Keith Reierson, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota gives us a peek behind the Masonic curtain and shares a few insights about the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Minnesota.
Welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where we hope to inject the world with the dose of the Minnesota nice that we desperately need, the whole world desperately needs. Uh, John Schwetz here with, uh, my pal Steve Brown. Hello, Steve. Uh, I was just playing eardrums to the intro music. You parly. So eardrums. Does it ever irritate you when you see people playing air guitar or air drums when they're just, they suck at it? No, but I did see a guy playing. Air guitar with a bottle. His bottle of beer. Oh, he was like, it was very funny. Like he was twirling around. Was that, was that this weekend? Yes. Yeah. And it was, we made a, we made a fun night out. It people, people knew that, uh, that the, the legend of John Clueless is going to be there. No, it's, it's like one of those nights where, you know, uh, you gotta work for it a little bit. Sure. And, and you have to make it interesting. If it's full of people, then you just do your thing and it's great. And you have a crowd when's yelling And I am, I'm a performer where I'm, I'm much more kind of involved in the crowd. So if the, if it gets quiet between songs, I get like weirded out. So I like, oh yeah. I like people yelling stuff at. That's how, that's, that's how engaging I need to be. Otherwise I'm just like nervous cuz people are like, you know, waiting for you to tune your guitar and like, I'm still talking. I want people to talk. So, um, it was fun. A lot of fun. Wh where, um, uh, did you see anybody that you knew? Lots. Any lots of people. Lots of people. Lots of old pals came out and lot. Yeah. College buddies. Uh, some old family friends. Uh, my, lots of family of mine. My daughter actually got up and sang a song with the opening act. Really? Yeah. I'll play you a little video. It's, she was, I'm in trouble. John, she's, she's, she's a better singer than me. Well, she's more, she's more talented in, in songwriting, and she was a natural, uh, kind of a ham. Like, oh, I'm in, We're in trouble. Well, well, I mean, it depends on how, where she takes this. Yeah. I mean, this, this could be good. You know, were there any old pioneers There? Was Dan Brown there? Dan Brown for sure was there. Dan Brown was there. Okay. Oh God. I was outta town or I would've been there. Front row. No. Well, it's a walk and stumble back home. I'm, I'm waiting for that big dugout show. We have a big rager after at the Schwetz house. Oh, the Schwetz House rag Here, let's walk over here. Yeah. It was a really fun, fun weekend. Very, very cool. People are so nice to come out and, and bear the people came from, you know, far out and. They made a day of it, made an, made an evening of it. So your daughter is, uh, does she want to pursue music? She, uh, it's, at this point it's kind of a hobby and she really hasn't played. In front of people. She was in choir, so she did performance choir, stuff like that. Um, but as a singer songwriter person, she's just starting to get into it. Is she doing, does she have a YouTube? Oh, that, that's, that's the only place we, she is where she's doing it. Okay. So performing live is, is a new thing to do in front of people, but she's all of her TikTok. She's all over her. She is. Okay. Yeah, I'll, she's, she's, and, and and What's her name? Her name is Lucinda Brown. Lucinda Brown, yeah. Lucy Brown. Lucy Brown. You know what, that's a rockstar name. Is it Lucy Brown? It sounds very cool. I mean, I'm sure that she didn't pick the name because it sucked. No, no. We love the name. It's a great name. Yeah. Lucy Brown, she says. But Brown though. Brown. I mean Brown's. Aside from James Brown, Brown's just kind of a, it's not a rockstar name. Oh, I disagree. I think that it's, it. You know, the single syllable maybe. Okay. Maybe let's move on. Well, what are we doing tonight? Let's find KG and knock on the Oh, kgs at a movie tonight. By himself, which I think is weird, but whatever. We love you Kg. That's why he is not with us tonight cuz he had to go see some movie. He's on a movie assignment and he's got a, what did he have? A box, A crunch. A munch or munch of crunch. And, and, and he takes a, he takes a bite of candy, a handful of popcorn, and he washed it down with Pepsi. And he, and then he says, diet, diet, diet Coke. Diet, sorry, diet coke. And then, yeah, of course, because cuz that, Matters. That doesn't matter. I'm sorry. And then, uh, he says repeat, like, it's like a system he's got in place. Yeah. And before the credits at the beginning are done rolling, he has got an empty box of popcorn. If times it right, he is gone. Yeah. Okay. Enough about kg But, but we'll get'em back in the studio at some point again. All right. Well, we have a guest coming up. We're not sure who it is, but we'll figure that out. Yeah. And, uh, we'll, uh, be back right after this. Cool. And we are back. Uh, we have a special guest with us. They're all special. Of course this one is special cuz we, uh, we have offices just down the hallway from each other. Uh, this is Keith Ryerson. He is the grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of the state of Minnesota