My, how quickly time flies!  It was just a short February ago we were attending our 2nd Eelpout Festival in Walker, MN. And here it is, time again for our annual pilgrimage to the land of frozen lakes and ugly fish. 



It was a bright Friday February morning. Gil had the Pout mobile tanked off and ready to go when the rest of us flounders rolled into his driveway.  It was 10A sharp (we like to get an early an early start, you know).  Our goal: A Pilgrimage to our 3rd Annual Eelpout Festival in Walker, MN.  But this year we thought we'd see and do more.  For this Friday, Gil had us booked to play for an Irish crowd at Brigid’s Cross in Bemidji.  Woo-hoo! 

An hour into our adventure we pulled into a rest stop just outside of St. Cloud.  Fin went charging from the car (he’d had three cups of coffee).  By the time Fin, Keeper and I came sauntering into the bathroom, Fin had already struck up a conversation with the guy one urinal over.  We didn’t notice since the three of us were deep into some conversation about the Vikings or global warming (don’t remember).

"Do those guys know what they’re talking about?”

Fin’s new friend commented without looking up (good thing).  Fin was a but surprised, but before he could answer, his biff buddy bellowed...

“Because they sound like a bunch of dumba**es to me.”

We were kinda shocked for a moment.  This is not your typical Minnesota nice.  But before we had a chance to call our wives to find out what we should do, he said...

“You wouldn’t be headed for some fishing tournament, would you?!” 

Ah.  A joke.  But how perceptive!  Gil put his mace back.

Since we actually were headed for a fishing tournament, it seemed appropriate to make dumba** our pet names for each other for the weekend. We were all stumped about how he actually knew, though.



It was getting dark when we pulled into Bemidji, but not too dark to take a picture with Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox.  I know, not too good of a shot.  I had to balance the camera on a garbage can 30 feet away.  We’re in there.  You just gotta look close.



Brigid’s was a way cool place!  And they like bands named after fish! 



We decided to celebrate in kind and ordered their house special (fish and chips) to celebrate. That and several pints of Guinness.  We also participated in the world’s largest toast of Guinness that took place at 10P that night.

After a restful night at the Bemidji Super 8, we made ready for the 45 minute drive to Walker. That was until Keeper snapped off the windshield wiper from the driver’s side of the Pout mobile. 



He claims it was already broken, he just happened to be the guy handling it.  Gil wasn’t convinced.  In fact, since we were running on such a tight budget, he was considering other ways to pay $12 for the new blade. 



Once repaired, we decided to treat ourselves with a cuppa joe from Dunn Brothers and we back on our way to Walker.

We found the 30th Annual Eelpout Festival (our third) was well under way and attendence was up, despite a bad economy.  People still gotta fish, you know. 



Walking across the central area we saw our boss Jim (the organizer) being interviewed by the mayor (also the local DJ) on eelpout radio.  They gave our arrival the thumbs up so we quickly grabbed our instruments and headed into the O'Fishal’s tent to play. 



We took up a spot next to our old friends that run the O'Fishal eelpout clothing booth.





  There were new signs and pictures all over the place. 



 



They even put in a fish tank with a live eelpout (more about this later). 



The fish were piling up.



The biggest from Friday was a 10.8#, two-toned wonder.



We also noticed some new animal carcass head gear. 





These folks were more than happy to pose for pics. 



And this fellow appreciated my compliment that his bobcat matched his moustache.

 

New this year was head attire for the young anglers (that’s fish talk for kids). 



And an enterprising picture vendor had special framed portraits of fish actually IN the water, UNDER the ice!





How do you suppose that painter kept the canvas dry?  Note the $800 fish scene was sold out.

Beaded necklaces were also in this year. 



And Gil quickly noticed the girls were back.



It wasn’t long until we’d learned another “fashion show” was scheduled in the main tent at 4P! In fact, the girls had set up a table right next to us and were selling their version of Sports Illustrated calendars to build, er, excitement. The calendar also made it easy to bring Keeper up to speed on what he’d missed last year. At $5 a throw, traffic was brisk. Keeper positioned his chair that direction to watch the fun (you see, Keeper is real smart and seems to always cipher that stuff out before the rest of us). Meanwhile, sweet-talking Gil (he complemented the girls on their, er, appearances last year) got himself a free T-shirt!



