I'll be performing tomorrow, July 18, 2011 in Crystal Lake, IL

At the Williams Street Public House
83 N. Williams Street
Crystal Lake, IL

Starting at 11:15 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

This will become a regular gig for me, whoop dee doop!

Will play the oldest songs I know (Introduction to The Epic of Gilgamesh), The Myth of Er (from Plato's Republic) and a Gregorian chant, which, written circa 700 AD is almost contemporary! ... ROFLMAO!!

Will play the "Welcome to My World" set (while my folks aren't in, they're not overtly fond of Umbilical Detonation) with my two newest songs:

Steve Kunkel - Bar Fightin' Street Fightin' Man
Claire (instrumental)

And then will astound the audience with a cornucopia of tunes from the 60's.

FROM: Mark Ganzer TO: Doc Brown Message flagged Tuesday, July 12, 2011 5:22 AM

Hi Doc - just to try once again to convince you how much fun I had the other night, I'm forwarding to you a letter I sent to Rachael, the ukelele player for H.O.T. Fox (Heart of the Fox), an astonishingly gifted duet which performs their own original work ... featuring the Uke (of course), a Flamenco acoustic guitar underpinning, and a lead female vocalist who makes sounds that can be heard only in mosques -- a not to be missed experience!

Again, thanks for being such a wonderful host, avid listener, and all round good person.

Mark Raymond Ganzer

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Mark Ganzer 
To: Rachael, vocalist and ukelele player with Heart Of The Fox
Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 5:17 AM
Subject: An extraordinary open mic venue

Greetings Rachael,

It was such a treat to get to hear you two jamming with the players after the cut you off so early.

Thursday nights, you simply CANNOT MISS the open mic (starting at 7:00 p.m.) hosted by Doc Brown at Corkscrew Pointe. Doc is such a talent, but, as the man in charge of the open mic, he

(a) starts on time
(b) let's every one play
(c) works new folks showing up late into the rotation
(d) follows up with a thank you e-mail the next day

The venue is this incredible dimly lit back room, the martini room, which last Thursday seemed almost as if the assembled (Robin, the acoustic guitar soloist and her two lady friends, Doc, me, and the bar tender) group had been treated to a night at Xanadu hosted by Orson Welles and featuring the three finest musical players no one has ever heard of.

We later were joined by two young high-school aged ladies who sang an original duet, then each sang a solo. The father and mother of the one girl (who also plays the fiddle and has been commanded to bring the fiddle this Thursday upcoming, 14 July, 2011) own the music store in McHenry, and their eldest son runs it.

Later still, a retired postal worker came in and just delighted us with such levity and uplifting songs as "Love Begins with a Tube of Tooth Paste" (and ends the same way).

And even later still, we were joined by a dramatic reader, also named Mark - who read from Jimmy Durante's "Yes, We Have No Banannas," until he dropped his book, lost his place, and couldn't finish the last line! He then proceeded to read two actual letters, on from Ben Franklin, and the other, I believe from George Washington. Quite appropriate so near 4 July.

Hope to see you there this Thursday (they also hold an open mic on Tuesdays, same time, but I do not know the host). lThe owner of the bar uses the open mic to determine who to hire to play to the lunch and dinner crowds. Have I at least piqued your curiousity, darlin'?


Mark Raymond Ganzer

Now they tell me Donny Gardella is dead

Now they tell me Donny Gardella is dead,
He, the laconic one, always laid back,
Mostly silent sipping his glass of beer,
Always willing to talk with you,
And damned interesting, knowledgeable too.

A brain aneurysm, he had a head ache for three days
His eyes were blood shot,
He hurt, and complained.
Let this be a lesson to us all - get your ass to the doctor
When you have one of those unexplainable aches or pains
That we attribute to the onset of old age.
There's a lot that western medicine can't do,
But a competent healer and diagnostician can save your life
IF you get to her in time.

