Coffee with Mel - 5 April 2024

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Right now, we're looking at twentyseven degrees here in Eames, Iowa.
Looks like our average high in today'salmanac is fifty eight degrees. Looks like
we had a record high of eightysix in two thousand, average low of
thirty seven. Looks like we havea record low of sixteen degrees in nineteen
eighty two. Mel what do youthink of that? I think we should

(00:23):
stay with. What we're going tohave today will only be a degree off
the normal. So yeah, well, you know, I suppose that's okay.
That's kind of my thing. Peopletell me I'm about a degree off
normal. Yeah, maybe this morningyou're two or three degrees off normal.
It's been a little bit of ahustle here this morning, having a little

(00:44):
problem with our wireless connection. Soyou're hearing ours via the ever confident,
independable we'll hope cell phone today.So anyway, we so much go on
and we're looking forward to it.Scott, Yes, sir, let me
hear your Hawkeye call. Oh Ican't. I can't do that. I'll

(01:07):
I'll cheer for our Iowa hometown.Girl, bike, I can't cheer for
the Hawks, man, No,I'm I'm in the Iowa State alone.
Well I am too, but youknow what, I'll be cheering for the
Hawks tonight. I want I wantthem to state the nationals championship and let
that be the final feather in CaitlinClark's Awards. All you that. Yeah,

(01:30):
I just uh, it's Iowa.The label is Iowa, and if
it's Iowa, it's good only whenthey're playing US. So anyway, that
uh contest in yukon the later conteststonight, and to me, it is
the championship game. It both theseteams are championship teams, and regardless of

(01:56):
how it comes out, I haveno reason to hang their heads unless it's
a blowout. I hope Iowa isn'tthat unkind to them? Oh as far
as I'm concerned. You know,like you said, if it's an Iowa
team, be it Iowa State orIowa Drake You and I Yeah, let's
let's hope they. Let's hope theyschnockerroom, right, yeah, Iowa the

(02:20):
words of one Mel Crippen and getthem schnockered. Yeah, schnuckerm down.
Anyway, I should be a greatthing of tonight. There are a lot
of watch parties going on, butI don't usually wear a watch, so
I probably won't be going to anyof those. But anyway, all over
the place I was watching loose thismorning. Even the Bellair Ballroom is having

(02:47):
a big watch party down there.I'd be anxious to go down there and
just see the renovation. But anyway, wherever you watch it, root for
the Hawks, all right. Youknow why? Because Cyclone fans are bigger
than to carry the vitriol into thisgame. We will do it. When

(03:07):
they're playing against us, that's fine, But when it's another team, and
that team our teams that Iowa label, got a root for it? Oh
man, you drive a hard bargainthere. Well, you know what,
what's that old union thing? Lookfor the Union label, look for the

(03:28):
Iowa label, and then root themon. All right, that being said,
big show todayly, lots of folkscoming in. We are at a
Veila bank right here on sixteenth andSouth suff We are here for the Boys
and Girls Club. Now, Scott, you probably didn't know this, but

(03:52):
we originally were going to do thebroadcast from the Boys and Girls Club,
and as many of you are aware, they are ongoing renovations happening there and
evidently the renovation crew got a littleambitious and made the building unusable for the

(04:13):
broadcast. So we moved over herethanks to Kevin Geist and the good folks
here at a Vala Bank. Longtimefriend Kevin Geist, and we are up
and running now at a Vala BankSixteenth and South. Nice facility, fairly

(04:33):
new within the last couple of years. I think most of us watched this
bank being built as we drove byfor a couple of years there. But
it's a beautiful facility, and theywere kind enough to say, hey,
we're Boys and Girls Club supporters.Is a matter of fact. They sponsored
the fly in, so that willcome up this summer. We'll talk to

(04:57):
Judge Johnson a little bit later aboutthe flying and some other events coming up
for the Boys and Girls Club ofStory County, and there are many.
I will tell you that there's somethinggoing on right now. Though I can't
put I can't put my foot onit. Well maybe I can. We're
talking shoes, my friends, andwe're talking Kowanas and another good friend.

(05:21):
I always love seeing him makes mesmile. Miles Morrow's here and Miles Morrow
is the ish I guess driving theshoe drive with help of others, and
he said, instead of driving,I'm walking the shoe drives. So let's
get with a mile and see howthings are going. Miles. We started

(05:43):
about a not quite a week ago. We start on Monday, we started
to drive. I want to announcelocations of her boxes. Now, some
of these are going to have staggeredstarts due to some unparticular reasons, but

(06:06):
nonetheless I'd like to go through thelist now with you, of the entire
list here so everyone can kind ofknow where to drop the shoes off.
Now, first of all, I'mgoing to go out of here. Ames
Ford, as they did last year, is going to have one of their
pickups on the showroom floor where youcan just come by and say hello and

(06:29):
drop your shoes off in the backof the pickup. Ames Country Club will
have a box out. Ames Boysand Girls Club is having a box this
year. And by the way,as Mel said, it's in the temporary
location up on Northwestern Avenue. AmesRacket. Both North and South will have
boxes. Brown Shoes downtown Durham,bus em Rof Shoes downtown, Greater Iowa

(06:57):
Credit Union, the North Lincoln Wayand South location will have boxes. First
Christian Church first United Methodist Church GreemalesRetirement starting next week North Grand Mall and
you may have noticed Mel the JumboDrown has a broadcast that sign out,

(07:19):
which we're pretty proud that we havea large Kiwanu's logo on that sign during
real time. We also have NorthCrest Community starting on the twenty second of
April, north Ridge Village on thenorth side, Saint Cecilia Church, Saint
John's on campus Episcopal Same Thomas Aquinasstarts in about a week. Trade home

(07:44):
shoes at the mall, Vision Bankon the south side. South and Wilson
Toyota are all participating this year.And if anyone listening would like to host
a box, you can reach outto me Miles at five one five so

(08:05):
I know eight nine seven seven that'smy cell number. Just call and we
would welcome any more boxes we canget around town. Well, Miles,
we know that the drants that waslast year the first year, but three

(08:26):
thousands of shoes correct mal three thousandshoes last year and we hope to maybe
double that this year. So Ichallenge James to clean out your closets and
bring the shoes in. And wetalked about what the shoes are used for

(08:48):
a couple of different things. Isn'tthat the three wonderful results of this drive.
Number one, of course, theshoes that we collect are turned into
money for Ameston Kawanas that in turnfunds grants that go to child based community

(09:09):
action groups. And we also thenkeep them out of our landfill and aims.
And then the shoes go to anyone of three different twenty five countries
in the Third World to support antipoverty programs the Nobile cause, and no

(09:30):
surprise of Kawanans are supporting it.So get those old shoes out, you
know those once you are in highschool, those tap shoes. Sure they
can get those cleets off there andput the good views. And the Kwanians
have been doing this for the secondyear. Here just one of many efforts

(09:52):
by Kwanians to help young people inthis community and people throughout the world.
To be quite honest, one otherthing you can do to help the Kowanians
is to join and they would bemore than happy to host you at one
of their meetings and get you sponsoredin right right thought. They're met anyone

(10:15):
interested and certainly come as a guest. We are starting to meet at Green
Hills starting today where we have abigger room to accommodate more members. All
right, well, Miles, ourthanks to you and the Kowanians, and
you keep coming back. You arewelcome any time, my friend, look

(10:35):
at these people, either cut upto date or shame them into going through
those closets and helping some people throughoutthe world. Thanks again, my friends
for the town as my pleasure,my town, your town. It's all
of our town, and we're veryproud of where we live and the efforts

(10:56):
made by fraternal groups like the Kawanianswho not only help our community but help
out those throughout the world. Weare having coffee with Mouth, so are
you by the way right here ata Vala Bank at South sixty or South
Tuk and sixteenth Street, and we'llbe here until nine o'clock. The guests

(11:18):
are coming in and interviews will goon coming up next. I feel kind
of artsy, how about you.We'll do that when we come back for
coffee with Mel. You are listeningto Mel in the morning. Mel is
on location at a Vela Bank andMel a Vela Bank can give us a

