Adventures with the Green Van - I

Pick-up Artists

My old pal Audie once had a green 1974 Dodge Tradesman van.

He had bought it new; a stripped down model. It did have a radio, however, and a passenger seat, a side window on the sliding door, and two windows in the back. Those were the extent of its options. He had bought it for use with his band, a group I would help out with from time to time. It wasn’t what you would call a “chick magnet” although on one night it did rise to the occasion.

Audie and I were out and about, as Chuck Berry once said: “With no particular place to go.” We were in Northeast Minneapolis when we were hailed by a distraught young woman. Audie stopped and I asked her if she needed a ride. She nodded so I let her in to the passenger seat and I took to the floor in the back. She was upset so we talked to her, tried to calm her down and see if there was anything we could do. It was boy trouble, evidently she was in a bad relationship and things had come to a head. We drove her around for about a half an hour until she said that she was alright. She told us where to drop her off.

It was one of those things, we concluded, and never found out what happened to her. I don’t know if it was more common then; there seems that there is always a constant pattern of abuse from a sizable minority of men to women (and vice versa, in a different way.) The green van was, for a short time that night, a haven. There are more stories in the history of the green van—some mundane, some life-changing—but those are for another day.

Adventures in the Green Van — V

Eight and a Half Weeks

As the winter of 1976 wore on, the owner of the green van was still in Portugal so the vehicle of destiny remained under my command.

Because I had the van I had been recruited to help a friend move his lady-friend to a new apartment. It would be an easy move, he said, she didn’t have a ton of stuff and it was only a couple of blocks between her old place and the new one. On a bright and frosty Saturday morning in February I picked up him up and we drove over to the old place. It was on a second floor (boo!) but she was well organized and everything was packed and ready to go (yay!) I was taking down my first box when, on a landing leading up to the apartment, I looked down and saw the most beautiful woman in the world (instantly forgetting about the one I had met the previous week).

It was love at first sight.

We struck it off and, after the move was finished, while were eating pizza in the new apartment, we talked. And talked. For hours. The next day she came over to my place and we took things to another level.

Eight and a half weeks later we got married.

We still are.

And it was all because of the green van!

Adventures in the Green Van — IV

The Beautiful Woman

The owner of the green van was in the habit of taking extended trips on the Iberian peninsula.

In the winter of ’76 he had me take care of the van while he was away on one such sojourn. It was also at this time when, in rural Dalbo, Minnesota, a musician of my acquaintance invited me up to spend a weekend with him and his wife. I was single at the time, so I was very pleased when his wife’s sister (also single) and her friends came up. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. All of us went outside and shoveled the snow off the pond and had a little skating party. It was glorious. After dinner the beautiful woman and her friends went back to the cities. I stayed on.

My friend had a new multi-track tape recorder and was looking for some technical advice. After a few hours of nerding out on recording techniques his wife left us and went to bed. A bottle of Southern Comfort appeared. I’m usually not much on spirits but on this particular night I did succumb to its treacly temptation. We stayed up late talking until the booze was gone, and then talked some more. The next day some of our friends came up and we did some more socializing. I drove home that night, alone. It was not to be my final adventure in the green van At the time I didn’t know it, and maybe my friend didn’t either, but this weekend was sort of an audition; within a year I’d be working with him and his band.

I never saw the beautiful girl again, although years later I did find her demurely hiding in the corner of a picture I had shot months before I met her.

Adventures with the Green Van — III

Road Trip

July of 1976 in a run-down motel near Bemidji, Minnesota.

The band had a week-end booking in a resort and a few of us had come along for the experience. The gigs went OK and afterwards there was plenty of time to kill. Poker was popular, at least with those who won:

Frankie had a special gleam in his eyes that night but it really was just the speed:

Mike was in good form too, not real drunk, but never quite sober either:

And Audie, owner of the green van, seemed a little more pensive than usual:

The band was in a state of turmoil, almost to the point of fisticuffs. It was obvious that things couldn’t remain the same. Within a month several of the members had either quit or were ‘fired’, although how you can fire the founder of a band is not easily explained. An early example of a hostile takeover, I guess. I wasn’t working with the band yet, but the seeds had been sown. The green van lived on, to service more gigs, although its life, too, was limited.

Adventures with the Green Van — II

Benson Wedding

The gig was January wedding in Benson, Minnesota, a small town three hours west of the Twin Cites.

