthy conversation backstage.

Before I left I went back to Bob and Aymer and thanked them both. Bob was on a destroyer in the Pacific and Aymer went on the beach at Normandy on D Day. My dad served on a destroyer escort in the Pacific. He was a radar man, spending hour after hour in the bowels of a “tin can” while the fighting raged around him. In one of his journals he wrote: “The two months at Okinawa were hell.” We owe a great deal of thanks to all of those men and women who have fought to protect this country. War is hell, but the warriors are not to blame. When you meet a man or women in uniform, simply offer them your hand and say, “Thank you for serving”.

The show this week is a nostalgic fall rewind show featuring bits and pieces from a few shows that were broadcast last November. Special guests include the Punch Brothers with their song called “Next to the Trash”, the angelic singing and fiddling Quebe Sisters Band, Public Radio’s Paula Poundstone and the Nashville Bluegrass Band. Also, Floridian guitarist J.J. Grey and the mezzo-soprano Susan Graham as the diva Sally Saltine in an episode of Guy Noir. There will also be a segment devoted to the memory of Tom Keith. Enjoy the show.

“You are not merely here to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.” Woodrow Wilson

If you are interested in branding your organization on the air or on-line, let me know. I will email a media kit to you. I currently have program sponsorships available for APHC in central Minnesota.

Category : General

Comments Off on November 11, 2011

Greetings from Collegeville,

This is a sad week at Minnesota Public Radio. Garrison said it best.

” Our colleague the actor and sound-effects man Tom Keith died Sunday night of a heart attack at his home in St. Paul. He performed on the show October 22 at the Fitzgerald with the cast and guest John Lithgow — played a zombie and a beery Elizabethan bartender, did the sound effects for “Lives of the Cowboys” and “Mom” and did a wonderful and shocking sound effect of a grade-school teacher being shrunk from six feet to three inches, using a balloon, some small sticks, and vocal thwops and splorts, and then did the voice of a three-inch-tall female. He complained of shortness of breath the next week, but put off going to see a doctor, and collapsed Sunday night around 6 p.m. He was conscious afterward but died in the ambulance on his way to the hospital.
Tom was one of radio’s great clowns. He was serious about silliness and worked hard to get a moo exactly right and the cluck too and the woof. His whinny was amazing — noble, vulnerable, articulate. He did bagpipes, helicopters, mortars, common drunks, caribou (and elands and elk and wapiti), garbage trucks backing up, handsaws and hammers, and a beautiful vocalization of a man falling from a great height into piranha-infested waters.

He was an engineer at Minnesota Public Radio in 1971, when I did the morning show in the studios in Park Square Court in Lowertown St. Paul, and he took the name Jim Ed Poole, did the sports segment, and talked about his pet chicken, Curtis, who lived with him at the Hotel Transom. When “Prairie Home Companion” started in 1974, he engineered most of the first two seasons, using a five-channel mixer, and then graduated to the stage where he played three roles in the ongoing “Buster the Show Dog” — the dog, Father Finian, and Timmy the Sad Rich Teenage Boy. He was Maurice the maître d’ at the Café Boeuf and he was Larry who lived in the basement under the Fitzgerald stage.

He was an ex-Marine (who could do a fine drill instructor), a good golfer, a sturdy, reliable, can-do colleague, a gifted performer with the unassuming demeanor of a stagehand. Whenever Tom came onstage for a sketch, I could see the audience’s heads turn in his direction. They could hear me but they wanted to see Tom, same as you’d watch any magician. Boys watched him closely to see how he did the shotgun volleys, the singing walrus, the siren, the helicopter, the water drips. His effects were graceful, precise, understated, like the man himself. All of us at the show are shocked by his passing and send our sincere condolences to his family and also to the listeners who enjoyed his work so much. ”

The show this week is a special show for remembrances from the CFSB Center on the campus of Murray State University in Murray Kentucky. Special guests include an impressive line up of Bill Monroe colleagues and friends including
” Blue Grass Boys” alumni fiddler Bob Black, singer-guitarist Tom Ewing, bassist Mark Hembree, fiddler Bobby Hicks and mandolinist Roland White. Plus a few words for their dear friend and colleague Tom Keith. Enjoy the show.

