At first glance, it sounds like a wildlife story: Elks in Bemidji! But it is really the result of my spending way too much time lost in research on Sunday and not enough time writing.

During a lengthy “fishing expedition” on the site Newspapers.com (to keep the wildlife theme going), I discovered that my great-grandfather’s Crookston, Minn., band was hired in the summer of 1908 to provide entertainment for the state Elks convention. The three-day gathering of Elks (the men, not the animal) was held in Bemidji.

The band is prominently displayed on the front page of the Jun. 17, 1908, edition of the Bemidji Daily Pioneer.

It’s hard to see the musicians’ faces clearly, but I recognized the photo, anyway.

At the close of a day filled with last-minute holiday preparations, I would like to take a moment to wish a happy birthday to my great-grandmother Islea Graham Riggs, who was born 140 years ago today in the town of Aledo, Illinois.

Who else, I wondered, was born in 1874? I looked it up and discovered that my great-grandmother’s contemporaries included British archaeologist Howard Carter, who excavated the tomb of King Tut; British Prime Minister Winston Churchill; U.S. poet Robert Frost; U.S.

I’m used to being the one with the press hat and reporter’s notebook, so it’s always a little unnerving for me to be on the other side of an interview. It’s also a rare occasion, fortunately. It’s not that I don’t trust other reporters to do quality work — it’s mostly that I don’t trust myself to speak off the cuff and provide insightful and quote-worthy remarks. I prefer to refine my words on the page before letting them loose into the world.

My friend Ted the raconteur died yesterday, after a brief bout with pneumonia. He was 100 years young. I announce this with great sorrow, but also with a heart overflowing with gratitude. Getting the chance to hear his stories during the past two years has enriched my life, and I will miss him. I will miss his laugh.

If you follow my blog regularly, you probably know that I last saw Ted on Oct.

I knew as soon as I saw Ted’s face yesterday that he was feeling chipper about something. When I knocked on his door, stepped into the room and peered around the corner, I found him sitting on the side of his bed, looking alert. He was expecting me.

“I have a surprise for you,” he said, nearly singing the words.

“You do?”

My heart began to beat a little faster. I had a guess about what that might mean, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up.

Last week at this time, I had just returned from an amazing four-day writing retreat at Faith’s Lodge in northern Wisconsin. I was even more productive than I could have hoped: during the retreat, I wrote two essays, worked on Chapter One of my book, wrote a scene for a later chapter of the book, and transcribed my two most recent interviews with Ted Papermaster, one of G. Oliver’s former band boys.

We have been celebrating my youngest child’s birthday for the past couple of days – first with a friend party/sleepover, then with a family party, and today with leftover cake and ice cream. Elias turned 14, which seems impossible in some ways. What’s even more unsettling than how tall he’s getting is what else his birthday represents for me – it marks the passage of another year of my work on the G. Oliver Riggs project.
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Help – I’ve already fallen behind in watching Ken Burns’ new film The Roosevelts: An Intimate History on PBS, and now I discover that season two of Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. is starting tonight on PBS.

I never even saw one episode of season one! I guess I’m going to have to block out more time in my schedule to watch television.

You won’t believe where we’ve spotted Flat G. Oliver Riggs on vacation this summer! The 143-year-old bandmaster really got around, visiting his old music-related haunts in Bemidji, Des Moines and Chicago. He also found time to attend a Riggs family picnic in the Twin Cities. It must help to travel light.

Take a look and vote for your favorite!

No. 12: Reconnecting with old friends Paul Bunyan and Babe in Bemidji

No. 11: Admiring himself at the Beltrami County History Center

No.
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We had the perfect weather on Saturday for the One Day Vintage Band Festival. The only thermometer that burst was the one we created with cardboard and a red marker to track our donations. I don’t know how we got so lucky, but the other board members and I were happy and relieved that it worked out.
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