tJANUARY 2008 AUR 5R_VaNTR 0\[aV[bR` V[ 8NYNZNg\\ /f ?\OR_a DRV_ A Second Chance at Life Downtown Investor Plans Big A South Pole Adventure (% " )% % $" *+' % ", ! $$ ! $ ! " &' " # " ( ' $ $$ % $ " $ !$ FROM THE PUBLISHER NOBODY LOVED CHRISTMAS like my dad. He was a rather stoic man special moments when all eyes were on him as he opened something who turned almost childlike at Christmas. As this first Christmas that had been chosen especially for his pleasure. It was during those season since he passed away began to approach, I feared there would happy times that his eyes would return to a youthful sparkle and a be something missing. Dad wouldn’t be sitting on the couch with sheepish little grin would appear across his face. that old Santa Claus hat cocked on his head, I was seemingly prepared for missing my dad’s presence this anticipating the moment when another gift holiday season until a special gift caught me off guard on Christmas would be opened. Eve. This gift was a letter from my dad’s brother. It was the first- Of course, I have no memories of my ever letter from an uncle in California, and in this letter addressed father’s childhood Christmases, but I seem to to my brothers and me, we were treated to a kind note from a man be able to remember every moment of every who took the time to reminisce about the good times he remem- Christmas from my own childhood. Each year bered when growing up with his older brother. The letter shared began with the same ritual. My brothers and I some events and emotions that were previously not known to me. It Rick Briscoe would spring out of bed early and try to make was the perfect uplift on a Christmas Eve day when I was busy and enough noise to wake our parents. We were happy — but was quietly missing my smiling old Santa of a dad. allowed to traverse to the end of the hall and peer across the living I am sure I will always remember how much I appreciated this room at the Christmas tree as it arose from a mountain of presents. letter from my uncle, and looking forward, I hope I can do a better Only after Dad was out of bed with his trusty eight-millimeter movie job of giving gifts of memories and emotions to others. Who knows, camera in hand did we get to approach and choose the first gift to I may just give someone a boost on a day when it’s really needed. open. And so went the morning, very orderly, and yet so joyful. Thanks, Uncle Ralph. You made my Christmas season so much It wasn’t until I was quite a bit older that I learned it was really more meaningful. my dad who “just went nuts at Christmas.” It was this disciplined, regimented engineer of a father who couldn’t resist buying way too many toys for his three sons. It was the one time each year when he secretly let his hair down to indulge in his annual shopping spree. Rick Briscoe Publisher As my brothers and I grew into adulthood, my father’s joy of buying gifts faded into a memory; but his love of Christmas never diminished. His joy came from watching others — and from those ³6TWUVOG´ +V¶UDGUVUCKF YKVJQWVYQTFU 6TWUVKUPQVCXCKNCDNGWRQP TGSWGUV+VOWUVDGGCTPGF %5/)TQWRFQGUGZCEVN[VJCV QPGXGT[EQPUVTWEVKQPRTQLGEV D[FGNKXGTKPIXCNWGVQVJG QYPGTCPFTGURGEVVQ GXGT[OGODGT QHVJGVGCO Life & Long Term Care Insurance (pronounced shh-may) Financial Representative 445 W. Michigan 349-9115 )CNGUDWTI/+)TCPF4CRKFU/+ The05-2182 © 2002 Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co, Milwaukee, WI. Care InsuranceTerm Northwestern Long WI Co.,Milwaukee YYYEUOITQWREQO J. Schma Peter +"/6"3:t&/$03& 5 SUCCESS DEPENDS ON THE RIGHT CHOICES. Helping you make the right choices is what our financial consultants do best. 425 West Michigan Kalamazoo, MI 49013 A.G. Edwards is a division of Wachovia Securities, LLC. Member SIPC. [24778-v1-0241] IM-367-0408 CONTENTS MAGAZINE 8 Publisher Richard Briscoe The skilled craftsmen Editor Penny Briscoe at Kalamazoo’s HERITAGE Copy Editor Cherri Glowe GUITAR produce Assistant to the Publisher some of the world’s Ronald Dundon Volume 35 Issue 5 January 2008 January 5 Issue 35 Volume finest guitars. Contributing Writers Tom Chmieleski John Howson Ann Lindsay Larry B. Massie Patrice L. Mindock Theresa Coty O’Neil Robert M. Weir Poetry Editor Theresa Coty O’Neil Contributing Poets Marion Boyer Rose Swartz Cartoonist 18 SPECIALS Craig Bishop With a new heart and 5 FROM THE PUBLISHER Featured Photographer plenty of gratitude, John Gilroy DAVID ROZELLE 26 READ THE LOCALS Designer crusades for organ donations. Brakeman A Recipe for Perseverance Encore magazine is pub- 27 PUT YOURSELF FIRST lished nine times yearly, September through May. Let’s Get Ready To Be Active Copyright 2007, Encore Publishing Group, Inc. All 28 GUESS WHO rights reserved. Editorial, 38 circulation and advertising 30 EVENTS OF NOTE correspondence should Risk turns into reward be sent to 350 S. Burdick, for downtown entrepreneur Suite 316, Kalamazoo, MI RYAN REEDY. 