Entries Tagged as 'Nostalgia'

Big Fanny by Neil Ray

December 2nd, 2010 · 3 Comments

My Grandpa Norder used to own a bar in Bear Creek, WI. It was called Norder’s Bar. Creative, huh? My grandparents lived in an apartment above the bar for many years, even after the bar had closed it’s doors. My family would always celebrate Christmas by going to the (closed) bar on Christmas Eve. My mom has 7 brothers and sisters who were mostly all married and had kids, so it was a lot of people to celebrate with.

Even though the bar was not operational everything was still in place. My teenaged cousins Peter and Pat would always play pool with my uncles and if any of us younger kids touched any of the pool balls we’d get chased and yelled at. There were always whole nuts at the bar with a nutcracker. I could never get the nut meat out because I was not strong enough or coordinated enough to use the nutcracker. My cousins and I would always get early Christmas gifts from our godparents on Christmas Eve. My godfather is my mom’s brother, Dave, so he always had something special for me. And I remember it being warm. There was a always a wood stove that was stoked to the max. We’d get yelled at for running by it or getting too close. But what I remember most about Christmas at Norder’s Bar was the jukebox.

All of the songs on the jukebox were from decades before my cousins and I were even born, but we loved it anyway. My grandpa rigged it so that we could play any songs we wanted without putting any money in. Hands down our very favorite song to queue up was an obscure recording by Neil Ray called Big Fanny.

Several years ago I was thinking about this song when my grandpa passed away. I tried to look it up online and couldn’t find anything. Over the weekend, at my bridal luncheon, I somehow got into a conversation with my cousin Dawn and my Aunt Ali about the jukebox. Of course, Big Fanny came up. We did a search then and there and whattaya know? The internet has caught up. Not only was I able to find the song on YouTube, I also found all the lyrics. BINGO! I have listened to this song several times this week and just had to share it.

An interesting sidenote: My mom told me this weekend that we only celebrated Chrsitmas at Norder’s Bar while my grandma was still alive. She passed away when I was 7 years old, so all of these memories were from before then. Amazing! This also explains why all of the kids loved a song that has many references to “rice patties” and the Vietnam War. It said “fanny.” Many times! Fanny fanny fanny!! And it made fun of someone for being fat, ugly, having bad breath, and having a big fanny. Plus she got in a fight with a grizzly bear. It’s not right, but what little kid isn’t going to giggle at that? And want to hear it over and over?

So, here’s Big Fanny on YouTube:

And here’s an mp3 of Big Fanny.

And here are the lyrics to Big Fanny.

Big Fanny, she was big and she was bad
Big Fanny, she was also kind of sa-ad
There wasn’t anybody who could put Big Fanny down
She was big and bad and ugly and she weighed 300 pounds

She weighed 300 pounds, stood 5 foot 5
And had an odor more dead than alive
Had black greasy hair on her dimpled chin
And her big belly rumbled like a lion’s den – Big Fanny

No one knew who was Fanny’s daddy
She turned up one day in a wet rice paddy
Just lookin’ stupid and standin’ stiff
And even the dogs refused to sniff of Big Fanny

Big Fanny-eee!

Some say she came from around Hanoi
Where she got in a fight with some VC boys.
She blowed her garlic breath in those VC’s face
And they dropped like flies all over the place – Big Fanny.

Big Fanny-eee!

The cops finally put big fanny in jail,
Gave her thirty days, wouldn’t set no bail
She gave a might belch and struck a match
And the gas blowed a hole in that booby-hatch – Big Fanny.

Big Fanny-eee!

Big Fanny was up in the mountains one night
A-fightin’ a bear in the soft moonlight
The bear stuck a claw in Fannies eye
And all of the people said good-bye to Big Fanny

Big Fanny-eee!

But Fanny got tired of playing with that bear
And grabbed two handfuls of his mangy hair
She gave a karate chop and a judo roll
And knocked that grizzly critter out cold – Big Fanny

Big Fanny-eee!

Big Fanny hung around for a couple of years
Smoking ci-gar butts and mooching beers
And then one morning she was up and gone
Back to the jungle huntin’ Viet Cong – Big Fanny

So along the roads in North Viet Nam
There’s trees a-growin’ with signs nailed on
They say “If you leave this road, be careful pal
Somewhere in that jungle is a big bad gal” – Big Fanny

Big Fanny-eee!

Big Fanny, she was big and she was bad.
Big Fanny, she was also kind of sa-ad.
There wasn’t anybody who could put Big Fanny down
She was big and bad and ugly and she weighed 300 pounds.

There wasn’t anybody who could put Big Fanny down
She was big and bad and ugly and she weighed… three… hun… dred… pounds.

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Deputy Sheriff William Olin Crowell

February 14th, 2010 · No Comments

Speaking of grandfathers, Dallas’s dad and my dad both sent us the link to a story in The Garden Island News, the newspaper of Kaua’i. The article featured Deputy Sheriff William Olin Crowell in an “Island History” feature.  My dad sent the link and asked me, “Is this a relative of Dallas’s?” The answer, I found out, is that William Crowell is Dallas’s great grandfather.

