Mischke Fired

Its a sad day in the land of 10,000 lakes.  This past Saturday morning. T.D. Mischke host of “The Mischke Broadcast” for 17 years on AM1500 KSTP was suddenly fired. This coming just two days after his much anticipated CD Release show at O’Garas Pub. Mischke had a unique show and was my favorite talk show host. You could say his glory days on the air were when he was on at night. He was moved to daytime a few years ago and his show really wasn’t the same. Some antics he would do weren’t really allowed during daytime. And of course, some of his regular callers hadn’t been drinking yet. I was just getting into his show when he moved to daytime, but I still loved listening to him. His countless occasions where he would break out in song about some topic he was talking about. It usually rhymed and was very good. His moments of “dead air” where you thought the radio went out, only to hear papers shuffling around. He would take a humorous outlook on daily events and news. It was a unique broadcast and I can only hope he will be on the air again someday soon. Curses to KSTP for letting go the talented Mischke. I will leave you with The Mischke Poem written by Mischke’s college roommate years ago. 

The Mischke Poem

The memories are golden there
my daddy’s pipe, my mama’s chair
my grandma’s braid was done with care
and on the wireless was Mischke
My mama’d sit us on the rug
and keep us quiet with a hug
my grandpa’d laugh and the kids would shrug
at the shenanigans of Mischke
Jean said Tommy was the kind of man
that she would like to find
my uncle told her never mind
or there’ll be no more of Mischke
Later on in school boy days
when FM was the latest craze
I didn’t care or change my ways
and my dates all learned of Mischke
More recently my wife would scoff
and yell to turn that joker off
so I’d grab a smoke and play it soft
out on the deck with Mischke
I met him once at the State Fair
it was just outside the beer tent there
I heard that giggle in the air
and I knew that it was Mischke
If he was old or young I couldn’t see
But he was different than I thought he’d be
when he handed me a Swisher Sweet
well he seemed a good egg, Mischke
I called the wife with courage high
and said I’d be home by and by
my luck was too good to deny
I was hanging out with Mischke
We smoked our stogies in the night
as I kept buying him Cold Spring Lights
and before I knew my wrong from right
I was ’bout half-baked with Mischke
He borrowed five bucks and went away
I lost my lunch in a pile of hay
Who drove me home — well I can’t say
but I don’t think it was Mischke
I woke up on the lawn and saw my wife
I couldn’t stand up to save my life
and then from her robe she pulled a knife
and started screaming Mischke
I was up and running, filled with fear
and kitchen things flying by my ear
the wife was yelling loud and clear
You can just go live with Mischke
Well that was many years ago
and still I’m feeling pretty low
and if I had a radio
well it wouldn’t be tuned to Mischke
The man cost me my home and pride
he left a void a mile wide
he made me want to run and hide
and curse the name of Mischke
Now though I can’t afford the beers
I’ve waited by that tent for years
but it’s not about revenge or tears
I want something else from Mischke
See I don’t care much about the wife
or the shambles of my so called life
and I want no pity for my strife
but I want that five from Mischke
Somewhere the sun is shining bright
somewhere the hearts of men are light
and somewhere heroes do things right
and somewhere else… is Mischke

–by Michael Crouser

 

It could have been over just like that…..