(11:39):
few more details on that. Iknow we are not at the Boys and
Girls Club. You can go downthere, but might fall on you.
Yeah, that's that's what I hear. Yeah, they are the Boys and
Girls Club. It's going under renovation, okay. And they got a little
exuber and renovated a little more thanthey were ready for, which necessitated ES

(12:05):
moving the show to a veil bankat sixteen and South up. And we're
in the conference room there. JudgeJohnston hosting out front, and my guests
are coming in and my next twoguests. I've been excited for all weeks
along. I've been talking with Teresafrom Vintage Cooperative and she said, gents,

(12:28):
exhibit going on, and Dorothy Sparring, we'll be stopping by the Breakfast
club this morning. I mean,here we are. I'm absolutely enthralled.
I'm looking at some of the artworkright here that you will not want to
miss. Very colorful, very beautiful, very innovative. May I put it

(12:52):
that way? And so without furtherado, we'll put ashually throw Dorothy on
first under the gun. Good idea, Jan said, all right, Dorothy
Sperry joins me right now from VintageCooperative. Tell us a little bit about
Vintage Cooperative. Cooperative is located inthe very north side of town on one

(13:16):
ninetieth and Hide, and we area senior living independents cooperative and that means
we jointly own the building. Wehave our own board of directors and make
our own rules and regulations, andeach have our own unit which we can

(13:45):
do as we want pretty much.And it's just a lovely place to live.
We're going to celebrate our anniversary inDecember, and it's just a beautiful
building and we all love being there. It's very convenient. Do you say
when you their own rules and regulations, I'm assuming they're all within the law,

(14:07):
yes, and sometimes we have toadd a couple. It sounds like
a wonderful But do you have availabilities? You know with some seed living homes
they don't have room for more.How are you doing? Do we have
two lovely apartments or condos available.One is a three bedroom unit and the

(14:31):
other one is a two bedroom unit, and it is it's on a corner,
so it has windows on two sidesinstead of just one, and you
just get extra light and things likethat. And they're both very nice with
some awfully nice people. I'm sureNow Jan doos here? How'd you run

(14:52):
across Jan. Well, Jan movedinto our building year after we were opened,
maybe yourself, Yeah, not rightaway. And we got to Yeah,
we were visiting over coffee or somesnacks at a party or something and
talking about where we were from,and I said, well, I was

(15:13):
from southwest Iowa and stuff, andhe said, well, I had a
brother that used to live down there. And I thought for a minute,
and I said Jim Dale. Hesaid, yeah, so that really spot
something. But yes, we knewhis brother fairly well. And his brother's

(15:35):
son was in my older son's class, and we didn't live about block or
so away, and so they playedtogether and he was in my cup Scout
troop Marty was, and so yeah, we've just gotten to know each other
through vintage activities, mostly small world. Of course, sim Dale was on

(15:58):
YETI on a list I think forI don't know how many years down there.
So I'll tell you, not onthe FBI wanted list, but on
a wanted list. And that isa wonderful artist who joins me right now,
Jim Dale. And yeah, I'msorry to Jan. He's got me

(16:18):
mixed up already. I look alittle bit alike. Look a love he's
got the posters. But anyway,jan I see before me, just gorgeous,
gorgeous artworks here. How long haveyou been doing art? Actually?
You know, when I retired intwo three, at age sixty two,

(16:40):
I took an oli at that timeit was called the College for Seniors six
hours and I was all excited,and I thought, see if I was
excited, maybe I have some ability. That's where it started. Life doesn't
end the retirement, by the way, life doesn't end at sixty and Jim
is a great example of it.And I would tell you now I thought

(17:03):
about art too, But I can'teven paint a garage. Ye, well,
that'd be a place to start.Well, try your garage. And
I'm looking at these wonderful pieces here, and I'm going to guess right now
you didn't begin to paint for anykind of profit. You painted for the

(17:26):
pure enjoyment of what you could do. Yeah, you know, for twenty
years I've been painting for my ownpleasure. It's very peaceful if in retirement
you want a peaceful activity, andit's also stimulating at the same time.
Actually, so in the vintage isa good place to have time to do

(17:48):
something like this. These poor paintingshave been in storage for twenty years now,
and I'm so glad to have themcoming out in the light of day.
It's so excited. And to havesuch a beautiful place. The Vintage
has this big, beautiful entrance,it's got sort of gone with the wind
staircase, it's got a it's gota grand piano, and here I am

(18:12):
having my opening in a place ofbeauty like that. I'm just fortunate.
It will be beauty within beauty.I will tell you that what inspires you.
I think there's quite a bit ofdiversity in me. Well, you
know, there's two things generally.For one thing, I have a modern
piece of art, which turns outto be my most popular for some reason,

(18:36):
because that's not what I usually do. It's called I've seen Fire and
I've seen Green from James Taylor's andpeople seem to love that thing. And
I can't figure out quite far,but at any rate, Otherwise known to
Kevin up near Astes, I wasa friend of your son now and I've

(18:59):
got a lot of mountain stuff inthe last twenty years. I got a
lot of mountain cabins, I gota lot of wildlife from the mountains.
That's kind of multicolored stuff. Igot around the age simpany I got inspired
for multicolored things, and a lotof my animals are multicolored wildlife or my
other things tend to be Iowa farmsand the Iowa farm animals. Actually,

(19:23):
and I really think that the NewSide town needs the gallery out there and
for people come out of town andsee something like Colorado stuff and Iowa stuff.
Well, being a former Colorado boy, I can enjoy boat then.
And I'm looking at this, theone that you say you can't understand why

(19:45):
people like it. I think it'samazing that the piece of paper you cleaned
your brushes on turned out to beeverybody's favorites. Well, now that's interesting.
It had to be my subconscious.That had to be my subconscious.

(20:06):
Must have been late at night,absolutely gorgeous, and the breaststrokes and everything
that different colors are enthralling. AndI know why people like this kind of
art because they can make of itanything they want. They get to use
not only did you use your imagination, but they can use their imagination to

(20:26):
create what they want to with adrawing or with a peating like that.
Questions often you say, of rand that's exactly what he said. He
said, don't worry about just whatthe artist meant. What's that mean to
you? You can figure out whatthe artist meant maybe, but that's not
what's important. What comes up toyou when you look at these pictures.

(20:48):
For sure, a lot of peoplewould see their front backgrounds in these kainties
and Jen, I have to tellyou now, will you tell these people
very interested? Because I know forme these are their babies, But really
you can get a good Princeton into go that's and they leave it the

(21:17):
where it is. They don't takeoff nowdings, they don't take off friends,
and they're pricing. But that's theonly way I do it. There's
one hundred bucks of prints down there. Yeah, some people could have a
print. You could have a print. But I'll tell you why. You
need to see them, whether you'rebuying or not. If you want something
that's going to touch your senses,give you great pride. You know,

(21:40):
I don't will in the wild Nightor jan Dale. These are the things
that you have to see. Andthey'll be on this play out of n
It's cooperative right, Yes they will. That's next Friday's pretty close two to
five in the afternoon. We'll havejees and packers from a bank can tell

(22:00):
to support this legisrus and so youcan hang out with people when you came
and you go right straight back intoour great room in every plat, sir,
I have seventy eight, so everyplats the absolutely goodness. Make sure
mark that down and that's next Fridayfrom three to five the afternoon the public

(22:25):
open to the public to to five. And I bet the folks have been
as cooperative. They've still got toa passage. Would be glad to talk
to you about becoming resident out there. So they'd like to see the building
and they'd like to see those twounits. Will offer tours and answer any
questions they have about the vintage.Now, jan this isn't the end of

(22:48):
your talent. This is this samplinghere. He is also a musician and
he showed me something I wasn't awareof. What's called a paritone you and
it's a little bigger version of whatthe smaller you of the Rudy Valley UK
lately said said or or Arthur Godfreyused to play. But yeah, this

