Iowa Gallivant JayJay Goodvin on Marshall County

It is always a privilege when we can welcome on the news line, Mighty John Marshall.

He is the record guy.

MoneyMusic.com is his website.

And as we've said, if you've got some vintage vinyl and you'd like to see what it's worth, just send me an email right now, Jeff at KXEL.com, or send a text, 319-235-1540.

Tell us what you have, what condition it is in, if it has a picture sleeve, et cetera, and we'll pass that information on to our guest mighty, John Marshall.

John Marshall, thanks so much for taking the time.

How are you, sir?

I am fine, great to be with you as always.

It is always a fun conversation.

And again, moneymusic.com, you've got the records of the day, the record appraisal guides, links to the books that you've published.

It's all there at moneymusic.com.

And each month you come up with a top 10, because that's how it should be.

We're talking about music here, a top 10 list of some things that attract your attention.

And I have to confirm for you and the audience, last month you mentioned a Beatles 45 worth $100.

I got it.

It's right there at home.

I'm not sure what I'll do with it, but I got it.

And so we're going to start with the Fab Four again this month.

Well, 1966, the Beatles recorded Eleanor Rigby, that 45 with its little picture sleeve, also currently up to $100.

Eleanor Rigby, Yellow Submarine on the flip side.

Now again, I've admitted this and you can laugh at me derive civilly if you like, but I'm not a big Beatles aficionado.

I respect the work.

It's just I'm not a big I just don't know much about it Where did Eleanor Rigby come from?

Well, the real Eleanor Rigby dies in her sleep in 1939 of unknown causes at the age of 44 her tombstone is in the graveyard of St.

Peter's Paris Church in Liverpool a few feet

from where McCartney met Lenin for the very first time in 1957.

They

met in the graveyard or in the church?

Well, Lenin's band was practicing in the basement of the church.

Okay.

And McCartney went over to see if he could get in the band.

No, to them they were a few feet from Eleanor Rigby.

Well, little did I know they were a few feet from a graveyard.

I had no idea.

Okay, so McCartney tried to get in the band.

All right, that's interesting.

Eleanor Rigby, and that's the capital, 45 from 1966, worth $100.

The British invasion continues with your next item.

Rolling Stones, very collectible, one of their very first 45.

Time is on my side.

Again, with its little picture sleeve up to $100, Ed Sullivan had to tell the audience to be quiet during the appearance of the Stones, but the screams never ceased.

The man closed the show with Time is on my side and Ed said, that's it, they'll never be back again, but he relented and they returned.

Well, popularity and ratings probably make a difference.

I'm just imagining this, and I was young when the Sullivan Show was on, but I remember it every Sunday night at seven in this part of the world, and I can just imagine Ed Sullivan trying to calm the crowd in the balcony.

That didn't have a success written all over it.

All right, and again, the picture sleeve is what's important because that's the thing that had the greater likelihood of degrading or being tossed aside over time, making it more rare, correct?

Right.

The record itself would be up to about $25.

The pictures leave up to $75, making a total of $100.

Ed Sullivan also tried to censor the stones at one point,

did he not?

Oh, yes.

Let's spend the night together.

And he said, no, let's change that to let's spend some time together.

But Mick, when he got to do it live, didn't change it.

He did it the way it was.

What are you going to do to me?

I'm singing it live.

Well, I mentioned that because your next item, it's one of the best known songs of the era, and it's also got a story I didn't know.

Well, you know, people ask me, are those old 78s worth money?

Well, they are, especially if they're rock and roll 78s, like Little Richard, 1955, Tooty Fruity.

It was the first of his many hits.

Now, the original lyrics had to be changed to get it on the radio.

The original lyrics are, Tutti Frutti got booty, so they had to change it to Tutti Frutti, ah, Rudy, to get it on the air.

That's not the same thing at all, John.

That's not at all the same thing.

Now, again, I'm not very hip, but I did not know that booty was a phrase in the mid-fifties.

Yeah, well.

Richard knew

Well, he you know the epitome of cool right there yet to the fruity got booty is a much different than a Rudy.

Hmm, right?

Okay And as

far as we know there are no recordings.

We've got booty on it.

So

oh Now that's just a darn shame.

Yeah, that's really tragic and that's Now the list you provided it says specialty 78 is that the label specialty or is that a description?

