The Society of the Old Hat Part 3 - A New Dawn

Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be blest. The soul, uneasy and confined from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come. – Alexander Pope, English Poet.

Today is the first day of Spring. And though you wouldn’t know it by the weather outdoors, the grass will soon be greening up, tulips will bloom, and leaves will start to unfold out of their auspice beginnings as buds on the trees. I’ve already seen a lot of robins hopping around the yard looking for a meal.

And so it is with the Old Hat. It is spring time, and the hope once again is eternal. The new management consortium of Osborne and Shugars has thrust their will on the old brewery in a quest to transform it into profitable venture.

The Osbornes, long time patrons of the Hat, owners of the local KTS Enterprises, have sat many a night over the years on the paying side of the bar. They have seen the Old Hat at its best, full, vibrant and the beer flowing. And they have seen it sadly decline over the last couple of years. They have been some of its most faithful of customers. Now they take their hard work ethic, small business experience and local knowledge of the Lawton area and it’s people, and step on the North side of the copper counter.

The Shugars have much experience in the food business. They own a catering business that specializes in Pig Roasts, smoked meats and poultry, have a line of barbecue sauce and also have restaurant experience. They are more than familiar with the Hat, having provided Pig Roasts for various events there in the past. This makes for a nice fit with their new business partners.

The first thing this new partnership did was to close the Hat for 4 days. During this time they administered a rigorous cleaning to the bar and brewery. Tables and chairs were re-arranged in attempt to create a better flow. They reopened on Friday, March 10th to a decent crowd. The difference is noticeable. The bar looks and smells better. Service is better. The new bartenders and wait staff are wearing Old Hat collared shirts and act as a cohesive unit. They will be open Wednesday through Sunday, closing on Mondays and Tuesdays at this time.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time there the last week or so since the reopening talking with the new management, delving into what are their plans, philosophy and hopes? So let’s look at some of the things that I sighted in Part 2 of this series and see if things really are changing and how the new management sees them.

The People: The people are back, at least through the first 9 days since they have re-opened. Crowds seem to be on the average pretty good. The weekend crowd on Friday, St. Patrick’s Day was very good. This was followed by an exceptional crowd on Saturday, March 18th due largely to a 50th Birthday party. This party though seemed to hang around a long time, and went through a lot of beer. In addition, I saw some regulars that had been missing quite a lot in the recent past, this says a lot as previous regulars are starting to return to see what is happening The new management say they are committed to putting people in the bar. Not only new people, but trying to get those regulars that have left for one reason or another.

Mug Club: All the Mugs have been washed and re-hung in numerical order. And Muggers are coming back starting with the first Mug Club under the new management. Last Wednesday night was similar to the Mug Clubs of a couple years ago. Muggers putting away the beer and talking with everyone and anyone about everything and anything, a very good sign indeed. This subtle start I think is significant. As word gets out about the changes more Muggers are likely to return. The new management seems very conscious of the importance of a strong Mug Club. The Osbornes especially can appreciate what this group can do to help put people in the bar. When Muggers are happy, patronage goes up. So far so good. Mug Club membership is also up with a large group of new members signing up since the reopening.

Music: Yes music is at the Old Hat to stay. The new management is honoring those bands already booked. The Cats in the Hat are going to continue to do Sunday Blues jams, though the frequency has yet to be decided. The new management has a distinct philosophy on music. Bands will be booked on Fridays. There will generally be a cover charge on Friday. Saturday will be a quieter night, reserved for Acoustic solo acts or duets, (they seem to understand the fact that back to back to back music historically doesn’t draw well). Sunday is reserved for Blues Jams hosted by various local bands. Included will be the Cats in the Hat and occasionally yours truly’s band, Micro and the Waves, amongst others. Sunday is also slated to possibly go back to a no cover charge night. No music on Wednesday Mug Club night, or Thursday. I think this is a sound philosophy. If C. Buggs Coombs takes over booking bands, this could be a real plus.

Beer: “Mmmmmmm Beer!” (Homer Simpson) The beer quality is up. Taking the day to day headaches of managing a bar off of Tom Fuller’s mind has made a significant difference. Tom can now concentrate as an employee on brewing beer and he is proving once again that he can brew good beer. The beer menu is full for the first time in a long time. The O’Fullers Red and Maeve (sp?) Stout that went on tap St. Patrick’s Day are very good. Easily the best Red and Stout we have seen in over a year. Some of the specialty brews are going over big time. The new management is stressing cleanliness in the brewery which will also keep quality high. They talk of not cutting corners on ingredients either. They know that the Beer is their trump card.