So I teared up, immediately.
Donnie never had a death wish,
But if I were a gambling man (and I'm not)
Or a betting man (which I am)
I'd bet that he was seldom, if ever told
That he was a perfect child of God the Father
Creator of All the Worlds
Perfectly formed in God's own image
And that he was, is, and always will be
Unconditionally loved by the God of Love.
I'd be willing to be too that he was seldom (if ever)
Held close to his mother's bosom,
Or had his father hold his hand while he waited with young Donny
For the school bus to come.

He didn't have a death wish,
But, he didn't really care if he lived or if he died,
And with that kind of attitude, the likelihood of you living
Until the end of the string of the thread of your days
Is quite small - miniscule.

He had cleaned himself up very well,
Full time employed, lots of responsibilities,
Although the State of Indiana is expecting him to spend
Fourteen days in one of its county jails, and so, Donny,
My hat's off to you, for you beat that rap.

It was just that one thing
That you'd do reckless things,
Down right dangerous things,
Recognizing full well that death was a path they might lead you on,
And you didn't care;
With a full time girl friend who loved you
And waited for you while you went out drinking beers
At the one Holy Place you knew, where you WERE loved
Unconditionally, completely
And that, that dog-love for human kind,
That is special and sacred.

So we all miss you,
And we now raise our glasses to you
Donny Gardella
Blessed and Beloved Child of God.

Another Face Book Comment Thread Keeper

Lydia Wilder

Went to the circus tonight!! A fabulous experience, right up the road in Elmwood Park. An Italian family circus with much talent and lots of laughs. Still performing tomorrow in Elmwood Park, and then on to Addison. Not to be missed!

Susan Bradley Giardina Sounds like a wonderful time! Do they have a website? I'd like to see their schedule.

Craig Logan I love the any Circus!!

Lydia Wilder This circus was a small one with lots of clown humor, acrobatics, juggling, tight wire act(worthy of the Olympics), dogs, a few beautiful horses. I will post photos soon.

Mark Ganzer WOW - thank you so much Lydia - we'd never know about this any other way!

Don Kowalski My cousin was there! She was the Bearded Lady

Lydia Wilder It's the Zoppe Circus. And Don, there wasn't a bearded lady. But I will tell you that the adolescents in my presence were ogling over the women in the circus!

Don Kowalski Darn......too bad I wasn't there

Lydia Wilder It's not too late. They'll be in Addison next.

Lydia Wilder And the show really is amazing, and worth the eighteen dollars in cash. But bring your own popcorn, theirs was stale.

Susan Bradley Giardina Italians aren't known for their popcorn :)

Mark Ganzer Susan Bradley Giardina "Italians aren't known for their popcorn"  TOO damn funny; too damn true; even w/o context, it is hilarious - you are one funny lady, Susan!

Susan Bradley Giardina Well, I'm married to an Italian. He won't even eat popcorn!

Eeek! I'm a book hoarder!

Patti Shanaberg

Eeek! I'm a book hoarder! I can't seem to get rid of useless books!

Pam English I have nursing school books from 1990...I'm afraid to toss them.
Erika A. Burch You guys are funny! Donate them!!
Ginny Rankin If they're progressive or at all liberal (or maybe selacious), give them to Sarah Palin. I'm sure she'd arrange a big book-burning. Michelle Bachmann would probably help you out, too.
Patti Shanaberg If only they would READ them! lol @Erika - where to donate?
Erika A. Burch 

Women's shelters and Retirement homes, prison's and Goodwill. Women's shelters also like nail polish (that isn't thick and stringy) and anything else that a woman in need could use to make her feel better. I buy LOT'S of books from Goodwil...See More

Erika A. Burch I used to keep all my books. I LOVE books. LOVE LOVE LOVE them. But how many books does a person need? Some books that I am partial to I keep. Years ago in my apartment laundry room I put about 50 books in there with a nice sign that said "Please read me and then return me. And if you have any books you don't want, add them." Within 2 weeks there was one heck of a little library there.
Patti Shanaberg 

You mean I can't sell or donate my 1970's college text books?! LOL Thanks - yes, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has a thing for books.  I figured I could find plenty of places to donate them (not my text books, just kidding about thosebut I have PLENTY of others) just hadn't decided where yet. And I'm so pathetically attached to the dumbest things! I just threw out 10 boxes of old canceled checks from over 10 years ago. I can't believed I moved here from LA with all of those!!!
Drew Bourne give them to the VA, they usually collect books to send to our troops.

