A Warm Bench For Bob
Family and friends remember Bob Stinson on his birthday
“Bob put together probably the most important rock ‘n’ roll band in the United States. I don’t know where they’d be without him. He was their catalyst. The Replacements would not have existed without Bob Stinson. Period.” – Rob Rule
In an earlier era, people knew exactly where they were and what they doing when they received news of J.F.K.’s assassination. Since I wasn’t even a twinkle in my dad’s eye at that time, I of course, do not. Many years later, however, I do remember my father breaking the news in as gentle a way as he could muster that John Lennon had been murdered.
“You know that one band you really like?” he started.
“Which one?” I asked back.
“You know, the beetle-bugs or something.”
“The Beatles?”
“Yes, the Beatles.”
“What about ’em?”
“Well, one of those guys died today.”
“Huh? Which one? How?”
“Something Lennon.”
“John Lennon.”
“Yeah. Someone shot him.” Many years after that moment, I was again informed of the unfortunate passing of local musician Bob Stinson, guitarist for the Replacements, Static Taxi and the Bleeding Hearts in Feb. 1995 at age 35. To this day, the setting is just as vivid as the day I found out.
My band at the time had been doing a weekend recording session at Rich Mattson’s basement studio. After some breakfast and bloodies, we showed up at Rich’s for the typical Sunday mix down. As he descended the basement stairs, he greeted us, “Hey guys, umm ... ”
“What?” We all asked.
“Bobby Stinson died last night.” Needless to say, this set a rather somber tone for the remainder of the project.
Six years later, with what would have been Bob’s 41st birthday coming on Dec. 17, memories of Bob abound, at a time of the year when we all gather with our loved ones for the holidays and remember those who can be with us only in spirit. As Bob’s mom, Anita, told me, “It’s a very ‘Bob’ time of the year.”
On Sat., Dec. 15, two days before the big day, the Turf Club is throwing the fourth Swingin’ Party in honor of a character who not only helped to reweave the fabric of American rock ’n’ roll and served as an inspiration to countless underdogs who chose to play it, but also whose life was a lesson and reminder that life’s too short to take for granted.
“We hate the word ‘tribute’; we don’t use it,” says the Turf’s Rob Rule. “We use ‘musical nod’ or ‘celebration,’ so it’s ‘Bob’s Bench and Birthday Bash: Another SPMC Swingin’ Party,’ with many returning guests from the original one at O’Gara’s many years ago.”
It’s no secret that Bob had a certain appetite for life, and I’m rather sure he’d probably appreciate the irony of a party being thrown where the guest of honor is the only one who can’t make it. But in the spirit of foregoing any mythology and saving the party for the party, I’ve tried to collect as many fond impressions from those who knew and loved him the most. As is often the case with rock ’n’ roll legendry, certain facets of an often larger-than-life figure can be obscured, if not overlooked, completely. Most of us know of Bob’s wildman persona, but he was also someone who dwelt beneath the exterior, as a person who enjoyed the simpler and less chaotic pleasures life has to offer.
A few years ago, Anita purchased a park bench from the city of Minneapolis in Bob’s memory, which has since been moved from its original spot, though not far. Situated on the bank of a canal on Lake of the Isles, the bench exemplifies the quieter, thoughtful dimension of Bob in his favorite place. On an unseasonably agreeable December Sunday afternoon, Anita takes me down to Bob’s bench, for which I have searched unsuccessfully on my own. (It seems that the bench’s exact location eludes many who have tried to find it.)
“This is his favorite spot because it had fishing and railroad tracks … his two favorite things in life,” she says.
The sound of dried brush crunches underfoot as Anita and I climb down beside the embankment of a bridge that spans the canal. “So those two trees over there would be Bobby’s,” she says, pointing across the waterway to the opposite bank. “Those red ones. And his bench is right over here. This is his favorite place to fish.”
It isn’t hard to understand exactly why this is his spot. It combines the natural beauty of the lakeside and sits just out of the way of the everyday commotion. “It’s a beautiful spot to come to,” says Anita. “My favorite time is early in the morning because it’s so quiet.”
Earlier this fall, the park board moved the bench to facilitate restoring the area to its wetland habitat and in doing so, cleared much of the surrounding growth. “This used to be all woods,” she says. “Bobby would have had a fit.”
“I remember one day,” she continues, reminiscing about Bob’s frequent hikes in the park, “when Bobby was walking along the tracks and came home and he was so happy that he’d found a whole bag or box full of … stuff. Pieces of clothes, a used wallet that was empty, something somebody just tossed over the edge of the bridge, so to speak. He was in heaven going through the stuff, ‘Look what I found on the railroad tracks!’ One shoe, that kind of thing. He said, ‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.’ He was quite a character.”
Former Replacements producer/manager Peter Jesperson relates, “I remember how much Bob liked fishing, and how much he liked sitting and ruminating. Whenever we’d be on the road and it would be sound check time—or heaven forbid, set time—and Bob would be gone ... both Bill Sullivan and I, who were kind of his keepers, would stop and think where the nearest railroad tracks were, because Bob was so fascinated with trains. He’d often get himself a tall one, a brown paper bag and go sit by the railroad tracks.”
“Bob was an interesting character, because he was a very simple man, but he was also a very smart man underneath it all. He didn’t strike you as having the greatest intellect when you talked to him, but he really was quite a deep person. So the idea of a bench at Lake of the Isles in Bob’s memory, you know … makes me a little misty-eyed.”
Another one of Bob’s passions was reading. “I can picture Bob … I’d be working the counter at Oarfolk, and I’d look over at the bench by the windows there on 26th and he would be sitting there reading,” says Peter. “He was a voracious reader, and used to come in and read every bit of rock ’n’ roll stuff that we had—magazines, to the books that we carried about everybody from Badfinger to Pink Floyd.”
On Saturday night at the Turf, there will, without a doubt, be countless memories shared of the man, who like many of the people he inspired, was a fan of life in general. If you’re looking for what, by now, should officially be known as “Bob Stories,” whether or not you ever met him, this will the place to be. Not only will this be a fine reminiscence, it will also be a sonic festival of the music he had more than two hands in creating.
“Bob put together probably the most important rock ’n’ roll band in the United States,” says Rob without hesitation. “I don’t know where they’d be without him. He was their catalyst. The Replacements would not have existed without Bob Stinson. Period.”
To many ’Mats purists, that idea is an absolute, and despite how tragically his life may have ended, he’s still here with us, making us laugh and loving the things we enjoy doing. Saturday’s lineup is just a regional reflection of his influence, and features the Mammy Nuns, the Glenrustles, the Bleeding Hearts, Vena Cava, Mezzofist, Plutonium Foil (formerly Lotus Eaters), Caveman, Beatifics (formerly Rockefellers) and FROG (Andy Crowley). Special guests include Slim Dunlap, Lucky Jeremy, Cover Girl (John Eller, Tom Cook) U-Joint and the Centurions.
As Anita and I got ready to leave Bob’s bench, we realized that neither of us had any idea what time it was. People can become so preoccupied with notion of time that it becomes lost on them altogether. So as the mother of Robert Neil Stinson said so proudly of the son you can tell she is more than happy to talk about, “He lived a short time, but he made every minute of it count. And that’s what made him good.”
The Fourth Annual Bob’s Bench and Birthday Bash: Another SPMC Swingin’ Party kicks off at 9 p.m. on Sat., Dec. 15, at the Turf Club. $5. 1601 W. University Ave., St. Paul. 651-647-0486.
By Donny Doane
Pulse Of The Twin Cities
December 2001 |