Specialty is the name of the label, specialty

records.

All right, so look at your 78s, and if you've got 2D fruity, you'll never listen to it the same way again.

Mighty John Marshall, the record guy joining us live on KXEL.

MoneyMusic.com is the website.

Now we go back to the 60s, and this is where we've got, again, a very famous song that folks know.

Well, the Drifters had a lot of hits.

One of their biggest, certainly, saved the last dance for me.

Now the value

is up for the $45.

It's for the album, up to $125.

And the songwriter, Doc Pomis, wrote this hit at his wedding reception.

Confined to a wheelchair and crutches due to polio, he can't dance with his bride, but he urges her to have fun dancing with a guest.

But remind her, as written in the song he wrote that day, don't forget who's taking you home and in whose arms you're gonna be.

The man who couldn't dance reminds his new bride to save the last dance for me.

Hmm.

Hmm.

They're not talking about dancing.

I don't think there's a theme here, sir.

But now that's that's so fascinating because here's the man at his own wedding and that's the inspiration for the song because he cannot dance with his bride.

All right.

That's that's sad in some respects, but what a what a wonderful thing.

Okay, so that's a

good lifetime movie.

Get on that, folks, get on that.

That's an Atlantic label, LP.

And again, it's the LP of with the drifter saved the last answer.

And that's a fascinating story, $125, according to mighty John Marshall.

All right, now we get to something that's more in my wheelhouse, the mid 80s.

I don't remember spinning this LP as the kids used to say, but it's worth money.

Wish I had it.

Well, you know, Van Halen.

had only one number one record that was a single call jump now jump is on their album 1984 and that album is not a collectible maybe up to ten dollars but they also recorded jump on another album they did called summertime on vampire records current value up to three hundred dollars

vampire records now is that does this have to do with distribution rights in the u.s as opposed to say canada

Well, it is a Canadian issue,

so

it could very well be that.

But it came out the same time as the 1984 album, which was the biggest selling album of all time, and Jump, the biggest selling single for Van Halen.

So the Canadian-pressed album on Vampire Records, called Summertime, had Jump, but it also had a David Lee Roth hit, didn't it?

Hock the Teacher also on that album as well.

No, the video still etched in my mind, not necessarily in a positive way, but I do have that.

All right, so that's what's interesting about all of these things you share with us on a monthly basis, and you're so kind to do it, is that we know of one thing, but it doesn't take much, and there are a few things on this list that make that point again, that just one little difference in printing, distribution, et cetera, can make a huge difference.

All right, let's go back to the Fab Four.

Number one, hit for the Beatles.

can't buy me love that 45 with its picture sleeve up to $800 and in this case, almost $800 of that is just for the picture sleeve.

It's a black and white picture sleeve.

The same sleeve they used for, I want to hold your hand.

They just changed the title at the top of the sleeve to can't buy me love $800 for the sleeve, maybe 20 bucks for the record.

Who cares about the record?

I got the picture sleeve.

A few copies or what makes that so distinct as opposed to other picture sleeves with the Beatles?

Well, rarely they would use the same picture as they did on their first record.

Not as many did get out, so the value much higher.

So again, the original in this case does not have the same value necessarily as this

second one, because again, you don't usually see the second, the same image a second time.

Wow.

The first one that I want to hold your hand would be up to $100.

Well,

that's, you know, that's dinner money.

I mean, it's not bad.

But, uh, all right, let's go back to 1958, sir.

Well,

you know, do what records are very, very collectible.

Rolling Stone magazine includes For Your Precious Love by Jerry Butler on its list.

of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

The value depends on the record label on Abner or Falcon Records, 50 bucks, but an original 1958 copy of For Your Precious Love by Jerry Butler on VJ Records, up to $2,500 today.

Yikes, it's like they had five copies of that, apparently.

So Abner or Falcon Records, okay, 50 bucks, not bad.

1958 the year VJ records up to $2,500.

And again, must be very much more limited pressing of these, right?

It wasn't as big a hit at first time around when it hit Apner and the Falcon records, it became a real big hit.

And thus the value is lower than the original.

Oh, so originally out on VJ.

Okay, it's fine.

And then they

Reissued on another label and for whatever reason that's when it took off.

Yes.

That's fascinating.

