From Voyageurs National Park on FB: Called “Catamaran” by locals, Bert Upton is among the strangest of historical characters on area waters. He lived in a hut built over a dug-out at Squirrel Narrows. Found frozen to death in the 1930s by Kettle Falls pioneer Oliver Knox; Upton was perched lifeless in the snow just a half-mile from his home. Shunning civilization, Upton defined the word hermit. First spotted rowing his crude log raft on Namakan, no one knows how he got there. Upton’s accent implied an English heritage but any personal inquiries brought a stony silence. Some suspected him a man fleeing the law; others saw a bizarre outcast; everyone knew he was peculiar. Just five feet tall and wildly unkempt, Catamaran wore hacked-off pants and walked barefoot with a stick. Winter demanded shoes but no socks, a cast-off Mackinaw, and a trailing cap made from the leg of old underwear. He was oddly religious, and suspicious of being poisoned. Surviving on snared rabbits and fish, he ofte...
There's like a law of the universe that if you skip out on any show you kind of wanted to see, you will later find out afterwards that it was TOTALLY AWESOME and you will be confronted with YouTube videos of that one time they played that song, at the show that was here that you didn't go to.
ReplyDeleteIt's even been awhile since I've been to 1st Ave. Other shows have been at lesser venues, like that stupid Mill City Nights.
ReplyDeleteWhat am I doing that weekend? Taking the kids camping. Why do I have to choose?!?!?!