(23:12):
is something else that you've enjoyed overthe years you were with the good guys,
which I'm very aware of, agreat acapella group, well instrumental acapella.
They beautiful voice blend and you didthat prow many year, forty years
around Ames State Fair sixteen years andall those different venues down there. And

(23:34):
finally some of our guys see,I'm actually older than I look now,
I'm actually eighty two. And nowyou're not. Don't lie to me.
Yeah, chronologically too, mental ofabout fifteen. So yeah, so forty
years, you know, and conty, we probably new one hundred songs,

(23:56):
you know, by memory. Andso now I'm on my own. Other
guys are having troubles and I'm enjoyingthat. Out the Vintage, I can
perform for a lot of their events, and I have all these songs,
maybe one hundred and fifty songs inmy mind, and it's part of the
fun of being the Vintage. Infact, the place I think has a
lot of fun. It's amazing andafter four years now it's like a loving,

(24:22):
caring community. And my idea wasthat you know, if something have
to be or my wife moving intheir eighties, we've got people that would
care for us in a caring community. It really is. I have to
say, you call it a community, and hearing what I'm hearing, I'll
call it a family. The peoplehater socializing all the time, and they

(24:47):
have events going, they have educationalevents going, they have social events going.
It's just a really nice place tolive. We got a maintenance man.
That's awesome. You have something wrongin your place, he's there,
all very snort. We've got aheated drudge, No heated drudge. Yes,
I grew up on the pot.It's nice to have it even And

(25:12):
the car wash in that heated grids. Dorothy said, so a clean,
warm car. Who could ask morethan that? And I see about some
CDs in now are these available forfolks? I'm sure that the good guy.
Well, actually I never put thoseon the market. I did work
three counties for twenty years and thoughtabout it, but those again, I've

(25:36):
just sort of gave out until Iran out. The book is through Amazon.
You can just go Jamsdale, justgo just just go Tipe and jam
Dale to Google and never bring upmy book. And it's good for especially
young parents with kids. It's raisingkids with psychologrical skills. It's still a

(25:59):
traditional parent, and it's got amodel for couples and top the differences and
otherwise. I talked to Jony Arnsabout reading my book, and I believe
she did because she sounds like shetalks about psychologists for schools and I all
of the whole thing is about gettingmore help in schools and and for children.
That's the reason for the book.Yeah, it's needed more now than

(26:22):
ever. The stressors et cetera thatthe kids go through or would be unimaginable
when we were young. Again,I can't imagine what they go through now.
To have two years like that ashome alone, that's tragic for mental
health reasons. So yeah, andI loved what I did say the name

(26:44):
of the book. We didn't tellyou that look for Jan Dale, you'll
be fine, but one giant psychologicallyfor humankind, and that's by Jan Dale.
And it's a book well where thereading and if you're a young air
and out there you're looking for someadditional skills that you might not have thought
up, you can find him inthis book a time at a place where

(27:14):
you live to be creative. Idid all this stuff after I retired in
two thousand and three. So Igot to ask you a personal question.
If I can I have begun writinga book. How long did it take
you to put this together? Well, I've got a I've got a nephew
who is the best friend of Dorothy'sson, and he has done very well.

(27:37):
He went into foreign service. It'sdone all the dangerous spots in the
world. And that nephew got ariver home up and lansing and every March.
I went for a week by myselfto write this book. That's how
I did it. Yeah, that'sabsolutely wonderful. Life doesn't stop at sixty.
Light picks up after sixty with thethings you really want to do.

(28:00):
I mean, you had a wonderfulcareer. You helped a lot of people,
and now you're helping yourself and sharingthat wealth with the rest of us.
Jan, thanks for coming in thismorning. Thank you, Mel.
It's been a real privilege, myprivilege, believe me. Dorothy is always
April twelfth, two to five isthe date of the art show. We'd

(28:23):
love to have you come to theVintage Cooperative and see Jan's work and arrange
a tour. Take a look atthose two apartments that are left. They'll
fill up very quickly. I'm quitesure, all right, that is coffee
with Mel. We got lots togo. We're here at the vay La
Bank at sixteenth and South Up.You're more than welcome to stop. I

(28:45):
have a cup of coffee, youhave a donut, and just say hello.
We'd love to see you. I'mMel of the morning on fourteen thirty
kas. I sounds like we mayhave mel kribbon here. Yeah in the
morning. Hey, how you andmom? Oh, I'm reminiscing here.
I'm with two old friends. Idare not say old youthful in their actions,

(29:07):
but Judge Johnson occoits with the StoryCounty Boys and Girls Club, and
Kevin Guice, a good friend formany many years, a bank executive,
extraordinary and always good to see him. I hadn't seen him for quite a
few years. I commit, youhaven't aged much or else My glasses haven't

(29:27):
been done lately. I think it'sthe glasses is mL Hey, we want
to talk a little bit about bayLebank, who is kindly hosting the Story
County Boys and Girls Club here thismorning. As I was saying earlier,
I think all of us here namesjo By. While this was going up,

(29:47):
this building was going up. Itseemed like a long long time,
but when I get inside, I'mgoing it was well worth the time.
Yes, it's think a while theyput the building together when they did that,
and they had some construction challenges,but it's a great location. We're

(30:10):
excited to be part of the namescommunity providing banking services we think make a
difference to our community, and soit's fun to be here. It's also
really fun to be part of theBoys and Girls Network Club Network. We
are excited about what they're doing,the things they're bringing to our community,

(30:32):
the value they're adding to our community, and we're just appreciate the opportunity to
be here with them this morning.And you don't talk to talk talk to
Judge a little bit about this,but you sponsor a particular event that's become
very very popular here, and that'sthe fly In. Yes, it's a
flying they have annually and it hasgrown in leaps and bounds since they've started

(30:56):
it. And if you want toconnect with people and just see families having
fun and enjoying their time and agreat community event, the fly in is
the event that you need to beat. They've got great food, great
people, great sponsors and we're excitedabout being part of that each year.

(31:17):
And my understanding this year especial eventwill be you and Judge doing a free
fall sky Died this year. How'sthat going? Well, I'm going to
do that after he jumps, andthen I'll decide, you know, if
it's appropriate. And I understand he'sbeen practicing out here in the lobby,
jumping out of one of the chairsor something. How's that going? Well,

(31:37):
it's not going good? Well,But thanks for having us this morning,
and I want to thank Avail theBank for really helping us this morning.
As a lot of people know,we have our groundbreaking ceremony today at
one o'clock and we're really excited.The weather's going to cooperate and the wind's
not going to blow us off theface of the map today. But if
you are coming to our event atone o'clock, we asked it to park

(31:59):
behind Texas Roadhouse and you'll see thewoodruft ten up and all the kind of
the festivities of our short event atone o'clock and excited to have a few
speakers come in and talk about theproject and make our official groundbreaking happen and
I'm really excited about this next chapterof extending this building, which was built

(32:20):
in nineteen ninety eight, giving ussome new life, and then adding on
seventy five hundred square feet to servefifty more families. And we're deep into
our fundraising campaign and a Vaila Bankstepped up generously through their foundation to support
this project, and Kevin and histeam are great supporters of the Boys and
Girls Club. And we touched onthe fly in which this year will be

(32:42):
June Eighth's a little later this year, hopefully it'll be a little warmer,
but we've had a couple of organizationalmeetings, more planes coming in this year,
and really excited to get to overone thousand people this year. But
I'll jump back on the radio inMay and really start talking about the details
of that event on June eighth.Let him no, I'll do it.

