Though he’s only worked in the Minneapolis and Hennepin County Library systems since 2001, Ernie Batson has seen duty at all Minneapolis libraries except Webber Park.
Raised in Northeast Minneapolis, son of Star Tribune newspaper columnist and editor Larry Batson (deceased 2006) and Laurel Batson who still lives in the area,
Ernie graduated Edison High School in 1972. He worked at retail book and music stores, the last of which was Borders at Calhoun Square. There, he met his wife Kristin as she was managing Figlio’s restaurant. They live downtown now.
Batson went to library school at St. Catherine University in Saint Paul. He then worked as a sub, bouncing to various departments at the downtown Central library that kept him busy working 40 hours most weeks. When a full time position in the Art and Music section opened up there, he was really in his element.
You’ve heard of the Mighty Mofos and the Hypstrz, maybe King Kustom and the Cruisers? They’re all bands that Ernie and his brother Bill started in various eras. King Custom did ’50s and ’60s, the Hypstrz were “one of the first ’60s bands in the ’70s” and Ernie remembers getting outfitted in vintage new “$40 sharkskin suits with jacket and two pairs of pants” that a store couldn’t sell otherwise.
The Central Library has a huge sheet music collection, and all kinds of books with autographs of musicians, Ernie Batson said. “People came in with stuff that they got at garage sales,” looking to prove the worth or authenticity of a find. “We still had LPs then (vinyl long-playing records), we were starting to get CDs. Cocktail pianists would come in looking for music for theme shows.”
Batson said when Hennepin County first merged with the Minneapolis system (2008), there were a lot of unpredicted transfers. “In 2009, they said, you’re going to Southdale; I said ‘what did I do [wrong]?’ but I actually really liked it,” for various reasons, one of which was getting to read on the long bus ride to and from work. He and Kristin both enjoy reading. “I was lucky to be a librarian.”
While BATSON’S band work now consists of occasional benefits such as for Meals on Wheels and other gigs, often enough to “enjoy it and each others’ company,” Batson said he’s already finding true that adage that says “after retirement you’re busier than you were before.”
Favorite Northeast memories: The Sun Drive-In, the Sun Saloon, playing park dances in the 1970s, playing gigs at Northeast Park and then going to Hoggetti’s for pizza. His first job was at the Red Owl in St. Anthony Village where he could walk from home. At the retirement celebration, Batson told of people lining up at the little newsstand at Lowry and Central to get the earliest edition of the paper; dad worked at the Star Tribune, sometimes he would send the kids down to get a copy.
Advice to young folks? Keep your day job if you go into music. Going into library work, “keep on top of technology. Libraries are being seen more as a social service now,” and a lot of working with people is helping them use the technology.
Below: From right, Ernie Batson, Kristin Batson and Lois Porfiri. Ernie joked that now maybe he can actually learn to play guitar. (Photo by Margo Ashmore)