VOL. V Issue 8N
The Ditty Bops are Belles on Wheels

by Michael Hoinski of Village Voice
The Ditty Bops bike tour finally ends,
4,500 jittery and often moonlit miles later
Soybean enthusiasts with probably enormous calves. What a sight. Two pinups sitting on lawn chairs underneath a fake palm tree inside an Ace Hardware in Kansas City. Imagine the awkward pickup lines they must inspire.
Can you . . .Point me in the right direction?
It took Amanda Barrett and Abby DeWald, otherwise known as the Ditty Bops, a month to travel 2,500 miles north from Los Angeles through California and then east to Middle America. On. Their. Bicycles. They will have pedaled another 2,000 miles when the tour in support of their old-time jazz and folk sophomore disc "Moon Over the Freeway"concludes under a big-top tent at South Street Seaport. Meanwhile, their backing band and instruments get to ride in a biodiesel van.
The Bops say the bike tour isn't a premeditated ploy to hype the album its timeless bursts of dreamlike melodies tickled with playful lyrics, songbird harmonies, and ollie-on-a-dime musicianship stand on their own even though the title track prophesies their journey:

"Moon over the freeway/Catch us as we ride/We just left the city/Left it far behind."
Nope. Serendipity had a hand in this one.
"What happened was I had just had Chinese food," explains guitarist DeWald, over the phone, under the palm tree. "And I opened up this fortune cookie, and it said, 'There is a serious ride in your future.' It just came to me: the bike tour."
"We didn't have any summer plans," adds mandolinist, washboardist, and former model Barrett. "And we knew that we'd have to go out and support the new record, so . . . "
The duo's, uh, good fortune also includes guest appearances on A Prairie Home Companion. Like that radio show's biscuit-lovin' ringleader, Garrison Keillor, the Bops have created a microcosm in which to deliver their theater. In it they dress like pirates or flappers or whatever's en vogue at the thrift store, use Photoshop to insert themselves into other people's lives on their website (dittybops.com), and author their own On the Road via a bike tour blog that includes their daily food intake down to the soybean. They even sell a calendar featuring them clad in risque numbers while acting out imaginations from the realm of Matthew Barney.
But the bike tour is soberly real. A heat wave, barreling semis, the uncertainty of arriving at gigs on time . . . What else can catch them as they ride? "Dogs that bark at us when we're riding at four in the morning are definitely scary," Barrett admits.

Over the weekend, the Holabird area got a fair bit or rain. The Ponderosa collected 1.15 inches in the gauge by noon today. Representative Stephanie Herseth is going to be taking Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns on a little drought tour. She'd better not bring him to Holabird, as we expect an big ark with several pair of animals to be floating by.

On a weather related note, for the benefit of local folks, it has been reported by Larry Nickleson that the tornado picture that appeared in the previous edition of the Holabird Advocate was taken at the old Glen Sunding place.

Word has been received that Dr. Paul Hohm died last Friday. His obituary is found in the Huron Plainsman. Doc Paul's contribution to the Holabird area in general, and the Hinkle family in particular can not be diminished.

It started when he operated on E.E. Hinkle's ulcers back in 1954. That one live saving alone could earn him our praise, but he went on from there. Doc Paul also took out E.E.'s appendix at the same time while he had him open, and it was close by anyway. He also delivered K.C. Ferris, Sandy Soulek, And then Jerry, Doug and Darrel Hinkle. Not all at the same time, of course. He assisted with delivering Shelby Hinkle as well, which is no small accomplishment at age 86.

Doc Paul tried to retire, but when patients came, he could not refuse. He took planters warts off of Darrel Hinkle's feet. He even sliced a ingrown hair mole from E.E. Hinkle's face.

Doc Paul did things for other people as well. Another of the over 3500 babies he delivered was actress Cheryl Ladd, but as it happens she went to school in Wolsey in the same class as Donnie Hinkle, so even Donnie owes Doc Paul a little something.

After a week of waiting Holabird Advocate Publisher, Jerry Hinkle has heard nothing from the representatives of Dakota Wesleyan University. Of course, he isn't in any big hurry, but some folks have expressed curiosity.

One thing Jerry needs to do is find his old ACT scores and his GPA. Institutions of Higher Learning are really big in that kind of thing. DWU is also looking for people of good moral character and future promise. That will be a tough one, but we might find someone who will vouch for him there. The real hard part is the 2.0 GPA. If he doesn't have that, Jerry may have to repeat High School before they let him in at DWU.

Well, it took us awhile, but after a day or so, we stopped reading page 15 of the September-October issue of the South Dakota Magazine, and started reading the rest of the issue.

the lower left had corner of page 14 has an article and a photo of the Delton and Carole Beck collection of bottles, which are on display at Ree Heights Grocery, the best grocery store in all of Ree Heights. Also we recommend Ernest Hemmingway's recipe for Pheasant Steak, found on the bottom of page 63.