Class Act

The smokeout at Daniel Arthurs got my mug shot on the front page of the Gazette. Todd Sabin saw my picture and that jogged his memory about something he had found a few years back.


It all sort of went down something like this:

The day after the picture appeared, my phone rang and a gentleman identified himself as Todd Sabin. He said I may or may not know him, but that we had mutual friends and he had something of mine that he thought I would want back. My curiosity was peaked but he would not give me any hints. Instead he suggested that the next time I was to venture to CR (thats what the locals call Cedar Rapids) that we should meet and he would have a 5 minute story to tell me and then cough up the goods.

A few days later a meeting was arranged and he proceeds to tell me that he had worked for Richard Pinney, the now deceased Cedar Rapids artist and he thought that I had commissioned him to do a personal sculpture. I acknowledged that was in fact correct and almost immediately I said "my class ring" and he reached into his pocket and produced the little gem.

You see it was all part of the "junkue" that was submitted to Pinney so that he could configure a collection of my life up the that date. I suspect based on the used ticket stub for a Kreskin appearance that it was the very late 70s or early 80s.

Obviously my class ring had not made the cut for the piece of art. What did make it though were items like an Amana beer can, unpaid parking tickets most likely issued at my personal parking space at the Flame Room, frown buttons and ironically a cigar. Obviously, Mr. Pinney did not return the ring when he returned the rest of the rejected media. I remember at the time, thinking that I had given him the class ring, but was not sure. For the next 29 years I have not thought about it.

Enter Todd Sabin who was hired to do some demolition work at the old Pinney residence after his death. Todd tells of running a bobcat clearing the area where once the Pinney studio had been and seeing a shiny article in the dirt. He gets off the machine and sees its a ring. He sees the initials B E and Amana and 1966 and he deduces that its mine.

What are the odds? Anyone want to go steady?

Smokum if you got them

Yesterday was the final day you could legally smoke indoors in public and Bob Bruce was broadcasting from the Six Foot Under Lounge at Daniel Arthurs. Right there is the making for a blog.

I usually don't smoke, but decided it was a happening and therefore opted to attend.

Billy has two heroes in life. One is Brian Kilmeade from Fox News and the other is Bob Bruce. When Billy's neck is strained from watching the boob tube he takes solace in just laying there beside his transistor AM radio. I swear the dial is permanently stuck on 600. Billy is a P-1 and when he heard that Bob Bruce of the BBRE was doing a remote, he insisted I drag (no pun intended) him along.

We showed up at about the same time as the press and I quickly found a spot for him on the open air patio out of the way of the busy wait staff and haze of the cigar smoke. The Six Foot Under Lounge was humming due to the deft hands of Erika and Heather. They were cranking out martinis and other potables as fast as they could.

The co-owners were kept busy. Dan was doing interviews and I caught Lori in the middle of a delivery.


Some of the Ex Club wags were there as well. Pete, Bernie, Gary,...but no Puzzler. The Puzzler was offered a spot near Billy but then he might have been exposed to daylight which is something he fears. There is a reason why Billy calls him the Puzzler.

Billy was able to meet Abby who he has only heard about in the past. Abby is Bob's call screener and hopefully she is able to weed out the prank calls and keep the show moving smoothly. Billy asked me to give Abby one of his calling cards and I so obliged.

Courtney, the Gazette photographer who is a pleasant upgrade from Lorraine was there along with crews from KCRG and other stations. Somehow my mug made it to the front page of my morning friend.

It was fun while it lasted but I believe it will be more fun after today. Billy can breathe a little easier...actually we all will.

A Gazette Milestone

I didn't sleep well last night. It was sort of like Christmas eve...the anticipation of the 125th Anniversary edition of the Gazette. I tossed and turned waiting for the "paper boy" and the delivery. In the old days the bag that the paper boy wore around his frame was almost as big as he. Nowadays, the "paper boy" is no longer a boy...its a paper man or woman who drives a car or truck with a leaky muffler that gives me advance notice that the Gazette is about to be delivered....hopefully to the dedicated box that I have at my front door and not under the bushes which makes the receiving of it more like an Easter egg hunt.

The puzzler gave me a tease when he made an announcement that the Wuzzles would be in color. A rare occurrence to say the least. About as rare as finding a sprig of mint in your back yard in January.

The color Wuzzle had the word 'all' in the color red and it was upside down. Which made the riddle...whats black and white and red all over... and that has two answers. 1. the Gazette or 2. A wounded nun.

I didn't even get to the cryptoquote...because they are too hard for me to figure out. I think its some sort of military code.