I could have been seriously hurt last night, or even killed!! People in this town are getting more and more oblivious to their surroundings. Its sad really. I was having some cocktails with some of my best friends last night at The Independent and then Mortimer’s in Uptown. We left Mortimer’s, and I decided to stop by the gas station on my way home to pick up some cheese. Yes, cheese. I love cheese with a passion and I was out at the house. I wait at the light on 22nd and Lyndale. Green light, and the go ahead to cross. Now picture this in your head. Lets say you are in your car about to leave the house. You need to get something out of the back seat. You turn around looking at the seat and  with your right arm, reaching to get whatever object it is you desire. Got it? Ok. Picture this exact same scenario only a guy is driving his car, turning at a light, and going at a pretty good clip. This is what approached me as I crossed the street. My god. The stupidity. How dumb do you have to be to do something like this? I only hope the guy was at least sober. The ironic part is, when I walk I usually have my head down. I can’t explain why, I just do. I would have been creamed. I’m talking flattened. For whatever reason last night, I happened to be looking right at the car as I crossed. I stopped, put my arms up in disgust. He only noticed me after he passed me. Remember,  I had the go ahead to walk across. The rest of my walk home I kept thinking what if? What if I didn’t notice the car speeding around that turn? Would I be around to talk about it right now? Would I be in a hospital bed? Or the morgue?
Now I know if I was not looking at the car while I was crossing and did get hit, I can’t put all of the blame on this man. Anyone crossing a crosswalk even if they have the green light to do so, should be watching their surroundings. The thing that bugs me is what he was doing. We’re in Uptown. A place in the cities where people are crossing the streets constantly. Just a block down on Franklin is a crossing for the blind. It just seems like common sense that when you are turning at a light in this area of town, you should always be watching for pedestrians. Not this guy. The complete opposite. I saw the back of his head. THE BACK. I hope that guy realized what he did last night and will wise up the next time he gets behind the wheel. It makes me grateful I didn’t get hit. I was reading the obituaries this morning in the newspaper. This young man from Iowa had died at the young age of 20. I started thinking. This man had an entire life of accomplishments to achieve. Such a sad thing. Hearing about people dying at too young of an age. Ya know what? In some aspect it makes be think twice about what I’m doing with myself. Another ironic twist. The Mischke Broadcast is taking calls right now, today, about people getting hit by cars. WOW. How weird is this?

 

“Ticking a way the moments that make up the dull days”

Someone once told me “ya know Andy, people change.” That was just 4 years ago, and at the time I really was too young and naive to comprehend what that really meant. At the time, I thought my life was pretty well set. Even though I wasn’t in college, was working retail, and was renting. I thought I would be married by the age I am now. I figured, things would work themselves out over time. Change? No. I’m 21 years old, I’ve already become the person I would be for the rest of my life.
Boy was I gravely wrong. I have changed more in the past 4 years, then I did the 21 years leading up to it. I’m not married, in fact I’m single. And I’m fine with that. Its almost as if my mind really started to turn itself on. Wake up moron. Get you’re act together. Indeed something inside of me did click. I think dealing with losing a very special person in my life had something to do with that. I had a lot of time to sit back and ponder. At the time, I thought I would never get out of my rut. I never thought I would want to, or even need to go to college. Part of that had to do with the success my dad accomplished in his lifetime. The other part of me had no idea what I wanted to do. As I began to “wake up” I started thinking very hard what I would, if I decided to to so, go to school for. My first thoughts lead me to Business. I could start my own Business. That is sort of what I ended up going to Anoka Ramsey for in the first place. Intro to Business with Jonathan Gallop. A local Attorney who was teaching this course. A hilarious, crazy bastard, who really let us know just how hard starting up a business is. After his class, I realized its not what I want to be, and quit school alltogether. Working at the bike shop became my priority.
I started thinking about writing. What about journalism? I always had good grades back in the day for English, Language Arts, and classes of that nature. Math, Science, Geography? Fuggetaboutit. Writing was the only thing in High School I enjoyed. I started to indulge myself in the writing of Hunter S. Thompson. Most people relate to him and his drug crazed “failed” experiement of Gonzo Journalism known as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. This new form of journalism he started to try out really got me thinking. Journalism with a twist? Sort of. He has also been linked to being one of the first persons to use New Journalism, which is much more popular in today’s world. I could do that. I love writing. Thats why I started a blog. Get my thoughts out there. So there it is. Hopefully within the next year or so, I am going back to school for Journalism, and English. I never in a million years thought of doing this 4 years ago.
Books? Talk Radio? These two terms didn’t exist in my mind or vocabulary 4 years ago. Honestly, I loathed books. Couldn’t stand the things. Nowadays, I can’t get enought of them. I think the mind takes in more information when that person reads it, not watching it. I love sitting out on my front porch, with a glass of SoCo, a nice chair, and tons of daylight. Talk radio is the same. I hated it whan I had to listen to that stuff at work. I brought in a separate radio on my bench so I could faze out that non-stop banter. Yet, here I am, right now as I write this, listening to Garage Logic, taking in all the info, and banter I can get.
I would be nice to have known back then what I know now, but then again, thats what makes life so unpredicable, surprising, and exciting. Not only do people change, I think people change througout our lifetimes. So yes, “people do change”, and ya know what? Change is good.