Showing posts with label Crescent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crescent. Show all posts
Monday, February 28, 2022
The countdown is over
I needed to let you know that, due to a bunch of personal issues (most of them job-related, some related to finances, some even church-related), I've decided to stop holding the Ragtime to Riches Festival.
The continuing pandemic sure hasn't helped, as it wiped out what would've been the 2020 and 2021 R to R events.
Still...I'm thankful for everyone who attended the festival since its 2005 inception, and I'm thankful for every performer who did the festival.
Haven't dropped music for good, because I'm still going to the Pink Poodle Steakhouse in Crescent, IA to perform on the last Sunday of the month. (Hope to see you there!)
Saturday, July 20, 2019
A tale of two ragtime festivals (Part 1)
Well...it seems as if two ragtime festivals took place here in the Omaha/Council Bluffs/Bellevue area last weekend.
But one and the same got on the books: The 2019 Ragtime to Riches Festival.
This year's was the first two-day version since the 2010 edition...the fourth and last R to R held at the Strauss Performing Arts Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. (UNO priced the Strauss Center out of the Great Plains Ragtime Society's reach not long afterwards, so the local rag club had to find another place for the fest.)
Since 2011, R to R has taken place at Omaha's First Central Congregational United Church of Christ.
This year, First Central got a Saturday partner: The Pink Poodle Steakhouse in Crescent, IA.
On 7-13-2019, at 5:00 PM (Central time), a "Tune-Ups Party" took place at the legendary Crescent restaurant...the eatery with some of the best prime rib in the Omaha Metro and three working antique upright player pianos.
And all three old uprights got a workout...especially the middle one, a 1913 Bellmann. (The others are a 1919 Gulbransen and a 1916 Ricca & Son.)
In the photo above, the Bellmann is on the left, the Ricca's on the right.
In the publicity for the "Tune-Ups Party," it was said that at least one of this year's featured R to R 15.0 performers would play at the Pink Poodle during an event modeled after a similar one...the Thursday night tune-ups that kick off the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival.
If it hadn't been for two little girls (Maddie and Brooke) and the mother of another little girl (a youngster named Echo; I wish I knew her mom's name) stepping up to tickle the keys, I would've played the entire length of the Pink Poodle tune-ups.
Three hours.
I still had lots of fun at the Poodle, and- equally important- the restaurant's dining room was half full of customers.
When I come back, I'll tell you what R to R's 2019 Sunday session was like.
But one and the same got on the books: The 2019 Ragtime to Riches Festival.
This year's was the first two-day version since the 2010 edition...the fourth and last R to R held at the Strauss Performing Arts Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. (UNO priced the Strauss Center out of the Great Plains Ragtime Society's reach not long afterwards, so the local rag club had to find another place for the fest.)
Since 2011, R to R has taken place at Omaha's First Central Congregational United Church of Christ.
This year, First Central got a Saturday partner: The Pink Poodle Steakhouse in Crescent, IA.
On 7-13-2019, at 5:00 PM (Central time), a "Tune-Ups Party" took place at the legendary Crescent restaurant...the eatery with some of the best prime rib in the Omaha Metro and three working antique upright player pianos.
And all three old uprights got a workout...especially the middle one, a 1913 Bellmann. (The others are a 1919 Gulbransen and a 1916 Ricca & Son.)
In the photo above, the Bellmann is on the left, the Ricca's on the right.
In the publicity for the "Tune-Ups Party," it was said that at least one of this year's featured R to R 15.0 performers would play at the Pink Poodle during an event modeled after a similar one...the Thursday night tune-ups that kick off the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival.
If it hadn't been for two little girls (Maddie and Brooke) and the mother of another little girl (a youngster named Echo; I wish I knew her mom's name) stepping up to tickle the keys, I would've played the entire length of the Pink Poodle tune-ups.
Three hours.
I still had lots of fun at the Poodle, and- equally important- the restaurant's dining room was half full of customers.
When I come back, I'll tell you what R to R's 2019 Sunday session was like.
Monday, April 30, 2018
Under new management!
The famed Pink Poodle Steakhouse in Crescent, Iowa, that is.
I went there yesterday for this month's Great Plains Ragtime Society "meeting+music," and found out that the new owner is a man named Joe McNeil.
And Joe's presence at Crescent's legendary eatery keeps things all in the family.
Joe's mom, Doreen (formerly a food server there), bought the steakhouse in 2003 after its previous owner, Mary Jo Paulison, passed away.
From 1973 to 1985, the Pink Poodle was a husband-and-wife venture: Mary Jo married Art Paulison (the man who teamed up with a business partner in 1966 to buy the place) in '73...seven years or so after she herself became a food server at the Poodle. In 1971, Mary Jo inherited some money and used the loot to buy out Art's partner...only to see the place burn down a month later (January 1972).
What was left was a motel...so Art and Mary Jo remodeled it into apartments for a place they could live. Then, a year later, the newly-married couple took out a small business loan to rebuild the restaurant (this time, around some arches Art bought after the 1975 Omaha tornado knocked down that city's Prom Townhouse and left that eatery's arches available).
Then in 1985, Art's death left Mary Jo in complete charge of one of the most interesting places to eat here in the Omaha/Council Bluffs/Bellevue area.
