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Hangin' Out with Bob (and his friend, Jon Lawrence) · Hangin' Out with Bob

0:06
Alright, hello and welcome to "Hangin' Out with
0:08
Bob." I'm your host, Bob Edholm, and we're here
0:11
for another great podcast with one of my friends.
0:18
"Hangin Out with Bob" is a podcast where guests tell
0:20
us their stories, where they grew up, where they
0:22
lived since then, what they're doing now, what
0:24
kinds of shows they stream, which kinds of books
0:26
they read, which kinds of teams they cheer for,
0:29
kind of music they like to listen to, and yada
0:31
yada yada. And the more laughs we have as our
0:33
guests share their lives, their stories with
0:34
us, the better. With that said, let me introduce
0:40
my guest today. He's Jon Lawrence, my friend
0:43
from Northeast Minneapolis. Let's listen to that
0:47
applause, Jon. They're loving you already, so.
0:51
Thanks for being here with us today. Glad to
0:53
be. Okay, Jon and I have known each other for
0:56
about at least six or seven years, I'm guessing.
0:58
It all started at a bus stop in downtown Minneapolis.
1:02
I learned that he and I both worked at Voya Financial.
1:06
And the reason we caught the same Metro Transit
1:07
bus from work, the 11, it was 11, right? 11,
1:11
yeah. Yeah, because we both lived in Northeast
1:13
Minneapolis. And it also turned out that we both
1:15
had an interest in sports, especially the local
1:17
teams like the Twins, the Vikings, the Gophers,
1:19
and so on. So I'm going to step back for a few
1:22
moments and I'll let Jon, or my guest, John
1:25
Lawrence, tell us a little bit about himself.
1:29
Oh, wait, just a second. I got one great joke
1:32
for you. Speaking of buses, what does the bus
1:34
driver say to the frog? I have no idea. "Hop on."
1:41
Not funny. All right. Well, without further ado,
1:44
I forget to turn the volume level up on that.
1:46
Without further ado, take it away, Jon. It's
1:48
all yours. Tell us about yourself. Sure. Uh,
1:51
Jon Lawrence, I grew up in Northeast Minneapolis.
1:54
Uh, I still live there. In fact, uh, I live in
1:57
the house I was born in, uh, a long time ago.
2:02
Spent, uh, my first, uh, 14 years in Northeast.
2:07
My family moved to southwest corner of Missouri,
2:12
rural Ozark Mountains, Missouri. And there I lasted
2:17
about a year and a half. It wasn't, you know,
2:21
inner city Minneapolis to rural Ozark Mountains.
2:26
Wasn't the... the culture change I was looking
2:31
for at age 14. So that was a rough one. For a
2:37
year and a half you were there? Yeah, two school
2:40
years. This time of year August until the end
2:46
of the second school year in June. And then I
2:50
hotfooted it back to Minnesota. Just for the
2:53
sake of geography, where was it? What was the
2:57
town? The biggest, uh, town near us was Joplin,
3:01
Missouri. Uh, Springfield, Missouri was, uh,
3:05
an hour away, uh, to the east. So, you know,
3:08
we're, we're down in the corner. We were actually
3:10
about, uh, 10 miles from Kansas and about 12
3:14
miles from Oklahoma. So right where those three
3:17
states come together, that's pretty darn close.
3:20
And that's considered the Ozarks? Well, that's
3:23
kind of the start of the Ozarks. Yeah, the foothills
3:26
exactly. The further south you go, the more mountainous
3:30
it becomes. But I assure you, digging holes to
3:35
build the fence in that soil, I... found out
3:39
I was in the mountains. It was really rocky or
3:41
stony. Oh yeah, yeah. You couldn't even dig in
3:43
the dirt without hitting a rock. It was ridiculous.
3:47
Okay, so once you came back, then you finished
3:49
high school? Yeah, finished up at Edison High
3:51
School, Northeast Minneapolis. Spent a couple
3:55
years there, you know, junior, senior year. I
3:58
was taking care of my grandparents. My grandfather
4:02
was terminally ill at the time and he didn't
4:06
last much longer after I got back to Minnesota.
