Hall of Fame inducts five more
By KURT NESBITT — Journal Staff WriterArticle Photos
NEW ULM - A show of hands at Turner Hall Friday night showed few hands in response to a question of how many attendees at the annual Minnesota Music Hall of Fame banquet went to all 20 ceremonies.
Only five people raised their hands.
Many, many more people raised their hands when asked if they were attending their first induction ceremony.
The first inductee, clarinetist John Arsers, played with jazz greats like Babe Wagner and Guy DeLeo after he left the Merchant Marine following World War II. He dedicated his award to his late brother, Bill. During his remarks, Arsers mentioned that he thinks the styles of music that were once common have diminished, although many great musicians remain and still ply their trade today.
To St. Paul Police Sgt. Gary Salkowicz, the St. Paul Police Band, which was inducted after Arsers, was a way to continue playing the instruments he has loved since high school.
While big band musicians dominated the bill at the ceremony, they were not the only act on stage. The band still has many St. Paul police officers within its ranks although it has many more volunteers than when it was first formed in the early 1920s. It performs in about 20 parades and concerts a year.
Sanborn school teacher Tom Ginkel, who played in garage bands like The Altairs, The Shags and The Fugitives in the 1960s and later went on to found Clover in the early 1970s, received an induction for his work, which included the 1973 CMA Song of the Year.
Ginkel got his start in rock after convincing his mother to trade his clarinet in for a guitar. After he started teaching, he kept playing and the seven-nights-a-week schedule became brutal. He played up to 300 nights a year after he formed Clover in 1972 and stopped teaching when his music schedule and studio session work took over.
The Steel Family Singers, a family gospel group from Minneapolis that was formed during the 1980s, were recognized for their achievements during their career. Emcee Brian Filzen mentioned the family 'has earned every award that the music community has offered in the State of Minnesota in addition to becoming a new inductee in the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame.'
The Steeles have worked with Parliament-Funkadelic ringleader George Clinton and contributed work to the soundtracks of movies like 'Hoop Dreams', 'Graffitti Bridge' and 'Corrina Corrina'. They have also worked with Rod Stewart and Luther Vandross and were most recently featured in a Target commercial singing 'Jingle Jingle'. The Steeles were not able to come to the award ceremony.
Special recognition went to Bob Raskob, who started the Medina Ballroom in 1956 and rebuilt it into an entertainment complex in 1974. Raskob's remarks seemed to echo Arsers' since he, too, wishes that the big bands would come back.
Finally, bandleader Bruce Bradley received the only standing ovation of the evening. Bradley acknowledged Jerry Kadlec, who was one of Bradley's sidemen, during his remarks.
Carol Steinhaus was recognized as the groups' Volunteer of the Year. The MMHOF also gave its first Lifetime Achievement Awards posthumously to Harold Berdan and to Virginia and Tex Prahl for their work for the organization.