Service: The new management has brought back C. Buggs behind the bar, Wednesday and Thursday. This will help tremendously with customer relations. They have hired a new weekend bartender and beefed up the wait staff. Service is way up, it is as easy as ever to get a beer. If Oz or Scott are sitting on the South side of the bar off duty, and someone needs something they are more than willing to jump up and get it. They are paying attention to the customer. The wait staff and bartenders are all wearing shirts with the Old Hat logo on them, a nice touch.

Other Changes: The food has changed. They new management has reworked the menu. Many of the eclectic entrees are gone, replaced with more conventional bar food. Burgers, Sandwiches, Fish and Chips and Ribs and Pulled Pork are the main stay along with appetizers like deep fried mushrooms and onion petals. The quality is way up on the food. Dishes are served promptly and hot. Sweetpea and I ate dinner in the bar for the first time in almost 2 years, it was a very good meal at a very reasonable price. A big advantage that the new management has is the Shugars’ catering business. According to Scott, it is a win-win, his kitchen staff at the catering service can process more volume of ribs and pulled pork and smoked meats and the bar gets it a bottom line cost. And the ribs and pulled pork are excellent. I’m told they are doing 3 to 4 times the amount of dinners already.

Tabs have changed. They now fill out a check for everyone and rigorously keep track of who had what. All bartenders and wait staff are participating. This I’m sure will help profitability as consistency in this area previously was a problem, with you having to often remind the bartender what you had.

Attitude is different. The entire staff is extremely customer oriented at this time. This is making a good impression. Scott and Oz talk about getting people into the bar and keep them coming back. I’ve seen them give away some of the new menu items for people to try. People respond to this type of treatment. If this customer service attitude continues, then they have a good shot on getting repeat business on a regular basis.

Tables have been rearranged. This is probably one of the few things being talked about negatively. But it is early and the new management will make adjustments as they go. Some parts of the new arrangement are good, some parts create more congestion. There could be possibly bigger changes after the Liquor License has transferred. The jury is still out in this area.

Hope springs eternal… Many of the Muggers I talk to are hopeful. They like what they see and taste. The people are coming back already. The beer is better and so is the food. Muggers seem to be embracing the new management.

But the question remains, can the Old Hat be profitable? Can the new management do what previous managements were unable to accomplish? Putting top notch brewing ingredients into the beer costs money. The increased wait staff and bartenders need to be paid. The amount of effort required to get this back on its feet for good is tremendous. The work has just started, and it is a long way to the finish.

I think that the Osborne/Shugars partnership have a good shot. I think increased food sales will help offset the increased operating costs. The recent in flux of new customers and return of some regulars coupled with the better beer, food and service will help put people back on bar stools on a more regular basis. I think the people will be back and Muggers will continue in providing the unique atmosphere that makes the Hat special.

The new management seems to have firm grasp on the key points above. Sure they will make mistakes along the way, but I think they will learn and adapt quickly. They are also in it for the long haul, and understand that this will take a significant amount of care and feeding over a long period of time. But in the end I think they will succeed, and I hope so.

The social institution that is the Old Hat will rise again also. After all, Muggers are a resilient bunch. It may be different as institutions like this are ever changing but non-the-less, it will be as great as ever.

Long Live the Muggers and long live the Old Hat.

Loch Ness Tavern Photos from 1998

Microe in front of the Loch Ness Tavern, Stockholm 1998

Owner Stella behing the bar

The Taps, Beamish, Strongbow, Koff, Newcastle

Microe, Stella and the late Tim Wuthrich

The Society of the Old Hat Part 2 - The Evolution

I’ve always liked taverns and bars. I spent a lot of time in them during my college years. But after I got married in 1980, I only occasionally found time to venture into them, usually Friday with the people I worked with. Business trips often gave me a chance to frequent them more often but this was usually at venues in remote cities that I never got chance to truly know. Most of my bar experience in the first 40 years or my life was the same. Bars and Taverns were places you occasionally went to, maybe with some friends to have a few drinks, maybe shoot some pool. In college we went to disco bars (yes the Microe discoed), to drink, dance and date, but otherwise things were pretty impersonal.

