Merlins Rest Pub

Greetings, friends. And welcome to a triple news day. It’s a three-for-one! I’ll try to do proper updates on Saturday and Sunday, but I’m going to get most if it out right here since I’ll be on the road and am not certain how well the internet connection will be.

Following this Friday through Sunday news, we’ve posted information on a celebration of Tim Dickson’s life, who we lost recently.

FRIDAY
KILT NIGHT & LIVE CELTIC MUSIC

Join us for the weekly Kilt Night and Live Celtic Music. Music starts around 8:30 or 9:00 pm.

Our live music is done just as it is back in the Isles: local session musicians set up at the front of the pub–gathered simply around a couple tables–and play without microphones and amps. They play as music is best played: unscripted and with musicians working off of one another. It’s an absolute joy.

Great craic and perfect for yer pint. So tell a tale, share a laugh, and get the weekend rollicking. Cheers!

SATURDAY
THE HOT CLUB

The Hot Club of East Lake and Papa John–who is so much better for you than those corporate pizzas!–will provide the jazz. These guys are absolute gems in the Twin Cities. We’re proud to have them in the pub every Saturday night.

Music starts about 9:00 pm.

SUNDAY
PUB QUIZ & SAM’S SANDWICH 

The weekly Sunday Pub Quiz starts at 8 pm and delivers 25 questions, two points per. Participation earns you one point that adds to your final score. The more quizzes you take, the larger your aggregate score grows. For example, you score 42 points and this is your third quiz. You finish with an aggregate of 45.

Why is this important? Because our publican and quizmaster John Dingley adds up to $40 per week to the kitty. When someone scores 50, they win the pot and everyone’s participation points reset. Sometimes the pot has swelled to around $400, so drop in every week with your team of up to four. It’s a general knowledge quiz (history, politics, geography, etc.) and it’s loads of fun. A fine way into the week.

Also, our friend Sam Fiske will provide the music an hour before and 30 minutes after the quiz. It’s a little thing we like to call Sam’s Sandwich. Great jazz to liven up the evening even more. See you soon!

So get a pie and a pint and make it a pleasant conclusion to your weekend.

DICKSON UPDATE

The following comes courtesy of Tim’s sister, Jane:

To Tim’s dear friends -

A celebration of Tim Dickson’s life will be held:
10 A.M., Monday, May 12, 2008
St Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, 519 Oak Grove, Minneapolis (across the street from the Walker Art Ctr)

All of Tim’s friends are welcome. In lieu of flowers, send donations to:
Signal Hill Trust
Security State Bank
PO Box 250
Grand Marais, MN 55604

Thank you to all who offered hugs and tears when we visited Merlins last Saturday. My family looks forward to seeing you on Monday.

Tonight: The Mosher/Ekstrand Experiment
Time: 9:00 pm

Our friends Kathy Mosher and Bobby Ekstrand will be in the pub tonight providing the jazz. They are treasures, those two. They’ll play an eclectic mix of music ranging from folk to blues and toss in a dash of rock and a bit of jazz to boot. Music from 8:30/9:00 - 11:00.

It’s the Mosher-Ekstrand Experiment! And it’s good. See you soon.

NEWS FROM THE ISLES

* Chancellor Barred from Pubs: When Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, raised the price of pints in his latest budget, the publicans in a Cumbrian town decided to ban him from their pubs for “threatening and anti-social behaviour.” Cheers!

* Rhubarb Jones! A woman in Wales has found a World War I medal in a rhubarb patch. Lovely. She now wants to return it to the rightful family, only her lead is that it belonged to a Pvt Jones. Good luck in Wales! You can’t swing a Dingley by the tail without hitting a Jones over there….

* Returning to Roots: American bankers from the Bank of New York Mellon are to visit the simple ancestral home (near Omagh) of their banking patriarch, Thomas Mellon, who emigrated to the United States in 1818. Perhaps they ought to make visits like this to the small homes of Americans (who they haven’t been treating so well)!