4:10
And then my grandmother, I would say split time
4:14
at best in Minnesota. I would say I was there
4:20
on my own for a good part of the next several
4:25
years. You know, had to grow up a little bit
4:28
fast, you know, take care of all the bills and
4:30
all that sort of thing. And while I was still
4:32
in high school. Yeah. Now, and then after high
4:34
school, um, what did you do that? Where'd you
4:36
go then? Um, well, let's say I bounced around
4:39
quite a bit. So right after high school, um,
4:43
spent the summer working for Dean Phillips, actually
4:47
his dad at Phillips and son's liquor business,
4:50
uh, liquor distributor in Minnesota. Yes, exactly.
4:53
Loading trucks. And then it was off to, uh, for
4:57
a planned four years of college football in in
5:02
back in Missouri which was aborted by about three
5:09
years and nine months we we weren't quite ready
5:14
to be a college student at the time. And this
5:17
was an era when you actually had to go to school
5:20
and make grades to play football. So. Wow. Okay.
5:24
Okay. That's kind of how that went. But then
5:26
where did you did go to college already? I did.
5:28
I did. So let's see after after that. Mechanic
5:35
school, worked as a mechanic for a few years.
5:38
I went to mechanic school in Anoka, worked as
5:41
mechanic. I did a little time in a factory and
5:52
eventually started going to college at night
5:55
school. Which school? Minneapolis Community College,
6:00
um, which was right in my backyard practically.
6:04
Um, did it got a two-year degree there, went
6:07
on to, uh, Mankato State now known as Minnesota
6:10
State, Mankato. Uh, finished up my, uh, uh, four-
6:15
year degree in political science. Um, I had several
6:19
majors during those years. Uh, but, uh, yeah,
6:22
uh, concentrated on pre -law, thought I was going
6:25
to go to law school. I was paying for all this
6:28
on my own and I looked at the price tag of law
6:32
school and that didn't look feasible at the time
6:37
for me. So it was off into a career. And obviously,
6:41
I knew you, too, were working at Voya, but you
6:43
worked at some other insurance companies as well?
6:45
I did, actually. While I was in college, I worked
6:48
for a security and communication company, worked
6:53
my way up into management there. a few years
6:57
after college doing that. A friend called me
7:01
one day and said, Hey, Prudential is looking
7:04
for underwriters. I think he'd be good at it.
7:06
I know a guy over there. Do you want to go over
7:09
an interview? Um, about that time I, I had to
7:12
buy a house and cell radio was making, probably
7:15
wasn't going to cut it. So I, uh, I moseyed on
7:18
over there and, um, yeah, they, they liked what
7:21
they saw and, and my underwriting career was
7:24
launched. So seven, eight years at Prudential,
7:28
another, uh, 12 years. at a company that was
7:32
known as Fortis when I first started, but they
7:36
went public and became Assurant Health. I worked
7:40
there for 12 years. Obamacare put that company
7:44
out of business. It was some unfortunate decisions,
7:48
but essentially every sick person in the world
7:51
signed up for our insurance and we hammered losses
7:56
right away. So then, I went to Voya. where I've worked
8:00
for eight and a half years. Yeah. Okay. Great.
8:03
Great. Alrighty. Um, you've told us a little
8:05
bit about yourself, Jon. I want to know a little
8:07
bit more about the neighborhood, specifically
8:09
the neighborhood where you grew up in Northeast
8:11
Minneapolis. Kind of describe what part of Northeast
8:14
that is and then what, what you did there growing
8:16
up and where did you hang out? Where did you
8:18
and your friends play baseball or what'd you
8:21
do in the winter time? Where'd you go sledding?
8:23
That kind of stuff. Yeah. So, um, my, uh, uh,
8:26
youth was, um, really spent in and around Marshall
8:32
Terrace Park, which is right next to the NSP
8:35
power plant, now known as Xcel Energy. There
8:40
was a park there, a neighborhood park, and there
8:44
were a lot of kids around my age. We played sandlot
8:47
baseball in the summertime. We would play occasionally,
8:52
mixing some... tennis court hockey in the summertime
8:57
and then you know. on ice hockey all winter.