(33:02):
And it has been fun for me, and you guys have heard me tell
it many times. I remember thevery humble Boys and Girls Club down just
off of Lincolnway years ago did notoffer near the opportunities that the new building
offered when it opened up. Iwent out there one of the fun events

(33:24):
they used to have that I enjoyedwas the hot air gathering, hot air
balloon gathering. Hot air is thereall the time, Judge is there,
but hot air balloon gathering they hadfor a few years there, and that
was I actually got to go upin the hot air balloon and Judge encouraged
me to jump out then but didn'thappen. But the new building is even

(33:45):
much more exciting. And if constructiongoes as fast as the demolition, it'll
be up in about a week.Our demolish crew was really tore into it
and they're a head of schedule oneweek on the demolition, so that that's
good. And it'll take about ayear to complete this project, and there's

(34:06):
gonna be a lot of excitement asit goes. And you know, the
old building didn't offer classrooms and tutoringspace and client spaces and smaller breakout spaces
to work with our kids. We'llhave a new arts and crassroom in they're
a new technology room, a hugekitchen that not we'll only serve one hundred
and fifty kids a day a hotmeal that we do every day, but

(34:27):
we're going to build in the lifeskill of teaching kids how to cook and
we've designed kitchen to help support that, a small laundry facility in there.
We want to teach the kids howto do a lot of laundry, just
the basic skills of life. That'spart of our mission. Every day after
school for these kids, it wasgreat they had tutoring that goes on in

(34:50):
their computer education. I think thekids probably teach the computer education to those
old people, but it it hasbeen marvelous to see the transition over the
years and to know that it neverstops. That they find another need,
another way that they can help moreyoung people in this community. Not just
the young people, but the familiesknowing they have a safe place to go

(35:15):
that they can actually get a mealthat they provide. I enjoyed the macaroni
and peanut butter. Judge usually bringsme out here. But you see,
the store is empty. The storeis empty. It's under construction right now.
So we'll get you covered, melwe'll feed you some point. So
well, I tell you it's goingto be a marvelous building. And thanks

(35:36):
to Judge and the good work heand all his staff do down there,
will be increasing your staff a littlebit with a new facility. Yeah,
we're going to serve another fifty kidson average daily, So that's going to
require another three to five almost fulltime staff to support that to keep our
ratio of fifteen staff to one kid, and that's the national standard of twenty
to one. We believe in fifteento one it's a better conection with our

(36:00):
kids. It costs us more moneyto staff it that way here, but
that's my job to go out andsupport and raise that money for our operational
spots because what they want to dois keep those costs as low as they
can and you've done that for years. We try for the kids. You
know, if a family wants tocome in and register their kid for the
school year, it's one hundred dollars. We all know that one hundred dollars

(36:21):
doesn't cover that staffing and that overheadand that hot meal every day. But
that's my job as a development directorto go out and find grants and local
corporate support and individual donors to makeit happen. And not only that,
but you have scholarship programs we do. We have a couple of donors at
support with if a family can't affordone hundred dollars, and we can get

(36:44):
them through without being on a waitinglist. We'll take them in. We'll
welcome them with open arms and makeit work. One more question, how's
the Neveda Brads doing. Our smallsite over in Nevada is flourishing and it
also has a waiting list now.So we're you know, about three or
four years ago we were averaging fiveto ten kids. We're average twenty five

(37:05):
to thirty now and our summer numbersare growing and so we're addressing that quietly
on the side with the Nevada communityhow to grow that operation and support that.
But they're just there's a need inboth communities for good after school care
for some of these kids, andthe Story County Boys and Girls Club continue

(37:27):
to provide that, and good folksby Kevin Kie and the Bayla Bank continue
to support those efforts. So digin your pockets a little bit there going
for a great cause. You cando no better to invest in our youth
and what they're learning, because somedaythey'll be cracking the whip on those old
people, and we want to makesure they know we're trying to help them.

(37:50):
Kevin, you and AVELA course suchan integral part of this what made
you guys decide the Boys and GirlsClub? Well, when you look at
the Boys and Girls Club, oneof the things that I really focus on
is as a parent and a grandparent, I have a passion that my grandchildren
have a safe place to go andespecially after school, and that they have

(38:14):
people who care for them, whowant them to develop and grow into good,
productive citizens. And no better wayto give peace to the grandparents and
parents and to have a safe placefor their children to go. And I
think that's really important because there's alot of unsafe places that they can go
in our world today. But theBoys and Girls Club love on them,

(38:38):
provide life skills, opportunities to helpthem, tutor them to school challenges.
And the other thing that provides agreat community. They learned to live in
a healthy community, see a healthycommunity, and that's a lifetime skill.
Also, Kevin, thanks so muchfor hosting today. I appreciate it.

(39:00):
I always have fun with you.Mails can see you again, and you
look younger today than the other timeI saw you. So keep that begetting
work. All right, we willhead to the optometrists together, all right,
Judge, thank you as always.All right, Judge Johnson Kevin guys
here this morning on coffee with Mel. Coming up next. Bill Dilla is

(39:24):
here from Eamestown and Gown and we'lltalk with him to find out what's up
there. Stan Rady in the wingshaving some makeup applied, and we shall
be back with more coffee with Melfrom Availa Bank at sixteenth and South sup
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See DraftKings dot com for details.Kasi aims an iHeartRadio station, now
number one for podcasts and available everywhereon the iHeartRadio app. You're listening to
Coffee with Mel. The one andonly Mel in the Morning is hosting this
Friday edition of a show that's beenran for over thirty three years. Mel

(42:22):
doing his victory lap. I maybetwo three? Mel? How many victory
laps are you going to take herewith this show? That's not funny,
Scott, I don't have a lap. Oh, come on, I just
keep going, you know, Ijust keep going laf in years, but
I will do many, many victorylaps if necessary to get things done.

(42:46):
But I will tell you right now, we're all on a victory lap here
on coffee with Mel, with greatproductions, great entertainment, great exhibits,
fundraisers, etc. We're always ona victory run here. Victory laughs.
So included Bill Dilla here with JamesCounting Gowns. Bill, good to see

(43:12):
again. You mentioned you threatened melast time you were on you were going
to come back. That's right,and I make good on the promise,
that is for sure, and we'reglad to see you. Count and Gown
is just one of those wonderful organizationsthat bring and support the arts so well
here in our community. What bigfanfare? Big fanfare there, Mel,

(43:42):
Yeah, that's pretty good. Hey, we're back to abnormal, as I
like to say, but welcome backto coffee with Mel. We're at the
Avella Bank at sixteenth and South Duff. And before we were rudely, rudely
interrupted with my good friend Bill Dillawith Ames, Town and Gown and always

(44:07):
something special going on with Town andGown and Bill, what's happening? Well,
we have a special visitor next week. Her name is Michelle Kahan.
Some of you may have seen herwith the Des Moines Symphony in early March
performance doing a spectacular performance of Rhapsodyin Blue, and we are privileged to

(44:27):
have her not just for a fewminutes, but for two evenings. Ms
Conna is the Chair of Piano Studiesat the Curtis Institute of Music. Our
first event is a lecture called theMusical Legacies of Phenomenal Women of Color.
Some very interesting history music history fromthe nineteen thirties and forties about women of

(44:53):
color who have their music performed onthe national stage, such as with the
chica Igo Symphony Orchestra and then thatwas all forgotten. And that event is
going to be at seven pm atMartha Ellen Tie Recital Hall. It is
part of the Iowa State Lectures programand that is free and open to the

(45:15):
public. And then mss con willperform a recital on Friday, April the
twelfth at seven point thirty, alsoin Martha Ellen Tie Hall and that event
the tickets are thirty five dollars availableat the door or at amestownodgown dot org

(45:36):
or Chacal Lottery stam or Riemann Music, and also for that event K through
twelve, the university students are admittedfree. Now the Thursday night performance is
free. Now will that be theactual program similar to what she's doing Friday
night or completely different? It willbe completely different because it is a lecture

(46:00):
recital where an artist talks about themusic and then performs part of the music.
And so the emphasis on Thursday night, as the title goes, is
these women of color that were famouscomposers in the thirties and forties and have
now been forgotten. Program on Fridaynight is going to be more diverse.