That all changed in 1998 when I went to Stockholm for 6 months. There I discovered this wonderful little tavern, 2 blocks from my apartment called the Loch Ness. The Loch Ness Tavern is a very small place about a quarter the size of the Old Hat and while we visited frequented lots of bars in Stockholm, it was different some how.

Most of the Loch Ness clientele lived in about 8 square block area around the tavern. Most were Swedes, there was an occasional Fin, and a couple of Americans who liked their beer. I drank a lot of Bemish in those 6 months! It would take forever to pour because of the thick, creamy head. If the bartenders (there were only 2) saw me turn up the side street from the subway station they would start pouring one before I hit the door.

I got know everyone. I would sit at the bar and try out my broken Swedish and they would all laugh at me and correct my pronunciations. Stella the owner introduced me to some very tasty Swedish home cooking, even though she wasn’t a natural born Swede, (Moroccan I think). Lars, the 20 something bartender was a hoot, telling jokes. When he wasn’t behind the bar, he would be sitting at it, drinking and carrying on. Occasionally we would see him playing with his street band in a subway station during the day for tips. They had a guitar on the beer cooler and quite often would bring it down and pass it around. I played some blues and the locals got a big charge out of it.

The music seemed to draw people together. It was more than the bars I was used to, these people became my extended family in Stockholm. If I didn’t show up on a particular night they asked where was I? If I was feeling down or home sick, they picked me up. On my 40th birthday they had stuffed a band into this little bar and invited me to play. That was the first time I played in front of a packed house and sang.

When I came back to Paw Paw, I tried to settle into my old routines. But I had changed. I found myself restless quite often, TV had lost all of its appeal and while I was glad to be back with my family, I missed my extended family in Stockholm. As luck would have it I found the early pre-Cats in the Hat at the Dyckman saloon. I couldn’t wait for Sundays to go down and play. But the Dyckman was missing something. It wasn’t the personal little tavern that the Loch Ness was. Though I enjoyed it, it was lacking something. Lady Luck smiled on me again, the band had a falling out with the owner and moved to the Old Hat.

I became an instant regular at the Old Hat on Sundays because of the Blues Jam. I started to meet a lot of people, friendly people. Everyone was a local and they all went by their Mug Club names. The undisputed ambassadors of the Old Hat, Buck and Comrade. There is Ginger, Kinsey Report, Eggroll and Belle Belle, Cable Rat, Wild Bill, Princess, Cookie, 10-8-ious, ShortStory (yes of the same blog names!), Too Much Fun, Bill the Dog, Tolerance and so many more that it would take pages to mention them all. I quickly joined the Mug Club with the Mug name, “Microe”, of course.

There were the Cats in the Hat which included Hunt, Chilton, Buggs and Howard. And all sorts of local musicians that would show up and play. I’ve seen so many local bands there, Seventh Son, Crossroads Blues Band, Bus Stop Bullies, Hackneyed Quips, Blue Moon, to name a few. Plus touring acts, Deke Dickerson, Cigar Store Indians, Billy Bacon and the Forbidden Pigs and many more. And I’ve met almost all of the musicians in these bands.

The bartenders were also a big part. Scott McMullen, Kelly, and Sara all did extensive stints as bartender during the Sunday Blues. After Buggs left the railroad, he started tending bar during the week. I had started to do some music recording work with Buggs and one of his bands the Tone Chaperones and I would go down quite often on week nights to talk to Buggs about recording and marketing issues. It was kind of an excuse though as we would sit and talk about just about anything often till closing time. I met more regulars, the weekly crowd.

At first I went to the Hat by myself, my wife and family stayed home. This went on for a couple of years. After my daughter graduated from High School in spring 2002, I started to get my wife to go down to the Hat. As she got to know people she became more comfortable and she also joined the Mug Club, Mug name, “Sweetpea”. My son goes down on Saturday quite often and has a very good friend he met there. They both have Mugs and fill them with Root Beer and play board games and have a great time.

In the Old Hat I found that same friendly atmosphere that I had found at the Loch Ness. They had differences, but it is the people and their relationships that make them both a cut above. So what is the formula that makes the Old Hat, “The Hat”? Here are some ideas that I think made it flourish during the 4 year periods between 2000 and 2003. I’m sure others have their opinions and I welcome them to share those in the comments.