Audie, the owner of the green van, and a bunch high school buddies, were in a band whose motto was “Cheap, on time, and sober”. Pick two. At that point in my life I had plenty of free time, so naturally I jumped in the van, offering my services as driver/roadie. The roads were OK, there was some blowing and drifting snow, but we managed to get the equipment there in one piece.

By the time we got there, the couple had been successfully wed and the band went on to gave it their all for the wedding dance. The bride and groom were pleased with the performance of the eight-piece orchestra. I had made a little nest in the back of the cloakroom and managed to get a little shut-eye for the long trip home. Some of the band members slept in the noisy van on the way back; youth has a great tolerance for discomfort.

This was, in a way, a trial for me. A few years later I ended up working with the group and spent many hours in other vans, going to and fro in this quest for musical nirvana.

Adventures in the Green Van VI

Return from Big Lake

A transcript from a cassette tape recording made in the green van, 1975:

Stranded in the Jungle… Rawhide… Ronnie… Big Girls Don’t Cry… Sherry Baby, Wah-Wah-Tusi, Iko Iko… 634-5789… oh you know that one… Patches… Wolverton Mountain… Itchykoo Park… The Blues Magoos— You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet, Rainy Day Mushrooms… Liar, Liar, The Castaways, what was the follow-up? Leaving You Babe on the Midnight Train… I thought it was Little Latin Lupe Lu? That was the Chancellors… Talkin’‘bout my baby, Little Latin Lupe Lu… Wait a minute now, we bought our PA speakers from… Raggs… Bomp-Bomp-Bomp-Bomp-Bomp-Ba-Bomp Bomp, I was walkin’ with my baby, down 49th Street, I said ‘Hey pretty baby, I’d really like to meet ya now… I said a-shake and stomp… Where the hell are we? Blue-black hair, shaded eyes, baby you got me hypnotized, you’re the girl with the long, long, blue-black hair… Wait, why don’t we sing something I know? This old man he played one, he played knick-nack on my thumb… (Am I Blue is on the radio dial switches to Different Drum) Stone Poneys! … and I ain’t sayin’ you ain’t pretty, all I’m sayin’ is I’m not ready for any person place or thing to try and pull the reins in on me-ee soooo-oh, goodbye… That’s a big scam, How about some Motown? Baby, Baby, I hear a symphony… ooo-ooo… Some Rod McKeun? You son of a bitch… I was wrong, you son of a bitch… Lightning striking again, together, together, no never, never!…

You know I felt that way once… you know what I think it is? It’s the new math… algebra… I had waffles today, that’s the truth, frozen waffles… don’t you think frozen waffles are bunk? Now you take a Mambo Pie… put peanut butter on it… (Hey Jude plays on the radio) He used to play bass in John Lewis’ old band I want you to… it was Gordy Johnson on bass, Mark Bandor on rhythmn guitar, Mike Stoner on drums… Mister Moonlight… Bandor played guitar? com’on… take a sad song and make it better… We got some guys, and went to Hy’s to buy a tape recorder… the kneebone’s connected to the hipbone the hipbone’s connected to the hipbone, the hipbone’s connected to the backbone, all praise to the Lord… you’ll all be sorry when I’ll be dead… that’s a good song… (laughter)

Well have a smoke on me, Oh No! Forget it, that’s a quarter cigar… (laughter)
Well have a smoke on me, Oh No! Forget it, that’s a quarter cigar… (laughter)
Well have a smoke on me, Oh No! Forget it, that’s a quarter cigar… (laughter)
Have a smoke on me, Oh No! That’s no joke! We’ll have a quarter cigar…

Time for no joke, time for no smoke, time for a joke from Rickeee…

Does Ricky Lewis resemble Rocky Lupino, Oh No! Oh No! Not in the slightest!
Does Ricky Lewis resemble Rocky Lupino, Oh No! Oh No! Not in the slightest!
Oh No! Remember the big teen breaker store, were you there, were you there?
Remember the First National Bank, were you there, were you there?
No, No, does Ricky Lewis resemble Rocky Lupino, Oh No! Oh No! Not in the slightest!

The Broadway Musical Mud, the 1975 hit, everything you wanted to know about dirt. Has Rick Lewis as a baby, it all started before he was born. He came outta his ma, he came outta his ma! Okay.