It is interesting to note that the photo included with the story is actually Dallas’s great grandfather’s high school graduating class. William Crowell was part of the first graduating class from Kamehameha Schools in 1891. The school highly prefers students with Native Hawaiian ancestry. Most of Dallas’s family has attended Kamehamhea for many generations, going back to when the school was founded, as shown here.

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Traces of Yesterday

February 13th, 2010 · 5 Comments

My dad found this book and sent it to me a while back. It was a project that we did when I was in junior high where we had to record interviews with our grandparents or other older people in the community on cassette then transcribe them into stories for the book.

The Traces of Yesterday forward reads:

Welcome to the seventh volume of TRACES OF YESTERDAY, a collection of oral history compiled by the students of Washington Junior High in New London. The 1988/89 edition involved the entire eighth grade class with many students having their work included in the book.

First the young historians of Lyle Brumm and James Fauske took their tape recorders into the community attempting to capture history. Next they transcribed, edited, revised, and proofread the material. In this phase the students used the social studies classroom and the “Rough Copy”, the Washington Junior High writing lab. After the staff had selected the material to be included in the book, it was neatly rewritten, and typed into the computer by junior and senior high students interested in word processing. After a copy was printed, volunteer proofreaders read the manuscript, corrections were made, and then the final printout was completed.

It was the desire of the advisors to again make the endeavor as much as student project as possible. They were involved in the gathering of information, the recording and writing of it, and the typing, printing, and marketing of their book.

May you, the reader, get as much pleasure from reading as the students and those interviewed did in capturing the past.

Sincerely,
The Advisors to TRACES OF YESTERDAY

I interviewed my mom’s dad, my Grandpa Norder. I had one story entitled “There Was No Money” included in the book.

There Was No Money

Elvin Norder

Interviewed by Rachelle Bowden

I went to school during the Depression. there was no money. If you got a penny on Sunday, you were lucky. Then you could get a half of a handful of candy for a penny or a package of gum. You could get a pack of cigarettes for a dime.

My dad ran a tavern for a job in the Depression. Back then beer and pop came in bottles. There were no cans of beer. Mother would take $0.50 a day out fo the cash register to feed a family of eight. Guys would bring in bags of potatoes and dad would give them a beer. Some would bring in rutabaga or pork head or anything.

My mom made most of our clothes. We couldn’t afford new clothes. Sometimes we’d get hand-me-downs from people who could. I don’t think I ever had a new pair of shoes. I remember when I had a new sled. Any other time we didn’t have one. Didn’t have any money to buy one.

On October 13, 1940, I joined the army for one year of training. I was in World War II for 5 years. I was a truck driver and Corporal Technician. I drove truck and picked up bodies, food, ammo, everything. The truck didn’t have brakes. You had to coast to a stop. I was stationed in the South Pacific, New Guinea. I ended up on the Philippine Islands. On July 25, 1945, I got out.

Some thoughts –

- This spiral-bound book printed with a dot-matrix printer has somehow lasted for 22 years with very little damage.

- Washington Junior High doesn’t even exist any more.

- My grandpa grew up to run a bar of his own. I took some photos of Norder’s Bar here.

- My grandpa grew up in The Depression and lived the whole rest of his life as though we were still in The Depression. He bought the cheapest food imaginable and I don’t remember him having new clothes even once. He was far from rich, but I think he had enough to live a little differently. I don’t remember him ever signing a check without mumbling under his breath about how he was “signing his life away.” I wonder why I have money issues today!

- I still have the cassette tape recording of the interview I did with my grandpa. I should see if there’s some way to convert it to a digital file. It would be nice to have, especially since my grandpa passed a few years ago. We’ll never hear these stories again. I believe my brother and my cousin probably both have these cassettes somewhere too. We all had to do the same project the year we were in eighth grade. I wonder if grandpa told the same stories of The Great Depression and World War II.

- I remember at the time thinking about how I’d never heard any of these stories from my grandpa before. My grandpa and I weren’t really close and I don’t think I ever heard many more of his stories after that. Regrets.

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Fingerprints

November 5th, 2009 · No Comments

fingerprints

Earlier this week I had to get my fingerprints taken. I’d done this one other time, more than 10 years ago, when I got my securities licenses (I had my Series 6 and Series 63). I was in finance back them. This time was for work because my client is the government, military branch.

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Hey, Squirrels, Dinner at My Place. Anytime!

October 1st, 2009 · 2 Comments

pumpkin_bite

I shouldn’t be mad that the squirrels (I’m guessing) have been nibbling the gourds I put on our front stoop, because they did leave my patio flowers alone all summer long. I’m sure they’ll find a way to the roof deck by next summer because I know they’re holding a grudge against me as much as I’m holding a grudge against them for eating all my daisies at my old apartment in Roscoe Village.

I do find it odd that nature is attacking my pumpkins and gourds faster than the thugs down the street. I didn’t expect these to last for a day before some idiots were throwing them at each other or our house. I can just remember how devastating it was when we were kids and we’d spend all that time designing and carving pumpkins and some hoodlums would come by that very night and smash them all over the street. I guess I never expect pumpkin decorations to last any more. Stupid New London teenagers.. jading me for life!

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