Music jolts a memory

By Jeff Orvis

The other night I was sitting in a church choir practice session at Asbury United Methodist Church and something on the cover of a piece of music we had just received revived some memories. The copyright on the music was 1972. Quite often, the name of the store where the music was purchased is stamped on the cover page. This music was purchased at Cook's Music Store in downtown Davenport.

That fact may not mean a lot to most folks, but it reminded me of my first full-time job. For a brief period, I was a salesman at Cook's Music Store. Besides journalism, one of my other loves is music. I was a willing participant in Mrs. Kessler's general music class at Riverdale Elementary School and began playing cornet for Mr. Charles Dcamp and Mr. Ardys McIntosh in the sixth grade. In a pleasant odd twist of fate, I sing in the bass section of the church choir alongside Dr. Dcamp now, these many years later.

While I started at the store in Davenport, it wasn't long before we made a big move to the Cumberland Square Shopping Center in Bettendorf. Moving a music store is a lot more work than it might seem. We had a whole room full of sheet music to pack up and move, undoubtedly including that same piece of music I held in my recent church choir rehearsal.

I'm a person who likes stability. I envy folks I have known who were born and raised in one place and have found happiness in the same place all their lives. But you might not know it from my work record or from the number of places I have called “home” over my adult life.

After overseeing a small record department and attempting to sell quality guitars, I realized that my heart was still in the newspaper business. I had been a part-time reporter for the Bettendorf News since high school and one day, the editor said he should probably hire me full-time or risk losing me part-time. So I made the move to the newspaper office for the princely sum of $75 per week.

Before long, I was on the move again. This time, the Bettendorf News had the opportunity to relocate to a former law office less than a block away. I seem to remember that we moved a lot of the stuff from the old office by simply picking it up and walking it down to our new headquarters. We were quite happy in that location. But sometime later, we either lost our lease or our company decided to cut costs and we moved to a storefront less than a block away.

So in less than five years of my career, I had moved a music store once and a newspaper twice. But that was just the beginning. My first venture away from the security of home and family came when I accepted a reporter's job in Independence. I doubled my salary, but also suddenly became responsible for paying rent and other living expenses.

Our office was a storefront on Main Street, which housed not only the editorial and sales offices, but also one of the first offset printing presses in the state. A couple of years later, the decision was made to sell that press and get a newer and better one. The new press wouldn't fit in the old building, so the bosses decided to move us to a former car dealership building a block away. We were happy there, but when the economy took a downturn and the decision was made to curtail printing in our local plant, we no longer had need for that much floorspace and we moved once again up the street to the former Pinicon Hotel.

In another bit of irony, this was the same building where I lived for a week when I first moved to Independence. It was a nice, clean hotel with a coffee shop on the main level and a nightclub in the basement. I think I paid $30 for the week's stay.

When my job ended with that newspaper and I went to work in town at a new start-up paper, I started in one location and we soon moved to a larger office suite in the same building. For those of you keeping score, that's two moves with one newspaper and one with another.

My next stop was Belle Plaine. The newspaper was located in an old bank building that had been the town's hospital before that. My boss's office was actually the former bank vault. We knew where to go if we had bad weather!

After working a couple of years in that location, we had the chance to move to a much newer building on the south edge of the city. Everything was bright and newer and the bathrooms worked well!

In a 37-year career, I have moved a music store once, one newspaper twice, another newspaper twice and another newspaper once. As I seek another position, I guess one thing I should put on my resume is that I am certainly not resistant to change, at least in the places I have worked!

The move urge also was apparent in where I've lived. In about 17 years in Independence, I lived in seven places. I think I was always a good renter, always paying on time, etc. But in each move, I believed I was moving to a better place. At least two of the places I lived in are no longer there. And each time I moved, more than 500 record albums went with me. Three of those places were upstairs apartments. I probably wasn't too wise in my earlier years. Maybe I'd better leave that fact off the resume.

