HUCKLEBERRIES: Nelly knuckle-rap rings 'round the world
Well, as expected, rap and hip hop fans — and even some Europeans — have noticed our kerfluffle over rapper Nelly’s sold-out concert at the North Idaho State Fair next month.
The Marseille News published a story in which the only words that jumped out to this non-French-speaking columnist were “Duane Rasmussen.”
Rasmussen, a Coeur d’Alene attorney, is making headlines around the world after firing off a mass email opposing Nelly’s performance. Rasmussen and others, including Rich Loudenback of the local John Birch Society, decry the raw lyrics of some of Nelly’s music.
However, an outside voice that may put this controversy into perspective comes from Ashley King of Digital Music News:
“It’s interesting to see the pearl-clutching about a washed-up rapper performing at a local fair,” she writes. “Next the people of Idaho may be concerned that Soulja Boy’s 'Crank That' will come to next year’s county fair. It’s known for causing kids to dance strangely, and it’s about 20 years out of date, too.”
Meanwhile, Cornell “Nelly” Iral Haynes Jr. is laughing all the way to the bank.
Gone Too Soon
It’s fitting that an advanced run at Schweitzer Ski Resort is named Kohli’s Big Timber after the late Ken Kohli. In the spring, Ken would hike up the mountain and then ski down. He enjoyed all things outdoors. And, as spokesman for the timber industry, he was a rising Gem State star when a single-engine plane crash in the Cabinets, near Libby, Mont., killed him and two others 25 years ago on July 26. Ken, 35, biologist Seth Diamond, 34, of Missoula, and pilot Al Hall, 61, of Hayden Lake, were photographing timber for the Intermountain Forest Industry Association when the crash occurred. Earlier that year, Ken had created the blueprint that helped Shawn Keough of Sandpoint win her first of many state Senate District 1 campaigns. This week, Shawn described Ken as “a good person with a kind heart (who) is still very much missed.” She is one of many who wonder: What if?
Ohio City, Iowa?
Helicopter pilot Mark Sales, wife Leigh, and daughter Sydney, checked eight more states off the list in their quest to visit all 50. In a trip that began and ended at Kansas City, Mo., the Coeur d’Alene trio drove 1,764 miles in 10 days. They visited Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa. And for much of the excursion, Mark wore his Father’s Day T-shirt, designed and given to him by Sydney. It features the words: “Ohio City, Iowa” next to an outline of the state of Idaho. Only one person during the entire trip got the joke — and congratulated Mark for his sense of humor. Mark tells Huckleberries: “Idaho Iowa Ohio confusion is a thing!”
Huckleberries
• Poet’s Corner: As he shaved today,/alarmed, he looked nearer — /how did that old guy/get in the mirror? — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“The Intruder”).
• First, I should tell you that, on Monday, I enjoyed sumptuous take-out from the Texas Roadhouse — also known as “---AS ---dhouse,” according to the outdoor neon sign facing U.S. 95. The sign has been missing at least six letters for some time. But that didn’t stop the Huddled Masses from packing the popular eatery to overflow. P’haps the owner wants customers to fill in the missing letters while they wait, a la “Wheel of Fortune.”
• Bruce Kauffman of Post Falls wonders about that sign in the stairwell of The Coeur d’Alene Resort, reading: “Caution: Do not run in stairwell. Drive vehicles carefully.” Apparently, Bruce emails Huckleberries, someone has been driving up and down the stairs in a reckless fashion. But Mayor Steve Widmyer offers an alternative idea: “It’s probably a reminder to valets who are going to retrieve guests’ cars.” Steve was the controller of The Resort from 1986-99.
• In an old Perspective Page profile in the Press, human-rights activist Norm Gissel of Coeur d’Alene made a statement to reporter David Bond that is as true today as it was on the day it was published (July 28, 1996): “Never lose good friends and never burn bridges.”
• Donna McKune of Rathdrum wasn’t impressed with the sweet talk she endured at the drive-through window of a local fast-food joint. Cashier Dude at the Window questioned her choice of beverages: “Drinking unsweetened tea, hunh? Must be because you’re sweet enough already.” (Insert nervous laughter.) Donna shrugs and says: “I think so. Have a nice day.” Cashier Dude at the Window belly laughs. And that’s where the term “creeper” comes from.
• Last week, you learned about Elmo Wilcox, a 13-year-old Coeur d’Alene boy who climbed into a bull pine on 13th Street in mid-July 1930 and didn’t come down for 48 days. He was trying to set a tree-sitting record. Now, thanks to Cindy Ackley Nunn, we know that Elmo later served in the Pacific during WWII, owned a laundromat, was a Mason, and died too young at 49 in 1966.
Parting Shot
Here’s another sign that “We Ain’t What We Used to Be.” According to the Nextdoor app, a neighbor left this note on a vehicle parked in the Heartland Drive area, off Prairie Avenue: “If we walk our child one more time past your home and your damn (SUV) is illegally blocking the sidewalk we will key your car and slash your tires. Consider yourself warned. You are rude inconsiderate people.” A gimlet-eyed column reader snapped a screen shot before that nasty message was taken down. However, the intended target must have seen it because s/he responded that security cameras are now fixed on the vehicle as well as her neighbors’. Do you suppose this is how the Hatfields and McCoys got started?
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D.F. “Dave” Oliveria can be contacted at dfo@cdapress.com.