“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Category : General

Comments Off on November 4, 2011

Good morning from Collegeville,

Twenty years ago Monday, the Twin Cities metro area experienced the Halloween Blizzard. Trick-or-treaters were greeted with about 8 inches of snow and over a three day period the storm dropped 28 inches of snow on the Twin Cities. Duluth received 36.9 inches of snow, the largest single storm total in Minnesota history. The highways were full of icy ruts for months. This year we should have daytime temps in the fifties and Monday night should be a nice night for those who go out to fill their candy buckets.

The horse radish has been harvested and the garden in St. Joe has been prepared for the winter rest. I am already looking forward to receiving the seed catalog form Comstock Seeds, located in Wethersfield, Connecticut. Last year they celebrated 200 years of growing and harvesting seeds. The current owners are Jere and Emilee Gettle. More is available at www.comstockferre.com

The show this week is live from the Colorado Springs World Arena. Special guests include cowgirl singer Stephanie Davis, Appalachian relations Robin and Linda Williams and the spirited swing band “The Haunted Windchimes”.
Enjoy the show.

Let me know if you are interested in branding or marketing on public radio. We are introducing a new online ad in January.

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.” Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)

Category : General

Comments Off on October 28, 2011

Good morning from Collegeville,

Charlie was a trooper. He went to bed without a fuss on Friday night and slept until after 8 in the morning. We had help from his cousins from next door, Elijah and Hannah, ages 6 and 4. On Sunday we ventured down to Otsego to 101 Market to play in a corn pit and participate in cistern pump duck races. If you have not spent a family fun day at 101 Market, check it out. The prices are very family friendly and the plants and vegetables are great too. More important, there is a Coldstone Ice Cream shop next door.

My nickname in high school was “Alky” because I drank so much beer. Fifty years ago this fall, I signed up for The Institute of Technology at the U of M and from then on I had another nickname, “Murray”. Bob Soltis was the only fellow in Upsala that called me “Murray” and why the name of the football coach at the U was assigned to me by Bob was a mystery. I rarely see Bob Soltis any more, but if I happened to meet him on Main Street in Upsala, I am sure that he would still call me “Murray”.

When the band aid comes off, I may have another nickname, “Scar Face”. One of the duties of a Senior Account Executive/Site Coordinator at MPR is to set up the banner at the MPR Connects events. We held one of those meetings this week at The Holiday Inn and in the process of setting up the banner, it came loose at the top and the end of the upper bar hit me in the space between my nose and my upper lip. It looks like I lost a fight with a tiger. Two deep gouges. It was lucky that I looked up at the last minute or I could have lost a chunk of my nose. Fortunately I am of the generation that carries a handkerchief. The staff at the Holiday Inn helped to make me presentable.

The show this week is another live show from the Fitzgerald Theater. Special guests include distinguished Broadway actor and Academy Award nominee, John Lithgow, acoustic duo from Montana, Storyhill and Nashville guitar heavy Steve Wariner. Plus, Peter Ostroushko and Butch Thompson sit in with The Guy’s All Star Shoe Band. Enjoy the show.

“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 Green Ingersoll

PS. If you are interested in reaching a unique audience with your unique branding message, let me know. 320-293-6771

Category : General

Comments Off on October 21, 2011

Good sunny morning from Collegeville,

The kids are on fall break so it is a quiet morning on campus. We are going to have Charlie, who will be two years old next month, for the whole weekend. A first time for all of us. It should be interesting. His parents are going to Duluth for the weekend.