All right, let's go back to the stones, please

Well talk about pictures leave beast of burden by the Rolling Stones 1978 the pictures leave was controversial showing a lion sitting on top of a woman and The record company issued many of them, but not as many as we would have liked.

It's currently up to three thousand dollars

just for that picture sleep.

Now, beware of counterfeits.

Original sleeves are a very light lavender color.

The fakes are more of a grape or a deep purple color.

Any time something's gonna be worth money, somebody's gonna try and make a fake.

So when I see these things online, you know, $10 beast to burden with picture sleep, hmm, red flag.

It's a counterfeit, so don't be fooled.

If something's valuable, they'll copy it, including money itself.

Oh, absolutely.

It comes to think of it.

But what was controversial?

Was it like an image of domination of a lion on top of a woman?

Or what was everybody's beef?

Yeah.

That basically was it.

Yeah.

Come on, people.

I mean, I'm sorry.

I'm just getting crotchety in my old age.

1978 for Beast of Burden.

Hard to believe that's been that long.

$3,000 there.

Ah, but the mighty John Marshall list for the month, the dollars only get higher when we go back to 1958 now.

Well, 1958, we have Little Anne.

Who the heck is Little Anne?

Little Anne was Tina Turner, recording under her first name, Little Anne.

Ike, Tina Turner split up in 76, but in 1958 Tina was known as Little Anne, her single box top for tune town records.

Now worth up to $1,500 on a 78 and $4,000 on a 45.

So Tina did well for herself after she and Ike split, of course, we're well aware of that, but the the and I'm just going to repeat the prices for people.

The 78 is $1,500.

The 45 is $4,000.

This is the time when we were migrating, right, from 78 to 45.

And so they printed more of one and not the other, hence the difference in value, right?

Exactly.

Yep.

I can hardly imagine Tina Turner has been around, had been around so long that she's actually on a 78.

Oh

my.

Now, I listen when you talk.

See, I picked right up on that.

Maybe it's because we're talking about money with Mighty John Marshall.

By the way, his website is moneymusic.com.

You can see his records of the day, complete listings for the Beatles and Elvis, a couple of books that he penned as well.

Well, in honor of the Field of Dreams game this week, you even have a Joe Garagiola record as a record of the day here a few days ago.

Folks, if you want to see it, you go to moneymusic.com.

All right, well, we've buried the lead because you have, I don't think in the now eight months or so we've done this monthly segment and you're so kind to do it, but I don't think we've had anything quite worth this amount of money, not frequently.

Well, you know when it comes to promotional records mostly sent to radio stations with those words promotional copy or not for sale printed on the label The values in many cases can be worth a lot more than the copy sold in stores some cases a lot more 1964 VJ records we talked about VJ and Jerry Butler VJ records released the promo copy of the Beatles 45 ask me why with Anna on the flip side copy

currently worth up to $30,000.

You're

killing all of us who used to play records for a living because, you know, you were thinking, oh, yeah, I remember what these look like.

Why didn't I walk out with them?

We don't, you know, we estimate because at that time, 1964, perhaps I think there were about 5,000 a.m.

radio stations in the country.

So we ask ourselves how many at that time were playing the Beatles?

Quite a few.

So

Quite a few copies got sent out.

And again, from a distribution standpoint, many of us know capital, many of us associate Apple with the Beatles, but in those early days, you had a few different options sometimes.

Yeah, they were on VJ.

They were also on MGM.

They were on Tali records.

They were on Swan records, several different labels until the capital people said, they belong to us.

And the rest was on capital until they went and did their own Apple label.

Man, fascinating stuff.

Absolutely fascinating.

MoneyMusic.com is the website where you can check in every day for something new from Mighty John Marshall, the record guy, his email and phone right there if you have questions, the appraisal guides on the USB drive and so many other things.

John Marshall, it is always a privilege.

Thank you so much for this time and we'll do this again come September.

How's that?

I look forward to it.

Thank you.

Alright, take good care and mighty John Marshall.

The record guy joined us live on the news line on News Talk 1540 KXEL where Iowa comes to talk.

News Talk 1540 KXCL, where Iowa comes to talk and good morning and a good Friday morning.

And on this Friday, it's one of those mornings we connect with JJ Goodvin, the Iowa Gallivant.

He writes about traveling around the state at theiowagallivan.com and returns to our program.

And JJ, great to see you this morning.

