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This issue follows closely on the tail of issue #1, but we thought we'd get a few out before my summer schedule kicks in and things get busy. We hope to send them on a predetermined schedule soon. We've put together a real doozy for you. After reading through it, I fully expect you'll shout, "Damn, that was a fantastic newsletter!" or, "I'm sure glad that I took time out of my busy day to read that newsletter!". Some of you might even cry out, “Oh my goodness! Zellar's done it again!". Shouting out any one of these things would be perfectly understandable. We tried our best to include material to enlighten, entertain, and inform. Our neighbor, Marisol, said she found material she would be willing to describe as informative but wouldn't admit to being enlightened or entertained. Our gardener Chan said it checked all three boxes for him. I'm unsure whether to believe this, as Chan can't read English. It was a somewhat rocky rollout for issue #1. The main problem reported was the email being routed to junk boxes. A few people reported that they didn't receive the email at all. This has us perplexed, but we'll continue to work on it. As my first-grade teacher, Miss Walton, used to say, "You just have to try your best, you stupid little dipshit."
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I have a little bit of everything coming up over the summer. We hope to see you at some point! 6/13 Neil! at the JX Event Center in Stillwater, MN INFO/TICKETS 6/14 MZ & Band Rock the Docks in Prior Lake, MN INFO/TICKETS 6/18 Neil! at Rhythm on the Rails in Shakopee, MN INFO/TICKETS 6/20 MZ & Band at Parley Lake Vineyard in Waconia, MN INFO/TICKETS 7/12 Gear Daddies at Riversong Music Festival in Hutchinson, MN (The info for this one was screwed up on both my site and the last newsletter. Apologies) INFO/TICKETS 7/13 MZ & Band at the Hewing Hotel Rooftop Series in Minneapolis INFO/TICKETS 7/23 Gear Daddies at Concerts in the Commons in Excelsior, MN INFO/TICKETS 7/26 Gear Daddies at Codfish Hollow Barn in Maquoketa, IA INFO/TICKETS 8/8 MZ & Band at Music in the Park in Silver Bay, MN INFO/TICKETS Details and ticket links for the shows can also be found under the SHOWS tab at MartinZellar.com. INFO/TICKETS
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In this issue, I'd like to introduce you to my old and dear friend, Jeff "Ace" Ashley. I've name-dropped Ace in two songs: 2-18 (the b-side of the Gear Daddies' She's Happy 45 rpm) and Freeze This Feeling off of Many Moods. Some of my fondest high school memories involve Ace. And many of those memories involve little other than sitting on gravel roads talking, listening to music, and drinking beer. Both of the above-referenced tunes are nods to this. Here are two Ace-dedicated verses from 2-18: Saturday night, things are slow Me and Ace, a country road Too much beer, I smell wet tar Soft rain hits the roof of the car And later: I never have stopped to tell you How much I really care And how I treasure every memory Of every boring moment that we shared Ace is a solid, soft-spoken guy. He's one of those enviable human beings whom you rarely, if ever, hear a bad word about. He was always perfectly content to sit quietly and hang out. Hanging out almost always included 16 oz cans of Old Milwaukee. Ace and I were never in an official band together, but he played guitar with me on my first public performance, a teen party at the First Congregational Church in Austin, MN.* We did a couple of songs, and I sang one: Cheap Trick's Surrender. Ace and I leaned heavily on each other during our senior year. We didn't fit into any traditional high school cliques: we weren't athletes, we weren't burnouts, we weren't nerds, and we weren't drama/choir types. We weren't especially popular, but we weren't unpopular. Neither of us went to senior prom, so we snuck into the Riverside Arena, where the dance took place, and hid under the bleachers, throwing shit at our friends on the dance floor. We deftly straddled the line between seventh graders and high school seniors. We'd also drive to Rochester, MN, and sneak into bars to see popular Twin Cities bands. Everyone knew everyone in Austin, and thus their age, so that wasn't possible there. Besides, Twin Cities bands that played original music didn't come to Austin. We'd tell the doorman that we were from Britain and our fathers were doctors at Mayo, so we didn't have American I.D.s. We'd plead our cases in terrible British accents. There wasn't a chance in hell that the doorman believed us, but that didn't seem to matter. Money was money. Two shows I remember were The Suburbs and The Flamin' Ohs. Both rocked our small-town worlds. Every bar band we'd seen up to that point played only covers. I don't see Ace as often as I'd like, but I treasure the times I do. He doesn't change. He's true-blue. If you're ever lucky enough to cross paths with him, please buy him an Old Milwaukee. I'll pay you back the next time I see you. * The First Congregational Church was also the location of the nursery school where Nick and I first met.
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A THOUSAND LITTLE THINGS VIDEO
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In addition to my new blog post dedicated to A Thousand Little Things, I’ve put together a video with the lyrics and a photo album backdrop of some of my favorite photos of my wife. She's not happy about it, but I told her, "Tough bounce, Tootsie”. LINK TO VIDEO Please give it a watch. And while you're watching, feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel. Every new subscriber means my number of subscribers goes up. I've been told that that is a good thing. If you like the video, please feel free to share it! A Thousand Little Things can also be found on most streaming services.