 I finally started selling some of them on Amazon. Those that are in abundance and lowest price is less than it's worth go to Goodwill, Library, Nursing Homes, etc. Textbooks (current) sell FAST and for almost if not more than what I paid (I buy used when available).
Erika A. Burch Good to know, Rebecca!!!
Mark Ganzer Even the most useless of books can be used for toilet paper, in a pinch!
Anne Alberts I am a cook book hoarder! I love them and have collected them from all over the world. I only use about 10 of them all the time. The rest are in boxes in the attic. I haven't seen them in three years and I use the Internet for recipes all the time. Why can't I just let them go? Do they have meetings for this? LOL
Mark Ganzer The only things I possess are (1) my clothes (2) my vinyl records (3) my books (4) my golf clubs (5) my golf balls (6) my golf tees (7) 150 decks of playing cards (8) four duplicate bridge bidding boxes ... and OUT!
Mark Ganzer I'd give up the vinyle, the clothes, the golf crap, the cards / bridge crappola in a heart beat, or New York Minute .. but NEVER the books ... NEVER!!
Anne Alberts I am a cook book hoarder! I love them and have collected them from all over the world. I only use about 10 of them all the time. The rest are in boxes in the attic. I haven't seen them in three years and I use the Internet for recipes all the time. Why can't I just let them go? Do they have meetings for this? LOL
Mark Ganzer The tactile feel of them - HELL ... I can't get a woman nor a dog to bed me down, but I've read books, magazines (not just Playboy and Hustler), newspapers that have put me to sleep and SOMETIMES, when the writing is real damn good - keep me up and excited all night long!
Patti Shanaberg 
I'm in the midst of loading up books, books and more books to donate as I type - so many old favorites - really good rich literature - then I come to "Men are from Mars; Women Are from Venus" and "Rules" and more of that genre - WHATEVER POSSESSED ME???!!! Then I pull out "Smart Women Stupid Books" (a parody of the same type of book called "Smart Women Stupid Choices") - ahh - a moment of clarity! The sad thing is I'm barely making room on my book shelves for all the books piled up on the floor. I wasn't kidding - I'm a book hoarder! EEEK!

A Celebration of the Birth Days of Ralph and Anne Ganzer

Good morning, friends, here assembled at Trinity Lutheran Church of Ingleside, Illinois, on this, the third day of July, 2011, a.d., to celebrate the birth days and the lives of our beloved Ralph and Anne Ganzer, happily married 61 years, this past 11, January, 2011. This is an early celebration, because we wanted to do something special for them, and to make it as surprising as possible, the Hand of God intervened and made available to get them to drive up here, totally unsuspecting, this morning.

Ralph Bertram Herbert Ganzer was born 24 July, 1928, to Harry and Linda Ganzer, in Blue Island, Illinois, at Saint Francis Hospital, (buildcing no longer extant) known now as ST FRANCIS HOSPITAL & HEALTH CENTER, 12935 S GREGORY: BLUE ISLAND, IL 60406, the second oldest of four children, the boys, Jim (five years his senior), Floyd, my Godfather (five years his junior) and Marilyn, our dear beloved, and too sadly departed Marilyn Ganzer-Patrick.

Ralph's Grandfather John Ganzer was as community leader in Blue Island, and raised and support two full families, fathering eight children by his first wife, and five by his second. He left unto each of his children a place to live. Quite an accomplishment for a German immigrant.