First and foremost are the people. The Old Hat regulars are a melting pot of personalities, professions and backgrounds. There are professionals that work for large corporations, laborers that do odd jobs, construction workers, landscapers, small business owners, police officers, secretaries, bank officials the un-employed and everything in between. But at the Hat we are all on the same playing field, at the same level. People are more concerned with who you are personally not where you work or how much you make. Everyone is themselves and in an interesting twist I think this is because we all go by our Mug Names!

Which brings me to point number two, The Mug Club. By using Mug Names it kind of lets everyone leave at the door that day to day persona that each of us keeps up all week long in our jobs and careers. At the Hat we are Mug Clubbers or Muggers for short. Everyone is equal. Wednesday is Mug Club night and from 2000 – 2003 this was a major weekly event. It is a chance in the middle of the work week to unwind over a couple of beers and talk with your friends. The core group of Muggers has become very close. These friendships have carried beyond the Hat. There are several regular private parties and events every year hosted by Muggers and attended heavily by the same. The Mug Club has extended far beyond the walls of the Hat. And the core is always more than happy to welcome others in.

But many Breweries have Mug Clubs and friendly patrons, what else makes the Hat different? The music is a key factor. Most of the core Muggers love the Blues. And you will typically hear a lot of Blues at the Hat. This is what made the Cats in the Hat Blues Jam so crucial in the ramp up of popularity the Hat has enjoyed in the past. It was great Blues played by local musicians and it was dependably every Sunday 6-9 pm. People come and sit in with the band for a few songs and then go have a beer with their friends. The Cats in the Hat have always been very accessible, part of the bar regulars and blend with everyone.

Blues is not the only music you will hear at the Hat. Country and Rock-a-Billy also send there own unique sounds across the copper covered bar. And the Muggers love these too! Muggers love most music, when done well. So when the Tone Chaperone brought their version of Country Swing to the Hat, popularity of the bar exploded. Muggers showed up in mass on Friday nights to dance to there honky-tonk and swing originals.

A couple of interesting observations about Muggers and music. Muggers love weekend music. But on Mug Club night, they want to talk and socialize, unimpeded by a loud band. A band on Wednesday (especially with a cover charge) will often keep them home. Also Muggers loved the no cover charge Sundays. They would often tip heavily on Sundays. When Sundays went to a cover charge, attendance went down and so did the tips! Covers are ok on Friday or Saturday, but Sunday? Lastly, the Hat is a local bar in a small town and it doesn’t support bands well on back to back nights. A large attendance of Muggers on Friday will almost guarantee that the turnout will be light for Muggers on Saturday. Hangovers maybe? A big, well attended act on Saturday will almost always mean a low turnout on Sunday.

Beer…. Good Beer. It is a must for Muggers. They like their beer and skunky beer will send them home. Beer quality and consistency was pretty good and Muggers drank a lot during that four year stretch. And they took growlers after growlers home with them. It was very common to go to a private party and everyone would bring a couple of growlers of Old Hat beer. Even when they weren’t at the Hat, they drink it’s beer. Stubbin’s Stout, Hefewiezen, Alt, Seasonal Bocks, Pumpkin Ale in the Fall, and Red. Not as good maybe as Duster’s Wing Over Red, but a good solid everyday Red Lager.

And finally the service. Most of the time during those four years, the Old Hat was attended by a single bartender and a cook in the kitchen when food was served. No table service, no wait staff. You had to order at the bar. I mentioned some of the best of those bartenders above. They were masters at keep a whole bar full of people happy with full Mugs. And they enjoyed what they were doing. They contributed significantly to the culture.

So it was a combination of things that caused the Old Hat to evolve into this local institution, the Muggers, the Mug Club, the Music, the beer and the bartenders who served it. It was chance that brought all this together, circumstances that allowed this little local brewery to become more than a bar.

And it still exists. Muggers are still Muggers and they still get together. But things changed in 2003. Everything does and the Hat changed. Luck brought it together, and luck threatened to tear it apart. The interesting twist is the luck that threatened the Old Hat was Kalamazoo Brewings good luck. When because of the increased popularity of Bell’s Beer, Larry Bell had to sell the Old Hat, change was at the door.

As I stated in my last blog, while this is not to analyze why the business, it is worthwhile to review some of the changes that occurred between January 2003 and February 2006 and put the Hat where it is today. Again it isn’t to judge the owners at that time, they did what they felt they had to.

