U.P. nostalgia
View: thread | inline
| U.P. nostalgia | Posted on Jan 4 2008 at 5:06pm by |
| Gogebic: Where trout rising to the surface make rings on still water. When I read that Nimrod Nation was described as Mayberry meets Fargo, I was initially concerned that the locals would be made to look like backwoods rubes. Maybe they are to some people, but so far, NN has filled me with a sense of nostalgia for the area. Jeff Danna’s original music for the film certainly adds to my longing for the past. Has anyone seen any of, NMU professor, Michael Loukinen’s documentaries on the U.P? http://www.upnorthfilms.org/tradBearText.html Because of the mines, Gogebic County was a pretty ethnically diverse melting pot from a European perspective: Italians, Finns, Germans, Serbs, Croats, Poles, Cornish, Greeks, Jews, Swedes, Native Americans, Irish, Czechs, excedra. Isn’t that how George Peterson III says it? People took pride in their heritage. Of course, I hear that even Hurley’s “Dago Days” has now given way to the more PC “Festivale Italiano.” Fond memories…my mother’s pasties, getting out of school to go deer hunting or to watch ski jumping at Copper Peak, dipping bread and cabbage in bagna cauda at our hunting camp, saunas (pronounced sow-nah), gnocchi, Lake Superior, Lake of the Clouds in the Porkies, Little Girl’s Point (mentioned in The Great Gatsby as a bay), fishing for brookies, driving down country roads “hunting” for birds while listening to Packer games on the radio, the Black River’s root beer colored waterfalls, the bluffs, night skiing (with wine flasks) at Powderhorn, running the Paavo Nurmi marathon, road tripping to see the “Paulding Light,” pizza at The Bell, The bars of Silver Street in Hurley, which Esquire magazine listed as one of the best in America. Back in the 70’s and early 80’s, the drinking age was 18 in Wisconsin. I was served my first beer, at the tender age of 16, at Irene's Range Bar. She had a great Juke Box...The Ink Spots, Al Martino, Rusty Warren's song "Knockers Up!” Mac’s Bar and The Beer Barrel were also favorite hangouts…good times. The kitschy Americana of the fiberglass statue of Hiawatha in Ironwood, but mostly, it’s the people. I admire my friends who chose to stay in the U.P. It’s not an easy place to make a living… The Song of Hiawatha By the shores of Gitche Gumee, By the shining Big-Sea-Water, Stood the wigwam of Nokomis Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis, Dark behind it rose the forest, Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees, Rose the firs with cones upon them; Bright before it beat the water, Beat the clear and sunny water, Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water. For further U.P. reading/listening, check out some of the following… Any number of Jim Harrison novels or novellas. Escanaba native Tom Bissel’s “The Father of All Things: A Marine, His Son, and the Legacy of Vietnam.” Sufjan Steven’s song “The Upper Peninsula” Available on itunes. I live in America With a pair of Payless shoes The upper peninsula And the television news And I've seen my wife At the K-Mart In strange ideas We live apart I live in a trailer home With a snow mobile, my car The window is broken out And the interstate is far I drove all night To find my child In strange ideas He's been revived In strange ideas In stranger times I've no idea What's right sometimes I lost my mind I lost my life I lost my job I lost my wife | |
 |
|
| U.P. nostalgia | Posted on Jan 4 2008 at 5:06pm by |
| Gogebic: Where trout rising to the surface make rings on still water. When I read that Nimrod Nation was described as Mayberry meets Fargo, I was initially concerned that the locals would be made to look like backwoods rubes. Maybe they are to some people, but so far, NN has filled me with a sense of nostalgia for the area. Jeff Danna’s original music for the film certainly adds to my longing for the past. Has anyone seen any of, NMU professor, Michael Loukinen’s documentaries on the U.P? http://www.upnorthfilms.org/tradBearText.html Because of the mines, Gogebic County was a pretty ethnically diverse melting pot from a European perspective: Italians, Finns, Germans, Serbs, Croats, Poles, Cornish, Greeks, Jews, Swedes, Native Americans, Irish, Czechs, excedra. Isn’t that how George Peterson III says it? People took pride in their heritage. Of course, I hear that even Hurley’s “Dago Days” has now given way to the more PC “Festivale Italiano.” Fond memories…my mother’s pasties, getting out of school to go deer hunting or to watch ski jumping at Copper Peak, dipping bread and cabbage in bagna cauda at our hunting camp, saunas (pronounced sow-nah), gnocchi, Lake Superior, Lake of the Clouds in the Porkies, Little Girl’s Point (mentioned in The Great Gatsby as a bay), fishing for brookies, driving down country roads “hunting” for birds while listening to Packer games on the radio, the Black River’s root beer colored waterfalls, the bluffs, night skiing (with wine flasks) at Powderhorn, running the Paavo Nurmi marathon, road tripping to see the “Paulding Light,” pizza at The Bell, The bars of Silver Street in Hurley, which Esquire magazine listed as one of the best in America. Back in the 70’s and early 80’s, the drinking age was 18 in Wisconsin. I was served my first beer, at the tender age of 16, at Irene's Range Bar. She had a great Juke Box...The Ink Spots, Al Martino, Rusty Warren's song "Knockers Up!” Mac’s Bar and The Beer Barrel were also favorite hangouts…good times. The kitschy Americana of the fiberglass statue of Hiawatha in Ironwood, but mostly, it’s the people. I admire my friends who chose to stay in the U.P. It’s not an easy place to make a living… The Song of Hiawatha By the shores of Gitche Gumee, By the shining Big-Sea-Water, Stood the wigwam of Nokomis Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis, Dark behind it rose the forest, Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees, Rose the firs with cones upon them; Bright before it beat the water, Beat the clear and sunny water, Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water. For further U.P. reading/listening, check out some of the following… Any number of Jim Harrison novels or novellas. Escanaba native Tom Bissel’s “The Father of All Things: A Marine, His Son, and the Legacy of Vietnam.” Sufjan Steven’s song “The Upper Peninsula” Available on itunes. I live in America With a pair of Payless shoes The upper peninsula And the television news And I've seen my wife At the K-Mart In strange ideas We live apart I live in a trailer home With a snow mobile, my car The window is broken out And the interstate is far I drove all night To find my child In strange ideas He's been revived In strange ideas In stranger times I've no idea What's right sometimes I lost my mind I lost my life I lost my job I lost my wife | |
|
|
