Useful Jenkins to appear at reunion, birthday party

CRESCO - It started out as a family reunion. 

Then a 60th birthday (Sam Boeke) was added.

Then a nationally-known band (Useless Jenkins) was invited to play. 

It just kept getting bigger and bigger.

A venue (Expo Center in Cresco) was reserved.

Food trucks were booked.

It all just fell together for the Boeke family.

Eighty family members were invited. And since it was a party, extended family and friends were invited.

But there was still room for more, so Sam Boeke and Dean Guerdet decided to open it up for anyone who wanted to attend and celebrate! 

Come early to celebrate with family and friends.

Food trucks (Albatross, Max and Nick’s Open Grill and Lilly’s Taco Truck) will be open, starting at 6 p.m.

The beverage services are available.

The main event, Useful Jenkins, will be performing on April 23 at 8 p.m. 

One of the band members is Sam’s nephew, Charlie, who is looking forward to sharing his music with the Northeast Iowa community. 

Tickets for the general public can be purchased at https: //boekerevival@eventbrite.com or scan the QR code found on promotional advertising [on back page] for $20. 

Tickets will go quick, so reserve yours today!

 

Burn the evidence!

If you look close at the poster, there is reference to an old family legend, “Burn the evidence.”

Some of the instigators recall: Back in the day, young people would gather at old farmsteads and have some fun. One such evening, many gathered at one of the Boeke farms and sat around a fire talking smart. 

They ran out of wood so they dismantled an old barn to fuel the fire. Long story short, the barn caught on fire. A friend yelled “Boeke, what do we do?”

In an off-handed comment, the response was “Burn the evidence,” so the friend started shouting “Burn the evidence!” 

Ultimately, the fire department came and controlled the burn. The next day, a neighbor came with his tractor and loader and dug a hole to bury the evidence, as well as grated the soil over the spot. The neighbor felt compelled since he was at the get-together. 

Later in the week, Gary Boeke, Sam’s father and Charlie’s grandfather, started to hear in the town of the incident. 

 

 

 

He took his son out to the spot in his old red pickup and Gary asked “Where is the barn?”

The son rhetorically responded “What barn? There was a barn here?” 

“Yes, there was a barn right here!” Gary replied, pointing at the newly tilled soil. 

“Really? Do you think someone stole it?” the son said, looking dumbfounded.

Gary quipped, “Nobody steals a barn!” 

The ride to town was a quiet one, and Gary never asked about it again. 

 

Useful Jenkins

The band originated in Mankato, Minn. Its music is an eclectic mix of campfire jams, up tempo covers and originals with a healthy dose of foot stomping bluegrass. 

The original band was formed back in 2007 as a campfire band. When I joined in the beginning of 2012 things really took off. The current lineup has been established for eight years. We have recorded four full-length albums, re-recorded the first album and are currently working on our fifth,” said Charlie Boeke, band member and family member of the Boeke clan.

Current band members include:

Pat Forsyth — Vocals & Acoustic Guitar

Boeke — Vocals and Mandolin

Karen Kozak — Violin and Viola

Olivia Quintanilla — Cello

Nick Spielman — Bass

Teeto Miller — Drums

Charlie’s great-grandparents were Mart and Marge Boeke, and his grandparents are Gwen and the late Gary Boeke. Jeff and Suzi are his parents.

Some of his fondest memories of Cresco are going to Beadle Park as kids, fishing in the pond at the Country Club and judging the kolache contest at the Mighty Howard County Fair. He says of his Uncle Sam, “He is a Renaissance Man with a heart of gold!”

Useful Jenkins play festivals because they can host a larger crowd. “This is where we fit best because we have outgrown the bar scene. As a band, you need to move and grow with the times. We all have full-time jobs, and most members have families, so touring all year just isn’t sustainable,” explained Charlie.

Useful Jenkins played roughly 120 shows every year for about 10 years. He noted, “These days we play about 20 shows each year, because I have to fly back from Hawaii to make things work. The shows we play now are a much larger production rather than grinding it out at bars on the road.”

Charlie’s full time job is managing the coordination of events on Hawaii and on the mainland. “We have a company called Groove Productions, which throws concerts and high-calibre, music-based camping events/music festivals.”

Useful Jenkins hosts music festivals. The next festival it is hosting is over Memorial Day Weekend in Clarks Grove, Minn. at Harmony Park Music Garden. It’s called Revival Festival (revivalfestmn.com) and will have roughly 5,000 people in attendance. 

Headlining bands include The String Cheese Incident, The Infamous Stringdusters (Grammy winner / current Grammy nominee), Leftover Salmon (current Grammy nominee), The Motet, Boombox, Big Something and many more. 

“All of these bands tour globally. Useful Jenkins brings the region together to facilitate a festival environment that patrons are familiar with and thrive on. We would love to continue this legacy in Cresco and assemble various national country artists. The grandstands would be perfect,” Charlie said.

Useful Jenkins has roughly 40,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and have over one million active global streams to over 80 countries every year. That number continues to grow. The group is also on YouTube, Pandora, iTunes, Instagram, Facebook, CD Baby, etc.