9:03
When you say tennis court hockey, was it broom
9:04
ball? No, it was floor hockey. It wasn't ice,
9:09
you were playing on the tennis court. In the
9:11
summertime there was no ice, so we made do with
9:13
what we had. Tennis ball and hockey sticks and
9:18
a couple of nets. For the benefit of Millennials
9:22
and Zoomers, tell them what sandlot baseball
9:24
means. Sandlot baseball is not organized by any
9:29
organization. There's no adults involved. It's
9:32
a bunch of friends getting together, picking
9:34
up sides. Usually you didn't have nine guys per
9:38
team, so you'd modify the rules to make it work
9:41
for the number of players that you had. And many
9:45
an afternoon would be spent completely... No
9:50
pressure involved at all and just just fun and
9:53
it was great fun I I feel bad sometimes because
9:56
when I go by all the ballparks and softball diamonds
9:59
here in Northeast and Columbia Heights, they're
10:01
always empty. I mean, I never see, like, impromptu
10:04
pickup games It's always got to be like organized
10:07
where you know, the parents are there and you
10:09
know, they got officials But we we were on our
10:11
own. We thought absolutely we learned how to
10:14
work together and play together Just just get
10:16
may do with what we had. So, yeah, it's unfortunate
10:20
today's youth were dealt some not-so-good cards
10:24
either. I mean, you know, there's, you know,
10:26
a danger element that exists for kids being on
10:29
their own compared to, you know, earlier years
10:33
when the neighborhood trusted one another. And,
10:36
you know, so that was, you know, we were enabled.
10:40
Because of that degree of safety, whether or
10:43
not it actually existed, um, you know, the parents
10:46
felt safe to let their kids play on their own
10:49
and not have to worry about them. And it is a
10:52
different time. I acknowledge that, but it's,
10:54
you know, kids didn't have, we didn't have phones
10:57
to keep us busy or video games. And our folks
11:00
would basically just, uh, tell us to go and play
11:02
and then come home and it was dark out. Right.
11:04
We live by a park. I remember in Columbia Heights.
11:06
And when it got to be dark out, if we weren't
11:08
home yet, my dad could whistle, you know, and
11:11
we could hear his whistle like, you know, blocks
11:14
away so we knew it was time to get home. You
11:15
had better at that point. Different times, I
11:18
guess, in that respect. So interesting thing
11:21
about neighborhoods. I've mentioned in a previous
11:23
podcast, Jon, that in the neighborhood where
11:25
I grew up in Columbia Heights, about a mile north
11:27
from here, it was a golf course until the 1940s.
11:31
It was called Hilltop Golf Course. And because
11:36
you're from Northeast, Columbia Golf Course,
11:39
that's the one and only golf course in Northeast.
11:42
Did you ever golf there or did you ever go sledding
11:45
there in the wintertime? At Columbia Park, absolutely.
11:50
I learned to golf. My first full round of golf
11:55
at Columbia was a junior high school activity
12:01
day. They used to have, at Sheridan Junior High,
12:07
they used to have a couple of activity days a
12:11
year where the students could sign up for whatever
12:13
interested them. There was probably 15 different
12:16
activities you could sign up for. And there would
12:19
be a teacher or two or three that would lead
12:22
that particular activity. And I signed up for
12:24
the golf and our egg. activity leader for that
12:31
golf. And the guy that taught me to golf that
12:33
day was Jerry Wickman, who was a famous guy from
12:38
Columbia Heights. He was a pitcher that pitched
12:42
three time All -American for the Minnesota Gophers.
12:49
And on to play in the New York Yankees farm system.
12:53
And I think he made it to AAA before he blew
12:56
out his arm. Later on, he pitched for the Columbia
13:01
Heights town ball team and I think they... won
13:04
some championships with that. I remember reading
13:07
about that town baseball team with his kids.