Fin got in on the fun just by being there. 



Both Pouts were immediately faced with a small dilemma… how to get these picturesque articles of attire - which the girls obviously didn’t need - into the house.  Oh well. They’d worry about that later.  What happens at Eelpout Festival, stays at Eelpout Festival.
 
It’s time to play! 



We’d no sooner step up and begin to stomp up a storm when this overwhelming fish smell hit us all in the face.  Fin turned up his nose.  Gil was ready to hurl.



In front of us were two young gentlemen from Florida.  They’d stopped and started to dance.  Normally, that’s not a problem.  But they’d just come in from body-rolling in the pile of eelpout out front.  That white glaze on their snow suits is slime. Not sure what fish parts are on the fellow on the left’s face. Lucky for us, people kept filing in the tent and pushed them and their smell further down the line. 

There was lots of other interesting head gear to see this year.  Here’s pheasant head. 



And this husband and wife were expressing their preference for a certain brand of beer.

..



The mod squad also walked by. 



This bear was a hunting prize that this fellow had bagged a couple of years before.



There were even folks back from last year… one wore his favorite hat while the other sported a new look! 



 

It was time for a break and we were all hungry so we headed out the door for the main tent and those golden nuggets of pure delight. 



We were almost run over by the mobile bar. 



Eelpout Idol was in full swing but was experiencing a momentary lull. Three rounds of “I Did It My Way” was apparently too much for any group to handle (no matter how drunk).



Back to work. 



Lotsa interesting things happened during our afternoon of fun.  One lady came by and held her mini donuts too close to me.  I almost scored one for Fin too before I had to hand them back.  Another dancer dropped her Mike’s Hard Lemonade but was relieved when it didn’t break.  We didn’t know they were plastic bottles.  We also didn’t know they were carbonated until two matching jet streams shot 3 feet out each nostril barely missing Keeper’s foot.  No matter.  No harm done. 

I saw a lady with a television camera coming by so I quickly alerted to the group to shape up.  We sat up straight and played our best version of Johnny Don't Get Drunk hoping to capture her glass eye (uh, camera lens).  We were going on about 5 rounds when I was starting to wonder where she was. She'd just been there with her camera ready to roll a few moments earlier.  Apparently, we'd lost out.  She'd only come in to video the eelpout in the fish tank. Oh well. A brother eelpout still got some limelight.

The afternoon was running late and we still had things to do before the 4P fashion show.  We ran outside for a group shot fish kiss. 



Fin accidentally got bumped on the lips when I swung the fish too far his direction.  Jeez.  The guy is SOOO SENSITIVE. 

It surprised me how upset Fin got especially when you consider how much he likes eelpout. He works for the Fish and Wildlife Dept, dontchaknow.  He asked around to see if it was ok to take an eelpout home as a souvenir.  Guess he thought his wife would like that considering he got the nifty T-shirt. So he bagged up a 9 pounder and strapped it to the roof rack. 



About that time these four horny guys walked by on their way to the fashion show.



They were eelpout virgins (first festival) but had heard about the fun and thought they’d join in. I kinda liked their hats (that works for “bullhead”).

That’s when we found out just how popular the fashion show had become.  Apparently, last year’s appearance HAD added to this year’s crowd. 



Here’s the line just to get in!  We decided it was too crowded... no country for old men. Oh well.  It probably wouldn’t have been good for us anyway.  Besides, we had the T-shirts to remind us. Later we would find out Keeper had bought a calendar for his son (yeah, right).  We were all thankful, though.  With all the visuals, we got to share more memories of last year going home in the car. Boy, that Keeper sure is a smart one.

So it was time to head over to our last gig of the day… Terrapin Station in Nevis, MN. 



The place proved magnificent (a wonderful venue for live acoustic music) and the owners (Brian and Stacey) were marvelous hosts. They even fed and put us up for the night! 

We were sorry to see our happy adventure come to an end.