for, uh, Minnesota Masonry. And, uh, hello Keith. Hi, John, you're there. Keith, we're here with, I Am here. We're here with Steve Brown. And as I understand it, you might know Steve from a past life. Yeah. What's, what's this all about, Keith? So, uh, Steve's fan, Johnny Clueless, was signed to a record company in town called Orphan Records. Yes. And back in my early days, I actually was an intern at, or. In the recording studio, and then I went on to manage distribution for the record company in about 2000 or so. So I, I actually watched Johnny Clueless record their last album. Wow. What? Yeah. Keith, you know what? I bet an amazing, I don't recognize your voice, but I know if I saw you, I will probably know you in a minute. Right. I don't know. I'm a little older. I'm a, I'm a, a fair amount thinner and I've got a lot less hair. Well, well, Keith is, I'm older. A lot of weight. He's got some pictures on the wall. I'm like, who's the guy with your wife? Oh, that's me. So, okay. Wow. Keith, this is cool. I, I, I bet I would recognize if you saw it, if I saw you, but you know, after that we weren't in the studio much anymore after that. Um, I knew Grant, I know all the guys that were, I actually worked there for a little while too, so Not at the same time though, so Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure I would know him if I saw'em. I know I would. So you were in charge of distribution. Does that mean like all of the truckloads of, uh, of CDs that came in? The returns? The returns you would have to process the returns? Uh, we did it, we did it all. Schlep and CDs around five stores in. Um, selling CDs around the country. Uh, we, we had a really good run in the early two thousands. Yeah. Um, you know, the local music scene and then we got a little bit more regional. Yeah. Um, yeah, it was a, it was a blast. It was, it was a lot of fun to work in the music industry until it wasn't. I know it was a, the industry kind of tanked, but it was an amazing time to be involved and be, uh, you know, it was a, it's a, it was a great studio. It was a great place. Good people, and I'm glad you enjoyed that, but now I need to know how you got. The before we ask that question. Yeah, yeah. I need to know, I heard something interesting today about, uh, you know, obviously the way we consume music has evolved significantly. Yeah, yeah. And I heard that this year there was more vinyl records sold than CDs for the first time since like 19 84, 85. That does not surprise me. Yep. Try to find, try to find a CD player in, in any car or anyone's house or anything. But you're gonna find record players in people's houses now. I one, I still have an old car one that's, yeah, we got, we got a tape player in here. We got, yeah, the old sedan eight track. No, that is really cool. Interesting fact, right? Yeah. Finals overtakes vinyl is, uh, is, is making a comeback. It's pretty cool. It's more gratifying to put on, wouldn't you say, Keith? You put a, a vinyl record on it. It's more gratifying than popping a CD in. It's like, You're more involved. Absolutely. There's, it's cool, no question about it. There's just something about having a vinyl record in your hands that, uh, made it all worthwhile and, you know, if only we could go back to, uh, analog recording as well. No kidding. So I got a friend named Peter McCormick and Peter is a, uh, he is a music lover like nobody's business and wherever he goes in the world and he travels the. He loves to go to record shops and he knows like the, the, the first, uh, pressing of the vinyl. I mean, he's like, I've got a first edition of such and such, and he understands like the, the engineering behind these records and uh, it's really, we are in Amsterdam. And he heard of this one record shop and he came back and he had it, you know, several albums that, you know, he was like, on Cloud nine. Wow. And I said, it's a thing. Yeah. That's a real thing for people. Yeah. I was more interested in where's the next meal going to be. Um, but yeah, it's very cool. So Keith, the reason that we, uh, that we wanted to visit with you is, uh, it's really twofold. Um, one is, I often talk about, uh, the fraternity that I'm a member of, uh, on the podcast and, you know, kind of the connection that it has to the whole concept of kindness. And The Kindness Chronicles is the name of our, uh, of our little program here. And as you know, we have another podcast called Minnesota Masonic Histories and Mysteries. But we have, uh, a big event coming up that is true. I would imagine that things are very busy for you, but I wanted to talk to you about that event, but then also just kind of get your insights as to, uh, where Masonry is going and the things that we're doing, uh, in the Grand Lodge that will continue to make a meaningful impact in the communities that we serve. So, starting with that, what's new in Grand Lodge Land? Well, there is a lot going on in Grand Lodge Land, as you mentioned. We're, we're crazy busy right now. Our big annual meeting where we expect to have about 500 members of our Masonic fraternity, uh, tucked away for a weekend at an event center in Wake Park, Minnesota. Centrally located. It's, and it's a really nice facility. Um, all kind of put together with hotels and the whole. But it it, it's our annual