13:10
A really good team. But that's how you got introduced
13:13
to golf, then, through gym class. Well, actually,
13:16
Jerry Wickman was my math teacher, my algebra
13:19
teacher in junior high school and a really good
13:22
guy. He was a friend of my uncle's, knew him
13:27
well, so I knew him before I was ever a student
13:30
of his. Uh, super nice guy. Uh, good teacher,
13:34
too, by the way. Yep. And then the winter time,
13:36
did you go there? They had some great hills.
13:38
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I used to occasionally
13:40
go there and slide. It wasn't a regular activity,
13:43
but I, you know, it's probably a couple dozen
13:45
times throughout my youth where I went, went
13:48
sliding. And you could walk there too. It wasn't
13:50
like you had to go across town. So in fact, one
13:54
time I, uh, I was sliding me and my sister, we
13:56
get dropped off there and I'm sliding down. This
14:00
would be kind of in the back of the park over
14:03
by, I can't remember the name of the company,
14:07
but Zalk Steel. Yeah, there's a Foley manufacturer.
14:10
Yeah, Foley over by. Now it's a pickleball court
14:12
and a whiskey distillery. That's the place. So
14:16
we're sliding on the hill that goes toward Foley.
14:19
Coming down the hill and I hit a tree. Ow! Oh,
14:25
and it knocked the wind out of me and I'd never
14:27
had that sensation in my life and there I'm lying,
14:29
and I don't know what happened to me, but I feel
14:32
like I'm dying. And, uh, there just happened
14:36
to be some Army Reserve guys there that were
14:38
doing medical training, winter medical training,
14:42
and they came running over and I was a real-life,
14:45
uh, practice, uh, uh, for them. And did you break
14:49
anything or not a concussion or no, no, I didn't
14:52
hit my head. I hit my ribs, I guess, on the tree.
14:56
I must've moved my head at the last minute or
14:58
whatever, but, um, boy. That was quite a sensation.
15:03
You'll never forget Columbia then, right? Yeah,
15:05
exactly. Did you know, Jon, I looked this up,
15:07
I guess, a couple of years ago, but did you know
15:09
that that whole area by the golf course was once
15:12
a lake? Yeah. Sandy Lake. Right. Like over on
15:15
the back night, over on the south end of the
15:18
golf course. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I did. As a matter
15:21
of fact, there was a big article one time in
15:23
the Northeaster newspaper about that. Yep. I think
15:26
I probably saw the same article. Right. But every
15:28
time I drive by there, I'll think to myself,
15:30
actually a little beach or you know they're over
15:32
a hundred years ago because the golf courses
15:34
have been there since like 1916. It's been a
15:38
long time. It was improved by the WPA in the
15:42
30s. Through the seventies, eighties into the
15:48
nineties, before they kind of re -irrigated,
15:51
it became perfectly clear that it was a lake.
15:54
Whenever it rained hard. I remember that some
15:56
holes were just completely underwater. That whole
15:59
end of the golf course was a lake for a few days.
16:03
You could see geese swimming on what was a fairway.
16:07
Well, that's just another example of why they
16:10
called Minneapolis the city of lakes, because
16:12
there were so many of them. The city of inadvertent
16:15
lakes in that case. And just for the benefit
16:19
of those of us, those who aren't from the area,
16:22
you know, Minneapolis was called the "City of
16:24
Lakes." Yes. And, you know, that was a perfect
16:26
name. And of course, the team that LeBron now
16:28
plays for. Right. Before they moved to L.A.,
16:32
they were called the Minneapolis Lakers, and
16:33
rightly so because of the lakes. So I got a sports
16:36
trivia question, Jon, just thought of it today.
16:38
Where was the last Minneapolis Lakers game played?
16:45
And against which team? Well, it's a guess. I
16:52
know they certainly played some games in the
16:54
Minneapolis Auditorium. They played some games
16:56
in the Armory. I'm gonna guess the Armory. And
17:02
let's see, what team would that have been? I
17:06
had to look this up. I know the year, but I didn't
17:08
remember the team. So they were a playoff team
17:11
often, you know, championship team many, many
17:14
times. So they were kind of winding down their
17:17
success, but maybe they were in the playoffs
17:22
then. I'm just going to take a guess and say
17:25
the Celtics. Well, you're close. They actually
17:29
did make the playoffs that year. Okay. And they
17:31
went to the Western Division finals. Okay. And
17:34
their last game at the Armory was against the
17:37
St. Louis Hawks. It was game six. Nice. And they
17:40
got wiped out. It was like one, I wrote it down
17:42
117 to 96. Elgin Baylor had like 38 points.
