John Badger: A Man of Talent

By Mike Ironside

December 30, 2012

Most of us know John Badger as a painter, and rightfully so, but John was an artist in many ways and here is one story to illustrate breadth of his talent.

Anyone who knew John Badger knew that he loved the ladies and could be quite the charmer. This was, in part, because chatting up a newly made female acquaintance was completely natural and effortless for John. Whereas initiating and sustaining a conversation with an attractive woman might be a challenge fraught with nervousness for some men, for Badger, hitting on the hottest girl in the room was as natural as talking with someone about painting technique. In fact, he has probably done both at the same time on more than one occasion.

One of my favorite stories about John took place back in the fall of 1999 in East Dubuque. I was in a band called Uncle Knuckles at the time. We played mostly original music and this was back before places like The Busted Lift or Monk’s even existed, so other than the Silver Dollar Cantina, there were very few places we could play.

Despite that challenge, we had booked a gig at a place on Sinsinawa Avenue in East Dubuque, Bonnie & Laura’s. To make up for the fact that we didn’t play the expected cover tunes, we were experimenting with other aspects of the stage show, like lighting and the stage outfits we would wear. For this gig, a couple of us had put together thrift store outfits that could best be described as “rock-n-roll pimps.” But by the time we set up, sound checked, and looked around the room at Bonnie & Laura’s, we decided to skip the costume change and just wear the jeans and T-shirts we were wearing when we set up.

The gig went all right, with some mild curiosity about our original music and the usual requests for covers we didn’t know. Still, we drank some beers and played our stuff with enthusiasm. Once we had finished and packed up, a couple of us talked about what to do next. We decided to change into our stage outfits and head over to the Coliseum, then East Dubuque’s biggest dance club. We got dressed and did our best to strut in Tony Manero Saturday Night Fever style down Sinsinawa to the club. Once inside, we walked around like the badasses we were pretending to be, drawing some looks and even a few compliments.

Near the back of the club we ran into Tim “Archie” Manning, an editor from the Telegraph Herald who had been hanging out with John Badger. While chatting with Tim about the nature of the dance club and all the young ladies present, he mentioned that John was a master at pickup lines. We were intrigued so we went in search of “The Badge.”

We found him near the edge of the dance floor, surveying the scene. After the usual greetings, we shared Tim’s assessment of his talent with pickup lines, asking Badger what he was using that particular night. John thought for a second and began, “Let’s see … what day is it? Saturday?” as if he had a whole arsenal of lines for different days of the week. Confirming that it was indeed Saturday, he continued, “Where’s Jennifer?”

We gave each other somewhat puzzled looks. That’s it? “Where’s Jennifer?” Badger noticed our lack of understanding and explained, “You walk up to a group of young ladies and ask them ‘Where’s Jennifer?’ The all know a Jennifer so they think you must know one of their friends. They either say ‘She’s over there’ or they explain why she didn’t come out with them or whatever. It doesn’t matter either way because now you have begun the conversation.”

Or something like that. I don’t recall John’s exact words from a late night conversation more than 13 years ago but I do remember we were somewhat in awe of watching the master at work.

So many nights and so many gigs later, the Coliseum is closed and even the building that was once home to Bonnie & Laura’s is now an empty lot. Our beautiful friend and painter John Badger is now gone as well, leaving only his art and stories such as these by which to remember him.