One factor remains. When Kalamazoo Brewing owned the Old Hat, it was making a lot of money at Bell’s Brewery. So making a profit at the Hat wasn’t a huge concern, as compared with Bell’s, the Old Hat was a very small side venture. When the bar changed hands in 2003, it had to turn a profit. For some of the new partnership, the Old Hat was their only source of income. The mortgage needed to be paid. This would prove to be a huge challenge.

The first thing that happened was after the New Years Eve party Dec 31, 2002, the Old Hat closed until Memorial Day weekend 2003. Muggers missed it, immensely. Just as I missed the Loch Ness when I came back from Sweden, we all missed our weekly Old Hat socialization. We needed our friends, our extended family. So during the hiatus, Muggers started frequent other taverns. A roving Mug Club started to meet on Wednesdays meeting at a different tavern every week.

When the Hat reopened, Muggers trickled back. It took a while for it to get back to it’s normal self. This I’m sure was a concern of the new ownership as attendance was slow in building. And Muggers came back to changes, some they liked, some that they weren’t sure of.

Wait staff was added, along with increasing the kitchen staff. The Menu was expanded. This seemed to be accepted well with the patrons.

The new ownership seemed to struggle with the music. The first struggle was over volume, especially on Sundays, as the Cats had a tendency to play loud and some people complained. Bands were monitored with a Sound Level Meter. This caused conflicts with some musicians which seemed to spill over into the regular crowd. Bookings went through several struggles as the new ownership tried to turn a profit while maintaining the quality of the music. The Cats in the Hat went on hiatus for a period of time and Sundays went quiet, and Sunday beer sales followed. When they finally returned it was to a cover charge on Sundays, and they didn’t play every Sunday. Some regulars were turned off. Beyond the control of the ownership, the Tone Chaperones changed and eventually disbanded. They had become a main stay at the Hat and this was a blow to the consistency that everyone had come to enjoy.

As finances got tight, the owners took more and more to tending bar. The bartenders that everyone had grown so comfortable with started disappearing. A different bartender was behind the bar every night. Not that these bartenders were all bad, but the consistency disappeared. The comfort level was gone. During this same time, the kitchen staff started turn over quite often, and the quality of the food suffered. Wait staff turned over. Service suffered.

Mug Club went through some changes. Mugs were changed for a while from the stoneware black mugs, to clear glass mugs. They weren’t received well. After unbridled expansion of the Mug Club, membership was closed to new members. Dues collection became sporadic, as did birthday recognition and other familiar Mug Club traditions. Eventually the Mug Club was reopened to new members.

As profits became harder and harder to come by, other changes were made to keep the Hat afloat. Beer prices went up eventually, but curiously most regulars didn’t seem to mind. But brew master Tom Fuller struggled personally with the Old Hat being his only source of income. He took a second job and started to share brewing responsibilities. A bad batch of Malt contributed to major problems in beer quality. In addition dwindling profits made it harder and harder to buy the quality ingredients needed for high quality beer. The beer became inconsistent and this hurt sales.

Through much of this the core Muggers persevered. Mug Club Wednesdays were still a great place to meet and socialize. But attendance on was quite often down. A good band would still bring them out in mass. Sundays with the Cats in the Hat still drew well, though they didn't play every week. Muggers just didn’t turn out like they once had. Some regulars quit coming at all.

Rumors started to run rampant. Rumors of the bars finances, ownership disagreements and attempted buy outs abounded. Most of these were just rumors, untruths manufactured out of frustration. But they hurt the Old Hat institution. Conversations often turned to the bars problems and everyone was an expert on how to fix them.

And thus the Old Hat entered 2006. Deeply wounded financially and struggling to stay afloat. The bar and the social institution that it had become was in grave danger of disappearing for good. As I have said before, the ownership had poured their funds, sweat and souls in trying to make it work. Muggers wondered what would become of the Old Hat with its copper covered bar, wood floors, stainless steel brew kettles and the stage lights which so many musicians had played under. And we worried about the owners, our friends who were struggling personally from this unfortunate turn.