And now, Doreen's battles with Parkinson's Disease have left the steakhouse in Joe's hands.
Now...what makes this restaurant (which actually opened in 1955 as Pede's, renamed the Black Glove a few years later, and finally, in 1964, rechristened the Pink Poodle) so interesting?
First of all, there's the doll collection.
Lots and lots of dolls, starting with one from the 1860s; the majority of figures come from the 1900-39 period. Mary Jo didn't dig dolls when she was a child, but she sure grew up to be an avid collector of 'em...and she specialized in collecting Dionne quintuplet dolls.
Second...can you name another restaurant in these United States that features three working antique upright player pianos?
The Poodle has, from left to right, a 1919 Gulbransen,
a 1913 Bellmann,
and a 1916 Ricca and Son.
(Maybe you've seen these three pianos played on YouTube.)
Last, but certainly not least...you can't knock the food.
I like the Pink Poodle's spaghetti-and-meatballs dinner, its chicken dinners, and the eatery's ground sirloin dinner (I had that yesterday). Can't beat the "adult soup and salad" dinner, either.
But the Poodle's real calling card is its prime rib...Omaha Magazine's Number One choice in 2004.
And this Crescent landmark's got a very, very friendly staff.
If you'd like to see what Hannah, Joe, Jolene, Kolton, and Co. are up to (and if your appetite screams out for prime rib or anything else on the restaurant's menu), just come out to 633 Old Lincoln Hwy., Crescent, IA 51526.
The restaurant's closed on Mondays, but it's open 5:00-9:00 PM Tuesdays through Thursdays, 5:00-10:00 PM Fridays and Saturdays, and 12:00 Noon-9:00 PM on Sundays. (You can go online to www.pinkpoodlesteakhouse.com or call 712 545-3744 to place a reservation...or just come on over.)
And if you like old-time piano, just come over to the Pink Poodle at 2:00 PM on the last Sunday of each month...except in December (when GPRS gets together on the second Sunday). And in May and November, there's no GPRS meeting at all. (Check http://r2rfestival.webs.com/GPRS to make sure.)
See you at the Poodle!
I went there yesterday for this month's Great Plains Ragtime Society "meeting+music," and found out that the new owner is a man named Joe McNeil.
And Joe's presence at Crescent's legendary eatery keeps things all in the family.
Joe's mom, Doreen (formerly a food server there), bought the steakhouse in 2003 after its previous owner, Mary Jo Paulison, passed away.
From 1973 to 1985, the Pink Poodle was a husband-and-wife venture: Mary Jo married Art Paulison (the man who teamed up with a business partner in 1966 to buy the place) in '73...seven years or so after she herself became a food server at the Poodle. In 1971, Mary Jo inherited some money and used the loot to buy out Art's partner...only to see the place burn down a month later (January 1972).
What was left was a motel...so Art and Mary Jo remodeled it into apartments for a place they could live. Then, a year later, the newly-married couple took out a small business loan to rebuild the restaurant (this time, around some arches Art bought after the 1975 Omaha tornado knocked down that city's Prom Townhouse and left that eatery's arches available).
Then in 1985, Art's death left Mary Jo in complete charge of one of the most interesting places to eat here in the Omaha/Council Bluffs/Bellevue area.
And now, Doreen's battles with Parkinson's Disease have left the steakhouse in Joe's hands.
Now...what makes this restaurant (which actually opened in 1955 as Pede's, renamed the Black Glove a few years later, and finally, in 1964, rechristened the Pink Poodle) so interesting?
First of all, there's the doll collection.
Lots and lots of dolls, starting with one from the 1860s; the majority of figures come from the 1900-39 period. Mary Jo didn't dig dolls when she was a child, but she sure grew up to be an avid collector of 'em...and she specialized in collecting Dionne quintuplet dolls.
Second...can you name another restaurant in these United States that features three working antique upright player pianos?
The Poodle has, from left to right, a 1919 Gulbransen,
Last, but certainly not least...you can't knock the food.
I like the Pink Poodle's spaghetti-and-meatballs dinner, its chicken dinners, and the eatery's ground sirloin dinner (I had that yesterday). Can't beat the "adult soup and salad" dinner, either.
But the Poodle's real calling card is its prime rib...Omaha Magazine's Number One choice in 2004.
And this Crescent landmark's got a very, very friendly staff.
If you'd like to see what Hannah, Joe, Jolene, Kolton, and Co. are up to (and if your appetite screams out for prime rib or anything else on the restaurant's menu), just come out to 633 Old Lincoln Hwy., Crescent, IA 51526.
The restaurant's closed on Mondays, but it's open 5:00-9:00 PM Tuesdays through Thursdays, 5:00-10:00 PM Fridays and Saturdays, and 12:00 Noon-9:00 PM on Sundays. (You can go online to www.pinkpoodlesteakhouse.com or call 712 545-3744 to place a reservation...or just come on over.)
And if you like old-time piano, just come over to the Pink Poodle at 2:00 PM on the last Sunday of each month...except in December (when GPRS gets together on the second Sunday). And in May and November, there's no GPRS meeting at all. (Check http://r2rfestival.webs.com/GPRS to make sure.)
See you at the Poodle!
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