By popular demand, more from the infamously talented Mike Ives
Legend has is that when Mike Ives was fired from The Roanoke Times in the late 1970s — for “living with a woman who wasn’t my wife, et cetera” — nearly all of his clips disappeared from the newspaper’s morgue.
That was because Ives himself stole them, he told the author of the story linked above.
Sadly, they were in the care of a friend who died, and Ives never was able to retrieve them. All that’s left is his book: “Give Me a Break. Buy This Book,” which we delved into a couple of weeks ago.
Happily, since then, two more of Ives’ columns have emerged, including his very last one for this newspaper. The one on the left is not it (I’ll present that one Monday).
They were sent to me by the regular denizen of this blog who goes by the handle Debbie.
As Debbie noted with this column, it reads as if it could have been written today.
On behalf of all Ives fans, thanks, Debbie.
Please help yourself to a couple of volumes from Dan’s Bookshelf.
And Ives fans — if you’ve got any more, send them to me. I’ll return them, and you’ll get a book for your trouble!
January 6, 2012 - 8:00 AM
Hippie.
“Can today’s citizens return to the basics and muddle through…”
No! We write songs for third graders to sing complaining and wallowing in self pity. Liberal dogma now suggests our fate is divorced from hard work, sacrifice, planning and delayed gratification. All of our problems can be blamed on those who are working hard, succeeding and paying our federal taxes.
#2 And don’t forget telling lies about the actions of the folks in Elmwood Park, terps.
# 1 Was there any point there?
#2 Liberals are all about hard work and especially sacrificing one’s time for many good causes. But I have to ask you also was there any point that might be in an shape or form in what we call here on earth reality?
Arent his bits stored on Microfiche at least somewhere?
You are kidding right?
joe,
They’re on microfiche. But they’re a lot harder to find that way. The newspaper also had a clip file of all of his columns. That’s what apparently “disappeared” when Ives was fired.
Good article. His best stories were about people. Ives seemed to have a talent for finding a person with an interesting story.
He did one about a big guy named “Running Bear” who had beat up another guy in one of the market bars. That was interesting because Ives sympathized with the big guy who had tried to avoid the fight. The smaller guy apparently instigated the fight but the big guy still got in trouble.
He also did a story about a guy from Wytheville named 500 (Fred Falwell). 500 had won an arm wrestling contest at Billy’s Barn. Ives and another pool player from Wytheville had apparently used 500 previously for protection when he and the other guy were hustling people at pool. That story came with large pictures and a longer than usual story.
Ives was a story teller. Everyone knew someone that he did a story about.
Ives did some really fine stuff and some not so fine pieces — but then that’s the life of a columnist, isn’t it? I don’t know how it is down there these days, Dan, but in the late 70s and through the 80s there always seemed to be a certain number of writers or reporters — usually among the best on staff — who gave the bosses constant headaches and often left under some sort of pressure or because they got tired of battling. For a time, it was a pretty wild crew, and Ives, who I never got to know well, was probably more trouble than most.
Bill Hudson
Please see the song the 3rd graders “wrote” that was posted on yesterday’s blog. That is all you need to know about liberal dogma in 2012. Self pity and blaming others for you problems has become religion on the left. The holy grail is to find a way to make the achievers suffer. The bolshevic revolution succeeded in purging society of the “1%” and look how well that worked for Russia.
“Ives did some really fine stuff and some not so fine pieces — but then that’s the life of a columnist, isn’t it?”
Indeed.
#9 Boy did you get that one not only dead wrong but so way off base. But do I have to ask what in the world does kids singing have anything to do with bolshevik revolution, self pity and so on.
What Paul is doing is giving the kids something that is called self-empowerment and having the kids feel good about themselves.
Anything else who might post here very well just might just show your fears in one form or another.
Bill Hudson
Let me see if I got it. We teach kids to put down achievers (instead of teaching them how to achieve) so that they can “feel better about themselves”. The best “self empowerment” those kids could ever get is to skip that ridiculous music class and go pick up a science book.
Somebody obviously took away terps meds this week. He has sunk deeper and deeper into a manic state with each day, hour and post. Dan, since you know him, maybe you could get him some help. Or we could take up a collction to get him an appointment at the Carilion Clinic.
Again #12 No you do not have it not by a mile or two, give or take.
But tell you what, if you just do a small amount of digging into who the Kid Pan Alley is you might find that they do not put down achievers it is just the opposite.
As to your comment that it is a ridiculous music class, well here is hoping you do not have a thing to do any form of education system nor any kind of power in this regrade.
[--"The best “self empowerment” those kids could ever get is to skip that ridiculous music class and go pick up a science book."--]
As long as it’s not a State of Texas Board of Education science book.
#13 Not sure what’s happening with terps, dave, but it seemed to start recently with a bunch of ridiculous assertions about how Roanoke-based Occupiers were destroying Elmwood and driving away families who want to use the park. It’s sort of been downhill since then for terps.
I’m glad I stumbled across this Mike Ives info. I was around here in the later 70s and remember Mike coming to a dive in Blacksburg called Dave’s Hot Dogs. It was Dave Mundy’s biz before he took off to run the New River Junction. RIP Dave, sometime last year as I remember it.
Anyway, Mike Ives was rumored to be persuing a life as a professional pool player and he was hustling around various burgs. I beat him in a game of 8 ball and won a pitcher of beer. I still have the pitcher. He was a fun guy then and he wasn’t hustling that night, it was just a promotion for Dave’s.
Jeffrey King,
I just stumbled upon another Mike Ives clip today, as a matter of fact. It’s too big to scan and present here, but there may be another way, if I can find the time.