Oh, it's nice to see you too.

How's things going in the Cedar Valley?

You know, it's been a pretty good month of August, albeit a little bit wetter than what we're accustomed to, but one of those Augusts.

Well, let's talk about Marshall County, which is what we said we would do the last time that you were on the program.

We've been selecting counties at random to talk about.

We landed on Marshall County, which has a special place in your heart.

The birthplace of yours truly, that's right.

Marshalltown, the birthplace of JJ Goodvin.

Yes, that's right.

But my family and I were living in Grundy Center at the time, which is in Grundy County.

And I was born in 1978.

Both towns at the time had perfectly epped hospitals that could birth a child.

But my mom said it was $75 cheaper.

to have the labor go through Marshall town at Mercy at the time.

So there you go.

That sounded more like a dad decision if you ask me.

And I said to her, I'm like, okay, well, that's 45 minutes away from Grundy's center.

What would happen if you had me along the way?

She said, well, it would have been for free.

So there you go.

Yeah.

75 bucks I mean you couldn't even figure out what the difference between two hospitals is period much less narrow it down to that precise a number today

Yeah, they both my mom and dad were from far Western, Iowa So they were probably still in the pioneer times in their mentality.

So I get it

Well, let's talk about some of the other reasons that we should highlight

Marshall County.

Of course, Marshall Town you alluded to, but where do you want to begin this virtual journey through Marshall County?

I think we should start in Marshall Town because we tease with one of my, I think the best mushroom in Swiss burger I've ever had in my life.

I mean, like anywhere, not just in Iowa, but it's at the flying elbow in Marshall Town.

And it is just amazing.

And the Flying Elbow is such a unique restaurant.

It is a professional wrestling themed restaurant.

And even if you don't like professional wrestling, you're still gonna have a good time there.

They have old school matches on loop on their TVs.

It's such a fun atmosphere.

It makes you feel like a kid again.

And it's a great way to

Just escape and their food is awesome You know, I really I really think people should experience that kind of atmosphere And it was our Marshall County special when it comes to this 99 County special tour that we're on and this mushroom Swiss burger conglomerate that you can think of it was so darn good and if you love that kind of burger then

That is your heading but they have so many other things on their menu and I think The flying elbow is a destination Restaurant that so many people need to get on their radar.

It's not too far from Waterloo

You know, when we're talking about destination restaurants in Marshalltown, one of the places that comes to mind for me, and I think I've only been there once, is Stones, which is right near the railroad tracks and has the reputation of being one of the most well-established, longest-serving restaurants in Marshalltown.

That's right, and there is one place in Marshalltown where you're not supposed to

really put ketchup on something.

That's Taylor's Maid Right.

I took a beating on social media because I put ketchup on my Maid Right.

when I went to Taylor's in Marshalltown for the first time.

I like ketchup on my on my loose meat sandwiches.

I am sorry, Sumi.

I put it on my made right in Taylor's.

I put it on my canteen in Atomua.

I put it on my taverns in Northwest Iowa.

I just like ketchup on them.

But there's a lot of people that say

like a hot dog, you shouldn't put ketchup on them.

But I do anyway.

And it was really fun to hear folks talk about how you should not put ketchup on a made right.

And I even put American cheese on it.

I asked for that

too.

We're talking with JJ Goodvin.

He is the Iowa Gallivant and travels around the state at theiowagallivant.com using that address to write about all the different places that he goes and you can follow along and a number of different

themed tours that JJ has done.

He talked about the special tour looking for the specials in restaurants all over the state in each of the 99 counties.

What else do you want to talk about in Marshalltown JJ?

Do you want to stick with food or are there some other destinations that you want us to look for?

Yeah, smoking G's in Marshalltown is a great great restaurant barbecue place That was actually our Marshall County Tandy.

They have the hot tenderloin style You can get it with mashed potatoes and gravy, but man, they're burnt ends If you know barbecue and you know burnt ends, that's the place to go and their their condiments on their table

I love condiments.

I really do.

I just, I can't get enough of them.

And some people will like skewer me on social media and say like, if something like that is so good, you shouldn't need something like barbecue sauce or whatever.

I love sauces.

I love condiments.

So when they're proud of them, I'm going to add it to it every time.

And smoking G's has great barbecue sauces.