Dad grew up attending First Lutheran Church of Blue Island, Illinois, and going to First Lutheran's German School, where a bi-lingual education was the order of the day (but then of course, the Germans spoke German, which was acceptable, whereas today, the bilinguals speak Spanish, not so acceptable). Ralph excelled and sports, played them all the time – football, boxing, wrestling, golf, baseball, softball, pool, bowling, and swimming. He also developed early on a love of mathematics and English. He started his working career as as Caddie during the depression, where the rate was $0.90 cents a bag, and the tips were not always in cash, but he did get his first set of golf clubs from one of the less well off gentlemen for whom he caddied, at Navajo Fields, and he was hooked, like a bass, hook line and sinker. He has had a love affair with the game his entire life, which has enabled him to meet some of the most wonderful people you can imagine (although, sad to say, 'tis true that golf has destroyed more good men than whiskey), not merely because he was (and remains) such a fine player of the game, but that his life's calling as a teacher was made pretty clear at an early age.

Ralph got his first taste of what it means to be in a union, and to go on strike, and what you do with strike breakers. You hit them in the jaw so that they submit, and then you reach a compromise, and then you go back to work, no animosity held, as a caddie. During the war years, his Uncle Louie got him a job working the ice docks of Blue Island, a huge train hub, where they would ice down the meat cars, moving slabs that weighed 400 pounds each. This developed his strength, stamina, and ingenuity, and made him an even more prodigious football player (line backer and full back) and strong wrestling opponent. And the pay was very good, with time and a half after 40 yours, and double over time pay for Sundays.

Dad was immensely popular, as an athlete, but also as a true-blue loyal friend who hung with all the usual high school cliques. His leadership abilities were easy to ascertain.

The summer after his senior year in high school (1946), Howie Wilson, the industrialist who built dozens of college dormitories across and up and down the state of Illinois approached him to ask, “Ralph, what are you going to do come August?”

“Well, I'm making very good money working here in the ice house,” (where, by then, according to the family legend maker, Floyd, his younger brother had to cover for him because he had started dating Shirley Anne Hockett and was burning the candles at all three ends – work, dating, sports).

“Why don't you come down to Western Illinois State Teacher's College and we'll play football?” asked Howie. Sold American – you can give the young man a lot of money, but you can't sate his desire to compete and excel at athletics. “Okay,” replied Ralph.

So, down they went, where, as the eleventh team to scrimmage against the varsity in Macomb, on one of those God-forsaken sweltering days in August where your eyes sweat, and the mosquitoes and grass hoppers invade you nostrils, ears, eyes, and throat, the squad looked pretty good, so the coaches took the usual suspects – a QB, a running back, and a flanker, which, in another era, would have been the end of the football dream – but in 1946, after the war, things were a tad looser. And so several weeks later, Western's Athletic Director fielded a phone call from Carthage College which wanted to play a team it could beat for its homecoming game. The last 17 players cut were sent to Carthage, where, these Italian, German, Slovakian, and Irish lads who LOVED to hit, to fight, to play what is now known as “smash-mouth football” defeated (without having practiced a play) Carthage's team. This raised a few eyebrows, and four years later, these fighting men spear-headed one of Western's two undefeated squads (1949) under the coaching of Vince DeFrancesca. Ralph was a tri-captain, along with Bill Crowley (best man at his wedding) and the red-headed, freckle-faced piano player, Red Miller, best known for his years of coaching the Denver Broncos into the Super Bowl four times, although never winning.

Meanwhile, back in Centerville, Iowa, Dale and Verna Best-Hockett were raising a family of their own, the twins, Catherine (Cottie) and Carolyne (Lyne), born 31 October, 1929, and Anne (Moonie), born 2, August, 1931.