The next morning on our way home, we decided to take a last picture of us with one of the many Paul Bunyans scattered across the state.  Gil parked the Pout mobile about 50 yards away so I could place the camera on top and take a pic.  I’m not as fast as I used to be.  The 10 second timer proved it. 



That's all the notes from our 3rd annual Eelpout Festival outing.  Anything else would just be a lie so I might as well stop here.

Respectfully submitted.

Bullhead.. (one of the dumba**es)



PS - Ok, look manmademusic.  I'm REALLY sorry we missed the fashion show this year.  So I put in one pic from last year's Eelpout Excellent Adventure, alright?   Oh. Since this is a family site, I thought I'd edit it some.  Hope that's ok. 

Rated PG.
Mostly true.



Well, there we were... four eelpouters in the middle of February, standing around watching the snow fall when suddenly the phone rang. It was our old buddy Jim, calling about the Eelpout Festival!

"Well you guys are comin' this year, aren't ya?"
"Why sure! Youbetcha, Jim! Love to! Wouldn't miss it!"
"Good. Bye."

Jim is a man of few words. No matter. We were thrilled the organizer of our namesake festival had reached out to include us for yet another year. But we're pretty easy that way. Now came the planning for our next excellent adventure.  Eelpout Festival '08!



Goodness! We were all a-twitter. Then Keeper, the clean-cut, responsible one of the crew had to go and ruin the moment by checking his daytimer and finding out he had a conflict. Huh? Boy Scouts? Awinter sleepout? Surely he could tell the boys he was just heading out to Casey's for some supplies, then come back a day or so later. Who'd miss him? No dice. You know, it's always nice having Keeper around. Reminds us of the value of our moms... and how much trouble we'd usually be in if left on our own.

Ok, so Keeper was out. But Fin, Gil and I (Bullhead) could still do the Festival as a day trip! Walker, MN is only 3.5 hours away... we could drive up Saturday morning, play some tunes, eat our traditional eelpout nuggets, kiss a few fish and, well, be on our way home by 6P. After all, we're, (ahem) older, mature men.

It was a plan.

Saturday, February 16th arrived in no time. Gil had the Pout-mobile (his mini-van) packed to the, er, gills and we were on our way at 7A.  Woo-hoo! Road trip!!

 

Two rest stops later, we were there. Beautiful Walker, MN on the shores of lovely Leech lake. And the lake was a-buzz with the usual Eelpout Festival activities! Helicopters were coming and going, ski planes (6 of them) were landing and taking off. Couches on two-by-fours, full of frenzied fishing folks were racing to and fro, being toted by snowmobile, 4-wheeler or truck. Elsewhere, snowmobilers were racing, ice football games were in play and, well, folks were just generally having a good time. Our second, great Eelpout Excellent Adventure had begun!

 

No sooner had we arrived than we ran into our boss, Jim. He told us to hang around the main tent as they were introducing a few new events this year... most notably, the fashion show. Now, having been here before, we all just naturally assumed that "fashion," in Minnesota terms, meant novel or interesting winter dress. Boy, we were woefully mistaken. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Jim said to check back later and he'd know more about what was going to happen when. And with that he sent us to the Entrance tent to play for the folks just arriving.

 

Once inside the Entrance tent, Jim's lovely Mrs. Lori met us and welcomed us back. We quickly took our place in the corner and started to play.

 

But a few minutes later, Mayor Brad, the honorable Walker dignitary his'self invited us to play a tune or two for his "listening audience." We'd forgotten. Brad also serves as the local DJ on KQ 102. Woo-hoo! It's Eelpout Airtime!

 

We dropped down to "D" to play our favorite version of Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss for all of Mr. and Mrs. Minnesota within 150 miles of downtown Walker. What a hoot.

 

The radio stage was a temporary glassed in porch that sat in the middle of the Eelpout Festival. From there we got to see some of the endearments of this wonderful band of fishing buds. Head carcasses are proudly and prominently displayed.

 







Carcass merchants were busy with traffic.

 


This lady was commenting she didn't like her husband as a blonde fox. Think he ended up with a skunk.

 

We even found a few new examples of head gear among the faithful.

 


Fin said he was hungry so we headed into the main tent for our traditional eelpout nuggets lunch.  Woo-hoo! Just look at them little golden delights (does go better with tartar sauce and beer).