So if you if you want a good barbecue experience, actually a great barbecue experience, then go to smoking G's in Marshalltown.

That's all I got to say about that.

Give us a couple of points of interest, JJ, in Marshalltown beyond the culinary.

Oh, yeah.

So State Center, you know, Watson's grocery, it's not a grocery store anymore.

I mean, it's still preserved.

like a grocery store, but it's a museum now.

And it's they did such a great job with keeping to the historical, you know, basically, it's a time capsule.

They basically took Watson's grocery in state center and said, just boom, keep it the way it is.

It's on the silos and smokestacks national historic area list.

of sites and it is so cool in state center man those residents and those locals in state center they know how to ignore a train or get used to a train those trains that go through state center not only are they loud but they are high speed and when i was there uh for the first time i kept looking over and not one local ever balked

the train came by and that's when you know it's a true railroad town and Watson's Grocery is such a fantastic museum and it just shows you all the central Iowa history when it comes to small town really and they have and my favorite part is some of the locals have stories of the owners of what they say about the husband and what they say about the wife

which one was more gracious and which one was a little bit more hard to deal with.

So I'll just put it that way.

And it's such a great piece of history.

And I'm so glad that it's there still on the main drag in State Center because it's a perfect relic of how small town Iowa really was.

And I really wish it still could be.

And in some ways, it's still there.

It really is.

There's still grocery stores.

You go into Watson's grocery and it looks like it is a time capsule.

It looks like a blast from the past.

And it is.

There are still some grocery stores out there that look a lot like Watson's.

And when you see it, it's just like, I want to buy everything in the store so I can keep it going.

Talking with JJ Goodvin, the Iowa Gallivant about his travels around the state of Iowa and talking particularly this morning about Marshall County, not far away from the Cedar Valley and the corridor and right on Highway 30, as well as on the Union Pacific tracks, as JJ alluded to in reference to State Center.

And where else do you want to take us, JJ?

Haverhill, very small town.

The Matthew Edel Blacksmith Shop.

It's a mouthful when you try to say that all in one sentence, but it is such a neat piece of history.

It's only open spring to fall and you know, it's not open during the winter.

It is an amazing piece of Midwest history.

He was a genius.

He really was.

And one of those local folks that just could build anything

Anybody could come up to him to Matthew Edel and say can you help me with this or can you build this?

Can you design this and he had patents on who knows?

How many things and they have the documentation of that too you go into his workshop the blacksmith shop there and Everything's how it was when he closed up shop or when he just was too old to Or when he retired or whatever when he couldn't

keep up with it anymore it just kind of stayed there and it just was forgotten basically.

I mean there is so much stuff in there and so many interesting like levers that you you you pull on where he hid his whiskey flasks and where he had I'm not doing it any justice it is one of the most fascinating blacksmith shops it's not anything like you've ever seen if you've seen a blacksmith shop

Some of you might say, I've seen them all.

No, you haven't.

You need to go to Haber Hill, Iowa, in Marshall County, and see the Matthew Edel Blacksmith Show.

Because this guy was unbelievable, genius beyond genius.

And go to the local cemetery there, and you will see the crosses.

in the cemetery that he designed for the locals.

And actually his crosses are not just there in the local cemetery, they're across Iowa.

And when you see one of those crosses that he designed, you'll see it in other places too.

And you'll realize that Matthew Edel was such an amazing man.

Well, we're talking about Marshall County.

There's Albion.

There's LeGrand.

There are many other places we haven't talked about.

We're running short on time.

JJ, a last opportunity.

What else do we need to know?

Yeah, Highway 30, Lincoln Highway, LeGrand.

I'm glad you said it.

One of the best omelets I've ever had there in LeGrand at the Sunrise Cafe.

JJ Goodman, the Iowa Gallivant and we'll find out in just a moment where JJ is going to take us next.

As we do when we connect with JJ, we pick our next destination at the end of each segment and we do that by flipping a coin over the Iowa map.

We've got a quarter from 2005.

It's an Oregon

state quarter part of the state quarter series and we've got the map spread out here on the counter and let's see where this lands and what we'll be talking about with JJ in just a couple of weeks when he's back with us on the program.

And we don't have to go far just north and a little west to our next location which is going to be Franklin County.

All right we're going to Franklin County and I'm going to take you to one of the last remaining

Electrical units in the country, there in rural Franklin County.