Verna was a couple of years older than Dale, although Dale was a big kid, and exceedingly bright – quite a scholar, probably the smartest of the three brothers, Harold, the oldest, who went to college and ended up working as a VERY successful salesman for General Electric, and George, the youngest, who made a career in the Banking Industry. Dale was a rail raod man, a conductor. When the girls were about to enter high school, Verna and Dale moved to Blue Island, because there was a LOT of rail road work to be had there. Dale was as conductor for the Rock Island Line. But, the depression hit, and Dale lost his job. Fortunately, Verna was a very skilled and talented seamstress, and FDR had good people advising him that the way out of the economic depression was to put people to work, and thus Verna got a job with the WPA teaching women to sew, so, in addition to her own sewing repair and clothes making business, she made money teaching for the WPA. The fmaily was able to make ends meet, and even take in a farm girl to do chores, make meals, and in return had a place to stay and could attend high school.

The sisters were all beautiful, musically gifted, and very smart. There were plenty of boys hanging around them all, but once mom caught the sight of dad's muscled back, at the swimming pool, it was all over. They started dating when she was a high school sophomore, and have been together ever since. Mom worked as a secretary, including after graduation from high school. But, she hated working there. So, she went to work to get dad to propose, which he did, saying, “If you don't marry me now, you'll end up going to school and marrying another college boy, and I'll never see you again.” SOLD AMERICAN.

Dale would have been dead set against this union, so Verna helped Anne escape out the window, down a ladder, late one January night. She arrived in Macomb, the much heralded fiance of Ralph, the BMOC. She got a job working in a law office of a state Representative, and they married shortly thereafter, witnessed by all of dad's fraternity brothers, with Bill Crowley the best man. Jim Ganzer (TORONADO) came down to sing for their wedding. Up in Blue Island, several folks speculated it was one of those, “better hurry up and get married before the kid drops” deals, but, Grandma Linda knew better: “They are in love,” was her final verdict. And they were, and still are. How do we know this? It is in their bickering that they reveal how much each still matters to the other. If you didn't care, you wouldn't take the time to bicker, about stuff upon which you are both in 100% AGREEMENT – each trying to get the last word in (when you come from a family with dynamically personalitied older siblings, getting in the LAST WORD is a matter of pride, and face!).

Upon completing his undergraduate work, Ralph got a job offer to be head football coach in a small town. They were able to borrow a car to go on the interview. The offer was $2,800, varsity football coach and math teacher, but mom was advised that she was NOT to do anything that would bring in money, lest it rob the pockets of the “real” citizens of the town.

They drove back in utter silence for 20 miles. Then rather than play ostrich people, they addressed the issue. “What should we do, honey?” said one to the other. We are NOT going to work in that wretched town, the other replied. Total relief. “I'll get my masters.” “That'll work, I'm making good money working in the attorney's office.”

And the deal was done. Although, I would be remiss to omit the story of how dad set mom to be a smoker, while they were returning from the local movie theater, dad spotted the wrestling coach, and gave mom his cigarette. She puffed it, and was temporarily hooked. His wrestling coach complained, “Ralph, couldn't you have at least waited until wrestling season was over? You'll never win another match.” And he DIDN'T win another match, but, eventually, they got a prodigal son out of it, a lovely, talented horse-loving dauther, a GOOD son, and a master craftsperson, in the form of Gay Linda Ganzer Offutt, John Franklin Ganzer, and Marianne Catherine Ganzer.

From these issue came forth Adam James Ganzer and Scott David Offutt, both of whom I would be bragging at great length upon, but, as this has already taken too much time from your own socializing, I will simply leave with this:

God has blessed us with YOU, our family, friends, neighbors, golfing buddies, sister mothers, congregants, singers, and put you all here for us, guardian angels, to watch over, to guide and keep us safe from our selves, and from the troubles of the world.

Thank you all. God bless you all. We are humbled, and deeply grateful.

With Love, to You, and All You Love

THE GANZER FAMILY