This happy diner had driven all the way from Cambridge (Minnesota) just to share in the day's fun!

 

Suddenly we looked around and noticed a crowd had gathered in the main tent. We knew we were soon to be playing there. Perhaps they'd remembered us from last year? Could it be? Oh my. Had they remembered and returned just to see us?



The stage was being assembled. Even more people came. Soon, they seemed to be packing the place! We hadn't looked too much at the time, but we knew we'd be up soon. Probably right after the fashion show? GREAT!

 

Well, it seems we'd missed one small detail about the "fashion show." Earlier in the day, we'd seen some very attractive, younger women walking around in some spiffy red coats and snow pants. They were sporting clothes advertising some new brand of ice auger. Last year the Coor's Silver Bullet girls in their black leggings and short silver coats had stopped in, so we just dismissed this as some new marketing ploy. Well, it seems the marketers know a bit more about the fishing audience than a bunch of fishy, middle-aged old men (er, us).

 

Back to the tent.

 

Fin was having fun watching karaokie folks make silly of themselves.  But there was so much excitement growing that Gil got a bit nervous.

 

He dismissed himself to go do some shopping (it helps). A few minutes later he was back sporting his new hat. Had something French written on it.

 

The locals liked it. In fact, one of the main family Eelpouters of years gone by thought it worthy of a comment. This was the first guy that had ever built a two-story fish house during the festival!

 

It was almost like meeting Elvis. Gil was accepted as one of the fold. Ok, so back to us being nervous. While folks were waiting there was a terrific karaokie guy that was entertaining the crowd.

 

The front row of guys was really into it. They broke out the lighters during sad numbers and were busy constructing beer castles during the rest.
 




About that time, our world came crashing down.



This crowd wasn't here to hear the Eelpout Stringers, they'd simply come early to get good seats for the fashion show. And the fashion show wasn't just any display of northern MN sheik, it was a bikini fashion show! Fin was flabbergasted! Gil was a-gast! I grabbed my camera and jockeyed for position.

The first cat-walking contestant was one of the non-fishing beauties displaying the latest in auger ware.

 

The enthusiastic crowd cheered warmly!
 


But, unlike most northern Minnesotans, what happened next was beyond belief! The girls returned, but started taking OFF their clothing!

 

Now, this is MN in the winter. You don't do such foolishness, dontchaknow. Didn't seem to matter to them.

 

At first it looked like she was simply exchanging fishing secrets. 



But then it looked like this young lady didn't trust the front row of guys. I see she's checking to make sure she still has her fishing lure in her navel.

 




As you can see from some of these pics, the girls apparently just kept getting warmer and warmer until, horrors! There was little left to cover!



I think this young lady was named Ms. Pout, based on her stance. Not sure, though. Now I can understand how a tent full of wild and crazy fishing people can generate a little heat, and how enough alcohol does fool one into thinking they're plenty warm, but how could these girls walk around like this!? Gil wanted to call Keeper and ask some advice. I was wondering if Keeper wanted dups. But I digress from my story.

 

As quickly as it all happened, it was over. The fashion show ended. Everyone was checking their cameras and cell phones to make sure they got what they, er, whatever it was they were shooting. One young man was checking his heart. Moments later everyone checked their coolers and decided to make another beer run. Apparently, it was time for us to play. Fin was game. Gill was in the port-a-pot. I thought it a good time to get some air. We told Kent the karaokie guy we were heading out on the ice for a while to clear our heads and he happily went back to the remaining crowd to promote "Eelpout Idol" (the finals would be in an hour... winner would have to be able to stand). Gil, Fin and I pointed the Pout-mobile out on the ice and went to Winter Wonderland.

 

Even though we saw some new, interesting sites, we were still stunned from the impact of the fashion show. After avoiding a few certain death run-ins with various vehicles, we headed back to the Entrance tent to play our final set, but not before Mayor Brad had us play for the radio one more time. This time we got to meet his wife who was one of the largest fund raisers for this years Polar Plunge! Mrs. Mayor raised over $1,400 for her jump into Leech lake during the middle of February. We were awed. We did find a tune that worked well with the tempo set by her chattering teeth.

