We’re calling this one the 30th Anniversary…, but we really aren’t sure. There was much discussion, debate, and even a fair bit of delusion bantered about before the 25th Anniversary was declared five years ago. And to this day Dave and I don’t have enough fingers to count back on and figure out just what year we might have thrown in together and started buying a keg of beer and asking a few friends to join us in a celebration of our birthdays, which are just three days…, and one year apart. He’s the old fart…, just needed to make that clear. He’s turning 60 on the 16th of April this year and he feels it’s about time to “retire” from this particular party scene. And since this Pugilist will be 59 three days behind Dave …, I am backing him up and throwing in the towel too. Yeah..., that old rock and roll has declared victory in the fight for my soul, it’s time to put down the gloves, live on love, and retire in my prime..., before I am counted out and can’t get up off the mat anymore. With a very special hat tip to Tom Russell.
In the interest of full disclosure, the seeds of this function were sown in about 1975. I got my name in the paper for things that didn’t exactly make my parents proud..., OK..., not at all proud. Thanks to my Dad and brother Larry and the Bail Out Funds they provided..., I wasn’t in jail. I had a new girlfriend from Lewiston and she hadn’t meet a lot of my Weippe friends yet, so I thought that throwing a birthday party for myself at a friends house would be a good idea. I miscalculated a little..., and failed to send an engraved invitation to the Clearwater County cops. They were a bit insulted by that I guess. It’s not like I sent out invitations, it was all word of mouth..., and they got the word alright. So I am not sure just what their problem was..., but they definitely had one. They stopped several car loads of prospective attendees and informed them that the party had been cancelled. Luckily for those folks, there were laws back in those days against unreasonable search and seizure..., that were respected and observed by even the most zealous of cops and courts. But it did scare the celebratory intentions right out of a lot of people. Including yours truly.