(46:22):
There will be some music by theblock composer Florence Price, but also more
familiar composers such as Chopin and Hitostera. Now, when you talk to the
lecture evening, will there be anopportunity for Q and A. Yes,
during the lecture, there is anopportunity for Q and A. I think

(46:45):
that would be interesting, very veryinteresting, and a good opportunity to talk
with this young artist and get someinformation on how she worked through her program,
what she decided was going to bemost pertinent and informative. So great

(47:06):
opportunity on Thursday night, Another greatopportunity on Friday night just to hear her
perform. Yes, we're very muchwe're very much looking forward to it.
And again the lecture on Thursday nightis free and open to the public.
Of the performance on Friday night,the tickets are thirty five dollars available at

(47:30):
the door or amestowndown dot org andas with all Talent Gown events K through
twelve and university students are admitted free. All right, build anything else we
should add no, I thank youfor the time, and also want to
thank our supporters, the Ames Commissionon the Arts and also Iowa State Lecturers

(47:51):
who is partnering with us on theThursday night program. And we thank you
for coming in again and let youknow that Town and Gown is always welcome.
Here for coffee with Mel. Allright, thank you, Thank you.
Bill Della with the Eamestown and Gown. We are having coffee with Mel
at a Bayla Bank sixteenth and Southup on fourteen thirty. Kas I,

(48:17):
we're here on behalf of the Boysand Girls Club of Story County. We'll
be back on fourteen thirty. Andwhere do you get your podcast? That's
what Mel in the Morning wants toknow. And the answer to that,
where do you get your podcast?Is firing up the old podcast for Meluh.

(48:38):
Yeah, well it sounds like wewill be archiving once again, Mel
your morning broadcasts. Oh, that'llbe nice. So it won't won't happen
immediately after the show, but we'vegot to do a few edits here and
there, but we'll get it upthere. What's that? What do you
have to edit? Is there somerisk stuff in there? Just terrible,

(49:02):
terrible stuff. No, I won'tmention it. I try not to.
You do great on hitting that delaybutton when I hit those gusswords. Yeah,
it's flawless. It's seamless. Allright. Well, speaking of seamless,
my next guest is seamless. Hejust goes. He's like a good

(49:22):
time X watch on and on andon, and we're glad he does.
We're absolutely great. And I callhim my morning partner a lot of times
here on the show because there's alwayssomething going on at Actors and now there's
something going on and then the followingact is I don't want to say better,

(49:45):
but far different than Farnsworth. Ohmy goodness. Yes, there's a
world of difference between the Farnsworth Inventionand Sister Act. And I tell you
that we're nestling the two right nextto each other in terms of we have
shows this week and the Farnsworth Inventionit's about the guy who invented television and
how his his patent was basically stolenvia the courts by David Sarnoff of NBC.

(50:09):
Fabulous show, great script, Andwe have shows Friday and Saturday night
this weekend, and we start rehearsalsfor Sister Act on Sunday. So there's
just no rest for the wicked andthe righteous don't need it. So there
you have it. So it's there'salways something going on out of actors.
And there are tickets available for tonightand tomorrow night. The show is sold

(50:34):
very well. There aren't a lotof seats, but you know, the
more seats we sell, the morewe cover our expenses out of the theater.
So come on out. It's awonderful show. It's an Aaron Sorkin
script. And we had people callingyesterday saying how do I get in?
They waited in the lobby until seatsbecame available because they just wanted to see
the Aaron Sorkin script. They didn'tcare about me at all. They wanted

(50:58):
to see the I know, I'mcrushed. They just wanted to see the
Aaron circinscript. And afterwards we talkedthey so it wasn't a disappointment at all,
and I wasn't bad either. Soit's, uh, it's it's a
good show. It's it's a it'sa fabulous script, and you learn something
in this show. This is youknow, no one has ever really much

(51:19):
thought about how television came about,and so it's a good and it's it's
great storytelling. So come on outthis weekend, Friday and Saturday night seven
thirty. Next weekend it's Friday andSaturday at seven thirty, and we have
a Sunday matinee and there are afew seats available for all of those performances.

(51:43):
And since Alpha Copies has closed,we have box office running at the
building until we get our new boxretail box office set up, So if
they want to buy tickets in perperson, pardon me, they can come
out to actors from five until eightbecause there's people out there during that time

(52:04):
anyway for rehearsals and or performances,and so you can come out and get
them in person at Actors or youcan get them online at Actorsinc Dot org.
You know, Stan, I haveto say, I'm a little bit
surprised at the security detail you haveas you're leaving the theater there. I
never knew that they trained five andsix year old kids to be security.

(52:30):
I was amazed. You know what, we'd like to have people who are
about the height to grab ankles andtackle, and so we find that ages
five six seven work out very wellbecause they can grab onto your pantcuff legs
and the pantcuffs and take anybody down. And I think they were called ankle

(52:50):
biters when they were growing up.Anyway, they were, Yes, that's
exactly it. And we have trainedthem to bite because that's the best kind
of fence. Well, pulling youout of retirement and putting you in this
show was a brave act to saythe least. Oh my god, I
tell you it was brave. Youknow, I'm very good at memorizing lines.

(53:14):
I'm not so good at remembering themon command. That's the tough thing.
And so you oh yeah, Mike, Mike had to have a major
move of belief and trust to makethis work. And I'm going to say
they had to change the seating inthere for those twelve foot tall Q cards
you use. Well, you know, now we have TV monitors that just

(53:36):
you know, like they have ontelevision cameras that just roll the script for
me, because oh yeah, allof that is absolutely necessary and one of
the many improvements there. And actors, they've been having sellout crowds again.
Fortunately I say this, there aresome seats available for the next few performances,

(53:59):
but get your tickets now. Idon't want you crying out in the
parking lot because you couldn't get in, and actors doesn't want you doing that
either. They want to get everybodyin that they can. And this is
a great, great performance again nowthrough next weekend, and then followed up

(54:19):
shortly after with Sisters Act, whichDan, you've told me you've got well
casted right now. Oh my goodness. The cast for Sister Act is amazing.
We were thrilled because we had somany good people audition and normally for
a musical, we find a wayof fitting everybody into the cast, but
we had so many people we hadto tell some people that we didn't have

(54:43):
a space for them, which isvery unlike us, but we had huge
auditions and so we have the bestof the best, and I'll tell you
we've got We've got some local personalitiesin this show. So people will enjoy
coming out to see Ronnie Lindemann andMary Richards and yeah, up and down

(55:06):
the line. It's just it.It'll be great fun, all right,
that coming up? Of course afterthe farns Worth I never get the last
what's the last word, Farnsworth invention? Invention. That's a tough one for
me, more than one syllable.But anyway, Stan, thank you so
much. Always good to see you, my friend. Hey, and it's
always good to get to come inand talk to you, all right,

(55:29):
Stan Raby With actors, get onout there. Tickets available and let's make
sure that isn't so when the showgoes on, I want full house and
you'll never regret it. I willtell you that you can. The worst
part of actors is if some performancehas gone on and people are talking about
it and you can't contribute, right, don't be an outcast, all right,

(55:53):
or get in the cast if youcan all those things. Participate in
Actors. They're going to come back. We have more guests coming up and
they're having coffee with mouth at aVala Bank at sixteenth and South up on
fourteen thirty kas Ol. Also,what never sounded so good is the fact

(56:15):
that we are coming up in temperature. We are right now coming up to
the freezing point here and ends wehit it all the way up to the
wopping thirty two degrees call forty twodegrees in m oh, yeah, yeah,
thirty two degrees. Look out melo, yeah, call looking out the
wheels and my good friend Tim Berry'ssled dogs are sweating. I don't know

(56:38):
what's going on out there, howbzarreso yeah, yeah, it is,
how bizarre. Anyway, it's gonnawarm up. It's gonna be a pretty
good weekend to get out there andenjoy it. And hopefully we'll be hitting
that seventy degree mark here within thenext cup of weeks and then no more

(57:00):
of these freezing temperatures. But that'sokay. We're warm inside at a Vlea
Bank at sixteen and South Dock andjoining me now, my good friend for
many, many years, and wewon't count them. We don't have time.
This show is limited in time.Well, I can't count that high
either, any I can't count thathigh anymore. We could both take off

(57:22):
our gloves and shoes and still notget that number. And we got in
trouble the time we counted to twentyone. I remember that. That was
the police officer was nice enough tolet us go. Then. Yeah,
but you know what, that roadwas rough. It wasn't your fault.
You couldn't keep your balance. Butanyway, Tim is here and Marilyn Johnson

