Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Iron Horse Echoes Carillon

    It was a '2-ticket day' for me, the second was a St. Paul Saints baseball game. I liked hearing what was called 'Iron Horse Echoes', a locomotive bell carillon. I counted and it had 21 railroad bells. When they were played it sounded a lot like the Glockenspiel in New Ulm, which I hear during my annual visit for Oktoberfest. The man in charge told me and another fan how people said they would miss the trains a lot when the Saints move to the downtown stadium next season, so this is why he brought out the bells. Sounds like they may be back for the final Midway Stadium game tomorrow, and he said Saints boss Mike Veeck will be attending it. I already have a ticket for this game.
   The Saints were playing the Winnipeg Goldeyes, and the Saints got on the board early, 1-0 with 'Little ball' in the first. The lead was extended to 5-0 in the 2nd. Winnipeg briefly led after a big inning, scoring 7 in the 5th to go ahead 7-5. This included a grand slam with 2 outs. The saints tied it 7-7 in the bottom of the 5th, with a 2-run home run. The Saints reclaimed the lead with another 2-run home run in the 6th, now up 9-7. They added 3 more in the 7th, and 2 in the 8th, to win it 14-7, and I would be one of those who would call it a 'Football score'.
    I arrived early to get the giveaway item, a poster of the mural inside the stadium. I got two as somebody must have dropped theirs. I picked it up in the concourse later on. I signed a banner that will be going into the time capsule, identified myself as a writer and comedian. I got a photo with a mascot from Super-America. A Swedish girl in my section was having fun with her 'we're #1' foam finger, getting plenty of photos of it with others. After the game while I was on my way out, after a look at the carillon, a man said something about Good Samaritans. He said he wanted a ride, didn't say where, and wanted to 'Jump on my back', even literally tried to. I said I needed to go and left, just as he was taking a cellphone call. I asked him if he had heard about what had happened at a bar in Fridley, where 2 men gave rides to 2 women, who lured them into getting badly beat up. They went to the hospital, last I heard they were  in critical condition. He didn't have a response for it. Also notable was getting a 'Train' shirt that somebody left behind, it was in a bag and they must have just bought it at the souvenir stand in the concourse.
    The lid-lifter in my 2-event day was the Minnesota State Fair. I danced with a teddy bear. I heard a band play 'Wagon Wheel', well known when performed by Darius Rucker but Wikipedia said he is covering a Bob Dylan song. I ate a pork chop, and met Ronald McDonald. I screamed on the carpet slide, and I liked seeing the Fine Arts building as usual. I voted for the artwork called 'Drag Queens', which was 3 women smoking. Found out Spam no longer has a building there. Before I went to the fair I got one event ticket crossed off my list, the Gopher ticket office offered me a 2-game pack for football games this fall. The first is a non-conference game against San Jose State in September, thankfully not the same weekend as a wedding of comedian friends. The game will be a week before the wedding. The other game is against Iowa, the one I want more, it is in November. It is way cheaper to get into the first one.  

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