opportunity to get together as one big statewide fraternity, rekindle old friendships, make new friendships. Um, talk about the various programs we have going on across the state. Learn from each other about how we might engage our membership better, our communities better. One of our big programs going forward is, uh, more involvement from our 125 lodges across the state of Minnesota in their local communities, because what we find is that one of the core principles of Free Mason. Is contributing back to society. And, and that can happen in a variety of ways. It, it's being supportive of each other as members of the fraternity being sup. Uh, basically like an extended family. But it also goes broader into giving back to our local communities philanthropically with our time being engaged citizens in our community, and finding ways for our lodges and our members to just help out their. Because if we raise the waters, all of our boats will also arrive. You mentioned that we have 125 lodges throughout the state of Minnesota and many small towns throughout the state of Minnesota, once upon a time had Masonic lodges. Uh, many of those lodges have merged with other ones, but the square encompass is the sign that you're looking for when you go into these towns. It's a symbol that catches your eye. In fact, I was in, uh, Mexico last week and sea, there was a sea and there was a young man who was encouraging people to come to this Michael Jackson show that they were putting on it. It was at the Hard Rock Hotel. Okay. And he had a huge square encompass tattoo on his. And I went up to him and I said, uh, does that symbol on the side of your neck mean anything to you? And he said, yeah. I'm in the process of becoming a Freemason. And he, and I said, well, tell me about that. And he went on. Wow. And I said, so you ha, have you been raised? And he looked at me when I said, have you been raised? Like, yeah, you know something. And he goes, I haven't yet, but I'm looking forward to. And I, I wasn't aware of this, but it sounds like in some areas of Mexico, being a member of the Freemasons is a big deal. Really? Yeah. I had no idea. I didn't know they were doing that in Mexico. Did you? Yeah, it's, yes, it's very, uh, popular in Mexico, latinamerican South America, and, and it really is a big deal. Um, in, in other parts of the world. It, it has over. 30 years or so, sort of, uh, fallen a bit by the wayside in the us but it has grown elsewhere throughout the world. It's very interesting and, and we're seeing a, a renewed resurgence in interest. Um, we've got more membership inquiries today than we did last year, more last year than we did five years prior. And it's daily inquiries from people who are very interested in what we're doing, what we stand for. And, and how we might help rich their lives, uh, through the, the brotherhood that we provide. Hmm. And I kind of feel like the world we're living in is evolving. Uh, and there's probably more of a desire or a demand for these types of, opportunities for people. You know, we live in such a divided world, and yeah. Keith, tell us a little bit about some of the rules of lodge. Like the things that we can't talk about and the things that, uh, yeah. Give us the secret. Well, they're not secrets. Well there's, there's not really a, a lot of secrets anyways, but the, there are really only two primary things you can't bring to lodge. One of them is politics and the other one is religion. How unique. That's great. That's really cool. I mean, that sounds like a safe place, you know, in this day and age. Yeah. If that's agreed upon you, then you come together. What are you gonna fight about? That's great. Nothing but good stuff. Absolutely. And, and it, it comes from one of the other core values of our organization, which is true friendship. Um, we take men from all different walks of life who are upstanding citizens and good members of society. We bring them together under the shared belief that working together, finding ways, items that unite us rather than divide us. That, that together we can do great things. Um, and support each other along the way and, and leaving politics and religion at the door helps us better come, come together and unite in, in our shared interest. Um, and it's really amazing. Uh, we, the, even some of the people I've met, people I would never have found myself interacting with on a regular basis just because I. Run in the same circles as them, but we come together and have fabulous conversations about life, about philosophy, about how we can. Do better to support our friends and families and our Masonic brothers and our communities. And it's really, uh, been an enriching and rewarding experience for me personally, and I, I hope that I can help spread some of that to other people. One of my favorite things about Masonry is the fact that you get an opportunity to connect with all different generations of people. We'll have lodge members that are north of a hundred years old that come and, sit on the sidelines and participate in lodge activities. And the stories that those people have to tell they're just incredible. One, one example, uh, there was a, a gentleman by the name of Don Fanning and Don passed away, uh, early on during the Covid, uh, the, the Covid time. But Don was what, 107? 