My buddy Bob is doing better. He will be in the hospital for quite a while but his wife and son are there to encourage him everyday. He is a huge fan of APHC which only goes to prove that Garrison’s humor has appeal to both sides of the aisle. Bob has been known to drive up from DesMoines to attend a show at The Fitz and to drive back the same night. One Saturday he flew two friends, who are nuns, to Holmen Field so that they could experience the show live for themselves.

Today in Sauk Centre Dave is honoring Steve Jobs at his office. Dave was one of the first newspaper publishers to buy a Mac and it made producing a hometown newspaper a lot easier. If you would like to see the 1984 Super Bowl commercial that introduced the Macintosh, simply click on this link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8

If you would like to listen to Steve’s commencement address at Stanford, simply click on this link. http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.html

The show this week is another live show from The Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul. Special guests include Nashville singer-songwriter and living legend, Gillian Welch, Soul Siblings Jearlyn and Jevetta Steele and pedal steel master Joe Savage. Enjoy the show.

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” Steve Jobs

Category : General

Comments Off on October 14, 2011

Good morning from Collegeville,

The news this morning is all about Steve Jobs. He was only 56 years old and he died yesterday from cancer. I remember seeing the MacIntosh commercial in a bar in DesMoines during the Super Bowl Game in 1984. There is no doubt that Steve Jobs had a huge impact on our lives. The I Pad is almost too great not to own.

I am heading down to DesMoines in a few minutes to visit my buddy Bob in the hospital. His wife called me and it sounds serious. Bob and I met outside of our apartment building in Richfield in 1965. A complex that we referred to as “Lyndale Barracks”. Bob was a salesman with the Yellow Pages and he was a cook in the national guard. It is possible that the military provided many pork chops for our cook outs by the pool. My friends that know both Bob and I can hardly believe that we are friends at all. He is so far to the right that he makes Glen Beck look like a liberal. He makes his living as a salesman and his jokes are rarely fit for mixed company, but I love him anyway. He is one of the most generous persons that I know.

The show this week is another live show from The Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul. Special guests include Texas Country Super Man, Joe Ely and Northern Soul Sisters Jearlyn and Jevetta Steele. Enjoy the show.

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” George Shaw

Category : General

Comments Off on October 6, 2011

Good crisp morning from Collegeville,

Another very nice weekend in store for those of us in central Minnesota. My best friend in high school was another transplant from the Twin Cities metro area, Bob. When we were seniors, he had a 51 Chevy and I had a 54 Chevy. We both lived in town and yet of course we had to go for a ride every morning down to Krupa’s Korner to smoke one last cigarette. Quite often Miss Krier, our English teacher, had to send us to the Principals office for a tardy slip.

Sunday was a very nice day for a drive in the country so Barby and I drove up to visit Bob and his wife Shirley, another classmate from Upsala class of ’61, at their home in the country. We drove past the homestead of Shirley’s folks and I pointed out to Barby the garage where Bob and I got into his father-in-laws moonshine. It was the first time I experienced a “black out”. The Holdingford area was famous for their moonshine. Sunday, Ken Burn’s will present his latest PBS special “Prohibition”. Congress passed the Volstead Act on October 28, 1919. It was repealed on December 5, 1933.

If you would like to visit the home of Congressman Volstead, you can attend the Meander Upper Minnesota River Art Crawl kick-off event today from 4 PM until 8 PM in Granite Falls, Minnesota. There will be a historic walking tour of downtown Granite Falls starting at the Historic Volstead House proceeding to the Walking Bridge, which was designed by the designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, and ending at the Popcorn Stand. Music, food, art and history all in one night. The Meander Art Crawl goes on all weekend. It is an annual event, a free self-guided tour of 33 art studios in a four county area around the Upper Minnesota River. For details go to www.artsmeander.com

The show this week is a live broadcast from The Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul. Special guests include internationally celebrated Tenor Raul Melo, the premier male chorus in the USA, Cantus and vocalist Heather Masse. Enjoy the show. You may still be able to get tickets or don’t forget the “Rush Line”. Tomorrow should be a nice day to stand in line. Many a friendship has been struck up in a line waiting for a “heck of a deal”.