That's a historic electrical unit that dates back to the early days of powering up the countryside.

And incredibly important.

JJ Goodvin is the Iowa Gallivant.

He writes about traveling around the state at theiowagallivant.com and will connect with him once again in just a couple of weeks here on the station where Iowa comes to talk.

News Talk 1540 KXCL.

Newstalk 1540 KXEL, where Iowa comes to talk.

Hello, I'm Jeff Stein.

I'm joined now via Zoom by Jordan Bergren.

Mr. Bergren is an animator, creative director, motion designer.

That's his business.

He's also a board member for a group that is associated with bringing business and entertainment and a variety of things to areas of Cedar Rapids, the New Bohemia and Czech Village group.

Mr. Berger, and thanks so much for taking the time.

Thank you

so much for having me, Jeff.

Happy to be here.

Tell us about the New Bohemia and Czech Village Group.

I guess there's an acronym of NBCV.

What are you folks?

Who are you folks and what do

you do?

It's a mouthful.

So, you know, it's a little bit easier to go NBCV.

But we're basically a group of business owners and, you know, mostly business owners around the Newbo Czech Village area here in Cedar Rapids.

And really kind of the whole goal of the group is to figure out ways that we can get more people down here really experiencing Nubo-Czech Village here in Cedar Rapids.

And, you know, we all obviously have worked here for a long time.

Many of us grew up here in Cedar Rapids, and it's really just sharing the space and trying to bring some life to the neighborhood and keeping it alive and also, you know, keeping our local businesses alive.

It is a unique and historic area of the city, but for those who are not terribly well familiar with Cedar Rapids or eastern Iowa, who may be listening across the state, describe what part of town this is and what makes it unique.

Yeah, so

we're on the kind of south side of town, you know, I wish there's

many historians that could probably hit this better than I. But it's obviously Nubo Czech village, so Nubohemia within the older days of cedar rapids.

There was a large Bohemian population that came here as well as from Czech Slobaks as well.

So you kind of have these two portions of the river, either side of the cedar river here where we've got Nubohemia on one side, and we've also got Czech village on the other, which of course is where the

check National Museum is at.

But you know, it's been a historic place for Cedar Rapids.

There's been so much history steeped here, which I'm still learning myself.

I've actually, me and several other colleagues of mine now work at CSPS, which has a long history itself of kind of having the immigrants, you know, ages ago.

I think it was built in cornerstones as like 1905 or 1906.

So it's kind of fascinating, but now we're up on the third floor over here where we've got our kind of co-working space.

So of course, like anything, we're keeping it alive and it's changing and morphing as time goes on.

CSPS is a fantastic facility and venue having attended events there in the past.

And that's one of the things you've mentioned that you're trying to do with the whole New Bohemia Czech village is to

bring more people in for events to sample these things, patronize the businesses, et cetera.

How did this, shall we say, more concentrated current effort come to be?

You know, I was a little bit late to the party, so I can't speak fully on the origins of it, but we're a relatively young organization now.

You know, there's also been

other efforts such as the district, which is still going.

And it's very much in that same kind of vein of trying to make more things happen down here, get more people within the businesses locally.

But, you know, I think it really, Nick Jilinick, who is the owner operator of Parler City, which is a great little pub and eatery right down here on the corner in New Bohemia, you know, he was, he's our president.

And it all kind of came from him and Ann Poe, who's on city council, but

It also has a, you know, long history with the area.

You know, it's just a lot of, there was, there was, I want to say maybe six or seven people originally that kind of got this thing rolling.

And as time has gone on, more business owners have been attracted to it because there's just so much energy that's coming together with all of us trying to make something happen.

And in my case, you know, as you mentioned, I'm in the video production, you know, so.

All of my clients are on either coast, so a lot of my time is stuck behind a computer in an office, and it's been very nice for this type of outlet to get together with a bunch of other people that want to see fun stuff going on around here and kind of sharing that with other people, not just here in Cedar Rapids, but from across the region.

Now, for your business, as you just mentioned, you can position yourself in the center of the continent and have clients on each side of you.

Crazy

times we're living in,

right?

Well, because again, and again, the staring at the screens, I can relate.

And so it's nice to have human contact.

But so you're in a co-working space.

Describe what sorts of businesses do we find throughout the Nubo-Czech village area?