I know I'm getting too old for the nomadic life. One more job and one more move to an apartment or condo and I'll be good to go until it's time to start shopping for that senior citizens' apartment. I know any move to a place not on ground level will also have to be in a building with a strong elevator!

It truly was a Super Sunday

By Jeff Orvis

This may come as a shock to some of my Republican friends, but there are times that I am blessed (or cursed) with the gift of an open mind. Such was the case on Sunday, also known as the second greatest food day of the year, Super Bowl Sunday.

I'll admit that my anticipation level wasn't very high before the big day. In the first place, my Chicago Bears were spending the day much the same way I was, on the couch watching TV. Of course, their TVs were undoubtedly a bit bigger and their food was probably a bit fancier. It was another Super Bowl where the Bear fans were on the outside looking in with envy.

When I heard that NBC had planned more than five hours of fill before the kickoff, I had prepared to take a nap waiting for the magical start hour. I figured the bean counters in New York wanted to grab as much time before the start of the game to generate ad dollars. I'll bet the rates went up hour after hour until the start of the game, where a 30 second spot cost a whopping $3.5 million.

The thing is, I never got that nap. NBC actually did a pretty good job keeping our attention all afternoon. Sure there were spots of explanation of football plays that only a former quarterback, offensive lineman or coach could fully appreciate. But there were also plenty of human interest stories and interviews that gave us a glimpse of the humanity of those big guys covered with protective gear and helmets.

Since my Bears were not involved, it took me a couple of minutes to decide who to root for in the game. I used my own set of criteria that may seem strange to others. I wanted to swear my allegiance to the NFC representative and I never have been much of a fan of Tom Brady. So it was logical that I would pull for the Giants. Besides, I was anxious to see quarterback Eli Manning become more than Payton's little brother. In fact, it's easy to like the entire Manning family. Dad Archie, who had a good career as the quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, admitted he often gets up and paces in the luxury boxes at the stadium on some game days. Mrs. Manning is the typical mom, worrying about whether her boy will get up after hard hits.

When the first offensive play of the day for the Patriots resulted in a safety and the next Giant possession resulted in the first touchdown of the game, I thought the rout was on. Instead, the game was exciting from beginning to end. Anybody who strayed from the TV to hit the bathroom, snack table or to talk with a friend for even a couple of minutes might have missed something.

I'll admit that Brady is probably headed to the Hall of Fame. When the outcome of the last game of the season comes down to a final play, a Hail Mary pass play in the end zone that gets knocked away at the last minute, it's been a good day.

I've already said that the pregame stuff was much above average. A lot of folks admit they tune in to Super Bowl Sunday to watch the ads. There were some pretty clever ones. They should be when the time alone costs more than $3 million. Some of the companies probably paid hundreds of thousands more in securing celebrity guests and other production costs.

When it was announced that Madonna would be the halftime entertainment, I wasn't overly excited. Like some people, I am not a big fan and I wondered just how much the old girl had left in the tank. Was I surprised! Mesmerized might be a better word. She's almost as old as I am, but she displayed a level of energy that most of us could only wish for. The production was nothing short of spectacular. I thought it was probably put together by the same director that produced recent Olympics opening ceremonies.

Unfortunately, a few morons had the nerve to knock her performance in chat rooms the next day. But anyone who has ever stepped on a stage, played a musical instrument or sang in a concert in school or church must have appreciated the level of performance she turned in. Somehow I think Michael Jackson must have been watching from Heaven and smiling. He was reportedly a performance perfectionist.

Way back in August, there was a strong threat of a shortened or canceled NFL season as owners and players tried to iron out a new contract. After millions of fans sweated out that prospect with an agreement coming just in time to get the season started, we deserved the kind of day we witnessed on Sunday. The beat goes on. The NFL Network will be bringing us reports from the scouting combines later this month and then it's time to get ready for the NFL draft in late April.

Thanks, NFL. Come back soon!