(57:46):
and we're talking about a great,great and I can't believe I'm saying this
Maryland twenty eighth Annual Variety Show,My goodness has gone by fast. I
know. I talk about feeling,that's about it. And you remember just
about every one of those mel wetalk about making me feel a old Maryland

(58:07):
good job. Anyway, I do, and I will tell you nothing but
fond memories. Oh it's been wonderful. Yeah, we've had a good time
with it. The cast changes,of course through twenty eight years. Said
we've had some wonderful golden oldies,but we're always looking for some new comers

(58:28):
to come. And every year wehave new blood that comes to the show
and enjoys themselves and comes back anotheryear. So always a great product for
the audience. Now, Tim,this is your first year directing and probably
the last once we catch on.But one of the things that were a
little worried about, there is somuch talent out there and only so much

(58:52):
time that the show goes on.Well, I hope the bank doesn't mind.
I parked out here on the driveon their lawn because I was listening
the show coming in and all theguests you've had so far have all talked
about the talent that they've had,and I would like to extend an invitation
to every one of those guests thatyou've had so far to come to our

(59:13):
auditions, which we are having tomorrowafternoon at Northminster Baptist Church if they haven't
signed up already tomorrow afternoon for asyou said, the twenty eighth Annual Senior
Variety Show Footloose and Fancy Free.Oh the places you will see And the

(59:36):
show isn't until August, but we'rehaving Auditionsmorrow April sixth, and then a
callbacks if you will, on thethirteenth. But if you would go to
the Senior Variety Show Facebook page,there's a sign up spot there and there

(59:58):
are some spots available and as Marilynsays, we are still looking for folks
to come and audition for the show, but Saturday April sixth, from twelve
thirty four at Northminster Presbyterian Church.And there's no business like show business.
And if folks don't, if folksdon't come and audition, then they're going

(01:00:20):
to have to put up with mehere and that kind of stuff. So
please please come an audition. I'lldouble that, please. The one man
Tim Berry show which has been popularand man cato for so many years Minnesota
and and coerced him into coming backhere to Ames and right away took on
this. I would call it ashow and a pleasure and an honor to

(01:00:46):
be a part of knowing the manydirectors of the past. And you know,
every show hits a slump, butanyway it will be fatbulous. I've
known this guy for years. He'sa fabulous director. He's done many,
many different kinds of shows. AndI'm certain does this present a different kind

(01:01:08):
of challenge for you, Tim Well, only in the fact that I've seen
the type of shows I watched lastyear's show, uh, and just in
trying to figure in which order,uh that we can put all of the
talent that we have on the stagejust down at Ames City Auditorium. The

(01:01:29):
show itself, as I said,is going to be uh in August.
Uh and in that right Maryland.It's the shows in August. Auditions are
this weekend. But we encourage uh, as I said, and listening to
your show today, all those peoplewho have all that talent uh and as
I heard many of them say,you're looking for a place to, you

(01:01:51):
know, to showcase that uh anduh And as I think maybe the word
that you might have been looking foris this Senior Variety Show is an institution.
Twenty eight years they've been putting thisshow on here in Ames and it
really is a showcase of the talent. Now. The only show requirements is
you need to be a Story Countyresident or employee sixty years of age,

(01:02:15):
have a theme related our theme againfootloose and fancy free. Oh the places
we will see, and an desireto come and celebrate the joys of aging,
you know. And I think I'venever wanted to speak for you,
but I think every day there's nothingmore fun than fun, you know.

(01:02:37):
And we attested that. In fact, Tim has been avidly checking to make
sure that restricting him and I frombeing together is no longer being enforced here
in the city of Banks. Wellthat's why it took me so long to
get back out of Mankato, youknow, was that finally all of those
restrained orders kind of reached their endand they said it was okay for me

(01:02:58):
to come back. Is that right? They rode you out on town on
you still have it? Well,yes it is, you know. I
mean, I thought it was acelebration parade, but I guess you know,
I did make it across the border, okay, you know, And
I couldn't believe tarn Feathers came offthat easy. But anyway, Maryland,
you and I can go back tothe beginning of this show. There,

(01:03:20):
I'll make you feel old. That'scalled revenge. But we look back at
the very start of this and theChuck Jones k Pete when they entered my
studio and said, we want totry at least one year a variety show
for seniors, and lo and beholdwe mentioned twenty eighth annual, and I

(01:03:43):
think maybe we were all somewhat surprisedand how many seniors out there had put
some things away and on the shelffrom when they were younger, never to
perform again. That's got the opportunityand lo and behold they came outsolutely.
You know, I think when youget older, some of your prohibitions what

(01:04:05):
am I trying to say? There? Yeah? What then innefition thanks,
yeah, kind of fall away andyou go, hey, why not try
it now? You know, I'mkind of maybe running out of time to
do that, And so there arethere opportunities where you could get out in
front of the spotlight, and boy, once that spotlight hits you, you're
you're a goner. So yeah,it's it's been a wonderful opportunity to find

(01:04:30):
they and rediscover the talent that's inthis town. And it's amazing. Well,
I will tell you what, ifthere aren't more smiles on stage,
if you could look out in thataudience at friends and relatives they didn't know
Grandma, grandpa, Auntie or whatever, or mom and dad could perform like

(01:04:51):
that and the smile on their facesto see it is well worth the price
of a ticket, I will Iwill tell you that for sure. And
I want to mention as long asyou brought it up Maryland, Tim and
I were very much against prohibition.Uh we and and demonstrated that many times
in our togetherness. But anyway,Tim, you're a guy who himself has

(01:05:17):
great talent as far as I'm concerned, and uh to see these folks like
I say, I use the expressiondust off their talent, et cetera.
You're looking at all kinds of diversity. Though you may play the ukulele,
you may dance, you may readpoetry, uh, you may be a
comedian. This is your chance toshine. And we've got the folks like

(01:05:41):
Tim and the staff and everything.They're going to do the best they can.
And my good friend Craig Kaufman's sittingout there. We're gonna be talking
to him a little bit. Buthe and his crew out there do everything
to accommodate this and make it shine. It's just a great, great show
that you don't want to miss.Well, I don't think you'll find more
welcoming, safe and friendly, supportiveenvironment a place to come and rediscover the

(01:06:09):
joy of being on stage than thissenior variety show. You know, everybody
is so supportive and so welcoming.You know, the hardest part is crossing
the threshold to come to auditions.And again. Auditions are going to be
tomorrow at Northminster Presbyterian Church that's ontwentieth Street of fourteen sixteenth twentieth Street here

(01:06:35):
in names from approximately noon to four. And you know, we just asked
folks to come on out and giveit a whirl, and you know we
guarantee you a good time. Beheadby'all. We all think you got
talent. Come towoth that we're wrong, but come on out, joy yourself.

(01:06:56):
It's very informal, a good opportunityto get a chance to perform in
August. And we want you thereno matter what that talent is. If
you've got a friend you think hastalent who is a little bit reluctant,
encourage them. We want to seehim in August. It's all happening.
The twenty eighth annual Senior Variety showFootloose and Fancy Free coming up this August.

(01:07:18):
Tryouts tomorrow right there at Northminster PresbyterianChurch, fourteen sixteen twentieth Street,
and we hope you're there. Tim, Thanks so much, my buddy,
Oh, thank you. It's alwaysa pleasure to be here. Mel I
appreciate it, and you know,I just want to you know, thanks
again for allowing us to come inhere and sit at the foot of the

(01:07:41):
King. Oh oh, my Tim, I'm not sure. I'm sure that
police car out there is because youparked on the grass outreak going my car
again? Wait wait wait, onlyhalf of it. But anyway, Maryland,
thank you. It's been my pleasureto watch the Dynamic Duo. Thank
you. All right, you're havingcoffee with Mel. We're at the Bayle

(01:08:03):
Bank sixteenth and South Duff on fourteenthirty Kasi. You're listening to Coffee with
Mel, a show that runs everyseven to nine am on Fridays with none
other than your host, Mel Crippin. Mel haw Thing's going to that.