Ok, time to go. We looked back in to see the winning pout (so far) was almost 13.


 
That's a lotta pout! Kinda made us all hungry. We decided to finish off our second Excellent Adventure at Benson's having pizza, just like last year.



But this time, rather than play for the crowd, we were too pooped. So we sat around and looked at the pictures of our day. Funny thing with digital cameras. Before you know it, you've taken, oh, 200 pictures or so.  But most were only of, er one event. We were all trying to decide what pictures to send Keeper at his family email address. We wanted all of them to know what he missed.

Ten minutes later, we decided that was a bad idea. We'd just tell Keeper in private. After all we DID want him to be able to join us next year. In fact, maybe this whole blog thing is a bad idea.  Maybe what happens at the Eelpout Festival STAYS at the Eelpout Festival.

Nah.  That wouldn't be any fun.  And whose gonna believe this fish tale, anyway?

 

Until our next Excellent Eelpout Adventure...

Respectfully submitted.

Bullhead

PS - Ok, so we didn't carry on ALL the traditions this year.  Many of you have requested the traditional first-catch, fish-kiss.  Sorry, we, uh, forgot.  How about we just reach back into the archives to find something memorable? Since Keeper wasn't with us in person this trip, we thought it only considerate that we use his super smack from last year.  So, here it 'tis. 

Yep.  I've heard just about enough of folks diss'in on BOTH instruments, so I called up my friend Robin Fox and invited him over for an afternoon of recording.  Robin is an excellent fiddler, but most folks don't know he secretly plays the accordion.  Well not today!  Robin bravely dug it out of the closet, packed it into his car and drove the 35 miles all the way out to Rosemount.  Oh, he brought his dog Angel, too.  Little did we know how much the dogs would contribute to our afternoon. 

We started off with Angel's Waltz, one of Robin's original tunes.  Beautiful!  Oh.  And all 3 dogs make at least one cameo.



Next we started playing something more familiar... like the Peekaboo Waltz.  Angel demonstrated it best.



Next came Echos of the Ozarks.  Tard being reflective.



And last in the key of "D" was a second of Robin's originals, The Green and Red Waltz.



We changed over to "A" and clipped into Gideon.



And we ended with another favorite "A" number, Tippin' Back the Corn.  Watch for tipping tails.




Many thanks to my bride the Lovely Ms. DeAnne for feeding and filming us... and cleaning up after the dogs. 



Craig

After 3 years in planning, Singleton Street is proud to announce the December '07 release of our Gospel CD, "Wingin'It!"



Singleton Street is Chuck and Sherri Leyda (guitar/mandolin and guitar), Jimmy Newkirk (bass) and Craig (frailin') Evans (banjo).



For copies, please send your shipping address and check or money order for $17 ($15 for CD, $2 shipping) to:

Craig Evans
14585 Cameo Ave W.
Rosemount, MN 55068

Please allow 1 week for delivery. Thank you!!

Today is Saturday, November 16th. The last two days have been both the most incredibly stressful and incredibly rewarding of my life! After years of performances, preparations and saving our pennies, Singleton Street entered the studio on Thursday and, late Friday night, emerged with a 13 track Gospel CD. Hallelujah!



For years we'd been in the planning. This summer, we'd finally scraped enough cash together to head into a studio to record our long overdue Gospel CD. Our first CD, "Almost Live" was a compilation of both bluegrass and Gospel.



That had been an excellent experience, and we broke even in under 2 years (1,000 units), but we'd been left longing for the chance to dedicate a CD just to Gospel. Needless to say, we weren't about to miss a thing in this experience. We chose Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, MN. In the 80's and 90's, this place served up clients like Nirvana, Eric Clapton and Soul Asylum. It's not quite as lustrous today (thank goodness), but the karma and charisma are still present. The sound board was reputedly used by Jimmy Hendrix and, as the story goes, John Lennon once put his feet up on the corner. Makes for a good story.

Our engineer was Zach Hollander, a wonderfully smart, funny, patient magician that took our voices and instruments and worked magic.