* “Ally Bally Bee…”: The author of a popular Scots lullaby will be recognized by his home town 130 years after his death (by which I mean now, as he died 130 years ago)

Tonight: Specialist Pub Quiz
Theme: “Health & Beauty”
Time: 7:30 pm

Music: The weekly Folk Jam will follow the quiz

We want to open today by thanking the site visitor who passed along funeral information on Tim Dickson. That is, when funeral information might be available. Roundabout, Tim’s family has indicated that they may line things up late this week or perhaps not until early next week.

We hope to have the full information for you at that point. Thank you all for your kind words about and interest in Tim’s life.

SPECIALIST PUB QUIZ

Tonight we’ve got the Specialist Pub Quiz at 7:30 pm. It’s the other side to Dingley’s Torture, the first being his Sunday night quiz.

The Wednesday Specialist Pub Quiz has a guiding theme or topic. This week’s: “Health & Beauty“. It’s difficult to say exactly what that might entail, especially when the quiz might come from Dingley’s brain. But it’s a theme. So bring your ringer or a team of them! (Got an in with a cosmetologist?) Spirit yourself through the mid-point of the week with a pint and some intelligent laughs.

But wait! There’s more!

(Including the answer’s to last Sunday’s quiz at the end of this entry….) 

THE FOLK JAM

We aren’t just stopping with the quiz tonight–which, by the way, can be attached to a cash prize if you score high enough–we’ve got the weekly Folk Jam with Bill Watkins (he of Silly Wizard fame) and friends. The Folk Jam, like our Friday night Celtic musician session, is played without amps or mics. It’s an Isles pub-style gathering of musicians simply working off one another’s lead while sharing a few pints and playing at a table or two right in the pub rather than in a performance zone.

Good time and great music.

The Folk Jam starts after the pub quiz. See you tonight!

TOMORROW

The Mosher/Ekstrand Experiment happens tomorrow at 9:00 pm. More on that…TOMORROW.

SUNDAY PUB QUIZ ANSWERS
from 4 May 2008

1. Who wrote Black Beauty?
Anna Sewell

2.  What are airlines doing to save fuel?
Slowing down

3. Big brown won the Kentucky Derby yesterday and has every chance of becoming a triple crown winner. When was the last time we had a triple crown winner?
1978 Affirmed

4. What is the horse power of one engine on a Boeing 747? A. 75,000, B. 125,000, C. 175,000 or D. 225,000?
B. 125,000

5. Experts are mystified by a “swarm” of what hitting Reno, Nevada?
Earthquakes

6. The run for the roses is the other name for what horse race?
Kentucky Derby

7. What is so unique about a sports car called Tesla?
Electric

8. Where would you expect to find the Marra mountains?
Sudan

9. The Interior Department now has just 16 days to issue a decision on whether to list what animal under the Endangered Species Act because of global warming?
The polar bear

10. Lerwick is the capital of what group of northerly Scottish islands?
Shetland

11. Equus Hippotigris quagga is a relative of the horse what is it?
Zebra

12. The cost of jet fuel, while highly variable from one airline to another, averaged what percentage of total operating costs for airlines?  A. 6.5%, B. 16.5%, C. 26.5% or D. 36.5%?
C. 26.5%

13. On this day in 2003 - Idaho Gem was born. He was the first horse to have been what?
Cloned

14. On this day in 1471 - In England, the Yorkists defeated the Landcastrians at the battle of Tewkesbury in what war?
War of the Roses

15. On this day in 1905 – the worlds largest race track opened on Long Island. What is it called?
Belmont

16. After a tornado devastated Greensburg, Kansas on this day last year. How are they rebuilding the town?
Green

17. Lord Rothschild was famous for frequently driving his carriage through London pulled by a team of what animals?
Zebra

18. On this day in 1776 – what state declared its freedom from England two months before the Declaration of Independence was adopted?
Rhode Island

