Wednesday, 6/14

I'm amazed that people living in Marquette in the 60s and 70s made it out of those decades with any functioning brain cells.

As you may know, one of my future projects is a September Jim Koski ™ program/walking tour/fundraiser for the History Center about bars in Marquette. Since I'm not much of a bar fly, and since I wasn't old enough to drink in the 60s and the 70s, I used Facebook to ask people who were barflys and who were old enough to share any stories they had about what happened in the city, drinking-wise, during those decades.

Boy, did they have the stories.

Now while I don't drink, I do know what happens when you mix a bunch of people and a lot of alcohol. Sometimes, you make life-long memories (assuming, of course, you remember what happens), and sometimes you're digging through your car seats wondering if you have enough money to make bail. So I wasn't surprised by a lot of the stories people shared with me on Facebook.

What I was surprised by was the fact that they're willing to admit what they did.

It's funny; I offered people the chance to share their stories anonymously, but no one did. I fact, every single story shared (including some that could, at least back then, lead to arrest) were shared with pride to the entire group of people who were answering the question, some of whom then, miraculously, recalled THEIR part in the antics. I'm not judging anyone; after all, these stories should lead to a hilarious program, and I'm thankful for the honesty. I just have to chuckle at the fact that not one single person took my up on my offer of anonymity.

I guess with the passage of time comes pride in what happened back then. Or, at the very least, with the passage of the statute of limitations comes pride in what happened back then.

Anyway, I really appreciate the stories people shared. You know how most of my programs are history with a little stand-up comedy sprinkled in? Well, I have a feeling this one will be stand-up comedy with a little history sprinkled in. And it's coming up Wednesday, September 6^th, with a walk followed by beer and more tales afterwards. In fact, some of those will be stories you may not believe.

Trust me on that.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)