I wanted to play rock'n'roll music but I heard the call from Shasta Beverage Company.
ONE MORE TIME!
I wanted to play rock'n'roll music but I heard the call from Shasta Beverage Company.

Please let him stay in the van. Oh, Ricky speaks! Speak to us Ricky… Aw that’s all right. It was a small crowd, you could count it on the fingers of one hand. I dreamed I was there in Hillbilly Heaven… Rich, C’mon now… (Sounds of van door opening and then closing. Tape hiss is heard for 5 minutes, then the sound of door opening again.)

Ricky, Ricky… I’ll sit back here… Tiny Bubbles, in the wine… make me feel happy… We won’t have to wait in Minneapolis… A lot of what you call… sex? We’ll probably be sober enough to handle it… what… Oh! No! Shasta Beverage won’t do, I did not think the foreman could be so cruel… I’m never going back to my old time-slot… You sit on the console, I’ll sit on Tucker…

Lon Cheney was a friend of mine…
Lon Cheney was a friend of mine…
Lon Cheney was a friend of mine…
Lon Cheney was a friend of all mankind…
Lon Cheney was a friend of mine…
Lon Cheney was a friend of mine…
Of yours and mine…
A friend of ALL mankind.

(The rest is noise… )

Minnesota

Selected FITK posts on the Professor’s sojourns in the Land of Lakes:

2021

Mysteries of Grand Marais
Wine Tour (Stillwater)

2020

Honky-Tonk Woman (Waverly)
The Last Gig (Northeast Minneapolis)
Jono’s Letter (Grand Marais)
Heroes and Villans (South Minneapolis)
Yard Concert (Robbinsdale)
Nature Preserve (Anoka) 
Prom Nights (Saint Paul)
State Fair Memories (Falcon Heights)
Adventures with the Green Van (Bemidji)
My Last Cigar (Cambridge)

2019

Take-out (Anoka)
Paradise Found and Lost (Minneapolis)
The End of Winter (Anoka)
Small Town Talk (Anoka)
Skaterdater (Minneapolis)
() (Minneapolis)
Halloween Terrors (Anoka)
Weekend in New Ulm

2018

Five From the Frigid Fair (Falcon Heights)
On the Town (Anoka)
Art-A-Whirl (NE Minneapolis)
I Live in a Magical World (Anoka)
I Dig the Nightlife (South Minneapolis)
Savoury Summer (Anoka)
Surreal Saturday (Downtown Minneapolis)
Waseca Wonders

2017

Grand Marais by Night
More Grand Marais
Farewell Grand Marais
Harriet and Desha (Saint Paul)
Food Truck Frenzy (Anoka)
Midnight Serenade (Chatfield)
Purcell-Cutts House (Minneapolis)

2016

Jack Clark’s Bar and Cafe (North Minneapolis)
Transition (North Minneapolis)
Green Lake (North Minneapolis)
Anoka Home Tour
Four More from the Fair (Falcon Heights)
Four from the Fair
Fair Friday Final Four
North (Cook County)

2015

Art-A-Whirl (Minneapolis)
Ergot Museum (Dassel)
Rivertown Ramble (Anoka)
Saturday in the Park (Waseca)
River Rats (Anoka)
Four From the Fair (Falcon Heights)
Four More From the Fair
Further Fair Foursome
Fair Final Four

2014

Trail Center (Cook County)
Young at Heart Records (Duluth)
Country Auction (1970-Upsala)
Art-A-Whirl (Minneapolis)
A Jolly Excursion (Minneapolis-Saint Paul)
From Paradise to Sunrise (Kanabec County)
The Crazy Lady’s House (Kanabec County)
Clambering in the Fog (Anoka)

2013

Street Street (Anoka)
Playing Hooky (Minneapolis)
Art-A-Whirl (Minneapolis)
More from Art-A-Whirl
Mr. Lucky (Minneapolis)
Family Values (Two Harbors)
Stale Pop (Minneapolis)
Mansion on the Hill (Anoka)
Loring Park Girls (Minneapolis)
I Love the Fair (Falcon Heights)
Pipestone

2012

Art-A-Whirl (NE Minneapolis)
Prairie Home Cemetery (Anoka)
Alice in Wonderland (Waverly)
William A. Porter (North Minneapolis)
Frank R. MacDonald (North Minneapolis)
Charles C. Webber (North Minneapolis)