Those are very distinct areas between themselves.

But what kind of businesses do we find?

Well, you know,

it's it's pretty amazing.

There's there's quite a collection from where I originally came over here, you know, within the originally it was called the vault co-working space, which was where Geometric, which is just behind the market.

But I guess kind of the primary staples here, of course, we have the new boat market, which is kind of almost

you know, the original idea of it was almost as a startup accelerator of sorts for itself, where you'd give this, you know, stall, it's a much better, probably a little bit too of a low lying term to actually use, but they would give a space for an upcoming chef or artists, you know, a place to be able to sell their goods.

And then the idea would be that they would grow out of that and then go find their own space within the community.

So in that way that the market and

kind of where I originally had come in for co-working are very similar in that sense, right?

Because we also had the Iowa Startup Accelerator there now, and I actually worked next to several members of a new venture studio, which is all about, you know, finding new businesses and getting them out and really growing Iowa's economy, not just Cedar Rapids.

But you'll find a lot of those.

Of course, there are staples within the restaurants.

And we've also got Soko down here in Czech Village.

I'm going to feel bad if I leave people out.

So you meet all these amazing people and there's so many amazing restaurants and bars around here.

And then, of course,

to come back around full circle to kind of the co-working there's a bunch of people that you would never guess that are here right that are you know i'm stuck away one of six here and there's a another spot over here gravitate co-working which is actually based out of Des Moines they just opened up a new co-working space right next to office depot over here which is another co-working space so there's kind of this great

conglomerate so to speak and it's probably not the right word but you know there's there's all these small businesses and and medium and large businesses alike all kind of finding roots here.

What's kind of cool about that to me anyway is the synergy that you're able to build because again you're in a co-working space and you're sitting there with headphones and working on videos and audio and looking at a screen but

there's somebody 10 feet away that you can tap on the shoulder and say, what do you think about this?

Or someone can ask you something.

And I mean, the idea is so much different than an office where everyone all works for the same employer.

That's got to give a lift in a very different way from a creative standpoint, I would think.

Oh, absolutely.

You know, especially for a long time at our original spot before the Geometric Building had changed hands over to now Wendler Construction.

You know, there was several of us that just happened to run into each other and worked in the same space together because we're all open desk working spaces.

You know, that was kind of the setup that we've traditionally had.

Obviously, there's other places that are more like you get, you know, a dedicated office and you're in your own little silo.

But, you know, it was great because there's several video guys that end up coming around, you know, and then you have marketers that are right next to you.

And you also have philanthropists.

And it just kind of covers the board.

There's people in real estate and finance.

So in one aspect, it's really interesting, which I'm sure a lot of you viewers, all of us had to deal with in 2020 was when you go home and you're trying to work from home, whether you're part of a large organization or you have your own small business.

Some people thrive in that, but a lot of us, we need to get out in the world.

So it's always been beneficial for me.

Fortunately, when I came to my career, it wasn't completely odd for us before 2020 to be working remotely just because of the size of clients that we need to reach.

I went bonkers the first six months that I was by myself in the house.

So it's great being out just in that aspect.

But of course, like you mentioned, there's also the creative aspects of even getting people's opinion that aren't in your industry or that don't practice your craft.

It's a really cool opportunity.

Now, the reason we're talking today about the new Bohemia and Czech Village Group, and by the way, I would suggest you go online, nbcv.org.

I'll say again, nbcv.org.

You can learn much more about the organization, but you have a major event coming up tomorrow as people are listening to this conversation, which is Saturday, August 15th, the Third Street Block Party.

What is this all about?

Yeah, we're super excited about this.

You know, we've had some events here and there, but I think this is one of the first, now that we've kind of got our fully formed board, really first thing that we've been diving in on.

And it's been so much fun seeing everybody come alive and come up with ideas for this thing.

But as you mentioned, it's the third street block party.

So right down here in Nubo, we've got the third street that runs right in front of the market here.

And we're going to be shutting it down for the day.

Um, and to give you an idea of what we've got going on from eight to 11, we actually have the CR Corvette Club car show coming through.

So they'll be getting set up and you get to see come, you see all these beautiful cars coming along, right?

They've got their own community, of course, which is thriving.

Um, we'll see how much of the street.

If there's overrun for that, it'll also kind of go in the front of, um, the new bow market over here.