March 2006 came and another change with new ownership. Hope springs eternal. My next installment will look at the future of the Old Hat, and why I think it might have turned the corner. As always I welcome comments and different points of view as to why the Old Hat became so great and how it got to where it is today.

microe

The Society of the Old Hat Part 1 - a Historical Perspective

This is the first in a three blog series about the Old Hat, it’s history, the people who frequent it, and speculation of what might lie ahead for this cultural institution.

It’s Wednesday, Mug Club night at the Old Hat. Only one problem the Old Hat is closed. Only temporarily though, as the latest in a string of entrepreneurs rearranges their newly acquired asset and prepare to embark on a journey of uncertainty, instability and seemingly countless hours of hard work to try and turn this favorite watering hole into a profitable venture. It is this setting that has caused me to stop and contemplate this latest turn in the on going saga we all know as the Old Hat. I wish them luck and truly hope they will succeed.

The Old Hat is a simple little brewery, located in the heart of downtown Lawton, Michigan. Lawton, population approx 1860, is located about 3 miles south of Paw Paw, MI and Interstate 94 on highway M-40. The Old Hat opened originally in 1993 as Duster’s Brewery by former owner, the late Phil Balog. Phil was known for two things, his good ales and his bad temper.

In 1998 Balog sold the brewery to Larry Bell – Kalamazoo Brewing. Tom Fuller replaced Phil Balog as the brew master and Larry renamed the place the Old Hat Brewery. Larry kept the bar as more of a craft brewery with it’s own beer selection separate from Bell’s Brewery. He adorned the walls with Hats and started a Mug Club. The bar gradually started offering live music on weekends, expanded operating hours and days to 7 days a week and offered an eclectic food menu.

In 2003, the Old Hat went through another change, as Bell’s Brewery grew in size it transitioned into a newly created classification of brewery created by the Michigan LCC. This new classification put it somewhere between micro-brewery and Budweiser. It had one other effect, it required Kalamazoo Brewing and Larry Bell to divest themselves of the Old Hat. While a deal was worked out, the Old Hat sat closed for the first 5 months of 2003.

In the end brew master, Tom Fuller was able to put together a partnership to purchase the brewery. The brewery reopened Memorial Day Weekend 2003 as the Old Hat Brewery and Grill. The new ownership worked hard to maintain the ambience that had made the Old Hat a local institution. As funds dwindled another partner was added to the mix to help keep the ship afloat. Consistency problems plagued the beer, some do to problems beyond the small breweries control (bad Malt) and the lose of some regulars for various reasons occurred, but the owners trudged on. But in late 2005 it was becoming apparent that the Old Hat was in serious trouble. In early 2006, rumors run rampant.

Finally during the first weekend of March 2006 came another change. The Old Hat had been sold again. The new partnership of Oz and Freda Osborne and Scott Shugars had taken over. The deal is still fresh and has to have all the loose ends taken care of, but for all practical purposes, it is done. I was told by Oz that Tom will still be brew master, as an employee and not an owner. They are closed this week while these new owners primp and clean and re-arrange and try to make it there own. They are showing great enthusiasm, but seem also to be aware of the mountain of work ahead of them.

So once again the Old Hat morphs. It would be of no use to detail all the rumors and innuendo that I have heard about why the last owners didn’t make a profit. After all, it was rumored that Bell’s didn’t make any money on it either and it was more of a hobby. But that really is of no consequence for this blog. It really doesn’t matter and because I consider them friends, my heart goes out to them, knowing what stress this has caused in their lives and wish them well in the future.

What does matter is the Social Institution that is the Old Hat and what drives it. Why is it what it is? How has it changed? What will it become? The music, the people, the beer. To me this is far more interesting than the nuisances of business dealings that don’t live up to their potential. And that is what is driving this blog. As stated above, this is installment one in a three part series. This is the history part, what got it to where it is today. Part two will explore the evolution of the social institution. Part three will speculate on where it might be headed from here.

I have lain out above what a brief history of the Old Hat itself. My experience with the Old Hat has evolved over time also. My own experience helps define my viewpoint of the Old Hat Society so to speak.

I moved to Paw Paw with my wife and two children in 1994. As we started to learn more and more about the area we ventured South on occasion to Lawton. We found Lawton to be a curious little town having 3 major restaurants in such a small burg. It was during the Duster’s days that we first experienced the brewery. I found the beer to be quite good, but quite often these excursions were part of a dining out and the menu at Duster’s was small and the food erratic.