2011

Sleepy Eye
Bands, Beer and Birds (New Ulm)
New Ulm
Hot Rods and Custom Dreams (Anoka)
Ye Old Mill (Falcon Heights)
Aprés-Ski (Morrison County)

2010 and older…

Postcards from the Fair (Falcon Heights)
Old Camden (Minneapolis)
Street Corner Philosopher (Minneapolis)
Twilight of the Goddesses (Minneapolis)
Luncheon on the Grass (Waverly)
Mysteries of the North Country
Curiosity Shop (Northfield)
The Interlopers (Lanesboro)
Beaver Flicks (Grand Marais)

My Last Cigar

Tom, Tim and Dan, The Great Northern Depot, Minneapolis, January, 1976

It was a weird thing to do.

45 years ago there was precious little passenger train service in Minnesota. A year earlier, service between Minneapolis and Duluth had been restored and by the winter of 1976 stops in Cambridge and Sandstone had been added. Five of us intrepid young souls seized the opportunity and made a week-end visit to one of the guys in the band who was then living in a basement in rural Dalbo, Minnesota, not far from Cambridge. I had never been on a train in my life, so for me it was a new adventure.

As we waited in the station we were all trying to act nonchalant, like Cary Grant in North By Northwest, but we were half his age and one tenth as cool. One of the guys, Rich, worked in a tobacco shop and had brought cigars. Some of the guys took him up on his offer, including me. I had smoked for a brief period in high school, I thought I might want to relive those halcyon years.

A big mistake. I got thoroughly nauseated, in just the same way I did when I was younger. I managed to make it to Cambridge without throwing up and for the rest of the weekend I avoided tobacco products. When we got there the town was deserted:

We had to walk a mile to a generic motel on the edge of town. We got a room for the night and smoked dope and watched Carol Burnette on the color TV:

The next day we went out into the country. I shot a bunch of pictures of snow drifts (!?) and somehow I got back home. I would soon return to Dalbo, in the green van, but that is a story for next week.

The Explodo Boys…

… were a musical group that the Professor worked with (and recorded) a half-century ago. Here are some music videos, CDs, LPs and stories of this great Minneapolis band:

Explodo Boys “Videos”:

Cha-Dooky-Doo
Twine Time
Get Your Hat
I Want to Take You Home
Bluff City Cookin'
Pass the Peas
Midnight Mover
Hidden Charms
Darling, Darling, Darling
She’s So Good
Crazy Mama
Sure Feels Good
The Monkey Time
Can I Change My Mind?
You Got All The Aces
I'm Ready
Tramp on the Street
Ain’t Nothing You Can Do
Happy Song

Oh So Soul “Videos”:

Summer Love
Waiting at the Station
Saturday Night Fish Fry
The Babywalk
I'm So Tired of Being Alone

Later (post 2000) Explodo Boys “Videos”

Memphis Train
Sleepwalk
I’m Shakin’

Commercially Released CDs:

The Early Years 1975-1976 (remastered from vinyl LP)
The Later Years 1977 - 1980 (remastered from vinyl LP)

History of The Explodo Boys CD series:

I      Country: Country and folk songs 1974- 1975
II     Covers: Rock and blues tunes 1975-1976
IIb   Harold’s Blues: Recorded rehearsal 1977
III   The Explosion Brothers: Highlights 1977-1978
IV   Doobah: Highlights 1978-1979
V    No Turkeys: Highlights 1979-1980
VII  John Beach with The Explodo Boys: 1979-1980
VI   Oh So Soul: Jimmy’s farewell, 1980
VIII Lost and Found: Rarities 1978-1979
IX   Improvisations: Instrumentals 1978-1979
X   Odds and Ends: 1978-1979

Gig tapes:

Tracy’s Inn - 1975: Raucous roadhouse gig (2 CDs)
Tempo Bar - 1976: Excerpts from a typical gig
Bootlegger Sam’s - 1977: w/ Max and Audie
Reunion - 1982 (2 CDs): Danny’s return from Alaska

Jimmy Derbis:

Solo 1971
Demos 1987

For specific information on The Explodo Boys or obtaining CDs, SD cards, or Thumb Drives, email: stephencowdery@gmail.com

True stories (mostly):

Memorial Day
The Listening Room
B.P.
Half-True Story
The Explodo Girls
Adventures With the Green Van