"From Our Scrapbook..."
Onstage at Manhattan Beach MN, 1980's.
We had just come home to Orlando
from a six week engagement at an Atlantic City casino,
and were ready for a little R&R,
when we got a call from Bob Marcum, up in McGregor Minnesota.
(I hope it isn't spelled MacGregor.)
Bob arranged for us to entertain at an outdoor celebration
on the Fourth of July.
We had fun, made a lot of friends,
and stayed around Minnesota for a whole year,
playing every club and event in the state.
Steve Hall and Shotgun Red
were putting on a live outdoor event at Manhattan Beach,
and we were booked on the show.
The stage was a flatbed truck
set in the back curve of an amphitheater shaped excavation,
dug out of the side of a hill.
The mud walls sopped up the sound like a blotter,
and our speakers projected to about four feet,
but the natives made it into a good day for us.
Minnesotans have a way of doing that.
It was a very good year.
Someday we hope to go back.
P.S. The picture was taken by Doug and Sundee Tarrant,
our musician friends
who happened to be playing in the same town.
Copyright © Dec. 8, 2004, Jack Blanchard. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.