19. Why was George Washington often seen chasing foxes on Sunday morning, instead of praying at church?
He was a non believer

20. Chad and the Central African Republic comprise most of the western border of what country?
Sudan

21. Dartmoor, Connemara, Black Forest and Newfoundland are all breeds of what animal?
Horse

22. What colors are the flag of Kenya?
Black, white, red, green

23. In road running and bicycle racing what semi-official term describes heavier male competitors, generally over 200 pounds?
A Clydesdale

24. Name the state that is known as the ocean state?
Rhode Island

25 What range of kiddie’s toy, introduced in 1982 by Hasbro were individually named, Blossom, Minty, Butterscotch, Cotton Candy, Blue Belle, and  Snuzzle?
My Little Pony

Tonight: Misplaced
Time: 9:00 pm

SEEKING AN UPDATE

We now appeal to those of you reading the site for information on any funeral or wake arrangements for our friend Tim Dickson who passed away suddenly this weekend. If any of you are in contact with his family and hearing of any details that you might share, please do. We’ve received many requests from his friends, the Celtic community, co-workers, etc. for information on how we might pay our final respects.

MISPLACED TUESDAY 

Well well well! Seems I jumped the gun last week. I got my start dates all turned about. So let me correct the record:

Tonight our friends in the band Misplaced begin their regular Tuesday night gig with us! It’s now a Misplaced Tuesday. And we like it that way. Catch ‘em live at 9:00 pm as you pop out for a bit of a mid-week tincture and welcome this new staple in our musical diet.

WEDNESDAY’S CLUE

John Dingley, our Welsh publican, has passed along the Wednesday night quiz topic: “Health and Beauty.” So bring your ringer! Know a beautician? or nutritionist? a medical professsional? or simply keep up with health issues? Ah, it doesn’t matter. The quiz is loads of fun anyway! Stock your team with experts, or just pop up and enjoy a couples pints. Wednesday at 7:30 pm is our next quiz.

Tune in tomorrow for answers to this past Sunday’s quiz.

NEWS FROM THE ISLES

* In Berkshire, they’ve made a tribute to Viking longboats by constructing a 100-ft. tower out of Lego bricks. Huh. They hope the structure is a record.

* A Belfast beauty Queen hopes to glamorize UK politics by standing for election

* Scotland is promoting fungi to the frontlines of toxic cleanup projects

* The NHS Redress (Wales) Measure 2007 is on the verge of being passed by the Welsh National Assembly. Why is this significant? Because it will be the first law passed by a Welsh assembly since Hywel Dda (Hywel the Good) did it in the 10th century. It will also be the first bilingual law.

Cymru!

Tonight: Open Mic with Harrison Matthews
Time: 8:00/8:30 pm

First, for those searching the web for information on the death of our friend Tim Dickson, you can read our announcement of his passing in yesterday’s entry. (We’ve noticed a significant spike in traffic to the site today from people searching for news about Tim.) He was (and is) greatly loved.

When we hear of more information, such as funeral arrangements, we’ll announce those details. We hope to have something for you Tuesday morning.

TONIGHT:
THE OPEN MIC

It’s Cinco de Mayo! I know many of you feel compelled to imbibe a Corona or something like that today, but I hope you’ll give thought to other enlightening tinctures, such as an imperial pint of Fuller’s ESB. Hey: the weather is grand and we could all use a little joy today.

Pop up and get yourself a drink and a bite to eat and sit out front in the sunshine. We open at 4:00 pm today.

And if you’re up here tonight, at about 8:00/8:30 pm, we’ll kick start the week’s events with the Merlins Rest Open Mic featuring our host Harrison Matthews. He’s a great man, that Harrison, and we have so many fine singers and poets and such in the pub. The Open Mic is a fantastic way to share some creativity and get the week moving in the right direction.

Sing it, say it, share it, friends. Lend your talent or an ear. Hey: it’s your mic! We appreciate you.