Uh, but once that gets done at 11, we're going to make some changes and then we're actually within the street going to have

have a bunch of different kids events.

So we've got the plane in the street kids zones that are going on.

And basically, it's been super cool because we have again, so many business owners within NBCV that a bunch of different businesses are doing their own thing, right?

You know, we've got some some pottery and clay things going on.

weather permitting.

Hopefully it's not too humid to wreck the clay.

That's always a possibility.

But then over here, we're also going to be doing things like street art and chalk drawing and painting on stones.

And we'll have some music floating around the air too.

There's just going to be a bunch of different stuff for the kids to get out and do.

We've got bouncy house.

Of course, it wouldn't be a proper kids event without a bouncy house.

That'll be going on in the north side of the market lawn.

But then coming up after that, we've actually got, while we'll be setting up for the stage for our kind of main show at night, we've got a great artist named Jake Stack, and he'll be doing playing in the CSPS courtyard, which is just right off of Third Street there.

So you'll be able to hang out, get yourself a drink as we prepare for the proper funk daddies.

And of course, we're super happy to have Mayor Tiffany O'Donnell kicking things off for us at 545.

And the funk daddies will be playing and we're bringing in a stage right in front of parlor city there on the south end of third street and 12th.

Um, and they'll be playing from six to nine.

So it's, it's going to be a lot of fun and we'll see how good we can do our first go around on this thing.

You know,

well, it's certainly ambitious.

And I, and I had to laugh when you were talking about the kids zone, the, the name for it is playing in the street and it's every kid's dream.

Right.

I mean, they actually go.

We're telling them to go play in the street.

You don't have

to look both ways, too.

It'll be good.

And as you said, I hear that a bouncy house is part of the city ordinance.

If there's any kids' events, you have to have one like that.

And this is all free and open to everybody,

correct?

Absolutely.

Yeah, we're very excited.

Again, we want people to come down and experience this area.

It's a great way.

We've got the farmer's market going on downtown.

So, you know, there's going to be so much stuff going on throughout the day all across the city that we're excited to have a place that people can come and spend time.

And hopefully we get some beautiful weather to come through.

We'll see if we're that lucky.

How gratifying is it for you and the others similarly situated on this board to see this area, which again, it has gone through ups and downs over time as many areas of Cedar Rapids.

have because of flooding and various other things.

How gratifying is it to see this kind of spark and life out of this business and entertainment area?

Oh, it's been amazing.

You know, I mean, obviously there's, there's people here that have within the community that have been here for 40, 50 years.

maybe even longer when you take their families into account.

But just for me, personally, I grew up here in Cedar Rapids on the north side of town.

And my grandpa had a place down on Ellis Boulevard, which was a little bit further north than Newbo and Czech Village.

But we still came down here and spent a lot of time.

But I actually lived out in Denver in my 20s.

And when I came back, even actually just before I'd kind of moved out,

you know, it really is kind of a shell of what it is now, quite literally.

You know, I remember when they were just gutting out what is now the, the Newbo City market over there.

And it wasn't, you know, there was just a glimmer of an idea in someone's eye to bring the market around.

So to really see this life down here, to be able to come down here on a Thursday.

you know, on a Friday, a Saturday, really any day that we see it thriving, see people around, you know, there's all these new beautiful developments happening where we're actually getting more residential down here, which I personally love because, you know, it's really building neighborhoods again.

We're so much of us within the Midwest are used to these traditionally, you know, we'll call it kind of 40s, 50s.

designs where everything is car-centric.

It's just great to be able to see so much life down here, especially with having residential and commercial, that residential feeding the commercial.

Now it's about just opening it up and trying to get more people to understand what we really have here and to come experience it and have a great time.

Best way to come experience it is to show up on Saturday the 15th.

It's the 3rd Street block party It starts in the morning various things throughout the day from the car show to the kids zone to live music and you get to sample and experience what the neighborhood has to offer NBCV org that stands for new bohemia and check village group NBCV org Jordan Bergram a member of the board of the group

You find him for his business at JordanBruce.tv.

Thanks so much for taking the time and best of luck with the event and the continued resurgence of the area.

Thank you so much, Jeff.

Stay cool over there.

We shall do our best and hope for good weather for you.

This is where Iowa comes to talk.

News Talk 1540, KXEL.