Where the studio was vintage 80's with warm woods and tube equipment, the grounds were equally as welcoming... stunning, actually.







Both days were filled with intense recording sessions which proved both fun and exhausting.











Every take was scrutinized for good and bad... until we finally arrived at the right mix.









Zach was diligent and dedicated!



Jimmy's son Alex joined us and took some pictures of the event.



DeAnne made passing the time much more fun! And she cooked us some great vidals between sessions (watch for her credit as catering on the CD).



But she wasn't the only one carrying me through these sessions. ).



Lots of others were with me in spirit... including a bunch of wonderful folks from banjohangout (thank you so much!). Now we're all awaiting delivery of the final mix and master, but within a few days our files will be safely at the duplicator. Hopefully, we'll have a CD in time for some Christmas stockings.

Oh, one more thing. Here's the artwork for the cover, courtesy of my lovely bride, Ms. DeAnne.



Singleton Street - "Wingin' it." What a graced opportunity we have been given. Thank you for sharing in our joy!

Lucky me! I married the girl of my dreams and had 300 family and friends come over to celebrate. Most brought their instruments (and a hot dish). It doesn't get much better.

Ok. Here's kind of a run down from the top.

It was Saturday, September the 8th. The weather was great! So nice, in fact, the Wedding Bluegrass band decided to practice outside.



Inside, the NOW Team (stands for New Order of Worship) was warming up on some GREAT old-time Gospel Hymns.

The Bluegrass Wedding band was my fiddle playing friend Deb Sorensen-Boeh, Rick Anderson on Guitar, Mark Briere on mando, Dave Tousley on bass and my son Seth Evans on the Great Lakes banjo.



They kicked off the service in fine form with four bluegrass Gospel numbers. Have a listen!

Here's Deb singin' Better Get In That Number.

Here's Seth (Elvis! Check out the snear!) singing and playing I'm Ready




Deb and crew Workin' on a Building.




And finally, Build Me a Cabin in Gloryland.






Next came the Now Team... Rosemount United Methodist Church's contemporary choir with an amazing version of How Great Thou Art.




No wedding is complete without vows. So here are DeAnne and me sayin' ours.

Next, pastor Karen pitched a sermon. It involved a "seconds" or rejected pitcher she purchased from the Red Wing factory store. Her point was this; each of have God-given gifts within. The outside packaging may show flaws or blemishes, and man may have labeled it a "second," but as the pitcher still adequately holds water, we all can perform our gifts as designed by the Master Craftsman. God loves us regardless of strengths and weaknesses. In fact, He designed us exactly that way. And He's not done with us yet! We need to be open to ongoing change, remolding. We also need to look for His gifts in others... beyond external appearances, knowing we, through kindness and understanding, can help God mold them into their best being. A remarkably simple, yet profound message. Thanks, Karen!

Karen's terrific talk was followed by the NOW Team with this moving rendition of Soon and Very Soon.




DeAnne and I dismissed the congregation with these explicit instructions... "get thee over to the reception!"

The two of us kicked off the festivities with the wedding dance.






Then, right after the toasts by DeAnne's dad and my brother, Singleton Street played a couple numbers.

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That was followed with the Eelpout Stringers kicking up a storm with Georgia Railroad and Boatman.





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DeAnne and her dad clogged along.

Now, all this time there's a square dance goin'on, dont'cha know.

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And folks are eatin' and talkin' and musicians are jammin'... well, it just doesn't get much better than that!

And here's what really made the day special for me... my 89 year old mom. We even got to dance.



DeAnne was on her usual good behavior.



And the evening passed way too quickly.

But not before we set our sites on the sunset in the west.



Happy Trails, everyone!

Mr. and Mrs. Frailin
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PS - Here's slides and more slides of our special day! Most of these are 10 slides or less (each) so they go fast. Put two of them on your screen at once!

PPSS - A VERY special thanks to Bill Middlecamp, Dave Tousley, Michael Boeckmann, Karl Burke and Su, Ben and Peggy Lilly, John, Lisa, Valerie and Olivia Hedges and Sherri Leyda for taking such GREAT shots! And another big thank you to John Whitehead for all the Wedding Day videos! Enjoy!
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