32 MASSIE’S MICHIGAN 49007. Telephone: (269) 383-4433. Fax number: When in Pain — Please Pass the (269) 383-9767. E-mail: Paine’s — Hiccup Publisher@Encoreka- lamazoo.com. The staff at POETRY Encore welcomes written comment from readers, Chmeliewski Photo: Tom and articles and poems for 25 Poetry Mother submission with no obliga- 48 tion to print or return them. 36 To learn more about us or Making history in Suddenly, I respect cheerleaders to comment, you may visit Antarctica is an experience www.encorekalamazoo. WILLIAM HOUGH com. Encore subscription rates: one year $27.00, two will never forget. years $53.00, three years $78.00. Current single is- sue and newsstand $4.00, $10.00 by mail. Back issues $6.00, $12.00 by mail. Ad- Mindock Photo: Patrice vertising rates on request. Closing date for space is On the cover clockwise from the 28 days prior to publication top left are Chris Gates, Jim Deurloo, date. Final date for print- Charlie Cook, Rendal Wall and Pete Moreno. ready copy is 21 days prior Cover photos by Rick Briscoe. to publication date. Guess Who photography by John Gilroy. +"/6"3:t&/$03& 7 :NXV[¼ :b`VP DVaU N 8NYNZNg\\ 5R_VaNTR Heritage Guitar owners pose in front of their business on Parsons Street. Standing in front are Jim Deurloo and Marv Lamb, and in /f ?\OR_a : DRV_ back are Vince Margol and J.P. Moats. Photo: Robert Weir Robert Photo: A new sign hanging inside the entrance to the company emphasizes the tradition that is Heritage Guitar. HEN SHOE CLERK and whittler kept the enterprise from moving to the were farmers in Alabama. I came north Orville Gibson began to hand- windy city. But, in 1984, with sales of in October 1955 and worked with my craft wooden musical instruments musical instruments drastically down, brother and brother-in-law at a bakery. in Kalamazoo in the 1890s, he did so Norlin Corporation, which took over op- Dad came to the Gibson guard shack with passion and pride for his craft erations in 1968, closed the Kalamazoo where they took applications every day and his community. But over the years, plant and left behind a core of craftsmen until they hired him, and he got me a job people emerged and factors arose that with 500 collective years of guitar-mak- here, too.” could have driven guitar manufacturing ing experience. Like Marv, J.P. also hails from from the area. And each time, a handful A few of those luthiers formed a new Alabama and retains a hint of southern of men stepped forward to make sure company, Heritage Guitar Inc. The appel- twang. “I came up here for a vacation and Gibson’s heritage stayed right here. lation is apt. “Heritage is more than our got a job at the paper mill,” he says. “I was Orville, himself, was not a share- name; it’s who we are,” says Jim Deurloo, only 16, and I worked there four years. holder of the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar a cofounder along with Marv Lamb, J.P. My sister worked at Gibson and she got Manufacturing Company Ltd. that bore Moats and Bill Paige. “We’ve been build- someone to hire me — that was in 1957 his name. When the company was sold ing guitars all our lives,” adds Jim, who — and I worked for them for 28 years.” to the Chicago Musical Instrument started at Gibson in 1958 at age 19. A guitar is made of hundreds of Company in 1944, it’s likely that only Marv was 16 when hired on May 31, parts: wood, plastic, metal, wire, paint, the booming post-World War II economy 1956, a date he recalls with pride. “We lacquer and, in some cases, mother-of- 8 &/$03&t+"/6"3: 9VXR N OVT SNZVYf Y\cR N[Q QRQVPNaV\[ UNcR XR]a 5R_VaNTR NYVcR Y\PNY N[Q dVaU aUR Â[R P_NSaZN[`UV] aUNa UN` PN__VRQ \cR_ S_\Z aUR N_RN¼` 4VO`\[ QNf` T\[R Of Katie Flamm does a final sanding and fixes tiny imperfections prior Patrick Whalen skillfully applies a sealant to the binding of another custom to sending the guitars to the finishing department. guitar prior to the color coat being applied. pearl inlay. It’s held together with glue. engineering and assumed responsibility sembly and finishing, and, finally, plant Electronic components are screwed in for jig construction. He became supervi- superintendent. place. Connections are soldered. sor of the pattern makers and machine Each agrees: “Heritage is a natural The handcrafted construction shop, and then plant manager.