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ANOTHER REMINDER ABOUT THE NEW MARTINZELLAR.COM
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We work hard to add new content to MartinZellar.com to make it worth visiting regularly. Since we sent the last newsletter, a new blog entry has gone live, new photos have been added, a new video has been added, and the show calendar has been updated. A word about my blog: if they award Pulitzer Prizes for blogs, I predict, with all modesty, that one will sit on my mantel shortly. It's just that good. My last entry is a masterpiece. I've read it repeatedly, and it's gotten better with each reading. I'll pause to go back and reread it now. Yup, it's as good as I remembered it. If you visit, please chime in with a comment, question, or topic suggestion. I'll respond personally (time permitting), but I'm hoping I can afford some nifty AI software to do it for me soon. I really can't imagine that anyone will know the difference. New blog entries and photos are posted every Monday at 7 am. It just dawned on me that the Pulitzer Prize might not be a trophy. Hopefully, they’ll give me something to put on my mantel. I wish I knew a Pulitzer Prize winner I could ask.
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READER QUESTION #2 Mick Garry from Sioux Falls, SD, asks, "What is the biggest damned sandwich you've ever seen Nic Ciola eat? I can't tell you how many times I've been asked this over the years. It's an excellent question, but it requires some thought. I've known Nic for over 57 years, and over that time, I've seen him eat a lot of sandwiches. I've seen him eat almost every type of luncheon meat stuck between two pieces of Wonder Bread, along with clubs, heroes, subs, hoagies, open-faced melts, BLTs, PB & Js, cheese steaks, Italian beef, French dips, pork tenderloins, and more. Conversely, here's a list of sandwiches I've never seen Nic eat: bánh mì, Dagwood, croque-monsieur, lobster roll, muffuletta, churrasco, and po'boy. There are possibly others, but I think that's a relatively comprehensive list of sandwiches I've never seen Nic eat. Before I continue, let's get this out of the way: a hamburger is not a sandwich. I realize this might be controversial. Opinions on the internet are varied but lean toward my own. Hot dogs, bratwurst, and other sausages are most definitely not sandwiches. Patty melts have a hamburger patty, but I consider them a sandwich. Having ruled that a hamburger is not a sandwich, I’ll give you this bonus trivia: the biggest damned burger I've ever seen Nic eat was a Monster Burger from Hardee's. Nic, himself, will tell you that the Monster Burger is the biggest damned burger he's ever eaten. Now, back to the original question and its answer. The biggest damned sandwich I've ever seen Nic eat was a corned beef sandwich at Shapiro's Delicatessen in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was mountainous. He polished off that gigantic sandwich PLUS a large pickle and a side of cole slaw. Shapiro's featured cafeteria-style service and they shrewdly displayed their desserts first, so Nic had already placed a massive slice of strawberry cheesecake on his tray before moving down the line and seeing the size of the sandwiches. His premature dessert decision worked well for me, as I ate most of the cheesecake. What a day that was. It still feels like a dream.
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I have many fond memories of stardust evenings spent in ol’ New York, New York with Frankie and his ever-rotating crew of wise guys and court jesters. We'd usually kick things off with a quick steam at the Zaitsev Bathhouse on the Upper West Side, then tuck away a little din-din (and too many Rusty Nails!) at Patsy's before finally shuffling off to the Copa to catch the late show. We'd close the joint down, then move on to an after-hours, ring-a-ding, side-door soiree hosted by one of Frank's New Jersey business acquaintances. I will never forget the night at P.J. Clark's when Frank pulled me aside and laid a piece of wisdom on me that would guide my career from that point forward: "Pallie boy, never forget that this crazy world we're part of consists of two words: show AND business. Ya gotta mind 'em both. Frankie was a true mensch, and he kicked open the doors to the kingdom for me. I always appreciated Frank's introductions to the cool cats and kitties, but the greatest blessing of his friendship was the invitations to break bread at Mama Sinatra's table. Tagliatelle al Ragù! Mama Mia!
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PREVIOUS WINNER & NEW CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT:
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Congratulations to our latest contest winner, Teri M, from Chicago, IL. Because Teri couldn't attend my June 20 show at Parley Lake Vineyard, she will receive the Head West merchandise collection. We hope you love it, Teri. We really do. Not Teri M from Chicago? Fear not; we have a new contest ready to go, and you're automatically entered if you've signed up for the mailing list. The winner of our newest contest will receive a set of five handmade MZ/Gear Daddies song title bracelets, including Head West, Stupid Boy, Sonic Boom, Dream Vacation, and Zamboni. Eat your heart out, Tay Tay! Thanks to our good friends Yoji and Laurie for their artistry! Our stylish daughter and famous wrist model, Clementine, is already sporting the collection, so the winner will be in good company. Good luck, everyone! Curious about how we chose our contest winners? Please check out my early blog post explaining the process.
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A reminder that on the rare occasion that I’m having difficulty coming up with fresh and engaging content, I will lift an observation or story from Sammy Davis Jr. and claim it as my own. Otherwise, rest assured that everything in my newsletters and blog posts will come directly from me.
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Thanks for subscribing to the newsletter! Hasta la proxima!
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