(01:08:26):
They are going great Now. I'moff the phone. I'm on our regular
transmitter and we have had great guests. What a morning we've had. And
I didn't expect this next guest,but always happy to see him because he's
been an innovator. Let me putthat. Of course, he's with the

(01:08:48):
City of Ames and I'm talking CraigKaufman from City Auditorium. And what's your
professional title, Craig, My professionaltime is Auditorium Banshelling Community Center Manager.
I just think they wanted to giveme the longest title in the city,
so that's what I got. Thehand of me is two business cards which

(01:09:09):
carried the title. Just one title, two business cards. It's so long.
But Craig, I was talking toyou a little bit before we got
on air there, and how proudI am of how you have been able
to utilize the facilities so much morethan what they were before you came.
And the auditorium an absolutely gorgeous,gorgeous place for all kinds of performances and

(01:09:33):
events. And of course the bandshellhas recently been renovated and updated, the
new lights, led lights that havegone in there, and even more events
going on there too. It usedto be just it seemed like Thursday nights
of course the municipal band concerts.But it's expanded beyond there, hasn't it.

(01:09:56):
Yeah, you know, we've gotthe jc's coming back again this summer,
and then we've got got several newevents that are on the books,
and we've been doing, you know, a summer movie every year, and
we're always looking for new things toput out there. We've been trying to
ramp up both both facilities auditoriums,going a little quicker because you know,
the infrastructure is there already in theauditorium to do a lot more things.
So we're slowly but surely getting morethings out of Banshell as well. And

(01:10:19):
it's always available for rent. Ifpeople want to do an event out there,
all you got to do is callme and we can see what you
want to do and figure out howto make it happen. How'd you get
to kick out of one of themore unusual events, yoga in the park
during the summer. Yeah, andNancy's been doing yoga in the park for
a number of years out there,and it's it's a free program on Saturday

(01:10:40):
mornings. You know, there issome shade still out there. We lost
a couple trees, but it's agreat morning activity on Saturdays in June and
July over the summer, over thecourse of the summer, and it's absolutely
free to do it. So lookfor the You can go to our website
Citybames dot org and look up Parksand Recreation, or you can go to
the the Parks and Recreation Facebook pageand there's information about all of those programs

(01:11:03):
on that page if you're interested.And I was going to say when we
go back to the City Auditorium there. You've organized a series of entertainments here
featuring local artists. Yeah, soa couple of years ago during COVID,
we started doing virtual concerts and tryingto feature some of our local artists who
didn't have a place to play,and that kind of you know, turned

(01:11:26):
into this original music series featuring youknow, we've expanded to sort of all
of Iowa, but a lot ofthe acts that we're getting are from Des
Moines and are from Ames area.I think the furthest Away is Des Moines
at this point. But we've gotsome interest from some groups in Iowa City
for next year, so we're actuallythis is a plug for that. If
you know of an original band orartist here in Iowa, anywhere in Iowa

(01:11:51):
that might be interested in playing theAuditorium next year September through April, have
them get a hold of me,because we're looking. We're starting to look
for next year already, even thoughwe've got our last one, our last
original music show, our fifth andClark Friday Show is Friday, April twelfth,
So next Friday week from today.It's featuring a band called Lady Rebel

(01:12:12):
from des Moines and they've got somemembers from Aims. So it's a fantastic
indie rock pop band. If it'sonly five dollars, if you're not doing
anything next Friday night, it's agreat, great night of music if you
can make it out acoustically wonderful andjust a comfortable facility to watch the show.
There's in a bad seat in thehouse and you'll like it. I'm

(01:12:32):
gonna drop an am on you ifyou can get him in here. His
name's Bob Black and he's from IowaCity. He's a phenomenal banjo player.
Actually toured with Bill Monroe over inEurope years ago, and probably the biggest
claim to fame. He was thebanjo player in Captain Mel's touring folk revival

(01:12:58):
show many many years ago when hewas getting started, and he just a
great guy. Humani his wife,I know, do an act. I
don't know if you can find himor not. I've been trying to but
if we could get them, thatwould be well worth five dollars, that's
for sure. Along with that,we wanted people to know those facilities are
set up for a lot more thanmusical entertainment or drama production. I know,

(01:13:23):
story theaters used to several times overthere, but having a conference,
having a meeting with a lot ofpeople, you can accommodate that too.
Yeah. Our auditorium seats around justunder nine hundred people. It's fully equipped
with sound and lighting and wireless microphones, projectors, you know, all the
things that you need to make anevent work. We've done plenty of conferences

(01:13:45):
or lectures or things of that natureand the auditorium and because of the acoustics
and the you know, the kindof intimate nature of the facility, it
always works really well for those typesof things. So yeah, it's always
available for rent. As I saidwith the Banshell, if you've got an
idea for an event, or you'rejust curious, you can always reach out
to me out of my email,or you can look me up on the

(01:14:09):
city's website or contact me through theauditorium and Banshell Facebook page. My information
is all over those places, sodon't don't hesitate to reach out. We're
always willing to help even if wecan't make it work, you know,
if we can get you going,and maybe in a few years you'll be
ready to do, you know,do an event at the auditorium or the
banshell if you can get going somewhereelse and figure out what you're doing.

(01:14:30):
But we're always there to help,you know, I'm imagining right now.
I think, folks. I mightbe way off the wall and Craig may
slap the mic out of my handhere, but I think it'd be a
great place to hold a wedding.I think up on stage there with the
folks sitting out in that audience area, everybody have a good seat, The

(01:14:51):
audio would be perfect. I thinkif you're thinking wedding, you say I
can't think of a facility I couldhave a wedding. I think would be
a great place, just absolutely fabulous. So I'll throw that out there,
and Craig, I have to askyou one more question. The Senior Variety
Show, which we just talked about, probably presents a pretty good challenge.

(01:15:12):
Yeah, it's a big show witha lot of folks. I think with
shows like that, especially the numberof people involved is always a little tricky.
We've got to find places where peoplecan easily get to especially you know,
we've got first floor dressing rooms andsecond floor dressing rooms and extra spaces
that we open up for some ofour larger events, and it takes that
show rehearsals for about a week inthe facility because there's so many acts that

(01:15:33):
they have to figure out. Whenthey're going and you know how the lights
are going to work and you know, get sound up and going, it'll
be a little bit more challenging.This year, Dallas, the sound person
who's been there for years and yearsand years, moved away this year.
So they were sad to see Dallasgo. But you know, they've been
doing this so long. I thinkthey'll get it figured out pretty quick.

(01:15:54):
Sounds great, Craig Again, ifthey want more information, you can always
contact me. If you go tothe city's web page under the living tab,
you can find the auditorium page.If you go to on Facebook,
you can look up the Amcity Auditoriumand Duram Banshell or even on Instagram.
Now Ames Odd on Instagram, soyou can kind of find us all over

(01:16:15):
the place. Or you can justgoogle my name and Craig Kaufman Am City
Auditorium and you find me that waytoo. Thanks for coming in pal,
Absolutely my pleasure, all right.Greig Kaufman with the City of Ames,
the Auditorium and bandshell. Interested ingetting an event there, give him a
call, contact them online. Youhaven't coffee with Mal, We're not done

(01:16:38):
yet. On fourteen thirty Kasi.Portions of the following program were prerecorded,
and parts of this program were notpre recorded and are actually live. Coffee
with Mel things are still live overthere. What's going on? I'm still
alive. That's a miracle one itself. Well, yeah, yeah, anyway,

(01:17:00):
I assume that was our last commercialbreak. That was indeed, sir,
you are taking us up to thetop of the hour. I will
do so, all right, Andstill some guests to go here. Andrew
Gorger, he's here with Ryman Gardens, not Riemond Ryman Gardens. And as
always I call these folks some ofthe most creative folks in this city,

(01:17:24):
with all the different things they comeup with, and this month will be
no different. You're busy out there, we are. This is the beginning
of our Spring and Chamment months.So we have fifty thousand tulips and bulbs
that'll all be kind of popping uphere in the next few weeks. We
had our first tulips that made theirappearance here this week, so we're really
excited about that. We've got someextended hours April eighteenth through the twentieth and

(01:17:46):
then April twenty fifth through twenty seventhwhere folks can come out and see all
the beautiful things that are blooming atrhyming gardens. I'll tell you the tulips
always fascinate me because I remember acouple of years there where the poor folks
down in Pella the tulips got upa little bit early, and when it
came time for tul at time,they weren't there. Yeah, we were
a little bit nervous as well.Here, things were looking like they were

(01:18:09):
about three weeks ahead of schedule,and then the recent cold snap that we
had kind of slowed things back down. So the next couple of weeks things
will really start to pop and andI think things are mostly back on schedule
now. So's it's always tricky tofigure that out. The peak the peak
blue season. Yeah, and what'sthe I don't want to call it permanent
exhibit because it travels, but what'sthe main exhibit out there right now?

