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Remembering Ma
Nugent
-- Dated: 8Jun2006
BY CATEY
SULLIVAN | CONTRIBUTOR
Ted Nugent's
tamer lyrics run along the lines of "My Baby Likes My Butter on Her
Grits" and the St. Viator alum once admitted to urinating on a nun.
But his mother?
A 28-year Palatine resident when she died in 1989, Marion Dorothy
"Ma" Nugent deserves a memorial in the center of town.
So avers Eric
Kinkel, who is leading efforts to have a 1,200-pound stone monument
in honor of Ma Nugent erected in front of Durty Nellie's, where he's
presenting a concert fundraiser Sunday to forward the plan.
"I also want an
honorary street name for her. Her support of the Midwest rock scene
was huge," said Kinkel, 47, a long-time Nugent family friend.
What does Ma
Nugent's famous son think of all this?
He's currently
touring Europe , so don't expect him at the benefit. His secretary
sent along the following sentiments from Ted, though, about his late
mother:
"My mother &
father provided me the structure & hardcore discipline to be the
best that I can be, which of course is mandatory for the American
Dream and quality of life overall.
"Where my dad
performed the quintessential drill sergeant duties, literally, and
baptized me to the higher level of awareness of my sacred mystical
flight of the arrow thru bowhunting, my beloved mother, Marion
Dorothy Nugent, provided immeasurable positive support, a glowing
sense of humor & was my role model for being happy and buoyant.
"That pretty
much defines my life to this day."
The Remembering
Ma concert will feature Dirty Dan Buck and the Boyzz, the band that
opens for Nugent when he performs in the area. Shortly after Dan
Buck founded the group in 1975, Ma Nugent started showing up at all
their concerts.
"Lots of times,
we'd be packing up after a concert and she'd invite us over to her
house. We'd play cards until 5 or 6 in the morning, and eat whatever
Ted's fresh kill of the week was. Eggs and caribou or whatever for
breakfast," Buck said. (Nugent, an avid hunter and NRA advocate,
claims he hasn't eaten any meat he hasn't killed himself since the
late 1970s)
"Ma's an unsung
hero," Buck added, "She had an advice column in the Illinois
Entertainer. She was like the Dear Abby of the rock kids' world.
Didn't sugar-coat anything."
Kinkel met
Marion Nugent in 1980, at a promotional event for Illinois
Entertainer.
They had, he
said, an instant connection, although Kinkel didn't know much about
Ted other the chorus of "Cat Scratch Fever."
"We just hit it
off. She accepted me in ways that my own mother didn't. I had the
long hair, the rock and roll culture. She was open minded to all
that," Kinkel said. "I remember once I got my hair cut, cut it all
off, and went over and showed her. She grabbed my cheeks and said,
'Don't worry honey, I love you this way too.'"
Kinkel was soon
squiring Ma to see everyone from Dirty Dan to Billy Joel. He also
went on more than a few blind dates she arranged for him "Yeah, none
of that ever worked out for me," he said. "Still single."
When Kinkel
decided his own band wasn't destined for superstardom, he talked it
out with Ma.
"I told her I
didn't think I was going to make a living at my music. She looked me
dead in the eye and said, 'Well then, you must do good with your
music.' "That inspires me to this day," he said.
Ma Nugent
Remembered
8 p.m. Sunday
Durty Nellie's, 180 N. Smith St., Palatine
$15 (must be 21
or older)
(847) 358-9150
www.erickinkel.com |