17:45
He's a rookie that year. Right. And a guy named
17:48
Bob Pettit played for the St. Louis Hawks. I
17:50
think he's in the Hall of Fame. He might be.
17:52
But anyway, so they won the division finals and
17:54
then they played the Celtics in the finals, but
17:57
they lost that in seven games. So they're always
17:59
good series. And I think that was Boston's second
18:02
straight championship. And didn't they go on
18:04
to win like nine or 10? I mean, that was in that
18:06
era. They were starting that era. Bill Russell
18:08
was playing and so on. But anyway, I thought
18:10
that was interesting. Just that little side about
18:13
sports. So, yeah. Okay. Again, the name of this
18:15
podcast is "Hangin' Out with Bob." I'm your host,
18:18
Bob Edholm. And my guest today is Jon Lawrence,
18:21
my friend from Northeast Minneapolis. Um, I want
18:27
to go back to Missouri again. You had mentioned,
18:30
we've spoken before about this, but you told
18:31
me that in that part of Missouri, where you played
18:33
high school, there were actually some really
18:34
good players like division one caliber where
18:37
you played. Yeah, definitely. That was the one
18:40
saving grace for me. You know, the, the huge
18:43
culture shock. Um, I'll say that the area in
18:46
Missouri where I lived was very religious, very
18:50
Baptist. And I don't think I ever knew a Baptist
18:54
in Minneapolis. You know, that was just wasn't,
18:56
wasn't the thing. Not that I didn't go to church,
19:00
you know, I went to, uh, Lutheran church when
19:03
I was a kid, that's really what my family's religion
19:06
was. But all of my friends, all of my buddies,
19:08
all the kids that played sandlot baseball with
19:11
me were Catholic kids that went to Holy Cross
19:14
School. And several of them were actually altar
19:18
boys. So I would go to church and watch them
19:20
serve. And sit up front. try to distract them
19:32
and be mischievous. Here's a non-Polish Catholic
19:41
kid sitting in the front row making faces at
19:46
the altar boys. That's hilarious. That's hilarious.
19:51
So yeah, so back to the so I played football
19:56
and I was pretty darn good at it. Actually played
20:03
several sports but football was really what I
20:06
was best at. You were lineman, right? I was a
20:09
defensive and offensive tackle much better defensive
20:14
player for some reason. And I was very proficient
20:19
and I got to be friends with a lot of really
20:22
good football players pretty quickly, actually
20:24
really good athletes. They were really good.
20:28
So my best friend, my first best friend there,
20:31
the first Black kid I really ever knew, his name
20:33
was Joe Wright. His older brother, Felix Wright,
20:37
played for the Vikings. Although at the time
20:45
he was playing for Drake University. He led the,
20:50
uh, NCAA in interceptions, uh, the year that,
20:53
uh, one of the two years that I lived there in,
20:56
and, uh, there were four, I don't even know what
20:58
division Drake University was then maybe division.
21:02
Well, I remember they were Division One back,
21:04
at least in the Seventies. And I remember Karl
21:06
Kassulke from the Vikings. So I think they were,
21:10
yeah. Yeah. From the motorcycle accident, Mankato
21:12
or I think down during like summer camp or whatever.
21:14
But, um, yeah, they did have Division One. Then
21:16
I think they dropped football for a while. I
21:18
don't know if he's back again. So maybe it was
21:19
Division One at the time. So anyway, but yeah,
21:23
really good. And, you know, obviously I followed
21:25
Drake because my friend's brother. Matter of
21:29
fact, I appreciated a new style of music to me.
21:34
Funk was introduced by Felix Wright's record
21:39
collection. You know, of the mid- to late-seventies.
21:47
at several albums, and I really liked this music.
21:50
What were a couple of the albums that you remember?