108 years old. Hundred nine, I think. Was he 109? Holy cow. He was, and Don was as sharp as can. At 109 years old, he was the Grand Tyler. So we have a position in lodge called a Tyler, which you know, is, symbolic for making sure that we're keeping people out that ought not be letting the lodge I know about this. Yeah. With the sword. With the sword. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. How do you know about the Tyler? Because I've been talking to you for a couple years now. I hear a lot of these things. Okay. Some of these things are wrong, but I love, I, it's, it's totally interesting to me and Don at they 103 years old or something. Something like that was the Grand Tyler and. The guy, the stories that these guys have to tell. And, some of my closest friends are in their nineties, right? Because I just love these guys and there's just such loving people. I've seen you with some of the people and some of the people you work with, and that's kind of part of your skillset, that's kind of your, your gift, you know? It's my happy place. Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of amazing. And so, and I look better than most of them too. So, I mean, that's, you know, that's, you're competing. That's terrible. You found a way, I found a way to make it, to look like it. Yeah. Yeah. The annual communication is coming up What are the dates of that? Uh, April 14th and 15th. Okay. And, uh, open to, uh, all Masons. So if you're a Mason, you're listening to this at one of the hundreds, calling all Masons, um, no age limit, obviously. Yeah. How old do you have to be to become a Mason? On the limit Front end? No, on the front end. Don't listen on the top heads. I'm saying it in Minnesota, you have to be 18. 18. It varies. It varies from state to state. Okay. Some states are still 21. Okay. And, uh, you can be as old as you want, I guess. Yeah. To be amazing. No limit. No limit. A absolutely. We, we brought in a, a, a new member, uh, a couple years ago who was in his nineties, no kidding. Joined in his nineties, a new member. If somebody has an interest in learning more about perhaps becoming a member of our, uh, fine craft, our fraternity, where does, uh, one go to get that information? My best recommendation would be to visit the website, be a freemason.org. B of freemason.org. Yep. That site has. All of the basic information one might be interested in as well as an opportunity to submit an inquiry for additional information, and those inquiries get routed to one's respective state of residents because Masonry is very jurisdictional. So we can only bring in members who live in Minnesota. But be freemason.org will direct an inquiry to any state where somebody resides really, who operates be freemason.org. Uh, it's, it's a joint venture between, uh, Shriner's International and the Scottish rip. Really? Which, which is an affiliated mason body. I had no idea. I'm happy I asked. Yeah, it's a wonderful website. Um, provides a lot of great information. All, all of the. About Freemasonry are on there. Um, and, and it's a wonderful opportunity for people to submit an inquiry directly to get more information and, and if they wanna become a member, to get into our pipeline. Steve, do you have a question? Well, I was just gonna say, K Keith, it's nice to actually talk to you again. I, I, I recognize your face. I looked at your face on LinkedIn while you were talking. I didn't, he wasn't paying attention. Yes. No, I was just wanted a quick look. I, I connected with you, but, um, I have to say, it's clear to me after listening to you talk, it's clear to, to me now that, uh, why you're maybe not still in rock and roll. You sound much, much too smart. Um, too eloquently spoken and, uh, You sound like you really know what you're doing and it sounds like you've got, you found the right place for you, and I'm glad you're not in rock and roll anymore. And that's, you know, I think we're both probably too nice of guys to be in music anymore anyway, or, you know, in the, in the real business of music in rock and roll. But you're still in music. I you played at the dugout this year. I have a hobby where I get to play and it's really fun and I, I enjoy it. But, but I'm, I'm so glad that you're, you're doing well, Keith. This is cool. I'm, I'm glad to, I'm glad to reconnect with. It's been fantastic to reconnect with you, Steve. Um, you know, I, I have very spawn memories of you from some of the old orphan, uh, parties that we would have to promote. Yeah. Orphan party sounds kinda sad actually. It's not. That kinda orphan was, was Annie there? Yeah. It's just, it's a hard knock life dirty faces and from the, uh, there, there you go. Thanks. Oliver twist. Oliver twist there we. Um, no, but it is, it is. It's great. And now that I, now that we've connected, like I need to, I wanna talk to you more about this, so let, I'll find you, let's, let's chat again. Yeah. And just one last question. At orphan parties, do they serve Grl? Yes. Okay. It's just a, a small cup of water, hot water. And some grl. And Grl. Yep. All right. Well, Keith, thanks for your time and I know that you, uh, have other, uh, I'm sure you've got chores that you need to attend to, but, uh, we'll see you in the office tomorrow. Sounds good. Take walk, guys. Thanks Keith. Off we go.