“How would you like to try and play guitar with broken fingers?” was how Don Arden kept Steve Marriot in the band The Small Faces when he was asked to join a new band with Jimmy Page. Don Arden (father of Sharon who these days is better know by her married name, Sharon Osbourne) had […]
Parts 1 and 2 of this series covered how former Marquette educator Fred Rydholm came up with his theories as to the likely identity of the ancient copper miners and why I have been a disciple of this train of thought (a ‘Rydholmite’ if you will humor me here) since the early 1980s. Even […]
A quick recap is in order. We began this series by introducing readers to two gentleman who managed to upset those who choose to believe that the history of North America began with the voyage of Christopher Columbus. Retired Royale Navy navigator Gavin Menzies and former Marquette junior high science teacher Fred Rydholm have […]
Quick – how many things do you think a retired British Naval navigator (Gavin) and a retired junior high science teacher (Fred) could have in common? Both travelled extensively in their retirement years. They wrote multiple books. Ancient history is the common thread that stitched together the books they authored and their world travels. […]
By the time you read this article, I will be unemployed for only the second time since 1970. Okay, being retired isn’t exactly like being unemployed, but it probably will feel like it for at least a little while. I actually began putting together my thoughts about ‘tomorrow’ well in advance of my actual […]
Greetings – just a quick note to remind visitors to this site that I am retiring from the Ontonagon Area Schools as of June 30, 2018 – it is hard to believe that I have had the honor of working here for 43 years! The laws of our fair state demand that I have a […]
Ritchie Blackmore claims that there are two or three of him. He even has a hospital surveillance video to prove it. The police visited him recently and asked if he was the man pictured in the video and if he was, was he feeling okay? Noting that perhaps having people impersonate you is ‘one […]
The picturesque Italian village of Amalfi claims to have an illustrious maritime tradition, although the harbor there barely holds the couple of boats that remain in the local fishing fleet. Even the tourists from the cruise ships plying the Mediterranean are bussed in because the ships can’t anchor there. In the town square, there […]
Cover Me is the name of an album we received a while ago from two time vets of the Porcupine Mountain Music Festival, Jimi and the Band of Souls. It is a collection of songs written by others but interpreted by the Band of Souls. It just so happens that it is also the […]
Ever hear of Peggy James? I am willing to bet after her new album Nothing In Between drops in late June, she won’t be such a well kept secret. James is a Milwaukee singer/songwriter who has opened for the likes of Iris Dement, da BoDeans, and Salt Creek. The album, her fourth, was produced, engineered, […]