Spencer Blaw and Julian Loscalzo
Once in Minnesota, my old buddies, Rocky and David (see first Tribute) put me up for several weeks while I found a job (driving a cab) and an apartment (in Frogtown). I decided to put-off taking the bar exam until the summer of 1980 and instead concentrate on establishing and re-establishing friendships. Besides Anne and my college friends, I had a couple leads to start with – Mike Whelan and Jim Mangan were two guys I’d never met before and only knew to call because of Nick Lethert.* Both Mike and Jim became great friends going on 43 years now.
*Nick had come out to Philadelphia to visit his girlfriend’s sister living with Lance. In an earlier chapter I tribute Lance with steering my life in another fortuitous way – knowing Ira Katz. Also, but for Lance, would not have known Nick. But for Nick might never have known Mike and Jim. I can’t imagine my life in Minnesota without knowing Mike and Jim. At any rate, upon meeting Nick and learning he was from Saint Paul, I told him I was planning on moving back to St. Paul and did he know any left-wing political activists to look up.
In addition to looking up Mike and Jim, I stopped in at the Saint Paul Tenants Union to volunteer, having been a landlord/tenant lawyer in Bridgeton, NJ. This led to meeting Spencer Blaw, their tenant organizer. Spencer steered me in so many significant ways! “Sure,” he said, “we can use a volunteer, and – more important – the Tenants Union softball team, the Saint Paul Riff Raff, could use another player – this Sunday!” (Emma Goldman’s adage about dancing – or, in this case, playing ball – immediately came to mind.
below caption: the SPTU in 1980 – that’s Spencer far back
The Riff Raff played in the “Cooperative Commonwealth Co-Rec Softball League,” an invention of Julian Empson’s (now Julian Loscalzo). There were no written rules and no umpires, but it was expected that you would let the girls play and not hog any ball that was rightfully theirs. The losing team bought the first round at the winning team’s favorite bar. The League consisted of teams running the gamut of left-wing organizations in the Twin Cities – the NLG (see Judy Chomsky Tribute) Hay Market Press, MN COACT, May Day Bookstore, Clean Water Action, Northern Sun Alliance. Talk about a perfect way to meet people and make connections! Thank you, Spencer and Julian!
Early on I had Julian tapped to be the next Mayor of Saint Paul. Such a personality! An inspirational leader! A modern-day Emma Goldman (how important fun is). Julian never did run for Mayor, but became a key advisor and aide to many politicians, and currently is one of the best lobbyists at the state Capitol. His quotient for fun combined with politics led to the “Save the Met” campaign and his “Bleacher Bums Outdoor Baseball Tours.” (The stories we could tell traveling to Milwaukee, Chicago, Kansas City and other outdoor baseball venues after “The Met” – home of the Twins – was torn down in favor of indoor baseball under a dome.)
Spencer did more than steer me to fun playing ball and making connections in the left-wing community, one year later he helped launch my solo legal practice, “Andy’s Law Office – Where the Meter Isn’t Always Running,” sending me my first paying cases, albeit tenants without much ability to pay. At the time, to keep overhead low, I was practicing out of my apartment.
The intertwining of all these folks amazes me to this day. I first hear about Mike Whelan while I’m in law school out east. I come back to Minnesota, meet Spencer Blaw, and find out he’s living at Mike Whelan’s! And later on, a few chapters from now, you’ll read all about Mike Whelan and the many others who at one time or another lived at Mike’s – the start of the “Bluebird Nation.” Suffice for now, I attribute my becoming a successful attorney and Minnesota politician all to having the good fortune of meeting Nick, Mike, Jim, Spencer, Julian and the Commonwealth softball players.
caption: Nick Lethert, Brendan Coleman, Jim Mangan – all part of the Bluebird Nation.