Here in the St. Cloud area, you can catch jazz singer Jane Monheit at the College of Saint Benedict tonight. Call 363-5777 for tickets and information. I will be there with a “gift basket” drawing. Hope to see you there.

“If your cat has kittens in the oven, do you call them muffins?” Kaye Gibbons

Category : General

Comments Off on September 30, 2011

Good afternoon from Collegeville,

I am heading up to the cabin again tomorrow to work on “the project”, so this is going out early. This is homecoming weekend at Saint John’s so it may be a bit noisy around “the loft” anyway. Sunday is the Millstream Arts Festival in vibrant downtown St. Joe, and you will want to check out the art gallery beneath “The Loft” on the corner of Minnesota and College Avenue. Jim McAlister has some interesting photos on display and for sale.

It is supposed to be a good weekend for getting outdoors. You may want to take in some of the many apple orchards, including Fairhaven Farm in South Haven, or visit a winery like Glacial Ridge Winery in Spicer or Carlos Creek Winery in Alexandria.

The show this week is once again from The Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul. Special guests include songwriter musician and statesman of British Rock, Nick Lowe, Iowa songwriter Dave Moore and young singer and actress Megan Fischer. Andra Suchy will join the Royal Academy of Radio Actors, Tim Russell, Sue Scott and Tom Keith. note: I met a new prospect this week who is a close friend of Dale Connelly who we still miss.

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all” Peter Drucker (1909-2005)

Category : General

Comments Off on September 22, 2011

Good morning from Collegeville,

There was frost on the squash last night. I did not cover the tomatoes, what ever is, is. The neighbor who accepted my invite to plant something in the plot, did cover his tomatoes. I am weary of picking. In every season there is joy.

Thirty-eight years ago today I bid $51,000 on a 32 acre farm with 900 feet of lake shore on the north side of Cedar Lake west of Upsala. I had showed the auction bill to my banker, who knew full well that I only had $750 in a savings account, but he encouraged me to go to the auction anyway. The Farmers State Bank of Upsala was clerking the auction and I had to approach Bud Viehauser before the auction started and get him to agree that if I was high bidder, that I would go to town and get the $3,000 needed for earnest money from a relative. He paused for a minute and then said ok. It may have helped that Bud and my dad were hunting buddies in their youth and they both worked at the bank. Bud stayed on at the bank and my dad moved to the city. Bud ended up owning the bank.

There were only two of us that were serious bidders. The auctioneer painfully milked a bid of $50,500 out of him and then turned to me with “51” and all I did was nod my head. My hand was shaking so much around the styro foam coffee cup, that the coffee was spilling. The other guy spun around on his heels and stormed away. It was reported that he mumbled something about “That crazy city kid”.

The owner, Agnes Olson, had a brother who was handling the deal and so we set up a time to meet in his office in Cambridge to seal the deal. Agnes simply turned the keys over to me and we started checking out the house and the barn and the woodshed and the outhouse. My godfather, Ralph Johnson, walked me around the property since the “crazy city kid” had no idea how far the property ranged. We came to a fence and I said “Wow!” and then he told me that it still went on for another 400 feet. That was the beginning of an era in our family life.

The show this week is a live show from the home field of Public Radio, The Fitzgerald Theater. Plus the traditional Meat Loaf Supper and Street Dance. Special guests include The Derailers and Quebecois legendes Le Vent Du Nord. The Royal Academy of Radio Actors, Tim Russell, Sue Scott and Tom Keith will provide many a memorable skit. There may still be tickets and you can simply show up for the meat loaf and dancing. Garrison and the gang will come out after the show and entertain.

I am on vacation tomorrow, so this is going out early.

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” Helen Keller (1880-1968)

The rest of the story is that am a recovering entrepreneur and I lost it to the banks. Man does not live by lakeshore alone. I am still glad, every day.

Gary

Category : General

Comments Off on September 15, 2011