21:52
Let's see, there was some Rick James, Gap Band,
21:57
the Brothers Johnson, you know, several, you
22:01
know. It was before hip hop. Oh, yeah. before
22:05
hip hop. In fact, hip hop happened. Sugarhill
22:09
Gang, I think, came out right before I moved
22:11
back to Minnesota. So, you know, around 79 or
22:15
something like that. But yeah, but this was music
22:18
just before that era. I remember it well. I remember
22:22
Earth, Wind & Fire was real big in the mid-
22:24
seventies. Right. Yep. So that was, uh, that
22:28
was my introduction to a different type of music
22:32
than just, you know, straight classic rock, uh,
22:35
you know, which I had listened to quite a bit.
22:38
Sure. Sure. Sure. Well, speaking of that, Jon,
22:43
and thanks for filling us in about Missouri.
22:45
That's cool. Um, the last thing I'm going to
22:47
talk about is your favorites, I guess, growing
22:49
up like, uh, your favorite TV show, the type
22:53
of music you listened to, maybe the best concert
22:56
you ever saw growing up, the teams that you followed
22:59
the closest. Just kind of get a flavor of what
23:01
you... what things you were interested in. So,
23:05
uh, huge, uh, Minnesota sports, uh, and Vikings,
23:10
North Stars, Twins, twins were really big for
23:14
me. I, uh, when I was, uh, around 13 years old,
23:18
Jimmy Carter was president. We had something
23:20
called the energy crisis going on at the time.
23:23
And Carter was doing everything to keep people,
23:26
uh, conserving gas so they came out with a program
23:30
where they subsidized public transportation systems
23:34
and at the time if you were an adult you could
23:37
ride the bus anywhere for a dime. Which was discounted,
23:49
I think from, from what it had been previously.
23:51
And if you were under 18, you could ride for
23:53
free. So, uh, by that time I was, you know, had
23:58
odd jobs, paper routes and things like that.
24:01
I had my own money. Um, so I, uh, would, would
24:05
hop the bus on 8th and Marquette in downtown
24:07
Minneapolis right on out to Met Stadium. And
24:11
I, I spent a whole summer, uh, going to Twins
24:15
games whenever I could. um you know Not too much
24:19
night, night games, but if it was a twilight
24:22
game or any afternoon game, I was definitely
24:25
there. And even a twilight doubleheader, I might
24:29
go see the first game or something like that.
24:31
I still remember those afternoon games at Met
24:33
Stadium. There's nothing better. I just used
24:35
to love those afternoons. So what was the first,
24:37
um, record or album you ever bought? Who was
24:40
it by? First album I bought with my own money,
24:43
I think was Dire Straits first album. "Sultans of Swing"
24:49
on it. I don't know. I liked music before that.
24:54
My folks would buy me albums. What kind of stuff
24:57
would you have? I had quite an extensive collection
25:02
of Queen albums. I can remember the evening at
25:09
the "nut house," the Northeast Neighborhood House,
25:12
which was a settlement house in our neighborhood
25:14
that had an open gym. The first time I heard
25:17
"Bohemian Rhapsody" and I was transfixed. I was
25:21
like, what is that music? And that's the first
25:26
place I heard it. And I was an instant Queen
25:28
fan. And so my folks would buy me every new Queen
25:33
album that would come out, which was usually
25:35
Christmas time. So what, what TV shows do you
25:39
remember watching? You know, just for the benefit
25:41
of our younger listeners, we couldn't stream
25:43
back then. Uh, you basically had like three or
25:46
four channels to watch and you had to watch it
25:48
when it was on. You couldn't say, "I'll tape it
25:50
and watch it later." You had to, but do you remember
25:51
like, what was "must-see" TV? Well, so, um, other
25:56
than sports, which I watched a lot, um, my big
26:00
favorite was "The Rockford Files." Oh, I'm still
26:03
a big fan of "The Rockford Files," even though
26:05
I think it's one of the, uh, better TV shows
26:07
ever made. If you have seen "The Sopranos," it's
26:12
essentially the same concept. In fact, David
26:15
Chase was one of the writers for "The Rockford
26:17
Files," and the guy that created "The Rockford
26:21
Files" was a writer and had an important job on
26:26
"Maverick," the TV show. And that's, that's where
26:28
it started. So you take a typical cliched type.
