THEY KEEP POPPING UP:
The July 11th
“Daily News had a neat article about Eddy Dell's retirement which evoked
a host of fond recollections about yet another of my very memorable
students, Bruce Dell. Eddy's son. He was in a whole bunch of my classes
and my memory of him is still very positive. Bruce was one of those
always-attentive, seldom absent reliable students, and his papers were
always a great read. But remembering Bruce also calls up the many great
times we had at Casey's back in the 70's and 80's. I still remember the
almost weekly “ceremonies” we attended there with cohorts from NDSSS and
the Fairmount area.
On most TGIF nights, Casey's had the best
band in town, so when that was the case, the Morrisons, the McCurnins
the Ericksons the Johnsons the Williams and the Pinkneys often met there
to take advantage of the fine music, dancing, and camaraderie we all
needed after a heavy week of teaching.
In Hemingway's amazing short story, “A Clean
Well-Lighted Place”, (do Google it up; it's only about five pages long)
the bar scene is an allegory. The bar is the chapel, the bartender, the
priest who hears the confessions of the tormented souls who come to him
for absolution, and a spirit, alcohol, holds sway over the whole
service. The parallels are uncanny. It's told from the view-point of an
old Spanish bartender, proud that he presides over a clean, well-lighted
place and not a “bodega' or dive. He keeps it open late in case some
lost soul should need to come in for late-night service. The story is
real ponder country, balancing the dangers of addiction against the
human hunger for spiritual love and acceptance. At the end of a
typical great night at Casey's, Ed Casey and his beautiful wife, Carol would often show up
to night-cap off the evening. They often joined a group of regulars who
sat in a large corner booth opposite Eddy's station. Among those was
Bruces beautiful mom Dorane, her sister Jane Erickson, Nancy Kietal and
others. There was family there, kinda like “Cheers.” And one very
rarely, if ever saw a fight break out.
Here's Thomas Hardy's celebration of cider
and the dance. “Sweet cider is a great thing/ A great thing to me/
Spinning down through Wahpeton / By bridge way thirstily/ With maid and
mistress summoning/ That tend the hostelry/ Oh cider is a great thing/ A
great thing to me” The dance it is a great thing/ A great thing to me/
With candles lit and partners fit/ For night-long revelry/ And going
home when day dawning / Peeps pale upon the lea/… Oh dancing is a great
thing/ A great thing to me.” (adaptations my own.) I'm sure many will
say “Amen,” to that. Many won't. But to the work-weary soul who needs a
week-end recharging, America still offers spiritual alternatives: A
Clean Well-Lighted Place, like Casey's, a “bodega” like Fargo's Nester,
recently torn down., or Sunday Morning Services. Each meets real needs.
But “Ponder the path of thy feet.” You may not want to spend “Sunday
Morning Coming Down.” Sadly, time has taken
its toll of the memorable crew at Casey's: Rex Larson passed away
several years ago, Lois Waldera lost a valiant battle with cancer only a
couple of years ago, and today at Ed Casey's funeral reception at the
bar, his lovely wife Carol told me that Eddy Dell has recently suffered
a stroke which has robbed him of his ability to speak. But that
reception was packed. It looked like Casey's used to look on a Saturday
night. There were Casey's uniforms going back at least four generations.
Seeing a handsome young guy in a brand new red and white Casey's soft
ball uniform I asked him which generation his uniform belonged to. He
said, “This one!” So, though many of
the great souls of Casey's are passing, the tradition of great Casey's
teams still refuses to die.
Gene Pinkney (For the Daily News)
Revised, 7/27/20
html edit 8-12-2021
Remembering Casey’s Bar
The band I liked the
most to dance and listen to was a Mexican father and sons combo whose
name I can't quite remember-- maybe The Comancheros” I do remember that
the family name was Guzman and the highlight was one of the sons who
played a double-yoked guitar with jaw-dropping and astonishing skill. A
favorite song of theirs was “ Que La Paloma Blanca” (White Dove); and
they played “Malaguena” with amazing versatility. I'm probably biased,
but I have a special love of Spanish music-- It's got mucho mas SOUL. In
fact I stayed up way too late a while back watching the four hour long
“The Wild Bunch” just so I could hear one more time that beautiful and
poignantly majestic anthem at the end--- “La Golondrina”, or 'The
Swallow'--about a bird who longs to return to its home-land but can't.
Serving us those
great nights out was about as in-synched a team as anyone could
assemble: Eddie Dell at quarter tap, Rex Larson, the surely
broad-shouldered “tender” and bouncer, at center tap, and serving rings
around them all, the charming and lovely, Lois Waldera. plus various
college guys helping out part time when the crowd got big. My wife,
Audrey and I , still fondly recall those great nights out. I'm sure some
of my church friends might frown at all this, but the spirit of friendly
fellowship is even lauded in the Bible: … ”and wine that gladdens the
heart.” And the first great miracle Jesus did was to turn the water into
wine. It's the abuse of wine that causes trouble.