(01:18:30):
So our main exhibit will start Junefirst. Actually we'll have it'll be garden
playhouses. We'll have ten custom themegarden playhouses. It'll be spread throughout the
gardens. It'll be really a lotof fun for all ages. And we
always like to tell people don't justobserve Rhyming garden, be a part of
Ryming Gardens and get a membership andyou'll save some money. Yeah. Absolutely,

(01:18:51):
we had a membership drive last monthand it was really successful. We're
really appreciative of everyone that took advantageof that. One more thing that's going
on this month will be our creaturehomes and faerry doors. We have thirty
two different creature homes and ferry doorsthat have been scattered throughout the gardens,
mixed great Scavenger Hut and our localvolunteers and artists just did a really good

(01:19:13):
job of designing those this year.So those are really fun now. And
once the hours out it Ryman YesWorld been ten to four thirty every day
and then again we do have thoseextended hours on the eighteenth through the twentieth
and then twenty fifth through the twentyseventh, and we'll be open until eight
o'clock those evenings, all right,and do anything else we can add.
No, we just appreciate the supportgoing out to Ryman gardens. All right,

(01:19:36):
Andrew, go get a Ryman Gardenshere on fourteen thirty kas I,
all right, we're gonna move rightalong. Here, have a seat third,
Ryan and Tyler here, and wewant to mention Ryan is the CEO.

(01:19:57):
Tyler is the board president of representingthe Boys and Girls Club of Story
County. Are you excited about therenovations. Yeah, very excited about the
renovation. You know, we reallyfeel like today's a historic day. Have
been in ame sixty one years andwe're lucky enough to be able to celebrate
a second groundbreaking ceremony in those sixtyone years. So yes, very excited.

(01:20:17):
And it's going to be a greatopportunity for us to serve more kids
and enhance everything that we do inthat building. Yea, and that is
a huge renovation. Got a greatgrand but still looking for contributions. Yes,
absolutely. As Ryan said, thisis a kind of a milestone day
for us. And excuse me,the work is putting the shovels in the

(01:20:42):
ground today is going to be reallyexciting, something we've been looking forward to
for a few years. But reallythe work's just getting started. We have
a long ways to go, stillhave lots of fundraising to do and just
again getting in that building here shouldbe a year from now is very exciting.
But we got a long road aheadof a and we look at this
as setting up the next generation.Where it's been twenty five years, twenty

(01:21:04):
six years now we've been in ourcurrent facility, and we love the idea
that we're setting up the next twentyfive years for the next generation. Tyler,
did you rehearse your part today?Are you ready? Which part that
right now? I did not rehearse. Yeah, I am. I'm prepared
for our ribbon cutting for sure.It's exciting. How about the shovel portion

(01:21:28):
of that, Ryan, Yeah,well, hopefully the ground's going to cooperate
with us, because you know,hopefully we don't have fifteen people standing up
there that aren't able to shove ashovel in the ground. So yeah,
hopefully everything's ready to go. Iknow, shovels are gold and they're ready
to be shoving the ground. AndI got to tell you I had been
at a couple of those groundbreaking ceremonieswhere the ground was frozen and it was

(01:21:49):
fun to watch, but not somuch for the participants. I can tell
you that this is a marvelous opportunityfor this community and having to turn away,
as we've talked with Judge before,fifty people on a waiting list,
that's not the way we want todo it here. Names this has been
a successful program. Did you participatewith Boys and Girls Club when you were

(01:22:13):
a kid? I did not.I was not a part of it.
My kids rebel, Yeah, yep. I grew up in Madrid, so
I wasn't. I wasn't around.But my kid's been able to do some
volunteering at the Waterloo Club when theywere up there at the University of Northern
Iowa, So we have a littlebit in our background. Yeah. How
about how about you, Tyler?Yeah, no, so I'm a lifelong
Games resident, and I didn't.I always knew about the club, honestly,

(01:22:40):
didn't know a lot about it growingup, and even until the last
you know, I think I've beeninvolved at the club for the last six
years. The more that I've learnedabout it, the more that I've come
to appreciate it and understand the needthat we serve in this community, and
I think that's part of I thinkmy not growing up in the club has
actually given me a uni perspective andhelped h helped us to, I think,

(01:23:03):
to recognize the need and understand howvaluable we are to the AAMS community,
you know. And that's that's thething I like to emphasize because I
think I went under the same ownas you did or idea stereotype that,
uh, the Boys and Girls Clubwere for those less fortunate children to come
out there. But what is fortunateis the fact being able to keep it

(01:23:27):
so affordable and it runs across alldemographics and all income levels. Yeah.
Absolutely, that's a great point.They the club. We we in our
mission statement it is where our desiresto serve those who need us most.
But that can look a lot ofdifferent ways, right, It isn't necessarily
an economic need, or those needscan vary across the board, And we

(01:23:47):
know that when the kids are withus at the club, that we're able
to enable them to become productive,carrying, responsible citizens. That's our mission.
And as you said, that's thatthat covers all demographics. We have
lots of young people need in ourcommunity, and I think the big part,
Ryan is the fact that it's asafe pace. Yeah, we pride
ourselves on that. We want kidsto be safe. And the other thing

(01:24:09):
that we really pride ourselves on isproviding them that hot meal every single day.
And in this new building, melwe're gonna we serve fifteen thousand hot
meals this in twenty twenty three.When we open up the new building and
we're at full capacity, that numberis going to go to thirty thousand meals
over the course twelve months. Soyeah, we're excited about that, and
it's probably one of the best thingsthat we're going to be able to come

(01:24:30):
out of that building. You know. I always like to go down and
get a box of macaroni and peanutbutter when I go down there, but
Judge tells me they're out. Itried to find you some macaroni and peanut
butter because I heard it earlier today, but I wasn't able to get any.
I'd tell you, it's just ajoy to see down there. The
expansion in service is where the oldboys and girls club, ping pong,

(01:24:53):
pool table, those things that arestill there, foodsball, basketba courts,
the whole thing. But the expansioninto tutoring, educating, and then the
new facility teaching them life skills.It is an amazing place all the time,
and I want to invite you ifyou're just hearing about the Boys and

(01:25:15):
Girls Club, you've driven by andhave never taken the opportunity to stop in.
Not to do so today it's notsafe, but when they get reopened
it, make sure you take thetour and find out what a marvelous part
of this community this is and helpingour children and keeping them safe. Tyler,
thanks so much for coming in.Thank you Mel. I just want

(01:25:38):
to comment on your last note.Our kids are still being served. Why
we're shut down? We're and I'msure Judge covered this earlier, but Theames
School District has done an awesome joband providing space for us, so we
are continuing to meet needs we won'tmiss. So we missed a couple of
weeks of resetting up and getting moved, but our kids are still being served

(01:25:58):
and will be throughout their project.See they think of it all they do.
Again. Thanks Ryan, thank youMel, thanks for having us on
you bet you Scott, thank you. That is another coffee with Mel.
Next week we'll be at Discover Aimson sixteenth Street. Hope folks will stop
by check out the website. Youdon't have to sign up. Just show

(01:26:20):
up and we'll get you on coffeewith Mel