You also could never tell when it was going to be open. As I had read in restaurant review, it was easier to get Duster’s beer at Big T across the street, because they were open far more. Besides I could also get Duster’s at the local party store, so if I felt like having a Wing Over Red, that was easy, I simply bought a six pack. This coupled with my new found hobby of home brewing amounted to only an occasional visit. As it was I never experienced the Blalog temper that I would hear tales of later on.

In 1998 I was working for Pharmacia & Upjohn. Part of my job had me go to Stockholm, Sweden for 6 months. I lived in an apartment there on Söldermalm Island, in an area called Mariatoreget. Two blocks from my apartment, on my way to the subway every day, was a little tavern that I quickly grew fond of called the Loch Ness Tavern. The Loch Ness was a very small neighborhood tavern with a very friendly Swedish clientele that adopted a couple of miss-placed Americans as there own. In the Loch Ness over those 6 months I got a real sense of a community tavern. They had a “tavern guitar” that they would pull down off of the beer cooler and pass around for those that played. This was the first bar I ever played a guitar in and sang, in public.

Upon returning to Paw Paw in 1998, my long time friend and guitar player, Jimmy Sadler and I reconnected. He told me about a blues jam that was going on in Paw Paw at the old Dyckman Saloon. I grabbed my guitar and went down one Sunday to find a short, bald headed harmonica player and a guitar player who looked left over from the sixties. Their blues was great, the sounds were bold and robust and full of life. I returned often on Sunday, and they were gracious enough to let this very amateur act to sit in and play. I could go on about the early days at the Dyckman, but that is another blog. Needless to say, the harp player was the renowned Dave Hunt of the band Seventh Son and the guitar player was Brent Chilton, both who over the years I have become friends with.

During this time a bearded bass player would join them quite often, sitting in the cramped space on an old Ampeg Amp. He worked for the railroad and could play anything. This is how I met C. Buggs Coombs and how I discovered the Old Hat.

This was time, 1998 – 1999 that that Duster’s was becoming the Old Hat. The Mug Club started and C. Buggs being from Lawton and a regular at Duster’s and then the Old Hat, won a draw with John “Cookie Man” Cook to be Mug number 1 in the club. It was also about this time that the management at the Dyckman started jerking around this little no-name band that played a blues jam on Sunday nights. So after several disputes with the Dyckman, Tom Fuller, brew master and manager of the Old Hat, as well as good friend of C. Buggs, offered the band the opportunity to move their Sunday Blues Jam to the Old Hat. They did and I followed.

The band went on to become a staple of the Old Hat culture they assumed the name The Cats in the Hat, going through several iterations, and playing to this day. C. Buggs went through a long stint as bartender at the Old Hat. I became Mug Club member # 157 and still am a “regular” at the brewery. I have formed my own blues bands over the last 8 years and played many times on their hardwood floors.

It was 1999 whenI got indoctrinated to the Old Hat culture. Since, I spent many nights at the Old Hat, late nights discussing music with C. buggs as he tended bar and our work on recording his bands. Many Wednesday Mug Club nights, Sunday Blues Jams, Thursdays cause there was nothing else to do and I didn’t want to sit home and watch TV. I met most of my present day friends at the Hat, people I feel deeply about. Friends I love dearly… Friends that have changed my life.

Now you know how we got to where we are. The Old Hat in general and how I fit in. In the next blog in this series I’ll talk about the social culture, why I think it is unique and some of those quirks that I think make it special.

I would invite anyone reading this to comment on their perspective. Many will see even the history I outlined above from a different view point, and may have a totally different recollection. I would like to hear from you, so please comment! Until next time.

Microe

After Therapy`

So the team building is over. It was good. We took all the personality profiles for the team and discovered how different personalities react to different things. It was quite enlightening and fun. My staff came up with an action plan and I think I got the results I was trying to achieve.

And the fun part is that we are trying to guess other's DiSC classification. Ok so we aren't experts, but it can make a lot of sense in dealing with the business relationships.

I am still working on the ultimate challenge. Compensating for my deficiencies. Today I was kind of moody in the morning, so I stayed away from the bubbly people until I tamed the Bear. That is what animal we came up with in the Team Building to represent me, a bear. Big and Soft and Cuddly until you get him pissed off or he just wants his own way... My staff agreed.

Can't spend too much time blogging tonight, it's Sweetpea's birthday so I. I'm out of here.