The Skip Wagner Story PDF Download

Author: Arthur Hasler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 117

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Book Description
Skip Wagner was an amazing showman with incredible musical, comedic and artistic abilities. He played at least 24 musical instruments capped by his unbelievable skill at playing two trumpets simultaneously in harmony. He played them all very well. He learned to play the instruments, as a child, in high school, in an Army band and throughout his career. He never stopped adding to and tuning his shows with new musical numbers, comic routines, jokes, costumes and props. He was also constantly improving the interaction with his band members and showing off their artistic talents. The stories, music and comedy were all woven together in a seamless manner. At 86, you can still see the engaging personality that has made him so successful over the years. Skip retired from regular nightly performances in 1999 and in 2000, moved permanently from Milwaukee to the small town of Three Lakes in Northern Wisconsin where he had started performing during the summer in 1964 continuing until his retirement. In 2014, his ex-wife, and now partner, Daisy, retired from her job in Milwaukee and joined him. Their private "Wagner Museum" in Three Lakes showcases Skip's artistic and craftsman skills with numerous framed photographs, stained-glass windows & lamps, drawings, custom made models and even a suit of armor made from scratch by Skip. He formed his first band when he was 11 and was still organizing bands 65 years later when he was 76. The regular Skip Wagner Band in numerous reincarnations played all over Wisconsin, but most frequently in Milwaukee in the winters and in Three Lakes in the summers. The regular Skip Wagner Band had a 35-year run in Three Lakes ending in 1999. The band often performed three sets each night seven days per week. No aspect of running his band was too small or too large to escape Skip's, organizational, musical, or artistic talents, whether it was the staging, sound, lights, signage, costuming, or props. He attracted extremely talented performers to assist him and kept them for many years. Skip was never jealous but promoted and developed the talents of his team, always for the betterment of the show. Skip continued the tradition of entertaining in his family begun by his famous vaudeville roller-skater father. In 1966 Skip and his first wife, Mary Ellen, accompanied their six-year-old daughter, Lori Ann, the National March of Dimes Poster Girl, on an 80,000-mile tour of the U.S. visiting every state and countless celebrities and politicians including the President, Lyndon Johnson. Lori Ann died from Spina Bifada at age 14. Skip had a short 1966 Las Vegas run in with the Keith Phillips Six and could have had a Las Vegas career, except for his commitment to Lori. Skip the artist, sign maker and craftsman has left his mark on Three Lakes with his Black Forest mural as well as signs for local businesses. This book is a photographic and narrative retrospective of Skip Wagner: His life, his bands and his friends. Through a year-long in-depth research effort, photographs of Skip Wagner's life and career have been selected with great care from his personal pictures, the Three Lakes Historical Society, his Oneida Village basement mural, newly discovered photos from the Vilas News Review, former band members and friends as well as numerous photos recently taken by the author in the Wagner home, of Skip's outdoor Black Forest mural, the Historical Society Wagner Exhibit and of Skip's performances. The historical photos have been carefully restored and all photos have been researched for captions with the most accurate possible names, places and dates. Skip Wagner is a legend in Three Lakes. However, not until I began my interviews did I truly understand the depth of his talent, how many lives his band had not only touched, but actually shaped. He was a kind, talented, innovative, and extremely talented musician and performer. He found a fabulous life in Three Lakes and Wisconsin.