26:35
like a cowboy-Maverick-and you, and the character
26:39
plays against the, against the stereotype. So,
26:44
so Maverick was a guy that. got out of situations,
26:48
not by gunfights, but by fast-talking his way
26:52
out of things and running scams. And Rockford
26:54
was kind of the same way. You know, we'd had
26:56
Sam Spade, the macho detective type and a hundred
27:00
copies of Sam Spade. And here's Rockford, who
27:04
admits in the first episode, he doesn't want
27:06
to fight a guy because he doesn't want to get
27:08
beat up. Same kind of thing. And "The Sopranos,"
27:15
uh, little, slightly different, but kind of the
27:17
same. So you take this typical mafia boss and
27:20
all the, you know, the stereotypical, you know,
27:22
"godfather" guy. Well, here's this guy who's this
27:25
big bad mafioso guy who has to deal with his
27:29
pain-in-the-ass wife and daughter and mother
27:31
and all the typical stuff that a suburban dad
27:35
has to deal with. He has to deal with. And, you
27:38
know, that doesn't make it to the godfather or
27:40
whatever, you know, so that that's kind of. concept
27:43
was this, you know, take the stereotypical character
27:46
and then, you know, play him against type. "The
27:48
Rockford Files." That was one of your favorite
27:51
TV shows growing up. What was the first concert
27:53
you ever saw? Do you remember? There was a couple
27:57
of them, but I can't remember what the groupings
27:59
were. There was a couple of them at Met Stadium.
28:02
Okay. Or Outdoors, you mean? Outdoors, Met Stadium,
28:05
you know, the base. It wasn't that Eagles concert?
28:07
Eagles. There was an Eagles one. I remember seeing
28:12
the Eagles, Steve Miller, Pablo Cruise. Yeah.
28:17
And I don't know if those were all in the same
28:19
concert. I think that was all one. There were
28:20
like sixty-some thousand fans. Yeah, yeah. It was
28:24
huge. And what a party in the parking lot. I
28:26
can imagine. You know, the Met Stadium was special
28:29
because. It was open parking, one parking lot,
28:34
not like, not like the downtown stadiums that
28:36
we have now was one parking lot and that parking
28:39
lot wasn't part of it. No matter what, no matter
28:42
what the sporting event was. Yeah, it certainly
28:45
was. Okay. Again, the name of this podcast is
28:47
"Hangin' Out with Bob." I'm your host, Bob Edholm.
28:49
And my guest today is Jon Lawrence, my friend
28:51
from Northeast Minneapolis. This is a blast,
28:57
Jon. It's fun talking about, or fun hearing
28:59
your story, I guess. Listen, growing up in Northeast
29:01
Minneapolis, like where I've lived most of my
29:03
life. So, um, and I think we've just scratched
29:05
the surface. I mean, we've talked about this
29:07
outside the podcast that we could do, uh, and
29:09
we will, we'll do podcasts about music. More
29:12
than that, we can talk more about Minnesota sports
29:14
teams, how they've broken our hearts over the
29:16
years. We can go on and on about that, but that'll
29:19
be fun. So, okay. Well, that's about all we have
29:22
time for today, but I want to thank you again,
29:25
Jon, for coming here. I appreciate it. Glad.
29:28
Thanks for the invitation. It's always fun to
29:29
get together. You know, I've got so many friends
29:35
or people in mind that I want to have on future
29:38
guests as well. Again, we'll get together with
29:40
Jon again, but I've got family. I've got friends,
29:42
people that I grew up with, people that I've
29:44
worked with in the past, people I've had lunch
29:46
with, people I've drunk beer with, that I
29:48
want to be able to have on future podcasts. So
29:51
again, thanks again to Jon Lawrence for coming
29:53
here today. And to our listeners, we hope you'll
29:55
be back for another person's story on another episode
29:58
of "Hangin' Out with Bob." And until then,
30:03
Bye-eeee!